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A Response To Eli Soriano On 1 Timothy 3:2



By Bro. Nathan 

Ang mga MCGI ay known for attacking Latter Day Saint gamit ang kanilang distorted version ng polygamy. if nakikidiscuss sila sa Latter Day Saints, ang akala nila ay na ang Polygamy ay ang pinaka "strongest" argument against the church— but this is simply false for they don't refute anything dahil isa itong distortion ng actual na doctrine (i.e strawman arguments). they distort polygamy by saying na ang polygamy ay adultery with is a non-sequitur dahil ang dalawa ay hindi related. if the two were, it begs the question, bakit ba hindi nagwarn si Nathan kay King David nang mas maaga since polygamist na siya before commiting adultery kay Bathseba at kay Uriah? (2 Sam. 12; cf 1 Kgs. 15:5). and they take out the context ng bible to support their stand, like take for example, ang 1 Timothy 3:2 which reads :

"A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach;" (1 Tim.3:2) NKJV 

Ito ay ang favorite na proof text ni Eli Soriano against sa polygamy and he focuses only on one phrase which is ang "one wife" then ignore the rest ng context. and same does sa mga MCGI members that uses the same proof text. they should consider some things :

1. Ang verse na ito ay nakainclude sa Pastoral epistles (i.e letters ni Paul kay Timothy and Titus who are bishops; cf Titus 1). ang theme ng buong chapter ay wherein nagbibigay si Apostle Paul ng requirements para sa mga believers na gustong maging bishops and deacons. this marital status applies only sa dalawang particular na offices na ito at hindi offices outside nito kagaya ng Prophet and Apostle. 

2. Ang verse na ito ay nagrerefer either sa number of wife or sa faithfulness to someone's wife dahil ang Greek nito ay may unusual na construction. ang Greek nito ay μιας γυναίκος (mias gunaikos) na kung saan ito ay hindi definitive. ang phrase na ito can either mean "one wife" or "married once", or "devoted solely to his wife" (NET Translator Notes on 1 Tim. 3:2b; cf. v. 12; Titus 1:6). thus, the New Revised Standard Version renders it as " Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher," (1 Tim. 3:2 NRSV).

The context tells us na requirement sa Isang bishop ang dapat married siya. commenting on the injunction that a bishop should be a “husband of one wife” in the Pastoral Epistles, Nathan Nzyoka Joshua wrote:

" . . . faithfulness before marriage and in marriage is most likely what Paul was proposing for the overseer to adhere to. A prominent biblical example of the great significance attached to premarital faithfulness is the relationship of Joseph and Mary in Matthew 1:18-25. A non-biblical equivalent to that requirement is found in Xenophon’s second-century AD writing, Ephesiaca 1.11.3-5, in which there is a vow of a young couple to remain chaste for each other. Notably also, in the first century AD, marital faithfulness was also portrayed by remaining unmarried after divorce or after the death of a spouse; a practice that was regarded as honourable. There are many inscriptions on tombstones praising women who had been married to one husband only (see Meeks, First Urban Christians, 228n135). It was common to find on epitaphs the epithets, unavira (“married to one man only”), or virginius and virginia, meaning respectively “a husband who never had but the one wife” and “a wife who never had but the one husband.” Kelly supports that interpretation by saying that it was considered meritorious for one to remain unmarried after the death of a spouse or after divorce because remarriage was viewed as self-indulgence. He supports his argument with Paul’s suggestion to abstain from remarriage and even to occasionally abstain from sexual pleasure within marriage (1 Cor 7:1-7, 40). He says that church officers were expected to set a good example to the other people by being satisfied with a single marriage. However, he points out that, second marriages were not absolutely forbidden in the early Christian centuries (J.N.D. Kelly, A Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles: I & II Timothy, Titis, Black’s New Testament Commentaries [London: Black, 1963], 75-76). Paul supported and encouraged remarriage, especially for young widows, instead of enrolling them for support by the church (1 Tim 5:11-15). Nevertheless, it is likely that those who had remarried could not be chosen to be leaders in the church, just as they could not be enlisted to get benefaction from the church in case they became widows again (1 Tim 5:9)." (Nathan Nzyoka Joshua, Benefaction and Patronage in Leadership: A Socio-Historical Exegesis of the Pastoral Epistles [Langham Monographs; Carlisle, UK: Langham Publishing, 2018], 175-76)

As an aside, here is the note from Meek’s The First Urban Christians, referenced by Joshua above:

" In Greek romances of the Roman period, the plot customarily depends upon the chaste devotion of a couple to each other, preserved despite the most bizarre threats. In the Ephesiaca of Xenophon of Ephesus, for example, Habrocomes and Anthia vow "that you will abide chaste unto me and never tolerate another man, and I that I shall never consort with another woman" (1.11.3-5, trans. Hadas 1964, 80). That such sentiments were widely cherished is suggested not only by the popularity of such novels, which would hardly have appealed to the well educated, but by the existence of many epitaphs praising women who were μονανδρος or univira. Examples from Jewish tombs in Leon 1960, 129f.."

That concludes ang ating response sa eisegetical usage ni Eli Soriano at ng MCGI sa 1 Timothy 3:2. 

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