From: Bernard Taylor (btaylor@lasierra.edu)
Date: Fri Mar 29 1996 - 15:25:24 EST
On Fri, 29 Mar 1996, GLENN WOODEN wrote:
> The problem with Carl's proposal that the phrase refers to fidelity
> beyond death is that in the same discussion (1 Tim. 5:3-16,
> specifically 9 and 14) the author counsels young widows to remarry.
> This would most certainly disqualify them in the future for the benefit
> that widows could draw upon based upon their being married only once!
> Maybe it's a hollow phrase that came to mean simply a "faithful
> husband/wife" and we are exegeting it word by word but the
> recipients of the letter would not have understood it at that level.
>
> Glenn
I am not sure that the suggestion can so easily be dismissed, though that
may be the ultimate decision anyway. The issue relates only to bishops,
not to deacons for instance, so it could be that for this particular
group (alone) a "higher" standard/state is sought, perhaps dating to a
time when more (rather than the current, less!) was expected of leaders.
Thus this would be in contrast to the others.
Bernard Taylor
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:37:40 EDT