Sender's name: James

Sender's name: missy

Can a divorced man be a preacher?

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The New Testament doesn't say anything about a person's previous marital status in order to preach.

The list of qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 are for elders/overseers. A preacher/evangelist is no necessarily an elder/overseer. There is a list similar to this that we can apply to preachers/evangelists:

"The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses {and escape} from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will (1 Tim 2:24-26)."

In context, this is directed to Timothy, a young preacher and evangelist. There is nothing said about whether he had to be married, unmarried, or never divorced. In fact, all people are encouraged to preach Christ. In Acts 8:4, it tell us that the Christians who were scattered due to persecution went about everywhere preaching the word. The Apostle Paul himself was single (1 Cor 7:8). There is evidence that he likely might have been married before, since he was a Pharisee, and it was considered a Jewish duty to be married and have children. If Paul was married, we don't know what happened to his wife, whether she left him when he became a Christian, or she died. But, notice that Paul, unlike the elder who had to be married with children, Paul, the preacher, had neither.

John Telgren

P.O. Box 452

Leavenworth, KS 66048

Web: epreacher.org/ask

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