Question:
1 Timothy 3:12. Based on this verse what are your thoughts on whether or not a man can be a deacon if he is the husband of one wife and he has never been divorced but she has.
Answer:
I Timothy 3:12 says, “Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.” Looking at the whole context, I Timothy 3:8-13, it says, “Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
You will notice that the qualifications for being a deacon include having a wife with many high and godly qualities. “Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.” Could a man be said to have a wife that is “faithful in all things,” if she has been divorced, and has married another man (the deacon)? That would not only make her an adulteress, but the deacon himself an adulterer. Romans 7:1-3 says, “Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.” Luke 16:18 says, “Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and WHOSOEVER MARRIETH HER THAT IS PUT AWAY FROM HER HUSBAND COMMITTETH ADULTERY.”
A man is not qualified to be a deacon if he has been divorced, or if he has married a divorced woman.