Could A Bachelor Be An Elder If He Has Had Experience With Children, Such As A School Teacher?
No. 1 Timothy 3:1-7 states: "This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil."
A bachelor is a man who is not married. The qualifications a potential elder must fulfill is that he must be "the husband of one WIFE", "having HIS children in submission", and "rule HIS own house well."
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