"A faithful saying: If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth good work. It behoveth therefore a bishop to be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, of good behaviour, chaste, given to hospitality, a teacher, Not given to wine, no striker, but modest, not quarrelsome, not covetous, but One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all chastity. But if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?" 1 Timothy 3:1-5
"fidelis sermo si quis episcopatum desiderat bonum opus desiderat oportet ergo episcopum inreprehensibilem esse unius uxoris virum sobrium prudentem ornatum hospitalem doctorem non vinolentum non percussorem sed modestum non litigiosum non cupidum suae domui bene praepositum filios habentem subditos cum omni castitate si quis autem domui suae praeesse nescit quomodo ecclesiae Dei diligentiam habebit" 1 Timothy 3:1-5
St. Pauls' instructions to Timothy, as Bishop of Ephesus, in no way is absolute in that only married men should be selected as Bishops, Priests and Deacons. If Timothy were to chose married men for the clerical state then they could only have been married once, no more. As you know, or should know, St. Paul was celibate. Your lack of commentary seems to indicate that you believe that St. Paul himself would have been ineligible to be a Bishop, Priest or Deacon in Ephesus, or anywhere else for that matter, which of course is absurd. It's a frequent mistake that poor students of Scripture and history make.
My lack of commentary is due to the fact that every time I bring these issues up with Catholics, I'm accused of adding my own interpretation. So I decided to let the Scriptures speak for themselves.
The NAB is a poor text to be using
Okay, fair enough: which do you recommend instead?
especially if you're a Catholic
Ex-Catholic
in a rather feeble attempt to prove your point.
Actually, I think the passages cited prove my point quite well. I do not quote the "married only once" passage to try to imply that bishops *must* be married, but merely to point out that, as far as St. Paul was concerned, a married bishop was PERMISSIBLE.