[Sloth]

As the Catholic Church understands the Apostolic Succession, St Paul was a Bishop in the Church. He was not married. He even went so far as to call that condition a blessing!

I will accept this line of argument if you can show me where Paul is ever referred to as a bishop in Scripture.

This passage of Scripture is not a command to be married, rather it is a prohibition against multiple marriages.

If it is not a command to be married, then what do you make of the need, expressed a couple of verses later, to assess the man's performance in raising his own children in evaluating his fitness for the office of bishop?

[pgyanke]

I will accept this line of argument if you can show me where Paul is ever referred to as a bishop in Scripture.

Round and round we go...

Definitionally, by the Apostolic Succession, the Apostles are the first bishops and we have an unbroken lineage of their authority to today's bishops. Of course, you reject this because the Bible is not a dictionary, an encyclopedia nor a catechism on all matters and didn't mention it in words you understand.

Of course, as you said, you won't accept this because it wasn't written down 2,000 years ago among writings that even proclaim themselves to be incomplete (John 21:25). At this point, we might as well part ways. God bless you.