No argument can be based on the singular τὸν ἐπίσκοπον, here or in Tit. i. 7, in favour either of the monarchical episcopate or as indications of the late date of the epistle; it is used generically as ἣ χήρα, ch. v. 5; δοῦλον Κυρίου, 2 Tim. ii. 24.
The better to ensure that the episcopus be without reproach, his leading charac- teristic must be self-control. In the first place—and this has special force in the East—he must be a man who has— natural or '!acquired—a high conception of the relations of the sexes: a married man, who, if his wife dies, does not marry again. Men whose position is less open to criticism may do this without discredit, but the episcopus must hold up a high ideal. Second marriage, which is mentioned as a familiar practice (Rom. vii. 2, 3), is expressly permitted to Chris- tian women in 1 Cor. vii. 39, and even recommended to, or rather enjoined upon, young widows in 1 Tim. v. 14.
μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἄνδρα, of course, does not mean that the episcopus must be, or have been, married. What is here for- bidden is digamy under any circum- stances. This view is supported (a) by the general drift of the qualities required here in a bishop; self-control or temper- ance, in his use of food and drink, pos-
Lay
k Tit. i. 8,
i. 2
Ti
λιον, "σώφρονα, ᾿ κόσμιον, ™ φιλόξενον, " διδακτικόν, 3. μὴ ᾿πάροινον,
Πτα ται : » Ἀν : Ἂν 1Seex Tim. μὴ “ wANKTHY,! ἀλλὰ "ἢ ἐπιεικῆ, 1 ἄμαχον, ' ἀφιλάργυρον, 4. τοῦ ἰδίου
li. Ὁ.
cal .. ” A m Τ 1,8, οἴκου " καλῶς * προϊστάμενον, τέκνα ἔχοντα ἐν " ὑποταγῇ μετὰ πάσης
Pet. iv. 9,
not LXX,
cf. Rom. xii. 13, Heb. xiii. 2. iv. 5, Tit.iii, 2, Jas. iii. 17, 1 Pet. ii. 18. LX 5 Ver. 12, x Tim. ν. 17.
iii. 8, 14. u See 1 Tim. ii. 11.
nz Tim. ii. 24, nct LXX. ἢ Dit. 111. Ὁ, πο ως, t Rom. xii. 8, 1 Thess. v. 12, 1 Tim. iii. 12, v. 17, cf. Tit
ο Tit. i. 7, not LXX. p Phil r Heb. xiii. 5, not
1 Ins. μὴ αἰσχροκερδῆ 37, very many others.
sessions, gifts, temper; (b) by the corre- sponding requirement in a church widow, ν. 9, ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς γυνή; and (c) by the practice of the early church (Apostolic Constitutions, vi. 17; Apostolic Canons, 16 (17): Tertullian, ad Uxorem, i. 7: de Monogam. 12; de Exhort. Castitatts, cc. 7,13; Athenagoras, Legat. 33; Origen, in Lucam, xvii. p. 953, and the Canons of the councils, e.g., Neocaesarea (A.D. 314) can. 7. Quinisext. can. 3).
On the other hand, it must be conceded that the patristic commentators on the passage (with the partial exception of Chrysostom)—Theodore Mops. Theo- doret, Theophylact, Oecumenius, Jerome —suppose that it is bigamy or polygamy that is here forbidden. But commenta- tors are prone to go too far in the eman-
cipation of their judgments from the pre-_
judices or convictions of their contempo- raries. In some matters ‘‘the common sense of most”’ is a safer guide than the irresponsible conjectures of a conscien- tious student.
νηφάλιον : temperate (R.V.). A.V. has vigilant here, following Chrys. ; sober in ver. 11, and Tit. ii. 2, with vigilant in margin. As this quality is required also in women officials, ver. 11, and in aged men, Tit. ii. 2, it has in all probability a reference to moderate use of wine, etc., and so would be equivalent to the μὴ οἴνῳ πολλῷ προσέχοντας of the diaconal qualifications, ver. 8. ἐγκρατῆ is the corresponding term in Tit. i. 8. The adj. only occurs in these three places; but the verb νήφειν six times; in 1 Thess. v. 6, 8, and in 1 Peter iv. 7, it is used of the moderate use of strong drink.
σώφρονα: soberminded (R.V.), serious, earnest. See note onii.g. Vulg., pru- dentem here and in Tit. ii. 2, 5; but sobrium in Tit. i. 8. Perhaps σεμνός (ver. 8) is the quality in deacons that corresponds to σώφρων and κόσμιος in the episcopus.