A Bishop's Qualifications

Paul set bishops in the churches and they set ministers, but Christ alone set forth apostles. And those men spoke and moved with the power of Christ. There are no such movers of the crop of modern-day apostles.

The bishops whom apostles set forth must have had a desire and met other qualifications for that position. Paul says that a man who desires the office of a bishop desires a good work. But even when desiring, that MAN must qualify according to the scriptures-a woman could never qualify according to the scriptures. [1Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:6-7]

Paul writes, "A bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity...not a novice,...he must have a good report of them which are without...." [1Tim.3:2-7]

Paul expands on these qualifications when writing to Titus: "If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers." [Titus 1:9]

When examining the qualifications above, as set out by Paul, we see the work of an apostle, as Paul gives the foundational catechism for God's people and the positions in the Church of the Living God. This is what I mean by the infrastructure of the church; this is a major function of apostleship. It is so terribly vain and even naive of these modern-day apostles to suppose they could possibly qualify for that position.

Notice the qualifications Paul states for a bishop. Even those are more powerful than the men who have rushed to place these titles on themselves. A bishop must be all that Paul states or he does not qualify for holding that office, regardless of his desire for it. And for that female who also may desire the office of a bishop, the most she can do is desire it. God explicitly sets that position in the ministry as off limits for her. The Word of God expressly states that a bishop must be the husband of one wife, not the wife of one husband. It is confusion for anyone to think otherwise, but Satan does confuse many and causes others to think God's Word does not speak to the requisite qualifications.

Note again the scriptures: A bishop must be the husband of one wife. He must be a husband, not a single man, therefore, he must be a married man, not an unmarried man. And need I say, a man married to a woman?

Allow me to show another confusion that exists among God's people that is a major issue of contention that has driven many back into the chains of sin: In Genesis 2, God said, "It was not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him." This scripture is too often twisted by many in marriages to read that husband and wife are given to each other as help meets. Yet the scripture is plain: God made woman for man as a help meet. There is no record that a man was ever made as a wife's help meet. Instead, the very purpose for which a woman was made was because the man was lonely. And God made the woman to help the man with that loneliness and other aspects of his needs. (I develop this thought elsewhere) But just as this scripture is confused and distorted by men, so is the scripture distorted on the qualifications for a bishop and other positions in the Church of the Living God to allow anything modern man/woman desires.

When we examine the qualifications for a bishop, we see those qualifications are not met by many who hold the position; most bishops holding their positions are given them by men who have no regard for the Word of God's qualifications. A bishop must be blameless of those outside the church and those inside the church. He cannot be greedy about, as Paul calls it, "filthy lucre."

For many, the qualifications listed by Paul are not regarded. Those unqualified ministers hold the position anyway, as they play in holy things not knowing or caring about their spiritual predicament.

I know cases of men who have become bishops and have such horrible reputations that if they were brought before the law, they would be put into prison. I have heard of cases where bishops of large segments of an organization are alcoholics and while being intoxicated have run over people in their cars. I know of bishops who have gone so greedily after filthy lucre that they do what the apostles, in Acts 6, expressly say is inappropriate for them--"they wait tables."

There is a most tragic case that is repeated in many Christian assemblies: a brother is saved out of sin, and beautifully straightens out his life, but when he starts getting wanton against God, he goes back into sin with seven spirits worst than his first state. He puts away his saved wife, marries another, then puts her away and marries a third. Somewhere along this line of putting away and getting another he has a child by an under-aged girl, which is against current law and is statutory rape. If that is not enough, along with this sexual and criminal misbehavior, there were other matters that disqualified him from being a deacon or even a brother in good standing. Be that as it may, this man is made a bishop in a supposedly Holiness Church! This situation is multiplied many times over.

The qualifications of a bishop must be fulfilled by those occupying the office because that position teaches men, sets up elders over God's House, and functions in other important mentoring ways. Therefore, God wants strong men occupying that position. Strong men develop and congregate with strong men; weak and flawed men develop and congregate with the same. And be assured, talking loud and brazen is not the definition of strong.

A bishop is supposed to be lover of good men, sober, just and temperate. Instead of seeing my call to them as a call from God, they fail to see the moment before them, as they play in the holy things of God.

Think of this: we would never allow an unqualified surgeon to play in medical matters simply because he desired to; peoples' lives are at stake. In playing in the holy things of God, peoples' eternal salvation is at stake! So why allow false ministers?

There are those of low self-esteem who have sought a dangerous way to salvage their low self-esteem. They reach into godly areas without the requisite qualifications. They reach for godly titles they do not qualify for and put them on, but it is a dangerous endeavor to traffic in holy things; it is much like touching the Ark of the Covenant without being a priest qualified to do so; it is even as Belshazzar drinking out of the holy vessels of God.

The Bible says that Jesus chose 12 from his disciples and made them apostles. Many of those who would reach their hands up to holy titles of apostle and bishop are not qualified or worthy of even the discipleship of Christ.

Apostles and bishops of today should find another way to satisfy their needs because the justice of God will come and will not tarry. The voice of God says, take off the diadem, and remove those holy crowns from unqualified and unholy heads, and recognize the gravity of your situation. For now is the accepted time, but later the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber will answer it and condemn you all. [Hab. 2:3, 11; Ezek. 21:26; 2Cor. 6:2]

Home