Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

[On 1 Tim 3:1ff.] They [St. John Chrysostom and Dr. Luther] take these words of the apostle negatively and not positively, so that a bishop is not bound to have a wife but is bound not to have more women along with his lawful wife. In this way the word "must" does not pertain to the word "wife" but to the word "one." This does not bring the simple and absolute necessity of marriage, as if that man could not be a bishop who was unmarried. Instead, it brings in the freedom to marry, nevertheless restricted to the laws that govern it, namely, that a bishop not be polygamous if he wishes to be married.—Blessed Johann Gerhard, On the Ministry II, p. 192.