However, the monogamy view also suffers various weaknesses. First, a similar linguistic structure that is used in 1 Timothy 3:2 is also used in 1 Timothy 5:9. This similarity makes the polygamy view untenable. Kent explains:
More help is found in the phrase of 1 Timothy 5:9 regarding widows as “a wife of one husband.” This is the same Greek expression except for the switch of terms. Whatever one means, the other must mean. If 3:2 means polygamy, then 5:9 must mean polyandry. Yet is there any reason to suppose that the prevailing sexual sin of women was their having many husbands simultaneously? Were polyandrous women so plentiful that this was the one moral qualification to be considered? It is doubtful that polyandry was practiced at all during those years. Therefore, this viewpoint is rejected as not being the full explanation of the apostle’s words.97
Second, issuing a prohibition against polygamy for church leaders seems redundant. “A man could not, however, even be a member of a church if he was a polygamist, let alone a leader. If that were all Paul meant it would be an unnecessary obligation.”98 Third, this view, like some of the previously discussed views, disrespects the over all context of the verse 2. Why should “the husband of one wife” be interpreted as a negative prohibition against a certain type of sexual behavior when all the rest of the criteria in the verse speak of positive characteristics that the candidate is to possess? As previously mentioned, when Paul wants to prohibit a behavior throughout chapter 3, he uses the Greek word mh. Yet Paul does not use this word regarding the “husband of one wife” requirement in verse 2.
Moreover, some of the arguments used to support the view can be rebutted. First, while it is commonly accepted that polygamy was practiced among the Jews, it is debatable how widespread this practice was among the non Jewish Greek and Roman culture. Keener in his New Testament background commentary says, “Polygamy was not practiced in the Roman world outside of Palestine…”99 MacArthur offers the following historical explanation for the lack of polygamy in Ephesus: “Polygamy was not an issue in Ephesus. It was uncommon in Roman society, in part because sexual encounters outside of marriage as well as divorces were easily obtainable.”100 Second, as mentioned earlier, all arguments based on tradition lack persuasiveness because the issue is not what the church has taught but the Scripture itself actually teaches.
