If a Minister Should Marry a Virgin, Then What Was the Blood of Jesus Shed For? What Happened to "old Things Are Passed Away"?
1) Direct answer
The Blood of Jesus was shed to cleanse sin and make a new creature on the inside; it did not rewrite history or cancel God’s order for marriage and ministerial qualifications. So the counsel that a minister take a virgin does not deny the power of the Blood; it upholds the scriptural pattern and the testimony of the office.
2) Scriptural explanation
- The Bible says we are “new creatures” in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). That is the inner man made new. Yet the apostles still laid down outward order for life and for the ministry (1 Timothy 3:2,7; Titus 1:6-7).
- God set a higher pattern for those who handle holy things. Under the law the priest was to “take a wife in her virginity” (Leviticus 21:13-14). The ministry in the New Testament must be “blameless” and “of good report” (1 Timothy 3:2,7). The type is carried forward: the overseer’s home life must speak clean, unquestionable testimony.
- The minister types Christ, and the church is presented “as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:25-27). The marriage of the minister is meant to reflect that gospel picture.
- Forgiveness does not erase earthly facts. David was forgiven, yet consequences remained (2 Samuel 12:13-14). The woman taken in adultery was forgiven—“go, and sin no more”—yet her past was still a past (John 8:11). The woman at the well met grace, but the five husbands she had were still history (John 4:17-18).
- God’s order in marriage stands (Matthew 19:4-6; Mark 10:9; 1 Corinthians 7). Being saved doesn’t undo previous covenants, nor does it change the body; it changes the heart.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- Now notice: if “old things passed away” meant every earthly condition is erased, then a thief could get saved and the stolen goods would magically return; a scar would vanish the moment you believe. But you see, salvation cleanses the soul and reconciles you to God, while natural consequences and divine order still remain to guide our walk.
- The Blood does not make a body a virgin again; it makes a heart pure and a conscience clean. God forgets the sin, but the world can still remember the history. That is why the minister, who must be “blameless” and “of good report,” is held to a higher visible standard.
- This is not condemnation of any sister who has a past. In Christ she is clean and beloved. But the office has a testimony to guard. Also, if a man is already married when God calls him, he is to “abide in the calling wherein he was called” and live the Word where he stands (1 Corinthians 7:20,24). The counsel about a minister taking a virgin speaks to the choice before marriage and the example of the office.
4) Reinforcing statement
The Blood of Jesus brings full forgiveness and a new life; and that very grace leads us to honor God’s order. Forgiveness cleans the heart; order guards the testimony. That’s the balance of the Word.
To get the full context and background as well as proper understanding, you MUST read the following answers also:
https://truebibleteachingsai.org/answers/in-the-new-testament-is-there-a-requirement-that-a-minister-of-the-5-f-11636dc
https://truebibleteachingsai.org/answers/in-the-new-testament-is-there-a-requirement-that-a-minister-of-the-5-f-a71db34
https://truebibleteachingsai.org/answers/if-a-minister-should-marry-a-virgin-then-what-was-the-blood-of-jesus-s-1d59d71
https://truebibleteachingsai.org/answers/if-a-minister-of-the-5-fold-ministry-can-marry-a-widow-the-widow-is-no-e5ccd10
https://truebibleteachingsai.org/answers/is-it-true-that-the-widow-of-a-minister-can-only-remarry-a-minister-9af3c0d
https://truebibleteachingsai.org/answers/in-one-of-your-replies-you-said-a-minister-should-marry-a-virgin-in-an-bdc33ea
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
God providing healing for this generation
54-0719E §3
...ad some of them 'less they're personal, or so forth. They're just sending for maybe prayer cloths or so forth. We send out thousands of those weekly all over the world. And then, when I hear a testimony... And in the meeting, this meeting here, a young lady gave my son a little word here, and it brings back a memory of, maybe, people that was at the meeting. It was a Hammond meeting. And I hope and trust that the young lady doesn't think this, or embarrass her, which I know it would not, being a Christian, if I sho...
The water of separation
55-0121 §12
...as one thing to do: look to Calvary and be born again. That's all it is. Just so simple. The laws and all the ceremonies and everything passed away with the shedding of the blood. When my shadow was coming to me, when my shadow and I meet, my shadow is no more. But I took the place of my shadow. And that's the way the law was, and so forth... The Old Testament was a shadow of the New Testament, and was fulfilled. Grace and law met at Calvary and law was fulfilled and grace come into existence. Amen.
The Marriage of the Lamb
62-0121E §86
.... He wouldn't have a dirty bride. A woman come up to get married, and she looked like she come out of the pig pen out there, a man that's got any dignity about him wouldn't marry her. He'd make her clean herself up. And when the church of Christ comes up to get married, thinks she's going in the bride with all the world tagging onto her... Christ's bride won't be like that. No, sir. (I must hurry.) Neither is the church of Christ, of the Lord Jesus Christ, that church is not a ragged church either, with worn out ra...
Why?
63-0626 §49
Now, God, seeing that the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin, He never manufactured, but He created a chemical in the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen. That sin, once confessed to the world, you don't even bridge that chasm; you take the chasm completely away. And God don't even know that you ever sinned. That's right. He said He put them in the sea of forgetfulness, to remember them no more at all against you. Then men and women stands in the presence of God as sons and daughters of God, the very nature o...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §85
Notice, he can put away His wife any time He wants to, but she can't put Him away. He can make me---He can throw me in the dust any time He takes a notion to, but oh, brother, I better not try to throw Him there; I'm finished. Solomon could marry any woman that wasn't married. He could marry any woman he wanted to. A priest could marry only a woman that was a virgin. Solomon, like David, he married... What was her name? Abigail, which was... A man called a fool, he had a nice wife, and he died. And Abigail was marr...