In the New Testament, Is There a Requirement That a Minister of the 5 Fold Ministry Must Marry a Virgin?
1) Direct answer
No verse in the New Testament states in so many words that a fivefold minister “must marry a virgin.” But the Bible does set a holy line: a minister must be the husband of one wife, blameless, and he is not to take a divorced woman. By the Scriptural pattern of the priesthood, the clean, safe order for a minister is to take a wife in her virginity.
2) Scriptural explanation
- The fivefold ministry: “He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers” (Ephesians 4:11).
- Ministerial qualifications: “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife… ruling his own house well” (1 Timothy 3:2–5; Titus 1:6–9).
- Our Lord’s marriage line: “Whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery” (Luke 16:18; see also Matthew 5:32; 19:9).
- The holiness pattern (type) for those who handle holy things: “He shall take a wife in her virginity… A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take” (Leviticus 21:13–14).
- The church as a virgin to Christ: “I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:25–27).
3) Simple clarifying logic
- Now notice, the New Testament lists the qualifications for ministers and binds them to one wife, a clean testimony, and a well-ordered home. The Lord also forbids marrying a divorced woman.
- The Old Testament shows God’s mind about those who minister in holy things: the priest was to take a wife in her virginity. While that verse is in the Law, it reveals God’s pattern of holiness, and the New Testament minister stands as an example to the flock and a bearer of the Word. You see, if Christ’s Bride is to be a chaste virgin to the Word, the minister who represents that Word should keep that same clean line in his own home.
- Therefore, while the New Testament doesn’t phrase it as a direct command, the revealed order is: a minister should marry a virgin, and he must not marry a divorced woman, and he must be the husband of one wife, ruling his house well.
4) Reinforcing statement
This isn’t legalism; it’s guarding the ministry’s purity. If a man is already married when God calls him, “as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk” (1 Corinthians 7:17). But for those yet to marry, the Scriptural pattern is clear: keep the line clean—one wife, not divorced, and, by the holiness pattern, a virgin.
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.
Token
63-0901M §137
Now, remember, Hebrews, 13:10-20, a "everlasting covenant." God's Blood-bound promise makes us free from sin. Amen! There is no sin in Him. Sin, self, flesh. Worship Him, and show forth His promised power. God's Blood-bound, Token-bound covenant people, has the Spirit of Jesus Christ in here that "He that believeth on Me, the works that I do, shall he do also." Displaying the covenant, see. New Testament, "testament" means covenant. That is right, isn't it Dr. Vayle? Testament means covenant. The New Testament mean...
What house will you build me?
65-1121 §8
Then I find that in the book of the New Testament, where Paul, which is the author (not the author, but the writer) of the New testament. He also was drove out from among his people, and by the Spirit, into the Arabia, where he was three and a half years, to find the inspiration. And Paul is the chief writer of the New Testament. Now there is Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but they were scribes that just wrote what Jesus said, as they followed Him along. But, you take the book to Timothy, and to the Romans, and to...
Convinced then concerned
62-0118 §97
Now, I read the Old Testament first, and I seen what God was in the Old Testament through those prophets. I come over to the New Testament, and I taken the New Testament. And I found out the same God of the Old Testament was also the same God of the New Testament. Then I took from the New Testament down to the organizing of the early Catholic church, which is about three hundred years, at the Nicea Council when the bishops taken the name of Pope. And the Roman church which took the dogma side, and the Orthodox Cath...
The faith once delivered to the saints
55-0501E §22
Now, we couldn't go to the Old Testament, because they wasn't called saints in the Old Testament. They were saints in the New Testament. Therefore, we'd have to begin from the New Testament. Well, then the New Testament was based upon Christianity, which come from Christ. And Christ was the first Administrator of the faith that we should contend for, because it was the faith that He introduced to the world. Christ born, virgin-born Son of God... John was between the law and the dispensation of grace. Luke 16:16 sai...
The Masterpiece
64-0705 §67
Now, for nearly two thousand years God has been again making Him a masterpiece, because He struck at Him to get a piece off of Him, part of Him, a rib to make a wife for Him. And now, that perfect masterpiece that He struck at Calvary, He got a piece off of Him. It's just the New Testament, that's all. He fulfilled the Old Testament. Now, it's the New Testament, another piece to be fulfilled. See, the New and Old is husband and wife, see, and it taken the New to ... Old to foreshow the New. Christ come, the masterp...