If a Minister of the 5 Fold Ministry Can Marry a Widow, the Widow Is Not a Virgin, So Is That Not Breaking the Rule?
1) Direct Answer
No. A minister may marry a widow, and that does not break any New Testament rule.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- The Bible says a widow is free to remarry: “She is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 7:39; see also Romans 7:2–3). Death ends the first covenant; she is loosed.
- The qualifications for ministers are clear: “husband of one wife,” blameless, temperate, etc. (1 Timothy 3:1–2; Titus 1:6). It does not say, “must marry a virgin.”
- Under the Law, only the high priest was required to marry a virgin (Leviticus 21:13–14). Ordinary priests were not forbidden to marry a widow. And we are not under the Levitical requirement; Christ is our High Priest (Hebrews 7).
- Paul even instructs that younger widows should marry (1 Timothy 5:14). If widows are to marry “in the Lord,” we have no Bible right to forbid a godly minister from being that husband.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- Virginity is not a New Testament qualification for a minister’s wife. Faithfulness and “only in the Lord” are the requirements.
- A widow is not an adulteress; her previous bond is ended by death. So marrying her does not make the minister a breaker of Scripture.
- Now notice: Where does the New Testament say a minister must marry a virgin? It doesn’t. But it does say a widow may remarry in the Lord.
4) Reinforcing Statement
It’s not three rules and traditions—it’s the Word. A widow who is in Christ is free to marry, and a true minister who is “the husband of one wife” may lawfully marry her without violating Scripture. The only clear prohibition is marrying a divorced woman while her first husband lives (Luke 16:18), not marrying a widow.
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.
The invisible union of the Bride of Christ
65-1125 §30
So is the church, when she tries to mix creed and denomination with the Word of God. She can't be married to a denomination and be the Bride of Christ at the same time. She has got to be dead to one or the other. The law says so, here. There's plenty of laws in God's Word, and that's His law. Paul speaking the same thing, here. She cannot be married to a church of worldly creed and be the Bride of Christ, because she ... one is contrary to the other. Now remember, you say, "Well, we believe this, but we don't belie...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §103
And in I Corinthians the seventh chapter, the twelfth and fifteenth verse, in the New Testament prophet, Paul, who met the same thing in the church, and spoke this: "This is I, not the Lord." Is that right? Because of the divorce condition. It wasn't so from the beginning. But Moses was permitted it, and God recognized it righteousness! And Paul also had a right when he found his church in that condition. Now, you believe this to be true and believe it to come from God. And by the vindication of His cloud and His m...
God making His promise
56-1209A §28
The life germ lays in the male's blood. The male sex produces the life. You realize that. The female has nothing to do with it no more than the incubator. But it's the man, the male, the sperm: The life is in the male. And that's how God in His wisdom, how that He seen that... It isn't virgin Mary that did it. It's not the virgin Mary; it's the virgin Christ, see. Christ was born without an earthly father; the Holy Ghost overshadowed Him ... overshadowed Mary, and she produced the Son, Christ Jesus. And His blood a...
Things that are to be
65-1205 §20
...he beginning, He said, "Let there be! Let there be! Let there be!" The world was just dark in a chaos. Even when He said, "Let there be light," there might've been hundreds of years before light ever sprung in; but when He spoke it, it has to come to pass. It must be that way, see. And He spoke His Word. Them seeds was beneath the water. When He dried off the earth, then the seeds come up. What He says must come to pass. He said through the prophets... I referred to it last evening. Like, we take Isaiah, He said, "...
Questions and Answers
61-1015M §49
QUESTION: "Brother Branham, is it not scriptural that women should not speak in the church?" He's got two questions here. That is true. That is true. It's not right for women to be ministers and speak in the church. That is right, I Corinthians, the fourteenth chapter. Of course all of the church here, you all know this. And this may be a stranger in here this morning, I don't know. But it's not right for women to be ... to minister. That is true. I'll just read it to you here, and you can find out. And then you'll...