In One of Your Replies, You Said a Minister Should Marry a Virgin. in Another of Your Replies, You Said There Is No Restriction Binding the Minister?
1) Direct answer
There is no New Testament law that binds a minister to marry a virgin. But because he is to be an example, the safest, cleanest counsel is: if he marries, he should seek a pure, never‑before‑bound woman. Still, if she is not a virgin, yet is not bound to a living husband and walks clean in Christ, he is not disqualified from marrying her.
2) Scriptural explanation
- Ministerial qualifications: The Bible says a bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, ruling well his house (1 Timothy 3:2–5; Titus 1:6). Notice, it does not command that his wife be a virgin.
- Marriage bonds: The Bible says a wife is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if he is dead, she is free to be married only in the Lord (Romans 7:2–3; 1 Corinthians 7:39). And, “whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery” (Luke 16:18). So a minister must not marry a divorced woman whose first husband is living.
- Purity pattern: Now notice, the high priest was to take a wife in her virginity (Leviticus 21:13–14), and Christ presents to Himself a chaste virgin Bride (2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:27). This shows the ideal of purity for those who serve at the altar and represent Christ to the church.
- Grace and new life: If a person’s past is under the Blood, “old things are passed away… all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). But new birth does not cancel the marriage bond while a former spouse lives (Romans 7:2–3).
3) Simple clarifying logic
- There is a difference between a binding command and wise counsel. The New Testament commands one wife, a clean testimony, and no union that violates the marriage bond. It does not legislate virginity for a minister’s wife.
- The ideal counsel follows the Bible’s purity pattern: a minister, if he marries, should choose a woman with no former marital bond and a clean life, so there is no reproach on the ministry.
- Yet if she is not a virgin but is free to marry (single or a widow) and lives upright in the Lord, Scripture does not forbid that union.
4) Reinforcing statement
So the two statements harmonize this way: “should marry a virgin” speaks to the ideal; “no restriction binding” affirms there is no New Testament law making virginity a requirement—only the clear boundaries of one wife, a clean life, and no marriage that violates an existing bond.
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 Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast, part 1
61-0216 §96
Now let me tell you, my friend. I've told you the truth. God's vindicated that I've told you the truth. The very anointing of God that's preaching this same Word, and saying these things, is the very anointing who declares that God is here doing the same things. Do you believe with all your heart? How many of you want to receive the holy Ghost? Raise up your hand, say, "I'd like to receive the Holy Ghost." The pastor tells me there's a room right down there, just waiting for somebody to come down to be ... going to...
God commissioning Moses
53-0603 §14
Of course, they keep my place of staying in secret, because I pray through the day---wait on the Lord. So then, in a few moments, he said, "Brother Branham, are you going to let me go?" I said, "Brother Bosworth, I don't want you to do that." But, I said, "If you promise me you won't fuss, you can." He said, "I promise you." And downstairs he went. Well, of course, the next day (You know how the newspapers can write anything up.): " Ecclesiastical hair will fly," you know, and "The debate." And they rented the big...
Questions and Answers
61-0112 §62
One day, to another minister, and I, of the same person, we set on a stump, squirrel hunting, and talked of it. And both the ministers, present now, knows how that turned out, see. Just, you watch. When you ministers are correcting someone about a gift---when you're correcting them, scripturally correcting them---and they get offended, remember, it wasn't the Spirit of God, because the Spirit of God cannot be offended by His Word. He comes to His Word. See, he's always willing. A real saint of God wants to toe the...
Investments
63-1116B §100
Now you might be a fine, loyal member of a church. And that, oh, how I appreciate that, certainly. You just continue right on in your church. That's right. Because, the sleeping virgins is coming up now, you see that. And remember, Jesus said, when the sleeping virgin ... the one that tried to live a good life within theirself, they was a virgin, but they didn't have any oil. Oil symbolizes the Spirit. That's why we anoint in oil. The oil symbolizes the Spirit. They were good people, fine people, members of fine Me...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §78
Now, you notice in I Corinthians 7:10, notice, Paul commands the wife that is ... that divorces her husband to remain single or be reconciled, not to remarry. She must remain single or to be reconciled back to her husband. She cannot remarry; she must remain single. But notice, he never said about the man. See, you can't make the Word lie. From the beginning, the sex law by polygamy. Now, the Word of God runs true with nature of God, runs in continuity. See how there is one school went east and the other one went w...