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.
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 8:E-57
I said to her, "Now, you know that I don't know you. I can't even speak your language." She admitted that. I said, "As for healing you, you know I cannot. But you heard the message this afternoon and understood me." Her Indian interpreter answered back for her that she understood, for she had read the New Testament.
Things that are to be
65-1205 §34
look at St. Peter and judge him by Andrew. See, Andrew is that prayer warrior, just stayed on his knees all the time. And the apostle Peter was one of those fire brands that preached, and so forth. And Paul was more scholarly like, more of the ... like the prophet or something, and set back and... See, Moses wrote the first four books of the Old ... which he wrote the Old Testament. The rest of it was the laws, and Kings, and Psalms, and so forth, and what someone wrote of the prophets. But Moses wrote the laws, th...
Communion
65-1212 §6
We understand that St. Paul, who ordained it in the church, being the prophet of the New Testament... Peter, James, John, all of them, they wrote (Matthew, Mark, Luke) what Jesus did, as scribes. But Paul set the thing in order; he was the prophet of the New Testament. Just as Moses went into the wilderness to receive the inspiration to write the five books of ... the first five books of the Bible, well, Paul also went into the desert and received inspiration from God to set the New Testament church in order and ty...
The Calling of Abraham
55-1116 §8
Now, I'm going to try to go just quickly as I can, getting on the way now. And I thought maybe, tonight, we would run a little series of this subject, speaking out of the Old Testament. Last week, we've spoke now the eight nights on the New Testament, and tonight, I thought, we'd turn over in the Old Testament and speak a while. I love the Old Testament. Don't you? I'm kind of a typologist. The Old Testament is just full of nuggets, buried down in there. And I like to go prospecting, don't you? And dig out those nu...
He swore by Himself
54-1212 §17
Now, there is some of the folks sitting here, three or four of them, that's been here since the church has, I suppose, twenty something years, when I was first ordained. And then, all along, I've always tried to watch the types. In other words, if I never did see the sun, and I seen what the moon did, throwed light on the earth, and so forth like that, and it shined down from the heavens, I'd have some conception of what the sun would be when it did go to shining, because I've looked at the moon; it's a reflection...