Author Thread: Could Paul have been MARRIED....
Agapeton

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Could Paul have been MARRIED....
Posted : 30 Dec, 2011 04:58 PM

Before, at the time, during, and at some point after his conversion to Christ?





What do you think?





Historically and customarily, a pious Pharisee, in order to be called one, would have been married way before the age of 25 in Judaism.



Could have Paul been married? What do you think? There seems to be some evidence of the fact in one of the verses in one of the Epistles to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 9:5 Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? )



One thing that stands out is that he doesn't put himself in the category of a virgin in when addressing the "unmarried" men and women in the epistle (1 Corinthians 7:8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am.) because these "unmarried" people that he is addressing were at one time married and became "unmarried" at one time (via divorce, or death).



If Paul was once married before or during the time of his conversion, his wife (Who probably would have been of a prominent Pharisee home.) could have legally divorced him because of it.



By the way, for those who proclaim this to be a "new doctrine" and not worthy of being brought up, please be informed that this has been in discussion since the early 300's. Eusebius of Caesarea mentions something about Paul being married and used the very two verses I just presented to show for it in his works called Historia Ecclesiastica or Church History.



If this was/is the case, then do you think that the "seeking" a spouse would be as important as it is now?



Any thoughts?



Thanks in advance. :peace:

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Agapeton

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Could Paul have been MARRIED....
Posted : 1 Jan, 2012 09:33 PM

ETcallhome





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Could Paul have been MARRIED....

Posted : 1 Jan, 2012 03:28 PM





Agapeton , I enjoy Clarke's commentaries and use some of them in my studies and teachings, but he got this one wrong.



Good topic





ET, I enjoy all commentaries too but i also know that they are men who have flaws and make mistakes too no matter how Godly they may be.



That is why I study the customs, languages, the history and the context of the Scriptures for myself.



Thanks for the compliment about the topic. I'm just here to put things out there to give people something to think about while learning at the same time.



I'm thinking of doing one on Jesus' ministry on earth in a bit to see what people think regarding what the Scriptures say and what the people believe in a bit.

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