Married clergy
What 'the husband of one wife' requires, and whether the ministry is limited to married men or to monogamy.
1 Timothy 3:1-7
1This is a faithful saying: someone who seeks to be an overseer desires a good work.
2The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching;
3not a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;
4one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence;
5(but how could someone who doesn’t know how to rule one’s own house take care of God’s assembly?)
6not a new convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.
7Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.
What each tradition says
Rabbinic / Midrashic
According to Singer and colleagues, monogamy was the rule among the Jews in Roman times, though there were notable exceptions. The New Testament does not expressly prohibit polygamy, but it discredits and discourages it, citing Matthew 19:4-5 and 1 Timothy 3:2,12.
Isidore Singer, J. F. McLaughlin, Solomon Schechter, Julius H. Greenstone, Joseph Jacobs, Marriage (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906) — Section 'Forms of the Marriage Relation (Biblical Data)', monogamy paragraph
Patristic
Chrysostom understands “the husband of one wife” not as requiring a bishop to be married, as though he must not be without one. Rather, he says it prohibits a bishop from having more than one wife.
John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, Homily X (NPNF ser. 1, vol. 13, ed. Philip Schaff) — Homily X, on 1 Timothy iii. 1-4
Catholic
Herbert Thurston reads the direction as restrictive, not injunctive. It excludes men who have married more than once, but it does not impose marriage as a necessary condition.
Herbert Thurston, The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 3 (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908), 'Celibacy of the Clergy' — History of clerical celibacy, First period (on 1 Tim. iii. 2, 12 and Tit. i. 6)
Orthodox
The Council in Trullo notes the Roman Church’s rule that men advanced to the diaconate or presbyterate promise no longer to live with their wives. Preserving the ancient rule and apostolic order, it decrees that the lawful marriages of men in holy orders remain firm, neither dissolving their union nor depriving them of marital intercourse at a convenient time.
Reformed / Protestant
Calvin says his view is simpler and more solid: Paul forbids polygamy in all who hold the office of a bishop. He treats polygamy as a mark of an unchaste man and of one who does not observe conjugal fidelity.
John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon (trans. William Pringle) — Commentary on 1 Timothy 3:2 ('the husband of one wife')
Evangelical
Wesley says “the husband of one wife” neither requires a bishop to be married nor forbids him from marrying a second wife, which is as lawful as a first and may sometimes be his duty. Rather, it teaches that ministers especially should stand clear of polygamy and divorce on slight occasions.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament — Notes on 1 Timothy 3:2