Question: Why are Catholic bishops celibate, when 1Tim 3 seems to say the opposite?
Reply: Some Scriptural passages are stating perennial norms, while others were suited to one period of time, or place, but not all. Likewise, certain passages are to be taken literally, and others metaphorically or allegorically. And the Biblical text is not colour-coded to distinguish the different shades of meaning.
That is why Our Lord left us, not just a Book, but the Pope and the college of bishops, with the Divine Right to interpret the Scriptures. You will find that every single country that has a written Constitution also has a Supreme court to deal with issues of interpretation. Christ did no less. The Catholic church, speaking with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is our Supreme Court.
The previous discipline among the Jews was that it was a religious duty for a man to marry and raise children to perpetuate the Chosen Race. Under the inspiration of Christ, however, the superior nature of celibacy was understood. St Paul explains this at some length in I Corinthians Ch. 7. Our Lord also probably surprised His disciples when they reacted to his forbidding of divorce by saying, ‘In that case, it would be better not to marry at all,’ and He replied, "For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb . . . and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it" (Matthew 19:12).
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This is why the celibate state has always been held in high honour. S. Ignatius of Antioch tells us at the very beginning of the Second Century – within living memory of Christ – that there were consecrated virgin girls, living in their father’s house a life of prayer and penance. Convents had not yet been instituted. Likewise the clergy were mostly celibate from a very early date.
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But it had to start somewhere. We have no good reason to doubt that the Apostles were married – except for the young man S. John, whom tradition tells us always remained celibate. Now the passage in Paul about ‘bishops’ (1 Timothy 3 ) must be read very carefully. In the first place, the Greek word ‘episcopos’ does not mean only what we call a ‘bishop’ it actually means ‘overseer’ - epi = over; scopos =seer (as in microscope: micro = small; scopein=to see) or 'guardian'. And the very same word is used of Christ: The Catholic Church welcomes Jesus not just as *a* bishop but as *the bishop*, as I Peter 2:25 says: For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls (NAB).
The word translated guardian here in the NAB is actually not just *a bishop*; rather, *the* bishop (Greek, ton episkopon) of your souls. Jesus is *the bishop* of the Catholic Church. And he was and is celibate.
S. Paul in 1Tim 3 is stating a rule that is, you might be surprised to hear, still part of the law of the Catholic church; nobody who has been married twice (via a bereavement) may be admitted to the bishopric, although a widower with one wife may be.