LDS Church view of 1 Timothy 3:2 and 3:12 when they supported polygamy
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There does not seem to be any LDS view on 1 Timothy 3 requirements during the time they practiced polygamy (searched LDS website and Joseph Smith Papers).
The LDS believe in modern prophets who receive revelation.
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are blessed to be led by living prophets—inspired men called to speak for the Lord, as did Moses, Isaiah, Peter, Paul, Nephi, Mormon, and other prophets of the scriptures.
Related to this is that the Bible is not the only scripture or wholey translated correctly (doesn't apply to this verse). Article of Faith 8:
8 We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
See this Answer on the purpose of Polygamy or from the LDS website:
The Bible and the Book of Mormon teach that the marriage of one man to one woman is God’s standard, except at specific periods when He has declared otherwise.
...
Latter-day Saints do not understand all of God’s purposes for instituting, through His prophets, the practice of plural marriage during the 19th century. The Book of Mormon identifies one reason for God to command it: to increase the number of children born in the gospel covenant in order to “raise up seed unto [the Lord]” (Jacob 2:30). Plural marriage did result in the birth of large numbers of children within faithful Latter-day Saint homes. ...
Upvote:0
I do not believe my answer is authoritative, but I believe it to be possible. Without commentary from both early Church leaders and Paul or Christ themselves, it's difficult to provide a definitive answer.
Jesus did not impose the restrictions on Bishops found in 1 Timothy. Paul did. I suppose it is assumed by Christianity at large that this would be purely reflective of the Lord's will, but it might not have been.
From the LDS perspective we have two verses.
For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; for the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward. (D&C 58:26-28)
And...
Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God; that your incomings may be in the name of the Lord; that your outgoings may be in the name of the Lord; that all your salutations may be in the name of the Lord, with uplifted hands unto the Most High. (D&C 88:119-120)
From an LDS perspective, Paul had the same authority as our priesthood leadership today: the authority to organize the church to meet the needs of the people in Paul's day. Polygamy was not authorized in Paul's day, so it is little wonder that he would discourage it with his instructions.
With polygamy authorized during the early Church period, the Church had (and has) the authority to organize itself to accomodate its needs, which would include the authority to authorize polygamous marriages for Bishops.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find any early Church writings focusing on 1 Timothy either. The Lord is perfect. The rest of us must make do.
Upvote:1
Discourse by Apostle Erastus Snow, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Saturday Morning (in General Conference), October 7, 1882.
"The only passage of Scripture that I have ever heard quoted as appearing to limit the early Christians to single marriage was the saying of one of the Apostles, St. Paul to Timothy, in which he said that a Bishop should be the husband of one wife, having faithful children and one who knows how to govern his own house, for, said he, if he knows not how to rule well his own house, how shall he rule the Church of God. 1 Tim. 3:1-5 Now this scripture, taken as a whole, evidently shows that his object was not to intimate that a Bishop should have one wife only, but he intended to make this impression, that he must be a man of family, one who has had experience in household affairs, one that understood all those tender relations existing between husband and wife and parent and child, one who had shown himself a wise and discreet father; one who was capable of guiding his own house and of leading his family in the ways of rectitude and of controlling them in the fear of God; for except he is able to govern his own house, how could it be expected that he could govern the Church of God. Now, if in this respect a Bishop had proved himself a wise and discreet father and husband, a man who knew how to rule well his own family, this was a qualification recommending him as a suitable person to be trusted with the office of a Bishop. And how much more suitable would he be for that position if he were perfectly able to govern two or more wives, and to rear their children in the fear of God? The very fact that a Bishop must be the husband of one wife, if we admit the correctness of the views of our Christian friends in this regard (which, however, we do not by any means) the logical inference is, that any other officer or member in the Church but a Bishop was at liberty to have more than one wife. For if he intended it to be a general prohibition, why should he confine it to the Bishop, why did he not make it general?"
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