1 Timothy 3 – Shortcode

Qualifications for Overseers

1. This saying is trustworthy: if any man aspires to an overseer’s office,¹“an overseer’s office” is one word in Greek which comes from a Greek word meaning “to stare intently”.  While our English word “overseer” focuses on authority, the Greek word focuses on “keeping an eye on” those allotted to your charge in the sense of caring for them. he longs for a good work.
2. Therefore, it’s required for an overseer to be above reproach, a married man who isn’t promiscuous,²“a married man who isn’t promiscuous” is more literally “a one woman man”.  Because the Greek word for “man” can also mean “husband”, and since “woman” can also mean “wife”, many take this to mean “husband of one wife”.  However, that’s impossible because of 1 Timothy 5:9, which (using the same words) speaks of widows “*being a one man woman”.  See note on that verse.  A widow by definition can’t be the “wife of one husband” because her husband is dead.  Others have suggested this is a prohibition on second marriages, but Paul explicitly allows remarriage in 1 Corinthians 7.  Still others have suggested this is a prohibition on polygamy, but this is extremely unlikely because polygamy was already a serious criminal offense in the Roman Empire (our word “romantic” originally meant “to be like the Romans”; i.e. monogamous.)  Despite the Roman aversion to more than one wife, they embraced the practice of extra-marital lovers for both men and women.  Thus the phrase “one woman man” was an idiom, probably borrowed from the Latin “univera” (“one man”, which was used on Roman gravestones to indicate a woman who’d never had sex outside of marriage) and applied to men.  Further: this list would contain no prohibition on sexual sins if “one woman man” isn’t an idiom.  The idiom implies the man is married, but doesn’t guarantee it; again, see footnote on 1 Timothy 5:9. temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, willing and able to teach,
3. not given to wine, not pugnacious, but gentle and just³“gentle and just” is one word in Greek.  It refers to a sense of justice that isn’t strict in the sense of the letter of the law, but it conforms to the spirit of the law instead.  Thus, it’s “gentle” in its application., peaceable, without the love of money,
4. managing his own house well, having his children in submission with all dignity,
5. (but if a man doesn’t *know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of a church of God?)
6. and not a new convert, so he doesn’t become puffed up and fall into judgement like the Accuser.
7. And it’s also required for him to have a good reputation from men outside the church so he might not fall to slander and a snare of the Accuser.

Qualifications for Deacons

8. Likewise, deacons must be dignified, not double-tongued, not turning to much wine, not fond of dishonest gain,
9. but holding to the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.
10. And let these men also be tested first, then let them serve after being found blameless.
11. (Likewise, women must be dignified, temperate, not slanderous, and faithful in all things.)
12. Deacons must be married men who aren’t promiscuous,⁴“married men who aren’t promiscuous” see note on verse 2. managing their children and their own households well.
13. For the men who served well acquire good standing for themselves and much confidence in the faith; the faith in Jesus the Anointed.

Why Paul wrote

14. I write these things to you, hoping to come to you in haste.
15. But I wrote so if I delay, you might *know how it’s required to conduct yourself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God; a pillar and support of the truth.
16. And as all agree: great is the mystery of godliness; He who was revealed in the flesh, was declared righteous in the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed among the nations, was believed in the world, and was taken up in glory.