1 Timothy 3
Big idea: If the church is a household (v. 15), it needs qualified stewards. Paul lists the character — not the résumé — required of overseers and then deacons. The qualifications are overwhelmingly moral and relational: above reproach, self-controlled, hospitable, not a lover of money, tested at home. He caps the chapter by naming the stakes: this is how one behaves in God's house, the pillar of truth, whose center is the great mystery of godliness — Christ revealed in the flesh.
Chapter 3 answers ch. 2's implicit question — who leads? — with character lists, and its closing creed ('God was revealed in the flesh') is the truth the coming apostasy of ch. 4 will assault.
3:1–7 — Qualifications for overseers
A faithful saying: to aspire to oversight is to desire a good work. The overseer must be above reproach — faithful in marriage, temperate, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard or money-lover, gentle. He must manage his own household well, for that is the test of managing God's church, and not be a new convert, and must have a good reputation with outsiders.
1 This is a faithful saying: someone who seeks to be an overseer desires a good work. 2 The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching; 3 not a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; 4 one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence; 5 (for how could someone who doesn’t know how to rule his own house take care of God’s assembly?) 6 not a new convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. 7 Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.
3:8–13 — Qualifications for deacons
Deacons ('servants') likewise must be dignified, sincere, not addicted to wine or greedy, holding the faith with a clear conscience. They are to be tested first, then serve. Their wives (or the women who serve) must be dignified and faithful. Deacons too must be faithful in marriage and manage their households well; those who serve well gain good standing and boldness in faith.
8 Servants, in the same way, must be reverent, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for money, 9 holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 10 Let them also first be tested; then let them serve if they are blameless. 11 Their wives in the same way must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, and faithful in all things. 12 Let servants be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. 13 For those who have served well gain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
3:14–16 — The mystery of godliness
Paul explains why he writes: so that, whether he comes soon or is delayed, Timothy will know how to conduct himself in God's household, the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth. That truth is summed in a hymn-like creed: the mystery of godliness is great — God revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels, preached among nations, believed on, taken up in glory.
14 These things I write to you, hoping to come to you shortly, 15 but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 16 Without controversy, the mystery of godliness is great: God was revealed in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and received up in glory.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).