The word [is] faithful if any one aspires to exercise oversight, he desires a good work.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
The overseer then must be irreproachable, husband of one wife, sober, discreet, decorous, hospitable, apt to teach;
This verse lists the kind of man who may take oversight, and every item is about character and home life rather than platform ability. So what does "overseer" mean, and why does the test fall on a man's character instead of his gifts?
The word itself is simple. One writer takes it back to its parts and counts where it appears:
The meaning of the word bishop is — one who looks on, one who oversees, one who exercises a practical care for the spiritual welfare of the saints. The Greek word for bishop is episkopos (epi, on; skopos, look on or consider). It occurs five times in the Scriptures, once referring to our Lord (1 Peter 2:25), three times translated bishop (Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:7), and once translated overseer (Acts 20:28).
Another writer prefers a plainer English word, and notes how many held the role in one place:
"Bishopric," or "office of a bishop," misleads here. The modern office, which most people know, is very different from what it was at the start. Each assembly had several overseers, and their governing duties were shared and limited — however valuable those duties were, and worthy of honour in their place. So it seems best and wisest, as well as most consistent, to call the function "oversight" and the man an "overseer."
Nothing on the list is a talent. The difference separates two kinds of men God uses:
Moral qualities, not gifts, are the requirement, along with personal or family circumstances of good report. So being husband of one wife was looked for, as well as a character free from reproach. God has been pleased to bless many evangelists who were once shameless sinners in violence or in corruption! The overseer could not be such a man.
The phrase spoke straight into a world where a convert might arrive with more than one wife. Commentators read the clause against that background, and one draws out its long effect:
To dismiss his wives would be wrong. But the Holy Spirit, by such an instruction, applied a principle that was bound to undermine polygamy in every form — and in fact it did. A man with two or more wives could not be put in charge as elder or deacon, and that carried a clear censure. Such a man was not refused as one who confessed Christ, nor forbidden to preach the gospel, because that might be his sad situation at home.
Older translations open the list with "blameless," the ESV with "above reproach." One writer explains it, then corrects a misreading of the next phrase:
He must be blameless — his moral character must be irreproachable, with nothing whatever against him. "He must be the husband of one wife." This has been explained as excluding everyone who had been married twice. That is incorrect. It may refer to men who, as pagans, had married more than one woman.
The ESV says "sober-minded, self-controlled." Older translations say "vigilant" and "sober." One writer sorts the words out:
The word for "vigilant" here is better rendered sober, or careful. The word for "sober" in the Authorized Version has the force of "a sound mind." His behaviour is to be orderly, and in his home he is to practise hospitality.
Hospitality sounds warm until you count what it takes:
Peter gives a striking exhortation: "Show hospitality to one another without grumbling" (1 Peter 4:9). Why "without grumbling"? It may be that the apostle, as a married man, recognised that hospitality costs money and involves work and self-sacrifice. Extra food must be bought, sleeping space provided, and extra plates, knives, forks and spoons washed up. So "without grumbling" is a very happy exhortation.
The last item is not the gift of teaching. One writer weighs the Greek word:
The word didaktikos is not the gift of teaching in the strict sense. It means fit to pass on the truth he may have. It is a practical qualification like all the others, not a specific gift.
It does mean carrying the word into the daily work of caring for people:
It was desirable, not that they should be teachers as a gift (pastor and teacher are joined under one head in Ephesians 4), but that they should be "apt to teach." They should be able to carry the word with them in their oversight and use it — to shepherd and feed, not merely supervise.
- Overseer. The title describes work, not rank. It means a man who looks on and cares for the spiritual welfare of the saints, and each assembly had several of them.
- Character. The list tests moral qualities, not gifts. A man God blesses as an evangelist may still be unfit for oversight.
- Home. "Husband of one wife" kept a man with two wives out of office, but not out of Christ. That censure undermined polygamy everywhere.
- Door. A sound mind and orderly behaviour show at the front door — and hospitality costs money, work and self-sacrifice.
- Word. "Able to teach" is fitness to pass on the truth he has, so that he shepherds and feeds rather than merely supervises.
not given to excesses from wine, not a striker, but mild, not addicted to contention, not fond of money,
Almost every word in this verse is a negative. It names four things an overseer must not be: drunken, violent, quarrelsome, greedy for money. Why does God describe the men who care for His people by what they refuse to do?
Older English translations carry an extra clause here. One writer explains where it came from. He also asks whether the Greek word behind "brawler" points back to wine:
In 1 Timothy 3:3 the revisers of the English Bible rightly leave out "not greedy of filthy lucre," which came in from Titus 1. The caution here follows in "no lover of money." But is there no intended reference to disorder through too much wine in paroinos, which they give simply as "brawler," especially as "striker" comes next?
The negatives are not random. Each one marks a place where a man must first control himself:
If a man did not control himself in the matter of wine, he could have no place in the control of the assembly. The same was true of being "a striker," which involves a lack of control over his own temper. In the same way, he must not be a lover of money, for this shows a lack of control over his own selfishness. Patience, on the other hand, involves having rule over one's spirit. A contentious attitude is the destruction of such things.
Why would anyone need to tell an overseer not to get drunk? One writer points to where these believers had come from:
I need not dwell on what he was not to be. I dare say many will think it a strange instruction to tell such a man that he was not to be a drunkard. We forget that the assembly had only just been formed. These believers had only just been delivered from the degrading and demoralising conditions of the pagan world around them.
The ESV word here is "gentle." Older translations say "patient." Neither one carries the whole Greek word:
Epieikes (from epi and eiko, to yield) is the word translated "patient" in 1 Timothy 3:3. It stands there next to amachos, "not a brawler," or "not addicted to contention"… No single English word can carry it. It means fairness, as against the strict letter of the law. So it is a readiness to give up all strictness and severity, even where the law would justly be on your side. It is the opposite of standing on one's rights: "mild," "gentle." … The Greek Old Testament uses epieikes of the Lord in Psalm 86:5 for what answers to our "ready to forgive."
Why does this list matter in daily practice? Because caring for people wears patience thin:
It is a good work to care for the well-being of God's people. But qualifications are needed, and among them we find "no striker but patient, not a brawler." And why? Because such men will find that serving God's people taxes their patience greatly. If the spirit of meekness does not keep them, they soon become irritated, and the result is striking or brawling. Then, instead of winning back anyone who needs restoring, they only make bad worse.
One writer shows what happens when money gets a grip on the service of God:
Again people have turned religion into a money-making concern, so much so that it has often driven away the very person who wanted to seek God… Paul's first letter to Timothy gives us the instructions we need. Words like these stand out in that letter: "not a lover of money"… "godliness with contentment is great gain." If words like these govern us, they will keep us from this snare.
Does the list still apply, when no apostle is appointing anyone today?
There is no provision for appointing bishops or elders after the days of the apostles. Yet Scripture carefully gives us the moral and spiritual qualifications for such men. That shows that, while no one can make an official appointment today, men with these qualifications may still be found. In an assembly with serious and godly older brothers, who have the qualities listed in 1 Timothy and Titus, they should be gladly recognised, and their words and advice should carry weight and be helpful.
- Control. Wine, temper, and money each test whether a man governs himself. A man who cannot rule his own appetites has no place in the care of others.
- Control tested. Serving people wears patience thin. That is where the ban on striking and brawling proves itself.
- Control's fruit. The word behind "gentle" (epieikes) means yielding instead of insisting on your rights. Psalm 86:5 uses it of the Lord, who is "ready to forgive."
- Control's failure. When patience breaks, the man who meant to restore only makes bad worse. Where money rules, it drives away the very people seeking God.
- Control recognised. No one appoints elders today. But where these qualities show, own such men gladly and let their counsel carry weight.
conducting his own house well, having [his] children in subjection with all gravity;
These verses list what must be true of a man before the church trusts him with oversight. Here the test moves indoors: why should the way a man runs his own home decide his fitness for spiritual care?
This test is not about the ability to preach or teach. A man may have a real gift and still fail it.
It is plain that this is not at all a question of spiritual gift. A man might have a good gift and yet not have a well-ordered house. Perhaps the wife does not behave well, or the children are unruly. Whatever his gift, if the wife or the family were a dishonour, he could not be an overseer. (This is the simple and true meaning of "bishop.")
A man's own home shows whether he can keep order anywhere else.
Moreover, his own house must be orderly, his children in subjection, for this was the very proving ground of his ability to keep order in the assembly.
The Greek word behind "gravity" (ESV: "dignity") is not reserved for leaders. It runs through these letters as something asked of everyone.
Do you know today a single truly semnos man, except the Man Christ Jesus? And yet, the deacons and their wives, and also the aged men were all to be semnos. The overseers especially are to have this quality; and Titus was to show the young men an example of it, in his own life. So we see that old and young, men and women, all are to show forth a semnos life.
The wording assumes a settled family life, not a theory about leadership.
He was also to be a man who ruled his house well, with his children in subjection. These instructions show that the overseer was an elder — married, with a home of his own, and with children.
Family sorrow is not the disqualifier. What Paul has in view is a household that brings the Lord's name into public disrepute.
An elder or overseer needed more than a suitable gift for his work. In his family and his circumstances he also had to be free from any appearance of scandal on the name of the Lord. He must have a good report, and be morally irreproachable in himself and his household. There might be trial or sorrow — few families were without both. But the concern here is something that damaged the public standing of the assembly. For this very reason the main thing for local oversight was moral weight.
A home out of control points back to something in the man himself.
It is important, too, to see that a man who could not rule his own house and have his children in subjection was not fit to guide in the Church of God. In that case there was some lack in his character, some weakness, or an inability to govern himself. I fear that this plain instruction is often set aside. We have seen men prominent in overseership whose households were entirely beyond their control and a scandal in the world. Only disaster can come from disregarding Scripture.
A Christian home takes its pattern from God's own house.
What I want to press on every Christian head of a house is this. The whole thing, from one end to the other, should bear the stamp of God's presence and God's authority. Every member should openly acknowledge God. Everything should be run so that it draws out the confession, "God is here." And this is not so that people praise the head of the house for his influence and good management. It is simply so that God may be glorified. This is not too much to aim at. We should never settle for less. A Christian's house should be a miniature of the house of God — not so much in the actual state of each member, as in the moral order and godly arrangement of the whole.
Apostles and their delegates once appointed elders. So what use are these instructions now?
Today we have no apostles, and no apostolic delegates, to appoint elders. For anyone to claim such authority would be mere pretension… Still, we are to profit by these directions. From them we learn what qualities still show that a man is fitted to watch over the Lord's interests, and to guide others in keeping order and godliness in local assemblies.
- House first. Order in a man's own home is the proving ground of his ability to keep order in the assembly.
- House, not gift. Preaching ability cannot make up for a household that dishonours the Lord. Oversight rests on moral weight, not on gift.
- House with dignity. Dignity is not an officer's badge — old and young, men and women are all called to that seriousness of life.
- House on display. Sorrow in a family is not the issue. What disqualifies a man is a household that publicly shames the Lord's name.
- House as a model. A Christian home should be a miniature of God's house, so ordered that people say, "God is here."
(but if one does not know how to conduct his own house, how shall he take care of the assembly of God?)
This verse sits inside Paul's list of qualifications for oversight in the church, and it asks a question instead of giving a command. A man's record in the small circle of his own home tells you what to expect of him in God's church.
The link between household and assembly is not just an illustration. It is a test, and one writer says what the test measures.
His own house must be orderly, his children in subjection, for this was the very proving ground of his ability to keep order in the assembly.
Failure at home says something about the man himself, not just about his children. A second writer looks behind the disorder to the man.
It is important, too, to see that a man who could not rule his own house and have his children in subjection was not fit to guide in the Church of God. There was clearly, in that case, some lack in his character, some weakness, or perhaps an inability to govern himself.
The list in this chapter asks about character, not ability. William Kelly names what it looks for, and why failure at home settles the matter.
It is a question of government in the assembly... Moral qualities, not gifts, are what is required, along with personal and family circumstances that are well spoken of... and used to rule his household well, with children subject in all seriousness. For there too practical inconsistency would be fatal; and all the more, since God's assembly needs far more care than one's own house.
Oversight is not the same thing as public ministry. Writers warn against mixing the two.
Many believers do not have a proper sense of where ministry comes from. So in their minds, they have confused the exercise of spiritual gifts with local offices. Now an elder, or a deacon, might be a gifted man or not. Ministry is the exercise of a spiritual gift. It flows from the Lord in glory and belongs to the Church at large. These appointments, though, were purely local.
Paul's word for caring for the church is a rare one. Where else it appears shows what the work involves.
Many have pointed out that the word translated "take care of" in this passage appears only once elsewhere in the New Testament. It occurs in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. There the Lord pictures him going to the wounded, half-dead man whom thieves had attacked. He pours oil and wine into his wounds, at his own cost, of course. He sets him on his animal, while he himself has to walk. He brings him to an inn (Luke 10:34). What a model for those called to eldership! This is how they are to "take care of the church of God." It will cost them something. It will certainly mean self-denial.
Paul names the object of this care: God's church. That ownership changes how any man may act in it.
Since the assembly is God's house, not man's, Timothy was to learn how to conduct himself in it. Everyone would call it an outrageous intrusion if someone else set the rules for a house, unless the master had clearly authorised it.
The apostles and their delegates made these appointments. That office is gone, but the qualities in this list still matter.
There is no provision for appointing bishops or elders after apostolic days. Yet the moral and spiritual qualifications for such men are carefully given to us. That shows that, although no official appointment can be made today, men with these qualifications may still be found.
Hamilton Smith applies the same test to God's people as a whole.
Departure from God has been followed by division among leaders — unfaithfulness to one another... This in turn has led many to turn aside to the world. And unholy alliances with the world have brought the world's unholy practices into the family life of God's people. And if we have been wrong in our own homes, it is little wonder that we have been unable to govern in the house of God.
- Care begins at home. The household is the proving ground. Order kept there shows a man can keep order in the assembly.
- Care exposes character. An unruly home points to a lack in the man — weakness, or failure to govern himself.
- Care costs. The word for "take care of" is the Samaritan's word: oil, wine, his own animal, his own money, self-denial.
- Care is not ownership. It is God's house, and only its Owner sets the rules for it.
- Care is recognised, not claimed. No one appoints elders today, but these qualities are still visible — and where homes fail, God's house grows weak.
not a novice, that he may not, being inflated, fall into [the] fault of the devil.
Paul is listing what a man must be before he takes oversight in a local church. Here the test is not talent but time: a new believer is not ready, because pride ruined Satan and can ruin him too.
Older translations call this man a "novice." The word behind both is a picture from a garden:
The Greek word neophutos literally means 'newly planted'. It describes those who had come to faith only a short time before. They were not to be made bishops or overseers, in case pride lifted them up and they fell into the condemnation of the devil.
This is not about age. Another writer shows how the new importance itself feeds pride:
He must not be a novice — someone who may be well on in years, yet is only a beginner in the things of God. Otherwise pride in his new-found importance may lift him up, and he may fall into the very fault that overthrew Satan at the beginning.
Nothing here stops a new believer from speaking for Christ. Paul is guarding one role:
A new convert may begin to speak for the gospel as soon as he has believed. But fitness for oversight, for being an elder, needed time and a practical walk in the truth. How often this has proved true: an assembly made much of a young convert with natural gifts, and then he became lifted up and wanted the first place, like Diotrephes in 3 John.
A quick mind can take in a great deal of truth in a short time. That is where the trap lies:
Ability and knowledge in a young man are no substitute for the soul-history of an elder. Knowledge is not wisdom. Scripture tells us that "knowledge puffs up" (1 Cor. 8:1) — that is, simply picking up the terms of truth. But it also says that we go on "increasing in the knowledge of God" (Col. 1:10). That is not knowledge about God, but personal heart-knowledge of Him, and it comes so largely out of soul-history.
The last words of the verse look back to what ruined the devil. One writer starts with the word translated "condemnation":
The word translated "condemnation" means the ground, the charge, or the matter of accusation on which condemnation is passed. (See Luke 23:40; Luke 24:20.) So this passage gives a remarkable insight into the cause of the devil's fall. He was puffed up with pride. He was tempted either by the position he held or by his own beauty and excellence (see Ezekiel 28:11-17), and for this reason judgment fell on him.
Commentators differ here. One reads the phrase as naming the devil's sin; another reads it as the sentence the man would share:
Pride lifted the devil up and he fell (see Ezek. 28:13-19). In the same way, a young man might be puffed up by the position and the place of importance that this office was bound to give him in the local assembly. I take "fall into the condemnation of the devil" to mean that he would face the same judgment as Satan — cast down, as Satan was, for his pride.
Timothy himself was young and gifted — yet Paul wrote this warning to him:
The call of God and the gift of Christ can rest on a young man like Timothy. Yet Paul addressed the words "not a novice" to Timothy himself. His youth was not to encourage others to act — others who had neither the gift nor the grace given to him. And there is a natural fitness and beauty when the young take the place of subjection instead of rule. This is sadly overlooked sometimes, it seems to me. "Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5.)
- Newly planted. "Novice" means newly planted. It marks a recent convert, which is not the same as a young man; someone can be well on in years and still be a beginner in the things of God.
- Testimony now, oversight later. A new believer may speak for the gospel the day he believes. Oversight needs time and a practical walk in the truth.
- Knowledge puffs up. Picking up the terms of truth is not the same as knowing God. Ability is no substitute for the soul-history of an elder.
- Satan's own ruin. Pride was the charge on which judgment fell on the devil. The same pride can bring the same fall. Commentators differ on whether the phrase names his sin or his sentence.
- Humility is the safeguard. God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. So there is a real beauty when the young take the place of subjection rather than rule.
But it is necessary that he should have also a good testimony from those without, that he may fall not into reproach and [the] snare of the devil.
The last qualification for an overseer looks outside the church, making the opinion of outsiders a test of his fitness to lead. Why should their judgment matter, and what trap opens when it goes bad?
Some treat the opinion of unbelievers as irrelevant to spiritual service. One writer answers that God commands the opposite.
Some people say, You must not listen to what the world says. God bids us do so. To say the opposite is a completely false principle. God's Assembly is the temple of the Holy Spirit. So the man who is going to fill an official position in it must be well thought of by outsiders. The world reads us up and down as clearly as it can. In the long run its judgment is fair — whether we are honest, straightforward Christians, or whether there is trickery in our history. If a man were not careful in his walk, Satan would be able to trip him up, and the world would most likely know about it. If a man gets a position in the Church of God, Satan will try even harder to trip him up, and that brings dishonour to the Lord. We must all walk carefully.
One writer locates this report in a man's work and ordinary contacts.
Then the overseer is to have a good report from those outside. That is, his conduct in business must commend him as a Christian. So must his conduct with tradespeople, and with the men and women he meets in the ordinary dealings of life. Of course it is possible to be acceptable to worldly people by being worldly yourself. But when a Christian man or woman deals with the world, while keeping true separation, their conduct should commend Christianity.
The report rests on character, and that character shows in more than one place.
This speaks volumes. A man will gain this good report only as he is just and gracious, upright and generous — one who displays the character of true Christian profession. The qualities that make an overseer well regarded by the world are the same qualities that make for peace and good government at home and in the Church of God.
One writer marks off this danger from the one named before it.
The second thing is that the overseer "must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil." Here the meaning is quite different. Suppose a man who held the place of rule in the assembly was not well thought of by those outside. He would soon bring reproach on himself — not so much for the name of Christ as for his own bad reputation. And Satan would not be slow to come in and use this as a snare to entangle his feet.
Another writer names the earlier danger, then shows what a bad reputation does to a man.
We see what "the condemnation of the devil" was: he exalted himself at the thought of his own importance. "The snare of the devil" is another thing. If a man is not well thought of, he will yield somewhere to the enemy, because he will not dare to stand up to him boldly.
An overseer has to correct others. The enemy aims to take that ability away from him.
The snare of the enemy is to trap the believer into some questionable conduct before the world, so that he can no longer deal with questionable conduct among the saints.
One writer names who else is dragged in, and who enjoys it.
If his dealings with the world are questionable, he would himself fall into reproach and involve the assembly with him, if he had any place of eldership. And here the Devil lays his snare for him, because the Devil gloats over being able to speak against the child of God and the assembly of God.
Watchfulness is therefore not optional, because prominence increases exposure.
The world has sharp eyes and quickly hurls reproach if there is the least ground for it; and to accomplish this the devil lays his snares.
- Outsiders judge. The world watches, and over time it judges fairly whether a Christian is honest or crooked. God tells us to take that verdict seriously.
- Business proves it. A man earns this report where he does business and meets ordinary people. He must not buy it by becoming worldly.
- One character, three spheres. Justice, grace, uprightness and generosity win respect outside. The same qualities bring peace to a home and order to the church.
- Bad repute disarms. Disgrace is not the end of the danger. It is the door to it. A man who is not well thought of will give way somewhere, because he no longer dares to face the enemy.
- The snare spreads. Caught in questionable conduct before the world, he can no longer deal with it among believers. His reproach then spreads to the whole assembly.