for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?
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 home as proving ground
The link between household and assembly is not just an illustration. It is a test, and one writer says what the test measures.
Leslie M. GrantHis 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.
A J PollockIt 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.
Moral qualities, not gifts
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.
William KellyIt 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.
W. T. P. WolstonMany 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.
What "take care of" means
Paul's word for caring for the church is a rare one. Where else it appears shows what the work involves.
BarkerMany 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.
God's church, not the overseer's
Paul names the object of this care: God's church. That ownership changes how any man may act in it.
C E StuartSince 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 test today
The apostles and their delegates made these appointments. That office is gone, but the qualities in this list still matter.
A J PollockThere 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.
Hamilton SmithDeparture 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.
Summary
- 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.