They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.
This verse asks deacons for more than good behaviour — it asks what they hold inside. Two questions follow: what is this "mystery," and why must a clear conscience hold it?
A secret now told
The word "mystery" here does not point to something confusing or unknowable. It means truth God once kept to Himself and has now made public. (The quotations below use an older translation, which reads "in a pure conscience.")
William KellyIn Scripture "mystery" never means something that cannot be explained or understood. It means what no one could grasp until God revealed it in the New Testament... Mysteries are New Testament revelations. They are truths God kept to Himself in Old Testament times and has now revealed in the New Testament. So in verse 9 here the apostle speaks of the mystery of the faith. What God has revealed through His own Son by the Spirit is for faith to receive now.
What the faith contains
So we can name what this secret holds, and who can see it.
An Outline of Sound WordsOnly when the risen Christ sent out the gospel did life and incorruptibility come to light. Other truths stayed secret until Christ sent His Spirit to reveal them: the place the Gentiles were to have in divine blessing, the place the Son of God was to occupy as Head over all things, the call of the church, and many more. They are still a mystery to the man of the world. Only those who have trusted Christ know the mystery of the faith; and this we are to hold, whether deacons or not, with a good conscience.
Held, not preached
Deacons had a practical job, not a teaching one. So what does the verse require of them?
An Outline of Sound WordsDeacons looked after the outward, practical matters of the assembly. They were not called to make the mystery of the faith known to others. But they were required to hold it, and to hold it with a good conscience. The faith had to show itself in their lives. That was the evidence that they held it in the conscience.
Correct belief is not the test
A man can believe the right things and live badly. That combination is what this clause rules out.
Hamilton SmithTo hold correct doctrine is not enough. Right belief without a pure conscience would show how little power the truth has over the man who holds it. It would also show how little power he would have to affect others.
What happens to truth when the conscience is left out of it?
Numerical Bible NotesSo faith and conscience belong together, as we have already seen. Mere orthodoxy is useless everywhere. Suppose the conscience is not under the authority of the truth. Then the truth can only be a burden to a person, instead of the blessing it should be.
Judging what cannot be seen
No one can see inside another person's conscience. So how could anyone tell whether a deacon met this standard?
William KellyA person may also hold high truth while living a habitually low life. This could not be so in a deacon, since it is unworthy of any Christian. He was called to hold the mystery of the faith "in a pure conscience." Others might not be able to judge the state of his conscience directly. But a disorderly life is the clearest proof that a man's conscience cannot be pure. Where that was clear, others were allowed — indeed obliged — to judge it.
Why doctrine slips
The verse also explains how people who once loved the truth let it go.
Henry Allan IronsideMany people seem to think of doctrinal error as a small, unimportant thing. But people do give up a line of truth they once enjoyed in the Spirit's power, truth that once controlled heart and life. Look closely, and you will usually find that moral evil of some kind was behind it. When men get out of touch with holiness, they lose their grip of the truth; or rather, the truth loses power over them. The third chapter of 1 Timothy describes the deacons as "holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience" (verse 9). This stresses that the conscience must be active if we are to keep up the testimony of the Lord and guard the good deposit.
Not for officials only
The standard belongs to everyone; the position only raises the stakes of failing it.
William KellyEven deacons must hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. It binds every believer just as much. But if those who hold office were allowed to be slack, what would stumble the world, grieve believers, and dishonour the Lord more than that?
Summary
- Revealed — A "mystery" is not confusion. It is truth God kept back in Old Testament times and has now told out through His Son by the Spirit.
- Received — Its content is the gospel and what came with it: life and incorruptibility, blessing for the Gentiles, Christ as Head, the call of the church. Only those who trust Christ know it.
- Held — Deacons do not have to preach this truth. They have to keep it, and keep it in a clean conscience.
- Shown — No one can see another person's conscience. The life is the evidence: a disorderly life proves the conscience is not pure.
- Kept — Let the conscience go, and the doctrine goes with it. This applies to every believer, not to office-holders alone.