1 Timothy 3 KJV
Qualifications for Overseers and Deacons
1 Timothy Chapter 3: Qualifications for Overseers and Deacons
This chapter explores themes of Leadership. The 'mystery of godliness' creed in verse 16 forms a chiastic structure centering on Christ's manifestation in flesh and reception in glory, functioning as an early Christological hymn that bridges Jewish apocalyptic expectations with Gentile mission theology.
1his is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
8 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;
9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
10 And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless.
11 Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.
13 For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
14 These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly:
15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
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Did You Know?
The 'mystery of godliness' creed in verse 16 forms a chiastic structure centering on Christ's manifestation in flesh and reception in glory, functioning as an early Christological hymn that bridges Jewish apocalyptic expectations with Gentile mission theology.
The unique requirement that an overseer 'ruleth well his own house' draws on Aristotelian household management concepts but subverts them by tying domestic order directly to ecclesial authority, implying the church as an extended oikos rather than a separate institution.
The term 'doubletongued' (dilogos) applied to deacons appears nowhere else in Greek literature before this text, likely coined to denote duplicitous speech in commercial or patronage contexts common in Ephesian society.
By placing the qualifications for 'women' immediately after deacons with the connective 'likewise,' the passage creates deliberate structural ambiguity that early interpreters like Chrysostom read as evidence for an order of deaconesses rather than merely wives.
The omission of 'apt to teach' from deacon qualifications while retaining it for overseers reflects a deliberate two-tier leadership model in the Pastoral Epistles, distinguishing administrative fidelity from didactic authority amid emerging proto-orthodox teaching crises.