1 Timothy 3

Notes

Ver. 1. And with respect to offices in the Christian church, it is certain that he who, having suitable qualifications, is inclined, from a regard to the glory of God and the edification of souls, to enter upon the office of a pastor or overseer in it, aims at a very honourable, important, and useful, though laborious office: 2. It is nevertheless necessary that you, and all others concerned in their admission, take care that their qualifications be truly proper and edifying. Every pastor or ruler in the Christian church ought to be of an unexceptionable moral character; must never be connected with more than one wife at once; must be very circumspect and diligent in his work; watchful against Satan and all his instruments, and over his own spirit, words, and actions, and for the souls of those committed to his charge. He ought to be very moderate in his appetites, passions, and pleasures; to be affable, courteous, prudent, and engaging in his behaviour; to be ready, according to his ability, to relieve the necessities of the poor, and entertain godly ministers, or others properly recommended; and should be furnished with a good stock of Christian knowledge and experience, that he may be capable of expressing his sentiments with freedom, clearness, and propriety, for the instruction of others, and for supporting and defending the truths of the gospel on all suitable occasions. 3. He must by no means be given to long or frequent drinking, nor be of a furious and quarrelsome temper; nor so fond of earthly riches as to be ready to procure them by unworthy means; but should be of a meek, calm, peaceable, and forbearing spirit: not abusive, noisy, and clamorous, in talking or disputing; nor covetous of what belongs to his neighbour; nor inordinately attached to the things of this world. 4. And if he have a family, he must be one who maintains a prudent authority over his children and servants, obliging them to submit to his lawful commands respecting either religion towards God or decent behaviour towards men. 5. For if a man do not govern his own family right, it cannot be expected that he has prudence or resolution enough to be a ruler in the more high and difficult affairs of the church of God, where everything must be conducted with decency and order. 6. Nor ought he to be a raw upstart; nor, in ordinary cases, one newly converted to the faith of Christ; lest, being lifted up with a high conceit of his own abilities, early honour, or popular applause, he should, through the instigation of Satan, fall by pride into eternal ruin, as the devil did. 7. Moreover, he ought to have a clear reputation among the unbelieving world around, whether Jews or Gentiles, who earnestly watch for the halting of church-officers, lest the stain of his character should bring a reproach upon the name, doctrine, and ways of the Lord, and so the devil seize an advantage against him, to the hurt of his own soul, the marring of his usefulness, the discredit of religion, the triumph of its adversaries, the grief of the godly, and the stumbling of young converts.—8. The deacons also, whose office it is to manage the public funds of the church, ought to be men of a grave, decent, and venerable behaviour, and of good report; not given to speak one thing while they mean another, nor to talk contrarily at different times to serve a turn; not indulgers of themselves in the too free use of intoxicating liquors, which would blemish their character, and render them unfit for their work; not of an avaricious temper, that might tempt them to withhold from the poor, or apply it to their own use. 9. And as to their religious character, they ought to be steadfast adherents to the pure, unmixed, but mysterious and incomprehensible truths of the gospel, with all the sincerity of a heart purified by faith, and purged from an evil conscience by the blood of Christ. 10. And it is proper that their qualifications, moral and religious, be well tried and manifest before they be admitted to their office. 11. And if they are in a married state, their wives, for the credit of religion and of their husbands, ought to be of a grave, chaste, and decent behaviour, free from all lightness of temper, words, dress, or deportment; not slanderers, nor injurious tale-bearers, but watchful over their tongues and tempers; moderate in eating and drinking, and frugal in their management; faithful to God, to their husbands, and every trust committed to them. 12. The deacons also, as well as the pastors, must have but one wife at a time, and should avoid all unlawful divorces; and, for an example to others, should rule their own children and servants in a truly Christian manner. 13. And to these things they ought carefully to attend, as their faithful and prudent execution of their office, for a considerable time, will render them highly respected in the church, and increase their gifts and graces answerably to their station, and will embolden them to an open, free, and courageous profession of the doctrines of Christ, and of their faith in him, by which they have derived grace from him, to render them faithful in fulfilling their trust for his glory. —14. These things I write for the present direction of you or others, hoping, ere long, to see you at Ephesus, or somewhere else, and give you further instructions. 15. But if our interview should be deferred beyond my expectation, this letter will serve to direct your behaviour in that religious society which the only living and true God has formed and established, for his own spiritual residence and honour, of credible professors of his truths, animated by his Spirit; and which holds forth and maintains the doctrines of the glorious gospel upon which it is founded, and of which Jesus Christ is the sum and substance. 16. For, without all controversy, that doctrine which furnishes us for and animates us to the strictest piety towards God and love to our neighbour, is a great, glorious, and incomprehensible mystery, viz. that the eternal Son of God, one in nature and equal in glory to his Father and blessed Spirit, was manifested in his incarnation and debasement in this world; and having honoured God's law and justice by his obedience, sufferings, and death, was set apart and made of God as the Saviour and righteous Head of his church; and being by the Holy Ghost raised from the dead for our justification, was honourably attested in the miraculous confirmation and success of the gospel; and as angels had all along admired and ministered to him, they did, in his resurrection and ascension, and will at his great coming, attend him; and being raised from the dead, and ascended to heaven, he was, is, and will be, preached to both Jews and Gentiles, and by faith received by multitudes of them, particularly the latter, as their only and all-sufficient Saviour: yea, as he was gloriously received up to his Father's right hand to receive all glory and power, so he has been and shall be gloriously received, owned, and professed by multitudes under the glorious dispensation of his Spirit; and shall, after his judging the world, be solemnly introduced, with all his mystical body, into all the inexpressible glories and felicities of the eternal state.

Ver. 2. Blameless. Furnishing the enemies of the gospel no just cause of accusation.—The husband of one wife. Not conforming to the Jewish or heathen custom of having more at once than one wife, or having married another after an arbitrary repudiation of a former wife. Some have supposed the apostle to prohibit a bishop from marrying a second time, arguing chiefly from the parallel phrase ch. 5. 9. The authority of expositors, however, is in favour of the former view.—Sober. Rather, 'sober-minded,' prudent, able to govern his passions.—Of good behaviour. Grave and decorous in his speech and manners. C.

Ver. 3. Not given to wine. Not attached to wine as matter of habit. The word also signifies what is generally consequent upon inordinate drinking—'imperious, abusive, insolent.'—No striker. Not quarrelsome. C.

Ver. 15, 16. Were not translations in favour of the present punctuation, the meaning would seem more plain, and the structure of ver. 15 and 16 more natural, by adopting the following change, viz. 'But if I tarry long, (I write) 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 the ground of truth, and great, without controversy, is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh,' &c. C.

Ver. 16. God was manifest in the flesh. In favour of this reading it has been irrefragably proved by Matthæi and Burton (Testam. p. 141, &c.), that it is, upon the whole, supported by the testimony of the Greek fathers: and the false reasoning of Griesbach and Belsham has been fully exposed in the British Critic, v. ii. p. 297. See also Bengel, Renck, Bull, Magee, Nolan, and Henderson; the last of whom, in particular, appears to have settled the criticism of the question for ever. C.

Reflections.—Highly should we esteem the Christian church, which, animated by his Spirit, is the peculiar dwelling of the Most High. Yea, God, in infinite mercy, has provided for her officers to manage both her spiritual and temporal concerns. Earnestly then should such labour for the important qualifications of solid experience, knowledge, blameless character, faithfulness, gravity, generosity, and affability; and be the most exemplary in the regular government of their passions, appetites, tongues, and families. And the more faithful, prudent, and diligent they are in discharging the duties of their office, they will be the more honoured in the church, and bold in their holy profession.—While the church holds forth and maintains the truth, upon what a glorious mystery of godliness is she herself founded! Unfathomable is the depth, importance, and glory of it, as it shines forth in God manifested in the flesh, to make atonement for sin, and mediate between God and men: raised from the dead, received up into glory, and attested by the Holy Ghost, in the glory of his person and cause, and of believers in him; beheld, witnessed, ministered to, and adored by angels; preached far and wide to and believed on by multitudes of Jews and Gentiles; exalted to his Father's right hand, and to be head over all things to the church; and at last, after the final conquest of the world, entering heaven with all his angels and ransomed saints!