1 Timothy 3:1–16
Corporate conduct in the divine household is to be guided by leaders characterized by virtue, modeling exemplary traits for the faith and praxis of every member of the divine household.
This pericope moves from the Epistle’s most recent concern: who should not teach in the corporate context (2:12–15), to its current issue: who should (3:1–7).
It is notable that the elder list commences and concludes with the demand that an elder be “irreproachable” (3:2) and one who, having a good testimony with outsiders, “will not fall into disgrace” in their eyes (3:7). Thus the public image of the elder forms a bracket for all his qualifications. One might therefore see the elder list as one with eleven items, with the first, “above reproach,” being the heading.
What is striking in these lists is how the various items are to be demonstrated in the lives of all believers. Thus the role of leaders is to model godliness for the flock, as instructed in 1 Pet 5:3, and explicitly noted in in 1 Tim 1:16; 4:12. Leaders of God’s people and God’s people themselves are to be: “temperate” and “self-controlled” (1 Tim 3:2, 4, 11; for all believers, see 1 Tim 2:2, 9, 15; 3:4; Titus 2:4); “honorable” (1 Tim 3:2; for all children of God, see 3:9); “hospitable” (3:2; see 5:10; and Rom 12:13; Heb 13:2; 1 Pet 4:9); “able to teach” (1 Tim 3:2; see 2 Tim 2:2, 24; Heb 5:12); not drunkards (1 Tim 3:3, 8; see Eph 5:18; 1 Thess 5:7–8); “not pugnacious, but gentle” (1 Tim 3:3; see 2 Tim 2:14, 24; Titus 3:2, 9); avoiding love of money (1 Tim 3:3, 8; see 1 Pet 5:2; Heb 13:5); not malicious gossips (1 Tim 3:11; see Titus 2:3); and, keeping the faith/being faithful (1 Tim 3:11; see 1 Tim 1:12; 4:12; 2 Tim 2:2; Titus 1:6). Of course, “deacon/servant/minister” (1 Tim 3:8, 12) is applied to Jesus, himself, usually accompanied by the call for all believers to serve likewise (Matt 20:28; 23:11; Mark 9:35; 10:43–45; Luke 22:26; Rom 15:8; etc.).
The NT uses only two titles for offices—elders and deacons. Plurality of leadership among God’s people seems to be the norm in the New Testament (Acts 14:23; 1 Cor 12:28; Eph 4:11; Phil 1:1; 1 Thess 5:12–13; 1 Tim 5:17; Heb 13:7, 17, 24; etc.).
One may safely assume wives of deacons are not being considered in 3:11 (we never see anything on elders’ wives). In the Pastoral Epistles, one often finds “likewise” introducing a new, but related, idea (2:9; 3:8; Titus 2:3, 6), suggesting that, here, the move is not to deacon spouses, but to deaconesses.
Paul’s writing was apparently prompted by his travel delay and his inability to see the Ephesians in person soon (3:14), perhaps continuing his travel-related comment to Timothy in 1:3. But the issue of how one was to conduct oneself in the household of God—the guardian of truth, its “pillar and support” (3:15)—was of such crucial nature that, despite his postponed arrival, he decided to pen this Epistle to Timothy.
The six lines of 3:16 are closely parallel, suggesting a liturgical or hymnic source for that verse, perhaps an early creed dealing Christ—his incarnation, resurrection, ascension, proclamation, reception, and exaltation. It is this core “truth,” of which the church is the “pillar and support,” that drives godliness in its members, the Body of Christ, the people of God.
[For more details, see my commentary on 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus.]
Abe Kuruvilla is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and a dermatologist in private practice. His passion is to explore, explain, and exemplify preaching.