Qualifications for Overseers and Deacons

Here is a trustworthy saying:(A) Whoever aspires to be an overseer(B) desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach,(C) faithful to his wife,(D) temperate,(E) self-controlled, respectable, hospitable,(F) able to teach,(G) not given to drunkenness,(H) not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome,(I) not a lover of money.(J) He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full[a] respect.(K) (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)(L) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited(M) and fall under the same judgment(N) as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders,(O) so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.(P)

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Timothy 3:4 Or him with proper

Qualifications of Church Leaders

This saying is trustworthy:[a](A) “If anyone aspires to be an overseer,(B) he desires a noble work.” An overseer,(C) therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible,(D) respectable, hospitable,(E) an able teacher,[b] not addicted to wine, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy(F) one who manages his own household competently, having his children under control with all dignity. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a new convert, or he might become conceited and fall into the condemnation of the Devil.(G) Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the Devil’s(H) trap.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Timothy 3:1 “This saying is trustworthy” could refer to 1Tm 2:15.
  2. 1 Timothy 3:2 Or hospitable, skillful in teaching