Book of Common Prayer

The character of a bishop

3 Here is a trustworthy saying: if someone is eager for the work of overseeing God’s people, the task they seek is a fine one. ² The bishop must be beyond reproach. He must not have more than one wife. He must be temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, a good teacher. ³ He must not be a heavy drinker, or violent, but must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not in love with money. ⁴ He must be good at managing his own household, with his children being subject to him with all godliness. ⁵ (After all, if a man doesn’t know how to run his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?) ⁶ He must not be a recent convert, in case he gets puffed up and falls into the devil’s condemnation. ⁷ In addition, he must have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he may not incur reproach and fall into the devil’s snare.

The character of deacons

⁸ In the same way, deacons must be serious-minded, not the sort of people who say one thing today and another tomorrow, not heavy drinkers, not eager for shameful gain. ⁹ They must hold on to the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. ¹⁰ They must first be tested; then, when they have been found without reproach, they may serve as deacons. ¹¹ The womenfolk, too, should be serious-minded, not slanderers, but temperate and faithful in all things. ¹² Deacons should have only one wife, and should be well in charge of their children and their own households. ¹³ Those who serve well as deacons, you see, gain a good platform for themselves to speak out boldly in the faith which is in Messiah Jesus.

The mystery of godliness

¹⁴ I’m writing this to you in the hope that I’ll be able to come to you in the near future. ¹⁵ But, if I’m delayed, this will help you to know how people should behave in God’s household, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and firm foundation of the truth. ¹⁶ Indeed, the mystery of godliness is certainly great:

¹⁸ So Jesus said, “What is God’s kingdom like? What shall we compare it with? ¹⁹ It’s like a mustard seed that someone took and placed in his garden. It grew, and became a tree, and the birds of the sky made nests in its branches.”

²⁰ And again he said, “What shall we say God’s kingdom is like? ²¹ It’s like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until the whole thing was leavened.”

Entering through the narrow door

²² Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he went, making his way towards Jerusalem.

²³ “Master,” somebody said to him, “will there be only a few that are saved?”

²⁴ “Struggle hard,” Jesus replied, “to get in by the narrow gate. Let me tell you: many will try to get in and won’t be able to. ²⁵ When the householder gets up and shuts the door—at that moment you will begin to stand outside and knock at the door and say, ‘Master, open the door for us.’ Then he will say in response, ‘I don’t know where you’ve come from.’ ²⁶ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate with you and drank with you, and you taught in our streets!’ ²⁷ And he will say to you, ‘I don’t know where you people are from. Be off with you, you wicked lot.’

²⁸ “That’s where you’ll find weeping and gnashing of teeth: when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in God’s kingdom, and you yourselves thrown out. ²⁹ People will come from East and West, from North and South, and sit down to feast in God’s kingdom. ³⁰ And, listen to this: some who are last will be first, and some of the first will be last.”