New Testament in a Year

Footnotes

1. 1 Timothy 3:1 Christian communities have multiplied and grown; the Church needs organization. Bishops (“overseers”) or presbyters (“elders”) preach, lead liturgical meetings, and govern the local Churches under the more or less close supervision of the Apostle or his delegates (Timothy at Ephesus, Titus in Crete). These authorities, who are carefully chosen, are aided by deacons, who are appointed to help the apostles in material matters (see Acts 6:1-6) and also in their missionary work (see Acts 8:5-13, 38): to take upon themselves the management of the organization and to bring help to the poor and the sick. It seems that some women, too, may have had similar tasks (v. 11; see Rom 16:1).

   ¹ 
   Thus, Paul sketches a hierarchy of the Church. To serve the Church, Paul demands solid human qualities on the part of candidates. People cannot proclaim the mystery of faith, i.e., announce that God saves the world through Jesus Christ, unless they live that faith. A fragment from a hymn of the time is used to celebrate this mystery: Incarnation, Resurrection, Mission, Ascension.

2. 1 Timothy 3:11 Women: this word could refer either to women deacons or to women who were the wives of deacons. Scholars usually opt for the first reference since there is no possessive (e.g., “their”) and since they are introduced by the same word as in v. 8 (“similarly . . . likewise”), indicating that women too could possess the ministry of deacon. See note on Rom 16:1, in which verse Paul sends greetings to “our sister Phoebe, who is a deaconess of the Church at Cenchreae.”
3. 1 Timothy 3:16 He was . . . vindicated by the Spirit: the holiness and divinity of Christ were made known in the Resurrection (see Rom 1:4). These six lines are regarded as a fragment of a hymn of the time.