Chapter 3:1–16

The main part of this chapter speaks about the qualities of leaders within community - bishops, deacons.

  1. 3:1–7 - bishops
  2. 3:8–13 - deacons and deaconess (or deacons’ wives)

3:1–7 - bishops

There are many qualities of those, who want to aspire for becoming bishops:

  1. Blameless (1 Tim 5:7; 6:14) - of good standing in the eyes of others - see 1 Tim 3:7;
  2. Husband of one wife - against polygamy and adultery. The tradition interpreted it that after the death of his wife, he should not remarry.
  3. Temperate or sober - perhaps connected with verse 3 - that talks about not drinking to much, or perhaps, general sobriety in the matter of leading the community;
  4. Sensible - not acting based on emotions;
  5. Orderly - in his dealing with others - of good behavior
  6. Hospitable (Rom 12:13; Hebr 3:2; 1 Peter 4:9);
  7. Apt at teaching - important also today; in the presence of false teachers, one needs to know how to refute them;
  8. Not an excessive drinker;
  9. Not a striker - hitting others, fighting with others - but forbearing (perhaps offenses); meaning kind to all;
  10. Not contentious; he himself should calm down members of the community when they quarrel with each other;
  11. Not greedy
  12. Rule well his own household - family; if he cannot do that, then the more he cannot rule well the household of God;
  13. Cannot be newly baptized - pride might destroy him;
  14. Good opinion with those outside of the Church - Jews and pagan alike. Sinful life of a bishop, even if it was conducted before his conversation, could be discovered and brought against him and the Church. Today we have many such examples - sinful past destroys the names of bishops and priests.

Satan is a clever strategists; first he will lead us to temptation and then, he will mercilessly accuse us of committing sins he tempted us to do (Hiob 1:9–11; Rev 12:7–10).

3:8–13 - deacons

Deacons have similar requirements to bishops. The children of the bishops should be trained to be “honorable”, and deacons and deaconess (or the wife of the deacons) should be “honorable” (3:11).

New quality is not to be “double tongued” (Matt 5:27; James 5:12).

“Holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience” - faith (the dogmas related to our belief) and morals (Christian morality) need to go hand in hand.

Before being selected, the deacons should be proven first - what kind of test, how long should it be, we do not know (Acts 6:3).

But others say that:

“The meaning is not [either] that they should be given a trial appointment as deacon, but rather that the church should constantly be examining and testing the members of the congregation, so that whenever the need for selecting deacons arises, they will know what members are qualified for appointment.”[159]

3:11 - some say it is about deaconess others think it is about the wives of deacons. Probably, the first is right (Rom 16:1).

The apostle cited four special qualifications for these women.
1. “Dignified” means worthy of respect (Gr. semnas, v. 8).
2. “Not malicious gossips” (Gr. diabolos) describes those who do not slander others.
3. “Temperate” (Gr. nephalious) means well balanced (elder qualification #3, v. 2; cf. Titus 2:2).
4. “Faithful in all things” (Gr. pistas en pasin) means completely trustworthy;

3:12 - back to deacons

3:13 - rewards of the service of deacons

The rewards for faithful service as a deacon are two: a good reputation, and increased confidence in dealing with other people and with God (cf. Matt. 20:26–28; Mark 10:43–45). Presumably this confidence builds on a clear conscience.

3:14–16

Paul writes to many churches, he could not be present. Here, he plans to come soon, but if he was delayed, Timothy can use the letter as a guide.

The interesting point here is that the Church is called:

The pillar and ground of the truth.

It is very important statement, because by that time we do not have yet the New Testament and we do not yet have many dogmatic statement. It is not the Bible, but the Church that is the pillar and ground of the truth.

Church is also God’s family - another important statement. That is how Israel saw themselves.

3:16

The truth about Jesus Christ is presented as the heart mystery of godliness or piety - or life of faith.
The six strophes probably describe Christ’s:

(1) incarnation,

(2) resurrection (Acts 3:14–15),

(3) seen by the angels - if we take the angels as messengers then we have a reference to the apostles (1 Cor 15:5–8); however, if we take the angles as immaterial beings, then we have here a reference that even the angels had to seen the risen Christ and become a part of universalism of salvation;

(4) proclamation by the disciples (Matt 28:20);

(5) proclamation leads to faith in the world (Rom 1:5); the aim of proclamation is faith;

(6) received in glory - glorification of Christ at the right hand of God (Heb 2:7–8)

Notice also that two realms are in view in this hymn, the earthly and the heavenly. There are three references to the earthly realm in lines 1, 4, and 5. Likewise there are three references to the heavenly realm in lines 2, 3, and 6. Thus the movement of thought is alternately from the earthly realm, to the heavenly, back to the earthly, and finally back to the heavenly.

Specifically, He has bridged the gap between things that have always been poles apart. These are flesh (the physical) and spirit (the spiritual), angels (those closest to God) and Gentiles (those farthest from God), and the world (the present sphere of existence) and heaven (the future sphere of existence).

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