3:1  It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires {to do.}

3:2  An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

3:3  not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money.

3:4  {He must be} one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity

3:5  (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?),

3:6  {and} not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.

3:7  And he must have a good reputation with those outside {the church,} so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

3:8  Deacons likewise {must be} men of dignity, not double-tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain,

3:9  {but} holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.

3:10  These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach.

3:11  Women {must} likewise {be} dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things.

3:12  Deacons must be husbands of {only} one wife, {and} good managers of {their} children and their own households.

3:13  For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

3:14  I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long;

3:15  but in case I am delayed, {I write} so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

3:16  By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.