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. |