Now the overseer is to be above reproach,(A) faithful to his wife,(B) temperate,(C) self-controlled, respectable, hospitable,(D) able to teach,(E) not given to drunkenness,(F) not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome,(G) not a lover of money.(H) He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full[a] respect.(I) (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)(J) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited(K) and fall under the same judgment(L) as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders,(M) so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.(N)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Timothy 3:4 Or him with proper

A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;

One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;

(For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.

Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

Read full chapter