1 Timothy 3

9,10. By the women in question must be understood those who make profession of godliness by taking up the Christian name, submitting to Christian teaching and ordinances, and mingling in the assemblies of Christian worshipers. And, as making this profession, the apostle would have them to understand, first, that the kind of dress which becomes them is of a neat and plain as contradistinguished from a luxurious or costly one; and, second, that the distinction which women of gay and worldly dispositions seek to acquire by their splendid ornaments and fine apparel they should endeavor to reach through their good works—a distinction of a far nobler kind, and the only one that fitly accords with their calling.

11, 12. Let a woman learn in silence in all subjection—spoken primarily and mainly with reference to the public assemblies of the Church, and only an abbreviated reinforcement of the instruction previously issued to the Church at Corinth (1 Cor. 14: 34). The all subjection, however, can only be understood to reach as far as the authoritative teaching is of the right stamp. Woman does not lose her rational power of thought and responsibility by abiding in the place assigned her by the gospel; and she also has a right to prove all things—only in a manner suited to her position—in order that she may hold fast that which is good, and reject what is otherwise. But to teach I permit not a woman—namely, in public; she is not to act the part of a teacher in the meetings of the faithful, nor to lord it over the man, but to be in silence. P. F.—Whatever might be allowed in regard to prophecy and prayer, the rule is absolute that a woman may not teach or rule in the Church. Of course she may preach or publish the gospel to “them that are without,” under those conditions of feminine propriety which nature itself suggests; she may also teach her own sex, and have authority over them and over children; but she may not teach publicly in the assembly of saints, or “usurp authority over the man.” D. F.

14. The case is referred to as a grand though mournful example, at the commencement of the world’s history, of the evil sure to arise if in the general management of affairs woman should quit her proper position as the handmaid of man, and man should concede to her the ascendancy. She wants, by the very constitution of nature, the qualities necessary for such a task. Her very excellences in other respects—excellences connected with the finer sensibilities and stronger impulses of her emotional and loving nature—tend in a measure to disqualify her here.

15. Let her be content, he virtually says, with this, that through her as the mother of a seed, given by the God of grace and blessing, she herself, as well as others, are to find salvation. But he couples certain spiritual qualifications as indispensable to the result: if they abide in faith, and love, and holiness, with discretion (or sober-mindedness). In short, they must fall in here (as Eve should have done in Paradise, but did not) with the spiritual provisions and requirements of the plan of God; in faith, resting upon God’s word of promise; in love, yielding themselves to the duties of their special calling, as well as consenting to live and act within its appointed limits; in holiness, wakeful and striving against occasions of sin; and all tempered and controlled by that spirit of meek and wise discretion which instinctively shrinks from whatever is unbecoming, heady, or high-minded. P. F.

1. This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. 2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good be- 3 haviour, given to in-spitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of 4 filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, 5 having his children in subjection with all gravity; (for if a man know not how to rule his 6 own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted 7 up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good 8 report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. 9 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not 10 greedy of filthy lucre; holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let 11 these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. 12 Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the 13 deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. 14 For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, 15 and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. These things write I unto thee, 16 hoping to come unto thee shortly: but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy great is the mystery of godli- ness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Is chapter 3: 1 and following, we may perhaps retain the word “bishop,” if it be clearly understood that the office here mentioned has really nothing in common with our “bishopricks.” These “bishops” were simply presbyters. A.—By comparing what is written here with the passage in Tit. 1: 5-7, it is clear that Paul uses the terms episcopos and presbyteros of the same office; for in Titus the words are interchanged, as of one import. There were two designations, but one office; and the designations were two because they were derived from two different quarters. Presbyteros was of Jewish origin, and was undoubtedly the earlier of the two, having been in use as a term of office in the synagogue for generations before the Christian era, whence it passed over, with little variation, into the Christian Church. The term originally had doubtless some respect to the age of the persons who were called to preside over the religious community; they were its seniors, its more experienced and venerated members; but in course of time the etymological was lost sight of in the current official meaning, and the presbyters (elders), whatever might be their relative age, were simply the presiding heads of the synagogal communities in the first instance, and then of the Christian Church. Partaking, however, as it did so distinctly, of a Jewish impress, it was natural that, in the churches where the Greek or Gentile element predominated, a properly Greek word, of equivalent import as a designation of office, should come into use. Such a term was episcopos, overseer, the specific or official designation among the Athenians of those whom they sent forth to take the oversight of their subject cities; so that, by an easy transference from the civil to the spiritual sphere, the episcopoi of the Church were those who had the pastoral oversight of the several churches. Quite naturally, therefore, it is the term employed here, where immediate respect is had to Ephesus, and such like churches in Asia Minor, which were largely made up of converted Greeks. P. F.—Of the offices concerned with Church government, the next in rank to that of the apostles was the office of overseers or elders, more usually known (by their Greek designations) as bishops or presbyters. These terms are used in the New Testament as equivalent, the former, episcopos, denoting (as its meaning of overseer implies) the duties, the latter, presbyteros, the rank of the office. The office of the presbyters was to watch over the particular church in which they ministered in all that regarded its external order and internal purity; they were to instruct the ignorant, to exhort the faithful, to confute the gainsavers, to “warn the unruly, to comfort the feeble-minded, to support the weak, to be patient toward all.” They were “to take heed to the flock over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers, to feed the Church of God which he had purchased with his own blood.” In one word, it was their duty (as it has been the duty of all who have been called to the same office during the nineteen centuries which have succeeded) to promote to the utmost of their ability, and by every means within their reach, the spiritual good of all those committed to their care. C.

2. The married state is usually that in which we can best surmount hardships, and attain the happy end of life, with many refreshments by the way. God often teaches us more by our domestic experiences, family illnesses, deaths of children, and the like, than we can learn by any independent speculations, however spiritual these may seem. It is in the married life that I have had my most serious afflictions, but with them my strongest consolations. Therefore I consider it more than a mere permission that a pastor should be “the husband of one wife.” Beng.—“Sober-minded” is better than “sober”; it is a quality of mind, not a habit of life, that is meant. A.—It is the possession of what may be called sanctified common sense; and for this the godly pastor should earnestly strive and pray, under the conviction that for him not open transgression merely but imprudence also, indiscretion, is sin, since it throws a stumbling-block in the way of his usefulness, and in a manner robs him of his talents and opportunities. P. F.

Apt to teach. Men who have no gift to teach ought to betake themselves to whatever honest calling their Maker has fitted them to fulfill, and not pule about the Lord delighting to use foolish instruments, while every day proves that he is in no way using them, unless it be as an example to all not to assume an office without having proved their fitness. The men whom God sends may be without the accomplishments of scholars, but never without sense and utterance. Arthur.

3. Covetous. There are three words which in our version are rendered “covetous” or “covetousness.” One signifies a man greedy of gain. Another signifies a man who always desires more (Luke 12: 15). The last signifies simply a lover of money (Luke 16: 14; 1 Tim. 3: 3; Heb. 13: 5; 2 Tim. 3: 2-4), a friend of self, friend of money, friend of pleasure, more than friend of God. Monod.

4. 5. He should, it is true, be apt to teach in the pulpit; but Paul sends us for the character and credentials of a bishop to the bishop’s own family, to his wife and his children. Is he one that ruleth well his own house? R. T.—Families are the principles or seeds of a commonwealth. A family is a commonwealth in a little volume, and the rules of it are an epitome of all laws by which whole nations are governed. The apostle makes it a special character of his bishop that he must be one who rules his own house well, and subjoins the reason: “For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God?” And therein wraps up this truth, that he who knows how to rule his own house well is in good posture of spirit for public rule. Caryd.

6. The supposed neophyte, through his inexperience and undue elation of spirit, first falls into the sin of the old aspiring apostate, and then shares in his condemnation, passing from the sphere of a minister of light into the doomed condition of an instrument of darkness. The lesson, with its attendant warning, is for all times. 7. The most natural explanation of the apostle’s fear regarding the appointment of pastors who were not in good repute with the world is, that they would in such a case be exposed to the taunts of ungodly men, disparaged as unworthy of their position, and, conscious of this, would probably be tempted to do things which would entangle them in Satan’s net of unseemly wranglings or dangerous relationships. Thus ends the apostle’s list of qualifications, which he desired to see meeting in every one who might be placed in the responsible position of an overseer of Christ’s flock. They are predominantly moral, and consist of attributes of character rather than of gifts and endowments of mind. P. F.

8. The word dioeonos occurs thirty times in the New Testament, and only three times (or at most four) is it used as an official designation; in all the other passages it is used in its simple etymological sense of a ministering servant. C.—We have express mention of deacons at Rome (Rom. 12: 7), Philippi (Phil. 1: 1), and Corinth; for the existence of a deaconess, Phebe, at Cenchrea (Rom. 16: 1) certainly leads us to infer that there were deacons there also. The business of these deacons consisted primarily and mainly, according to the account of their institution, in the care of the poor and the sick. This external charge, however, naturally came to associate with itself a sort of pastoral care; for poverty and sickness offer the very best opportunities for instruction, exhortation, and consolation, and according to the spirit of Christianity the relief of bodily wants should serve only as a bridge or channel for the communication of the far more precious benefits of the gospel. Hence, in the appointment of deacons, men were looked for of strong faith and exemplary piety (Acts 6: 3, comp. 5: 8); and Paul here requires that deacons be of good report, upright, temperate, free from covetousness, and instructed in the faith. P. S.—At Ephesus, and in the larger towns of Asia Minor, the churches had already grown into large communities, and inferior as well as superior officers were required (as previously in the Church at Jerusalem) for the proper distribution and management of their affairs. The distinct place, therefore, assigned to deacons here is perfectly in keeping with the historical circumstances of the time. It is the only occasion on which they are formally discoursed of in Paul’s writings. P. F.

8-13. The deacons must be men of fair character, serious, temperate, candid; men who hold to the doctrines of the gospel with a pure conscience; men who have been proved, and who have shown that they are qualified to serve the Church; men whose wives are of such a character that their example will contribute to the promotion of the common cause; men who exercise exemplary family government. A. B.

11. Possibly the matter was so put here as intentionally to include at once wives to the deacons who occasionally shared with their husbands in diaconal ministrations, and women who were themselves charged by the Church with such ministrations. But it ought to be understood of women who, in the one character or the other, were actively engaged in the kind of work which was proper to deacons. And, considering the greater separation which then existed between the sexes, and the extreme jealousy which guarded the approaches to female society, it was in a manner indispensable that women, with some sort of delegated authority, should often be intrusted with various kinds of diaconal service. For those so intrusted, the following simple requisites are mentioned: that they be grave, not slanders, sober, faithful in all things; the same substantially as those required of the deacons, only delivered with more brevity.

15. God’s house, which indeed is the church of the living God; the latter clause defining more exactly what is meant by God’s house. Thus, in Eph. 2: 20-22, the Church, as composed of believing Jews and Gentiles, is represented as a glorious building, raised on Christ as the foundation; a holy temple in the Lord, or habitation of God through the Spirit. A quite similar representation is given in Heb. 3: 6, where, with reference to Christ as a Son in his own house, it is added: “Whose house are we.” In these passages, the house, temple, or habitation of God is plainly associated with individuals, the individuals addressed by the apostle, contemplated as in living union with Christ; and in the strict sense it can only be predicated of such that they are God’s house; for in their case alone is there the real link that connects the human with the divine, the spiritual habitation with the glorious inhabitant. It is the Church as the cedesia of God, his elect, whom he has called out of the world and gathered into his fold, that he may sustain and keep them unto life eternal. Pillar of the truth. If it was worthy of the name, it was God’s house, a living community of saints pervaded by the presence of the living God, and hence the pillar and basement of the truth; for, as so connected with God, it necessarily holds and bears up in the world that with which his name and glory are peculiarly identified—the truth as it is in Jesus. P. F.

16. The mystery. All that the Scripture tells is for our use and nothing is for our curiosity. It awakens our minds to higher spiritual knowledge, but refuses to answer a thousand questions that we ask. It gives glimpses, but holds up no broad light reaching from the beginning to the end. T. D. W.—The reasons for mystery are first, because religion, in the prime institution of it, was designed to make impressions of awe and reverential fear upon men’s minds; secondly, to humble the pride and haughtiness of man’s reason; thirdly, to engage us in a closer and more diligent search into them; and fourthly, that the full and entire knowledge of divine things may be one principal part of our felicity hereafter. R. S.—Mystery there must be wherever an infinite Creator and his finite creature embrace; and it is, therefore, your glory that you are thus robed and shrouded in mystery. When you think of God in Christ, of what he has done, and what he still does, and what he will do, he well assured that in all his dealings there must be much you can never expect to fathom; before which, therefore, you can but bow in prostrate humility of adoration; knowing—simply knowing—that all he will do he can do, such is his power; all he can rightly do he will, such is his love! W. A. B.

Without saying that the mystery is in fact Christ, he passes from the mystery to the person of Christ as being one and the same. Then, thus passing, he is naturally led to a summary of those particulars wherein Christ has been revealed as a ground for the godliness of his Church. And, the idea of mystery being prominent before him, he selects especially those events in and by which Christ was manifested forth—came forth from that secrecy in which he had beforetime been hidden in the counsels of God, and shone out to men and angels as the Lord of life and glory. A.

Manifest in the flesh. The Christian faith alone shows God one and eternal—the God of Abraham and of Moses making himself man, and the divine nature uniting itself to the human nature in the person of Jesus. And in this union it is the divine nature that shines forth, that speaks, that sets in movement. And this incarnation is unparalleled like the God its author. And why did God make himself man? What is the object of this unparalleled, this mysterious incarnation? It is God’s purpose to rescue man from the evil and the peril which have continued to weigh upon him since the fault committed by his first progenitor. It is