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About Jesus Steve Sweetman Section 3 - 1 Tim. 3
Paul
opens chapter 3 by saying for the second time that “this is a
trustworthy saying”. Once
again, remember that he is writing this instructive letter to Timothy so
he will know how to carry out his duties in Some
have suggested with some validity that there may have well been 2
different formats for the church. They
were the Jewish format promoted by men like James and the Gentile format
promoted by Paul. It appears that James might have been “the leader”
(as in one man) of the church in I
tend to think that there was a transitional period of time where the
church moved from a specific style of Jewish leadership, as in the high
priest being in charge, to more of an elder based style.
This elder based style was in effect in the Note
also that Paul says that if you desire to be one of these overseers, you
desire a good “task”. This
is in striking contrast to the KJV that says, if you desire “the office
of a bishop…” The word
office cannot be found in the original Greek.
This phrase in the KJV was most likely translated this way for
political reasons. It has been
suggested that this is what King James wanted since the “office” was
very important. But Paul does
not speak in terms of an “office of overseers”.
He speaks in terms of the “task” of overseers.
The emphasis is actually on doing the job of an overseer, not
merely holding an office. Just
because you have the title of pastor, or you hold the office of pastor,
does not mean you are a real pastor as Paul would view it.
Paul is not interested in the office but doing the work. So
Paul says that if you want to do the work of a overseer, then you want to
do a good thing. Yet merely
having the desire to be an overseer is not sufficient enough.
There are certain qualities you must possess in order to be an
overseer. The
first quality is being “above reproach”.
This means that your life must be seen as holy and Godly by those
you are serving. Nobody should
be able to say that you are doing wrong and be able to prove it. Then
Paul says that “he” must be the husband of one wife”.
I believe that this means one wife at a time, not one wife in a
lifetime. The reason for this is because an overseer must be a faithful
man. If he is not faithful to
his wife, then he can’t be trusted to care for the church. He
goes on to say that you must be “temperate (not excessive in all you
do), self controlled (able to control yourself and have nothing control
you), respectable (hold the trust of those you serve), hospitable
(friendly, welcoming others into your personal space), able to teach
(teaching being very important in leading a church), not given to
drunkenness (Greek, not given to excessive drinking, suggesting that it is
okay to drink, but not to get drunk), not violent but gentle (a certain
measure of gentleness should be the mark of a mature Christian), not
quarrelsome (like the false teachers who like to argue, causing
divisions), not a lover of money (money should not be the reason why you
want to be an overseer, you should want to serve). Verse
4 says, “he must manage his own family well and see that his children
obey him with proper respect”. Why
is this important? Because if
anyone cannot manage his household, how can he mange, or care for the
church. Like the family, the
church itself is a family. Being
an overseer is similar to being a father.
There are characteristics in both tasks that are the same. Thus an
overseer must be a good father. In
verse 6 Paul says that he must not be a “recent convert” so he will
not be overtaken by pride and ‘conceit”.
Being an overseer is a visible position in the church and it is
clear that over the centuries that pride has crept in and destroyed not
only the overseer but the church as well.
One must remember that an overseer is a servant, not a lord.
Paul uses some strong language on this point.
If one gets overtaken by pride then “he will fall into the same
judgement as the devil”.
How many so-called Christian leaders will be thus judged in the
same way the devil is judged. This
should be a serious reminder to all who are in leadership in the church. Paul
also says that “he must also have a good reputation with outsiders”.
Outsiders means those who are not part of the church.
Not only should Christians respect him, but outsiders should
respect him as well. If
outsiders do not respect him because of the offense of the gospel, that is
okay, but they should not have occasion to bring true accusations
against him. The gospel
should be offense enough. People
should not have to be offended by the way we preach or share the gospel.
The
specific reason why Paul wants overseers to be respected by outsiders is
so that “they will not fall into disgrace and the
trap of the devil”. For
one who has authority over the devil, Paul is still concerned that people
behave properly so that they will not fall under his influence or be
trapped by him. He can only
trap us, if we let him. We have seen Christian leaders over the years fall
into such a trap and have been disgraced before the whole world. In
some parts of Evangelicalism today, the devil is not spoken of much.
I don't suggest that we should talk about him, but we can't ignore
him. He is a living reality,
but we're not always treating him in that way.
There
are two main Greek words that are translated as “servant” in the New
Testament. They are
“doulous” and “diakanos”. “Diakonos”
means a bond servant, that is a servant by choice.
The word relates more to the master the person is serving than the
job he is doing. “Diakonos”
means a servant as well, but is more related to the task of serving than
to any individual. Paul often
calls himself a “doulos”, a servant of Jesus by choice.
Here
in verse 8 we see the English word “deacons”.
The Greek word that it comes from is “diakonos”, meaning a
servant, relating to a task, not a person.
Paul lists the qualities that a deacon should have in the next few
verses. They are similar to
that of the overseers. Therefore
by definition, a deacon is one who serves. In
Acts 6 we see the apostles being overworked and they decided that the
local church should pick 7 men full of the Holy Spirit to distribute food
to the poor saints, and to do other such work.
The apostles felt that they did not have the time to do these jobs
as well as preach the gospel. Although
the text in Acts 6 does not call these men deacons, it appears by what
they were doing they were deacons. Paul
says that these men should be worthy of respect (they should live a life
that would make people think well of them), sincere (take their faith and
work seriously), not indulging in much wine (could drink some but not to
get drunk), not pursuing dishonest gain (not being greedy for money and
trying to get it in wrong fashion), must keep hold of the deep truths of
the faith with a clear conscience (a love for the truth with a conscience
that cannot tell him he is doing wrong). Paul
goes on to say that “they must first be tested and if there is nothing
against them, let them serve as deacons”. (ch. 3:10)
What kind of test these men had to go through, we don’t know.
Probably Paul left that up to the individual church or to Timothy.
The point is that these men had to be counted worthy by some
standard in order to served the church. Concerning
a deacon’s family, like overseers, they had to be a husband of one wife,
who was properly submitted to him. His children had to respect him as
well. Once again, caring for
the church is similar to caring for a family. Caring
for a family is a requirement for both overseers and deacons, therefore I
would think that job of these duties would have to be done by a married
man. This is something that I
believe the Catholic church as really gone astray on.
I don't see the idea of priest being single as being Biblical.
I am speaking here of elders, those who care for those in the local
church. Paul would have
preferred people to be single in order to devote their time more to Jesus
and not to a family. He says
this in 1 Cor. 7, but I think his words here gives an acceptation to what
he said in 1 Cor. 7. Paul
wanted to come and visit with Timothy, but in case he is delayed he says
that he is writing these instructions for him to put into practice in
“God’s household, which is the church of
the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth”.
For many reasons the church in our society is not looked upon with
much respect. Much of that is
due to our own doing. Yet in
reality, the church is supposed to be the "pillar and foundation of
truth” in the world. That is
not the case in our day. It
may have been the case in times past, when people looked to the church for
their education, as well as other things.
In
the Old Testament the synagogue was the centre of Jewish culture.
The same is meant to be true of the church.
The church should be the centre of our culture, which would include
such things as education, the arts, health care, morals, and so on.
When I use the word "church" here, I'm not speaking of a
denomination, or a building. I'm speaking of people, a community of people
properly and Biblically relating and working with each other in the
service of our Lord. Paul
closes this chapter with some very lofty words about Jesus.
He says, “Beyond all question (beyond any shadow of a doubt), the
mystery of godliness is great; He
(Jesus) appeared in a body, was vindicated (approved) by the Spirit
(because of his signs and wonders), was seen by angels (as He lived His
life out on earth), was preached among the nations (both by Himself and
His apostles), was believed on in the world, was taken up into glory (the
ascension). You can certainly
see by these words how Paul viewed God.
God was very personal to Paul.
He had a very high esteem for Him, and came from the deepest depths
of his heart.
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