Overseers and servants
1 This saying is trustworthy: Whoever wants to be an overseer has a lofty aspiration. 2 The overseer must be blameless, faithful in marriage, sober, sensible, orderly, hospitable, qualified to teach, 3 not a drunkard or a brawler but peaceable, and not greedy. 4 They must also watch over and provide well for their own household, with children who are supportive and dignified, 5 for if they don’t know how to care for their own home, how would they take care of God’s Congregation? 6 And they can’t be a novice, or else they might become conceited and come under the devil’s judgment. 7 Further, they must have a good reputation with outsiders so that they don’t fall into disgrace, the trap of the devil.7
8 Likewise, servants must be dignified, not be two-faced, not given to excessive drinking, and not be profiteers, 9 holding to the secret of the faith in good conscience. 10 These must first be tested; only after they have been proved to be above reproach can they serve. 11 (The same goes also for the women; they are to be dignified, not slanderers, sober, and trustworthy in everything.) 12 The servants must be faithful in marriage, watching over their children and households well. 13 Those who serve well earn a high rank and great boldness in the faith of Christ Jesus.
The purpose for the letter
14 I am writing these things to you though I expect to come to see you soon. 15 But if I don’t, this will guide you as to how you must conduct yourself in God’s household, which is the Congregation of the living God, the base and pillar of truth. 16 Surely this devout secret is profound: He was revealed in flesh, justified in spirit, examined by angels, heralded among the other nations, believed in the world, and taken up in honor.
- 7 The emphasis is on character, not authority, and they must already have attained a high level of spiritual maturity and unsoiled reputation before serving in this capacity. In this society, the requirement for men to be faithful to their wives was especially unusual. This list of qualifications is restrictive on the basis of character and not societal class, ethnicity, gender, or any other factor. The same is then applied to servants.