A Good Work Requires a Life That Can Bear Examination

“A true saying” is the same Greek formula the King James rendered “a faithful saying” in 1:15; some Latin copies attach it to the end of chapter 2 instead. Two verbs of wanting: orego, to reach out for, and epithymeo, to set the heart on. “Office of a bishop” is one word, episkope, oversight, the “bishoprick” of Acts 1:20.

“Blameless” is anepilemptos, literally “not to be taken hold of”, a life with nothing an accuser can grab. “Given to hospitality” is philoxenos, fond of strangers, a real demand when Christians travelled and inns had a bad name. “Apt to teach” is the only skill in the list; the rest is character.

“Striker” is plektes, a man quick with his fists. The oldest manuscripts lack “not greedy of filthy lucre” here; it seems to have been copied in from verse 8 or Titus 1:7, and “not covetous” at the end of the verse already covers the ground. “Patient” is epieikes, reasonable, yielding, not standing on one’s rights.

The churches of this period met in homes, so the household was literally where an overseer’s leadership would be seen. A household then meant more than parents and children; it could include slaves, freedmen and dependants. Whether “with all gravity” describes the children’s behaviour or the father’s manner in keeping them is not clear from the Greek.

The parenthesis argues from the smaller to the greater, a form of reasoning Jewish teachers called qal wahomer. “Take care of” is epimeleomai, the verb used of the Samaritan in Luke 10:34-35, who brought the wounded man to an inn “and took care of him”.

“Novice” is neophytos, literally “newly planted”, the source of neophyte, found only here in the New Testament. The parallel list in Titus 1 leaves this out, perhaps because the Cretan churches were young. “Lifted up with pride” is typhoo, to be wrapped in smoke, a mind fogged with its own importance.

“Them which are without” is Paul’s phrase for outsiders, as in 1 Thessalonians 4:12 and Colossians 4:5. “Snare” is pagis, a trap for birds, sprung before the bird knows it is there. Reproach from outside and the devil’s snare are joined: a bad name can become the opening an enemy uses.

“Deacons” is diakonoi, servants, the word John 2:5 uses for the servants who drew water at Cana. The overseer was to be “not given to wine” at all, paroinos; the deacons are “not given to much wine”, a slightly different wording. The requirements otherwise run close to the overseers’ list.

In Paul a mystery is something hidden once and now made known, and this phrase prepares for the “mystery of godliness” in verse 16. In 1:19 some put away a good conscience and wrecked their faith; here the faith is carried inside a pure conscience, as a thing kept in a clean vessel.

“Proved” is dokimazo, the word for testing metal. “Also” implies that the overseers were tested too, in line with verse 6. “Blameless” here is a different word from verse 2: anenkletos, unaccused, a legal term meaning no charge has been laid. No procedure for the testing is given.

“Slanderers” is diaboloi, the same Greek word translated “devil” in verses 6 and 7. Romans 16:1 calls Phoebe a diakonos of the church at Cenchrea, and around AD 112 Pliny, governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor, wrote to the emperor Trajan that he had questioned two slave women “who were called ministrae”, the Latin for female servants or deacons.

The requirements repeat verses 2 and 4 nearly word for word. What is left out is as telling as what is kept: nothing is said here about being apt to teach or given to hospitality. The deacons’ work, whatever it was, did not require them to be the congregation’s teachers.

“Degree” is bathmos, a step or rung, found only here; it may mean standing in the congregation or standing before God, and readers have taken it both ways. “Boldness” is parresia, the free speech of a citizen who can say what he thinks in the assembly without fear. “Purchase” means to acquire, not to buy.

“Shortly” is a comparative in Greek, “rather soon”, sooner perhaps than Timothy expected. The letter serves as a stand-in for a visit that may be delayed, which is why “these things” are written down at all. Paul’s movements after Acts are known only from hints like this one.

The Greek has no “thyself”: it reads “how one ought to behave”, conduct for the whole household, not Timothy alone. Ephesus was home to the temple of Artemis, among the seven wonders of the world, with over a hundred columns. Galatians 2:9 calls James, Cephas and John “pillars”. “Ground” is hedraioma, a foundation or buttress, used only here.

“Without controversy” is homologoumenos, “by common confession”, from the word for confessing. The six lines are rhythmic in Greek: each verb is a passive with the same ending, and most are followed by a matching phrase, so many take them as part of an early hymn. “Received up” is the verb Acts 1:2 and 1:11 use for the ascension.