Qualifications of Overseers

¹This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the office of an overseer, he desires a good work.[#1Ti 1:15; 2Ti 2:11; Titus 3:8; #Ac 20:28]

²An overseer then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach;[#2Ti 2:24; Titus 1:6–8]

³not given to drunkenness, not violent, not greedy for money, but patient, not argumentative, not covetous;[#1Ti 3:8; Titus 1:7]

⁴and one who manages his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence.[#1Ti 3:12; Titus 1:6]

⁵For if a man does not know how to manage his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?[#1Ti 3:15]

⁶He must not be newly converted, so that he does not become prideful and fall into the condemnation of the devil.[#1Ti 6:4]

⁷Moreover he must have a good reputation among those who are outsiders, so that he does not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.[#1Ti 6:9; 2Ti 2:26]

Qualifications of Deacons

⁸Likewise deacons must be honorable, not insincere, not given to much wine, not greedy,[#Lev 10:9; Php 1:1; Titus 2:3]

⁹keeping the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.[#1Ti 1:5, 19]

¹⁰And let them first be tested; then, being found blameless, let them serve as deacons.[#1Ti 5:22]

¹¹Likewise, the women must be honorable, not slanderers, sober, and faithful in all things.[#2Ti 3:3; Titus 2:3]

¹²Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, managing their children and their own houses well.[#1Ti 3:2]

¹³For those who have served well in the office of deacon purchase for themselves good standing and great boldness in the faith, which is in Christ Jesus.[#Mt 25:21]

The Mystery of Our Religion

¹⁴I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you shortly,

¹⁵but if I am delayed, you might know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.[#Mt 16:16]

¹⁶Without question, great is the mystery of godliness:

God was revealed in the flesh,

justified in the Spirit,

seen by angels,

preached to the Gentiles,

believed on in the world,

taken up into glory.