--- title: "1 Timothy 3 - Study King James Bible with peoples new testament" description: "Read 1 Timothy 3 with peoples new testament commentary. 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, vigi" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/peoples-new-testament/1-timothy/3" --- [ Read](/kjv/1-timothy/3)[ Commentary](/study/1-timothy/3)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/1-timothy/3) Audio 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 behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; 3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; 4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; 5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) 6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. 8 Likewise *must* the deacons *be* grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; 9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 10 And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being *found* blameless. 11 Even so *must their* wives *be* grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. 12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. 13 For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. 14 These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: 15 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. 16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: 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. [1 Timothy 2](/study/1-timothy/2) [1 Timothy 4](/study/1-timothy/4) ## Commentary To verse 1 **If a man desire the office of a bishop**. Here, for the first time in the New Testament, is there a delineation of the qualifications and duties of bishops and deacons. Both offices have been alluded to in Acts, and both are named in Phi 1:1. To form a correct idea of the New Testament bishop we must get away from modern episcopacy. The New Testament bishop was not diocesan, but in charge of a single church. Each church had a plurality. Elders or presbyters, and bishops were only different designations for the same office. This arrangement was not changed until after the close of the first century and the death of the last of the apostles. Of these statements, admitted by the candid learned even of episcopal bodies, the following proofs may be submitted: (1) Paul (Act 20:17) summons the "elders" of the church at Ephesus, and in 1Ti 3:28 calls them "bishops." (2) In the church of Philippi the "bishops and deacons" are named as the officers (Phi 1:1). (3) Paul in this Epistle names bishops and deacons as the officers (chapter 2), but in 1Ti 5:17-22, names "elders" as officers intrusted with the same duties already named as those of the bishops. (4) In the Epistle to Titus, Paul commands (1Ti 1:5) to "ordain elders in every city," but in turn describing the qualifications of an elder he calls him a bishop (1Ti 1:7). (5) Peter (1Pe 5:1-2) addresses "elders" and commands them to exercise the office of "bishops" over the flock. The Greek word as well as the word bishop, etymologically means to act as an overseer, or to take the oversight. (6) I might add that Clement of Rome, who wrote to Corinthians about the beginning of the second century, uses the terms interchangeably. **Desireth a good work**. 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