1 Timothy 3:1

This is a true saying,.... Some think this clause belongs to the last verse of the preceding chapter; and then the sense is, this is a doctrine that is true, and to be believed, that there is

This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

1 TIMOTHY CHAPTER 3 The office of a bishop is to be esteemed a good work. The qualifications requisite in a bishop, and in deacons. ,15 Why Paul wrote these instructions to Timothy. The important truths of the Christian revelation. This is a true saying; pistov, a faithful saying, that which none can dispute, of which none ought to doubt. If a man desire the office of a bishop; if a man desire any office to which belongs an oversight of the church of God. The Greek word episkoph signifies in the general an oversight of others; here the following discourse restrains it to an oversight of persons and affairs in the church. The apostle by this phrase determines this employment lawful, and under due circumstances to be desired, and saith of it, that he who desireth it desireth kalon ergon, a good work, a noble employment; it is a work, the office of the ministry in the church is and ought to be a work. The titles of gospel ministers are not mere titles of honour, and of all works or employments, the ministry is the most noble employment. We (saith the apostle) are stewards of the mysteries of God, ministers of Christ, ; ambassadors for Christ, in Christ’ s stead, ; God’ s angels or messengers to churches, . It being so good, so great, and noble an employment, it is no wonder that God hath restrained women, the weaker and more ignoble sex, from invading it, for all men are not fit for it, but only such as are hereafter described.

1 This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. Ver. 1. If a man desire] As no woman, so neither may every man desire the office of a minister, but such only as are gifted and fitted for such a service. He desireth a good work] But a hard work. The ministry is not an idle man’ s occupation, but a sore labour; Onus ipsis etiam angelis tremendum, saith Chrysostom, a burden too heavy for an angel’ s shoulders; a pains nothing short of that of a travailing woman, saith Melancthon after Paul, Galatians 4:19. There were those who read this text thus, Quicunque desiderat episcopatum bonum, opes desiderat. But this was a foul mistake at best. That is a good observation of Estius, that the former word, ορεγεται, rendered desire, importeth a more earnest desire (such as is that after meat when one is hungry) than the other following, επιθυμει. "He desireth a good work," quod eadem res nomine Episcopatus desideretur ardentius, quam nomine operis et officii, because the same thing by the name of episcopacy is more ardently desired than by the name of work and duty. That hypocrisy of the Canonists is very ridiculous, not admitting any to personal government in the Church, unless he either seem to refuse it, or unwillingly to undertake it, though he had never so much laboured it. The Bishop of Metis answered cunningly, when being demanded whether he desired a bishopric, he replied, Nolens volo, et volens nolo, I do, and I do not. One reporteth of a priest that used to have a net spread upon his table where he dined, that he might mind St Peter, that fisher of men. But when by his diligent preaching he had gotten a bishopric, he did take away the net, for he had got what he fished for.

III. (1) This is a true saying.—There is no reason why the rendering of this formula adopted in 1 Timothy 1:15, “faithful is this saying,” should be altered here. The “faithful saying” here refers to the wish for high and arduous work in the Church of Christ, and declares such a wish to be a noble one; for the office in question was a beautiful one, and honourable, and in those days meant stern and ceaseless work, grave and constant danger. It was no doubt one of the well-known sayings among the brethren of the first days, and not improbably, with the other “faithful sayings” of this group of Epistles, formed a part of their liturgy, and was woven into some of their special prayers offered in public. Perhaps this “faithful saying” was a portion of a prayer offered not unfrequently in the public assembly, asking that volunteers might be moved by the Holy Ghost to present themselves for the then dangerous office of ordained ministers of the Word. “Well might a man desire the office of chief pastor; it was indeed a good work;” but, in the first place, such a dignity could only be held by one possessing many qualities, then and there enumerated. If a man desire the office of a bishop.—More accurately rendered, If a man seeketh. In the . . Pastoral Epistles the Greek words rendered “bishop” and “presbyter” or elder (episcopos, presbuteros), are applied indifferently to the same person, for up to this period (A.D. 65-6) no necessity had arisen in the constitution of the Church for the appointment of a special order of superintending presbyters. The numbers of the members of the brotherhood, though every year showing a vast increase, were still, comparatively speaking, small. St. Peter, St. Paul, St. James and St. John, and certainly the majority of the apostolic college, were still living; while, till A.D. 70, the Jerusalem congregation still acted as the central authority of the Church, and grave questions continued to be referred to the Fathers resident there. Early in the second century, however, there is not a shadow of doubt that the episcopal office, as we understand it, was widely established. During the last thirty years, then, of the first century, this great change in Church organisation must have been effected—that is, during the life-time of St. John. How this was brought about is admirably stated by Professor Rothe, of Heidelberg, as quoted by Canon Lightfoot in his dissertation on the Christian ministry (Commentary on the Epistle to the Philippians), who, without accepting all the details suggested, still in the main agrees with the famous Heidelberg professor in his theory respecting the very early establishment of episcopacy in the Catholic Church. After painting the distractions and growing dissensions of the Church, occasioned by the jealousies between the Jewish and Gentile brethren, and the menacing apparition of the Gnostic heresy, Rothe states how, in the face of this great emergency, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St.

CHAPTER III. Concerning bishops, their qualifications and work, 1-7. Of deacons, and how they should be proved, 8-10. Of their wives and children, and how they should be governed, 11-13. How Timothy should behave himself in the Church, 14, 15. The great mystery of godliness, 16. NOTES ON CHAP. III. Verse 1. This is a true saying] πιστοςολογος. This is a true doctrine. These words are joined to the last verse of the preceding chapter by several of the Greek fathers, and by them referred to the doctrine there stated. The office of a bishop] επισκοπης. The episcopacy, overseership or superintendency. The word ορεγεται, which we translate desire, signifies earnest, eager, passionate desire; and επιθυμει, which we translate desire, also signifies earnestly to desire or covet. It is strange that the episcopacy, in those times, should have been an object of intense desire to any man; when it was a place of danger, awl exposure to severe labour, want, persecution, and death, without any secular emolument whatsoever. On this ground I am led to think that the Spirit of God designed these words more for the ages that were to come, than for those which were then; and in reference to after ages the whole of what follows is chiefly to be understood. A good work.] A work it then was; heavy, incessant, and painful. There were no unpreaching prelates in those days, and should be none now. Episcopacy in the Church of God is of Divine appointment, and should be maintained and respected. Under God, there should be supreme governors in the Church as well as in the state. The state has its monarch, the Church has its bishop; one should govern according to the laws of the land, the other according to the word of God. What a constitutional king should be, the principles of the constitution declare; what a bishop should be, the following verses particularly show.

1–7. The duties and characters of Bishops or PresbytersFollowing the directions concerning the general arrangements for public worship come instructions as to the character and qualifications of the appointed ministers, the presbyterate, and the diaconate (male and female). These are introduced by a well-known saying among them, declared to be ‘faithful’ or ‘trustworthy.’ See Appendix, E.

This is a trite saying - Greek, “Faithful is the word” - the very phrase which is used in 1 Timothy 1:15; see the notes on that verse. The idea here is, that it was worthy of credence; it was not to be doubted.

2. In officiary, 1 Timothy 3:1-13.a. Of presbyter-bishops, 1 Timothy 3:1-7.1. A true saying—Literally, faithful is the saying. Worthy of reliance is the maxim. Desire—Reach-after, as with the hand.