Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
CHAPTER 3 1 Timothy 3:1-7 1. This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. 1. Certus sermo, si quis episcopatum appetit, praeclarum opus desiderat. 2. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; 2.
Commenting on 1 Timothy 3:1-16
The two epistles to Timothy, and that to Titus, contain a scripture-plan of church-government, or a direction to ministers. Timothy, we suppose, was an evangelist who was left at Ephesus, to take care of those whom the Holy Ghost had made bishops there, that is, the presbyters, as appears by Act 20:28, where the care of the church was committed to the presbyters, and they were called bishops.
Commenting on 1 Timothy 3:1-7
A bishop then must be blameless,.... Or "an elder", as the Syriac version renders it; not that it can be expected that such an one should be entirely free from sin, or be blameless in the sight of God; but that he should be one, who is so before men, and has not been guilty of any notorious and flagitious crime; and particularly, is not...