1 Timothy 3

New King James Version

Qualifications of Overseers

3 Thisisa faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a^[a]bishop, he desires a good work.² A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach;³ not^[b]given to wine, not violent,^[c]not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not^[d]covetous;⁴ one who rules his own house well, havinghischildren in submission with all reverence⁵ (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);⁶ not a^[e]novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into thesamecondemnation as the devil.⁷ Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the^(A)snare of the devil.

Qualifications of Deacons

⁸ Likewise deaconsmust bereverent, not double-tongued,^(B)not given to much wine, not greedy for money,⁹ holding the^[f]mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.¹⁰ But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, beingfoundblameless.¹¹ Likewise,theirwivesmust bereverent, not^[g]slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.¹² Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, rulingtheirchildren and their own houses well.¹³ For those who have served well as deacons^(C)obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

The Great Mystery

¹⁴ These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly;¹⁵ but if I am delayed,I writeso that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and^[h]ground of the truth.¹⁶ And without controversy great is the^[i]mystery of godliness: