1 Timothy & Titus: Qualifications of Overseers

I. Introduction

A. The section we are going to study this morning follows naturally from what Paul told Timothy in chapter 2. He told Timothy his expectations regarding how men and women have been given certain roles and how these roles need to be approached with submission, humility, and a concern for others. In chapter three, Paul gives us the key examples that God’s people have of those who meet these kind of qualities, those who submit their lives to the Lord in fulfilling the role of an overseer.

B. Paul also, in chapter 2 talked about, regarding women, how he does not permit them to hold authority over men, so now in chapter 3, we are shown the kind of men who the Spirit chooses to fulfill this important role of an overseer.

II. Other words used to describe an overseer

A. Overseer/bishop, depending on your translation, is the word Paul uses in , but there are other words used to describe the roles of the overseer, such as shepherd/pastor, or elder/presbyter.

B. The word ‘overseer’ speaks of his role of supervision and authority; ‘elder’ of his maturity and experience, and ‘pastor/shepherd’ refers to his feeding and caring for the sheep/the church they watch over. All of these words are talking about the same position

1. The pastor is not the same thing as the preacher/evangelist in the New Testament, even though the terms are often used interchangeably today.

III. Paul’s 2nd “trustworthy saying

A. Cf 1:15 à "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." ()

B. It is admirable that someone wants to take on such a responsibility among God’s people. It is a good work, or a noble task, that is desired. We see in this that those who want to become an elder eagerly want to do the work that is associated with the job. This is not a position that we just give someone to show them honor. It is service… It is hard work. And it is a good thing to aspire to do this kind of work among God’s people.

C. But the church does not just put the men who desire this work into the position just because they desire it. And so, beginning in verse 2 he begins to list the qualifications to show that this aspiring man is qualified and that God wants him to be in this position. It's one thing to seek this, it's something else to be qualified to receive it.

D. Knowing these qualifications (all of them) will guard the church from putting someone into this role who is not well suited for it.

IV. Preliminary Observations

A. THESE CHARACTER TRAITS DO NOT APPEAR “OVERNIGHT”. It takes time to mature in many of these areas. Some Christian men may need to work harder on some compared to others, but for the most part, someone is appointed an elder because they spent their whole life as a Christian working on growing and building their character. It doesn’t come immediately

B. MANY OF THESE CHARACTER TRAITS ARE EXPECTATIONS FOR ALL CHRISTIANS. No Christian should be greedy or covetous. All Christians are commanded to be hospitable, temperate, and sober-minded. These qualifications for the most part are things we all must be working on and growing in

C. THIS IS A PORTRAIT OF A MATURE CHRISTIAN HUSBAND AND FATHER. Husbands and fathers, there is a standard in this passage that we need to be working to imitate. We need to interact with our wives and/or children as these men described in this passage do. We are commanded to love our wives. We are commanded to bring up our children in the teaching and admonition of the Lord.

V. The Qualifications: 4 Categories

A. One final point before we go through these qualifications: THESE ARE “MUST BE’S” TO BE QUALIFIED. These two words show us that these qualifications are absolute necessities. The men who desire this noble task must meet all of these qualifications at the present time to be appointed. And they must continue to display them to be qualified for this good work

B. With this said, I would like to begin looking at these qualifications one by one. These qualifications can be divided up into different categories. We will look at them more topically instead of going straight through the qualifications in and divided them up into 4 different categories

1. Reputation

2. Household

3. Maturity

4. General Moral

C. You certainly don’t have to agree with how I divided them up. But Lord willing, we will look at two of these categories of qualifications today and the other two in a couple weeks.

D. “Reputation” Qualifications: This passage is book-ended with qualifications that in general talk about the reputation that a man has before the church and those outside of the church.

1. MUST BE BLAMELESS (v2). This, I believe, is an over-arching qualification… It is a general qualification, and the specific examples of areas that this man needs to be blameless in are what follows in this passage. This WORD does not mean that one lives a perfect life or is without sin. It does not mean that he has sin in the past that you know of. The question is: does he have sin that is is not dealing with in his life, to the point that a charge can be made against him. The literal rendering of the word is “not apprehended;” or “cannot be laid hold of”… This is the kind of language that is used in the court of law… The idea is can you build a legitimate case against this man that will stand regarding sin in his life. If charges can be brought up about sin that he is not dealing with or repenting of in his life, he should not be appointed.

a) And we are talking about sin… we are not talking in this qualification about differences in opinion… If you would handle a situation differently or would have done things differently in how you raise your kids, this does not necessitate there is sin involved. We are talking about charges of sin against a man… can you look at this man and say, “He is guilty of committing a specific sin, is his life characterized as being guilty of specific sins? Are there sins that he is not dealing with in his life…” If so, he should not be appointed. And if the man is already an elder, than you have added to this the idea of having corroborating testimony from at least one or two witnesses to any accusation made against an elder (5:19-20).

2. GOOD REPUTATION AMONG OUTSIDERS (v7). This not only applies to how his brothers and sisters in Christ view him, but also those who are outside of the church. Every area of this man’s life needs to be affected by his relationship with Christ, not just the time he spends with his brothers and sisters in Christ. Often it is the case that those outside of Christ will judge the church by who they choose as their leaders and what their leaders say and do publicly.

E. “Household” Qualifications: These are often the qualifications that we put the most weight to often… These are more measurable. But we need to be careful not to put so much emphasis on them that we forget the others which are equally important.

1. MUST BE THE HUSBAND OF ONE WIFE (V2). This is probably the most debated out of all of these qualifications. This language would rule out someone who practices polygamy, but it would also rule out a single man who has never been married; someone who is single

a) Many hold the position that only IF he is married, he must be a husband of one wife, and that this part of the qualifications does not apply if the man under consideration has not yet been married. Keep in mind that Paul does not say IF he is married, he must be the husband of one wife. This view reads into the text what is not there… a man, in order to be appointed, must be the husband of one wife.

b) But I believe there is more to this qualification than just being married or only being married to one woman. These may be included, but I do think that the emphasis in these qualifications is the character of the man, and Paul is implying not only that he is married, but that he is faithful to his wife. She has no rivals. He is a “one-woman-man”…

c) This man should be an example to younger husbands of what it means to love your wife and to be faithful to the commitment that you made with her

2. QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE WIFE? Many believe that 3:11 is giving qualifications of the wife of an elder or deacon that also must be met for them to be appointed.

a) This is a possibility, although it makes more sense in how the passage is structured that Paul may be giving qualifications for women deacons.[i] This is debatable, and we don’t know for sure. It is difficult to be dogmatic either way…

3. HOSPITABLE (V2). He must not only be hospitable, but known as one who loves opening his home to visitors. The KJV brings out the literal rendering best for this qualification. It says he must be “given to hospitality”. Literally, the Greek means “a lover of guests/visitors.” He devotes himself to opening up his home and using it to serve others, and upon becoming an elder, should use his home as a place where he can spend time with those in his care.

4. MUST RULE HIS HOUSEHOLD WELL (V4). An elder must be able to manage and control his own family because “if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?” (v. 5, NASB). Paul is showing us here that the family is in a sense a training ground for elders. How he would guide, protect, and feed the flock can be seen in how he has shepherded his own family

a) He is to teach his children to be submissive and respectful. Their children are seen by the church to be respectful to their father who is an authority above them.

b) Titus adds to this, “he must have believing/faithful children.” This can be equated with the idea that their children are Christians, but not necessarily… Having children who have been baptized does not necessitate that the children are respectful to authority and really trust the Lord and are faithful to him. Do you see in their works that they love and trust God, not just that they were baptized and come to services?

(1) His children, as Paul continues to Titus, “should not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.” The word for debauchery is the idea of being given over to some form of ungodliness. It is used in reference to drunkenness in .

c) APPLICATION TO DADS: This is an important point for dads here to keep in mind. I do believe this passage implies that fathers are to be shepherds in their families. They are responsible for the souls under their care as the authority and leader of the home

VI. Difficult Questions Regarding Family Qualifications

A. With many of these questions, there are a couple of things we need to keep in mind:

1. First, it is possible for good Christians to come down on either side of the debate with many of these questions

2. With many of these questions, it is difficult to be dogmatic since we do not know the answers with total certainty. So no matter where you stand on a certain one of these questions, what is put into practice may be dependent on the conscience of the individual members in general or the conscience of the one who is under consideration to be an elder, or the conscience of the elder who may (or may not) need to step down from their position.

B. Some examples:

1. If the wife of an elder dies, can he continue serving

a) There are good arguments on both sides of this question.

(1) NO

(a) The passage says he must BE (present tense) the husband of one wife so he must step down, and the reason why he must have a wife is practical… She is a helper to him in fulfilling his role as an elder, and she must be faithful in all things…

(i) This view assumes that 3:11 is giving qualifications of the wives of elders… We don’t know this for sure… an I wouldn’t base my argument solely on this verse…

(ii) The practical aspect of this argument is read into the passage. It may be true, it may not be… Paul does not give a reason why he must be the husband of one wife in the same way he gives the reason why he must have believing children in submission...

(2) YES

(a) This would be the view I hold to. I believe it is possible for the man to continue serving if his wife dies, and I also believe that he can be appointed as an overseer if his wife has already died

(b) My reasoning behind this is Paul’s use of the phrase elsewhere in 1 Timothy. In . In talking about widows who were to be accepted onto a roster to receive regular financial help, Paul says that she can be enrolled if she is “not less than 60yrs old, the wife of one husband.” The phrase is the same in the Greek than our phrase in regarding elders, with the exception of the words “husband” and “wife” are switched. There is not a tense given in the Greek of . With this said, this woman is called the wife of one husband as a widow… and this at the very least shows that the same is possible with a widower. He could still be called a husband of one wife, and thus could still possibly meet the qualification…

(3) I have heard of instances where men have stayed in their position of elder after a wife dies. I have heard of instances where a man stepped down as an elder. In this case, it may depend on what the group as a whole believed and what the elder believes, with the ultimate goal of the brethren being at peace and not creating division over this issue…

2. If the wife of an elder falls away, can he continue to serve?

a) In my judgment, he still meets the qualifications at face value if his wife falls away. He is still the husband of one wife and can still be faithful to meeting his obligations to his wife if she is an unbeliever...

3. Can a man serve as an elder if he only has one child?

a) The word for children includes one. The fact that the plural is used does not necessitate that it means more than one. If you asked me before Timothy was born if I had children (using the plural), I would have said, “yes, I have one.” The word is used to include one child many times in scripture. (ch5 - if the widow has believing children, let them take care of her…)

4. What if his children leave the Lord later in life after they left the house when they are in their 30’s and 40’s?

a) I believe the qualifications assume how he deals with those who are under his authority and oversight… Children who have left their father’s home (and his authority) and have made their own home are not under the authority of the father any longer... I don’t believe the qualification applies… I could be wrong though…

5. Can a man serve as an elder if he has multiple children and only one of them is faithful?

a) This is a difficult one because he does meet the qualification of having a faithful child, but it may be the case that his other children are rebellious to his authority, are known to live rebellious lives. In this case, part of the qualifications are met, but another qualification is not. His children cannot be accused of insubordination and rebellion...

VII. Conclusion Observations

A. THESE CHARACTER TRAITS DO NOT APPEAR “OVERNIGHT”. It takes time to mature in many of these areas.

B. MANY OF THESE CHARACTER TRAITS ARE EXPECTATIONS FOR ALL CHRISTIANS.

C. THIS IS A PORTRAIT OF A MATURE CHRISTIAN HUSBAND AND FATHER. Husbands and fathers, there is a standard in this passage that we need to be working to imitate. We need to interact with our wives and/or children as these men described in this passage do. We are commanded to love our wives. We are commanded to bring up our children in the teaching and admonition of the Lord.

[i] http://www.bibleinterp.com/opeds/womlik358015.shtml