1 Timothy 3:1

This great chapter conveys the apostolic instructions relative to the appointment of elders and deacons (1 Timothy 3:1-13), concluding with a marvelous Christological passage regarding the mystery of redemption (1 Timothy 3:14-16).

Faithful is the saying, If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. (1 Timothy 3:1)

Faithful is the saying ... Despite the fact of some scholars applying this remark to the conclusion of the previous chapter it would be more appropriately understood as Paul's emphasis upon the importance of the eldership in church organization. Full agreement is felt with Stibbs who construed this expression as the mark of Paul's "concern to encourage a proper regard for the task of oversight"[1] of the churches. This is the second of five times that Paul used this rather peculiar expression; and it seems to have been applied to particularly important or timely truths which had come to be something like proverbs among the earliest Christians.

If a man seeketh the office of bishop ... It is erroneous to see in this anything resembling the monarchical, metropolitan or diocesan bishop, an office that developed during the historical progress of Christianity, but which is not found anywhere in the New Testament, Bishops were elders, presbyters, overseers, pastors, shepherds and stewards; but all of these titles are descriptive of one office only, that of an elder of a local congregation. Paul used these titles synonymously (Acts 20:17,28, etc.). Furthermore, it is wrong to see this chapter as Paul's commissioning Timothy to set up any organization or to initiate and define the duties of those whom he was expected to appoint. As Lenski put it:

Paul is not telling Timothy to arrange for these offices and to define their functions and their scope; such offices were already established and in use. Timothy is merely to see to it that only properly qualified persons fill them.[2]

He desireth a good work ... Some of the supermoralists are critical of Paul's encouraging the ambition of men to be elders; but such a self-righteous attitude is due to a failure to understand that "In the early history of the church, willingness to serve as an overseer meant sacrifice."[3] "Paul calls the office a "good work," which shows that an elder has something on his shoulders besides holding down a office."[4] "We read of elders visiting the sick (James 1:27; 5:12,14), feeding the flock on the word of God and protecting it from enemies (Acts 20:29-31)."[5] As regards the definition of "bishop," "Thayer defined the word: an overseer, a man charged with the duty of seeing that things to be done by others are done rightly, any curator, guardian, or superintendent."[6] This definition, of course, along with Paul's using the singular number, "bishop," has been made the excuse for attempted justification of the monarchical conception which in later times was fastened upon this office; but as White assures us:

No argument can be made on the singular "bishop" either here or in Titus 1:7, in favor either of the monarchical episcopate or as indications of the late date of the epistle. It (the term) is used generically.[7]

[1] A. M. Stibbs, The New Bible Commentary, Revised (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 1171.

[2] R. C. H. Lenski, St. Paul's Epistles ... 1Timothy (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House, 1937), p. 576.

[3] William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary, 1,2Timothy (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1957), p. 118.

[4] E. M. Zerr, Bible Commentary, Vol. VI (Marion, Indiana: Cogdill Foundation, 1954), p. 171.

[5] Don DeWelt, Paul's Letters to Timothy and Titus (Joplin: College Press, 1961), p. 60.

[6] Kenneth S. Wuest, Word Studies from the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1973), 1Tim., p. 52.

[7] Newport J. D. White, The Expositor's Greek New Testament, Vol. IX (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), p. 111.