1 Timothy 3:8-9

‘In a similar way deacons must be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.’

What is said about the deacons largely parallels what is said about the bishops from a behavioural point of view in slightly abbreviated form, as indeed, given the nature of the material we would expect. They are to be ‘high minded, serious in how they go about things’, ‘not double-tongued’ and thus saying one thing in one place and another in another (or alternatively ‘tellers of tales’, compare Leviticus 19:16), a grave danger for those who moved around among church members, temperate in their use of wine, and not gripped by a love of money. Thus they must control their lives, their tongues and their attitude to money, for they must be acceptable to those to whom they go, careful in what they say, and able to be trusted with money.

‘Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.’ Compare 2 Timothy 1:3. The Gospel as a ‘mystery’ (something hidden now revealed) was hidden from past ages but now made known to God’s people (Mark 4:11; Rom 16:25 ; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 3:9-10; Colossians 1:26-27; Colossians 4:3). With this significance the word is almost uniquely Pauline (apart from Mark 4:11). It stresses the newness of what is being proclaimed. And the fact that the deacons had to be well versed in this so that they could ‘hold’ it gives at least a hint that it was expected that they would at times have to communicate it. They were not just dispensers of charity. ‘In a pure conscience’ indicates as usual (1 Timothy 1:5; 1 Timothy 1:19) that they must not only hold it but genuinely live and speak in accordance with it, and indicates their understanding of the mystery. You cannot have a pure conscience about something that you do not understand.