1 Tim. 3:1-7
“An Overseer Must Be Above Reproach…”
There are two things we must talk about before we examine the list of qualifications for elders.
The first is the meaning of “qualifications”. We must keep
in mind that the word “qualifications” does not appear in our text. In the
sense that these conditions have to be met, they can be seen as a kind of
“qualifications”. But we must not think that anyone, even if he meets these
“qualifications”, is somehow “qualified” for the job. To serve in the
Besides, we must not forget that what we are talking about here is a
divine calling.
When we speak of the office of elder or our job as a divine calling, where
is the focus? The focus is on the act of the One, who calls. The qualifications
of the one called is important, of course, but they are only secondary. This is
all the truer because it is a divine calling. It is God, who calls some
men to be elders. When it is God, who calls, then the initiative is with God in
the most absolute way: His call is not contingent on the qualifications of the
men. It is not as though these men had ever existed outside of God’s care and
God one day spotted them and called them into His service because He was so impressed
with their credentials! No, it is God, who chose them before the
foundation of the world for the office, and thus gave them life, their talents
and abilities and has shaped them and trained them for His purpose all along. Those
that are elders, therefore, must not think of their office as their birthright
and conduct themselves with an air of self-importance. They must never lose the
sense of awe for the privilege God bestowed upon them. They must conduct themselves
in humility.
A good example of this dynamic is Paul himself. When we think about it, who
can be more qualified to be an Apostle? He was zealous. His educational
background was impeccable. As if to prove this point, he penned almost a half
of the entire New Testament! But it was Paul, who said, “Who is adequate for
these things?” Come to think of it, what were his credentials in view of the
work he was supposed to carry on, especially as the apostle to the Gentiles? He
was to invade into the enemy territories and wage war against the power and
dominion of Satan? Would Satan have any regard for his educational background
and his zealous personality, his speaking abilities and interpersonal skills? Elders
must meet these qualifications but it does not mean that they are qualified.
God Himself said, “Not by power, nor by strength, but by My Spirit, says the
Lord!”
The second is the relevance of these “elder qualifications” for the lay members. First of all, this list is relevant for all lay members indirectly because they must know what kind of elders they should pray for and look for and vote for. But this list is also directly relevant for all members because they must all aspire to have these qualities. Elders are our examples (1 Pet. 5:3). You see, when we elect elders, we are not creating two separate castes of Christians in the church--the super Christians (the elders) and the normal Christians (the lay member). For sure, elders and members have different functions in the church. But this difference is due to the differing gifts and callings we have received from God, not due to any difference of personal merit or worth. We all have been saved by the same precious blood of Jesus Christ and we all are called to the same standard of holiness before God, whether we are elders or not.
Have you read anywhere in the Bible, where God excuses some
to live in a lower standard of holiness? Yes, the Nazarenes had to live by a
stricter standard of holiness but they were Nazarenes by voluntary choice,
often for a season. Yes, the Levites and priests had to live by a stricter code
of purity than the rest of the Israelites. Even so, God’s general call to all
Israelites, whether priests or not, was, “Be holy as I am holy” (Lev.
What is more, the distinction between the priests and the
lay people was only a temporary arrangement. As God entered into covenant with
Israel at Mount Sinai, God declared His intention for all the people of Israel
in this way: “Now therefore,
if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my
treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you
shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation…” (Ex. 19:5-6). You see,
the priests were given as an example, as a preview of what all
So then, as those God called to be elders should “desire”
that noble task (v. 1), all of God’s people should “desire” to cultivate the
qualities that are listed in our passage. Let us spend a little bit of time on
the word “desire” here. This word is translated in the King James Version as “covet”, “crave”, “long to”, “set
one’s desire” and “lust (after)”. It is the word used in the Tenth Commandment
in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible): “You shall not covet
your neighbor’s house…” (Ex. 20:17; cf. Matt. 5:28). Here, we are not just
talking about an idle, day-dreaming kind of wishful thinking; we are talking
about a very intense desire, a very strong emotion that catapults us into action, that sustains us through a long, unfading,
unrelenting action.
But have
you noticed in the list of possible translation options how the word can be used
both in negative and positive senses? The word can denote sinful lusts after a
woman (Matt.
But that could
not be farther from the truth. Desire is not bad in and of itself. What makes a
desire good or bad is what it is that we desire. We are to mortify the sinful
desires of the flesh but we are to cultivate and inflame godly desires. Our
Christian life is not just about not lusting after a
woman (or a man); it is also about husband and wife desiring each other with intense
passion. It is not just about staying away from shameful and dishonest gains;
it is also about actively seeking and doggedly sticking with honor and honesty even
when they demand sacrifice and loss. Our goal as Christians is not to just stay
away from sin; our goal is to hate sin with passion and love righteousness with
passion. Our goal is not just to survive as Christians; it is to thrive as
Christians. Being a Christian should be most fulfilling and vibrant life that
we can ever live!
One
important way in which our salvation is described is that we are born again. If
we are born again, we are born again to live a new life in Jesus Christ. Jesus
said, “I came [all the way heaven in this body of frailty to suffer and die] that
they may have life and have it abundantly” (John
What is
your perception of Jesus Christ? Did He live a boring, bland, passionless life?
Can we look at His life and say that it was devoid of passion and desire?
Absolutely and positively not! He was anything but a politically correct guru,
who did not stand for anything because He was afraid to offend anyone! He loved
and He loved deeply. Out of His deep love, He wept for the lost sheep of
If we grow
in conformity to Him, we won’t lead a boring, bland life, for sure. Yes, God
calls us to be content but that does not mean no
desires, no passions. We are to be content with material things that will
perish away anyway. But we are to be full of godly desires. To be born again is
to be born unto new desires, new ambitions, new
passions! We are to desire God as a man thirsts for water in the desert. We are
to desire the Word of God as a baby longs for milk. We are to seek His kingdom
and righteousness more than anything else. We are to desire greater intimacy
with God. How can we not desire more when we have a loving relationship with God?
Though God has already seated us in the heavenly places with Christ, though God
has already given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
our present experience of this reality is marred by our sins and our body of
weakness. And when God has in Himself so much joy and happiness in infinite
abundance, how can we have enough of Him? No matter how mature we may be, no
matter how much we enjoy Him now, there is in our God still so much more
richness to be desired and mined. Oh, how wonderful it is to have such a God as
our Inheritance and Treasure! What a wonderful life is ours! One aspect of that
desire for God is to be used by God for His glory, whether as an officer in the
church or as a lay member; to glorify God by reflecting His character.
That is
what we should remember as we move into the list of elder “qualifications”:
these qualifications are a reflection of Jesus Christ.
The list
begins with these words: “Therefore an overseer must be above reproach…” (v. 2). To be above reproach should not be understood
in the sense of political correctness. To be above reproach does not mean that
one is not criticized by anyone. It is said, “He, who does not stand for
something, will fall for anything.” But he, who does indeed stand for
something, will be hated by some. And he, who stands up for Christ, will
certainly be hated by many, by the world: “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own;
but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world,
therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19). Even our Savior was criticized and
hated by many! In fact, if the world hates us, it is because it hated our Lord first
(John
But “above reproach” does mean that we should be free of
moral defects and shortcomings, which contradict the gospel message we bear. We
must make sure, we must do everything possible to ensure, that the only offense
is the gospel of the cross, not any of our foolish antics and scandalous
behaviors. “For what
credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing
in the sight of God” (1 Pet.
But therein lies our problem, doesn’t it? I wonder how many people are put off by Christianity, not because of the offensiveness of the gospel itself but because of our moral failings and our contemptible conduct; not by the truth of the gospel but by the lack of grace and graciousness in our life and in the way we communicate the gospel? Often we end up doing the very opposite of what we are supposed to do, don’t we? We compromise the truth of the gospel so as to make it “less offensive”; we are tongue-tied and we are at a loss for words when we have to share or explain the gospel to others. But we are uncompromising and stubborn and outspoken about our personal opinions. We are unapologetic about our misconduct and we are loath to acknowledge our faults to others. In so many ways we discredit and disgrace the gospel because of our pride and arrogance and self-centeredness! Elders are to be above such reproach. And as elders conduct themselves above reproach as our examples, we too ought to be above reproach for the sake of our dear Savior.
This pretty much summarizes the whole list of elder qualifications. The rest is just expanding this main idea. And today we will deal with just one more: “the husband of one wife” (v. 2).
Notice first: “the husband”. Paul states clearly from the outset that an overseer--an elder--should be a man.
An overseer must be “the husband of one wife”--literally, one-wife man. The question is what that means. Alexander Strauch mentions “four possibilities [of interpretation]:
The first option (“elders must be married”) seems to be
supported by others in the list: “He
must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children
submissive” (v. 4). But, as you can see, that would mean that an elder
not only has to be married but must also have children. Should we say,
since children are God’s gifts (as well as a spouse and marriage), when a man
has no children, that that is a sign that God has not called him to be an
elder? Notice also the plural, children. Does that mean that a man, who
only has one child, cannot be an elder? It seems like, as Knight points out, that Paul “wrote in terms of the common
situation, i.e., of being married and having children, and then spoke of what
should be the case when this most common situation exists in an officer’s life”
(p. 157). Another difficulty with this view is that Paul himself, who was
writing this very letter, was, as far as we know, a single man (1 Cor. 7:8). Even if he were a widower, which is unlikely, he
had no child(ren). And if he
did have a child, he would have been a terrible father never to mention
anything about his child, even in his last letter (2 Tim.). Not only that, as Strauch points out, Paul recommended singleness for its
advantage for more effective and undivided service to God (1 Cor.
Let us not forget that our Lord Jesus was and died as a
single man, without a wife or child. And He is the true, chief Elder for the
What about the second option (“elders must not be polygamists”, having more than one wife at the same time)? That the phrase, “one-wife man”, includes this option is clear. This shows a radical change in the practice of God’s people. We know that polygamy was practiced by many among the Jews, including Jacob, David and, most notoriously, Solomon. Their polygamy is not presented as a positive thing in the Bible, for sure. God had tolerated this unlawful practice as He did with divorce because of the hardness of their hearts (Matt. 19:8). But Jesus made it clear once for all that marriage should be between one man and one woman (Matt. 19:4-6) and the church took these words to heart and practice. This was a radical departure from the Jewish practice of that time, as Knight points out, “In AD 393 Theodosius enacted a special law against polygamy among Jews…” (p. 158). But the phrase in view is not limited to polygamy (cf. 1 Tim. 5:9), as we will see soon.
What about the third option (“elders may marry only once”)?
This option goes directly against what Paul says in 1 Cor.
7:39: “A wife is bound to her
husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married
to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.” Consider also a similar expression in 1
Tim. 5:9: “Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age,
having been the wife of one husband.” Does this mean that the only
widows, who could be enrolled in the church’s deaconate support, are those, who
married only once in their entire lifetime? Not likely when we consider Paul’s
recommendation to younger widows to be remarried (
The most viable option seems to be the fourth one: “elders must be maritally and sexually above reproach.” We need to remember that the whole list in our passage follows the condition of the elder being above reproach. The phrase, “one-wife husband”, then, should be understood as a general, inclusive statement concerning the elder’s sexual and marital conduct to be above reproach. The elder has to be a one-wife husband, committed to the monogamous relationship with his wife, honoring his marriage vow to love and to cherish her “until death do us part”. This includes, of course, resisting the temptation to adultery and any other inappropriate behavior with any other woman, from flirting to viewing pornographic pictures and movies. He is to desire his wife, his wife alone, with passion but all other women he is to treat as sisters and mothers and daughters.
As you can see, sexual and marital purity tops the list of elder “qualifications”. We can see why. Sex has always been a dominant preoccupation of man all through our existence. And God made human sexuality to be more than just a means of procreation and physical pleasure. God designed it to be a way of deep, intimate communion, which involves so much more than just a physical interaction; it involves a joining of heart and soul, flowing out of a deep, personal commitment for a lifetime. Our sexual, marital union is a human reflection of the divine, Triunity (Gen. 2). It is also a reflection of the union between Christ and His bride, the church (Eph. 5), of Christ’s commitment to His bride to the point of laying down His life for her because of His deep, passionate affection for her. A sexual union cannot take place without affecting one’s heart and soul, not to mention the possibility of a lasting physical, familial, social consequence in the form of pregnancy. And one cannot come to the point of engaging in one-night stands without having damaged something very sacred in us, the image of God.
Sexual purity is becoming an increasing challenge for all of us because our society is becoming more and more decadent especially in the area of sexuality. All kinds of sexual deviancy are being accepted in the mainstream. Sex has become the most dominant marketing tool. Everywhere we turn our eyes to, we are met with seductive images of the opposite sex. What is more, we are at a point where those that are sexually chaste are ridiculed for being a prude. It is terribly alarming when a society looks down on the virtue of being prudent. Therefore, it is all the more important for us to be strong and bear that kind of reproach as an honor. And we also must remember that even the secular world expects Christians to be different, to live by a different code of conduct and honor. The world may not like us for it but it still expects us to be different. When we fail, its criticism is relentless and discredits the gospel.
But what is the ultimate reason for the manner of our life? Is it not because of Jesus Christ, who gave us a new life in union with Him through His death and resurrection? We have been born of God, born of the Spirit, born from above! We have been born again to live, to actively and vigorously live for God’s glory, not just passively stay away from sin and trouble! One commentator said concerning Shawn Johnson, the American Olympic gymnast, “She was born to do this, for this moment.” We all have been born again in Jesus Christ. We have all been born to do something that only we can do. I am not talking about some unique abilities that no one else has. I am talking about the things that only we can do because we are where we are and who we are at this moment. If God gave you this new birth in Christ, then, God has given you and will continue to give you the desires to do what you are born to do! And we are to do them with passion and eagerness! There are some unique things that each of us must do. But through this list, God is showing us what we should desire with passion--to be like Christ. For this list is ultimately a description of Jesus Christ, our true Elder! And it is for the sake of Jesus Christ that we are called to be above reproach. That is why this is not a call for some generic morality of being politically correct. This is for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It includes being ridiculed and mocked at for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope that all of us, when we meet Jesus Christ, we will have many badges, many scars, of Christian courage and honor for being ridiculed and persecuted for our Lord! But we must not ignore the importance of living in a manner worthy of the gospel so that the message of the gospel is not blurred or disgraced by our folly and anything that contradicts the gospel of Jesus Christ. May God increase our desire and passion for Christ more and more! Jesus, who died, rose again from the dead and He is alive now, reigning as our resurrected Lord at the right hand of God! In His resurrection glory, He is testifying to us that the life we live in the likeness of Christ is not in vain, that it will lead us to the glory that Jesus enjoys now at the right hand of God. Thus He inflames our desire to be like Him with passion! Let us repent of our carnal, worldly desires and cultivate heavenly desires! May we live a life that is vigorous and fulfilling in Jesus Christ! May God mold us into His glorious image until that wonderful day when we shall be made complete in His likeness, full of pure, undivided desire for our God and Savior, thereby becoming, finally, all that we were created and redeemed to be and do!
© Copyright 2008 by Jeong Woo "James" Lee
All Rights Reserved.