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1 Timothy 3:5 |
(For if a man know not how to rule
his own house, how shall he take care of the church
of God?)
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Note:
before doing a study on any
single verse, read all the verses from the beginning
of the chapter to this point and maybe a verse or
two beyond. Do this so you have the verse in context
before you begin.
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Let us pick up in the Barclay Commentary where
we left off in our study of verse 4.
THE CHARACTER OF THE CHRISTIAN LEADER
1 Timothy 3:1–7 (continued
)
THE Christian leader must be sober (ne¯phalios)
and must not overindulge in wine (
paroinos). In
the ancient world, wine was used all the time. Where
the water supply was very inadequate and sometimes
dangerous, wine was the most natural drink of all.
It is wine which cheers the hearts of gods and
mortals (Judges 9:13). In the restoration of Israel,
the people will plant vineyards and drink wine (Amos
9:14). Strong drink is given to those who are ready
to perish, and wine to those whose hearts are heavy
(Proverbs 31:6).
The quoted verses:
Judges 9:13
And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine,
which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted
over the trees?
Amos 9:14
And I will bring again the captivity of my people of
Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and
inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and
drink the wine thereof; they shall also make
gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
Proverbs 31:6
Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish,
and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
This is not to say that the ancient world was not
fully alive to the dangers of strong drink. Proverbs
speaks of the disaster which comes to those who look
on the wine when it is red (Proverbs 23:29–35). Wine
is a mocker, strong drink a brawler (Proverbs 20:1).
There are terrible stories of what happened to
people through over-indulgence in wine. There is the
case of Noah (Genesis 9:18–27), of Lot (Genesis
19:30–8) and of Amnon (2 Samuel 13:28–9). Although
the ancient world used wine as the most common of
all drinks, it used it abstemiously. When wine was
drunk, it was drunk in the proportion of two parts
of wine to three parts of water. Anyone who got
drunk would be disgraced in ordinary Roman society,
let alone in the Church.
The quoted verses:
Proverbs 23:29-35
29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath
contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds
without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to
seek mixed wine.
31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when
it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth
itself aright.
32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and
stingeth like an adder.
33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine
heart shall utter perverse things.
34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the
midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top
of a mast.
35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was
not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not:
when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
Proverbs 20:1
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and
whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Genesis 9:18-27
18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark,
were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the
father of Canaan.
19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was
the whole earth overspread.
20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he
planted a vineyard:
21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he
was uncovered within his tent.
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness
of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it
upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and
covered the nakedness of their father; and their
faces were backward, and they saw not their father's
nakedness.
24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his
younger son had done unto him.
25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of
servants shall he be unto his brethren.
26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and
Canaan shall be his servant.
:27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in
the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
Genesis 19:30-38
30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the
mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he
feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he
and his two daughters.
31 And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our
father is old, and there is not a man in the earth
to come in unto us after the manner of all the
earth:
32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we
will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our
father.
33 And they made their father drink wine that night:
and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father;
and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she
arose.
34 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the
firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay
yesternight with my father: let us make him drink
wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with
him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
35 And they made their father drink wine that night
also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and
he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she
arose.
36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by
their father.
37 And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name
Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto
this day.
38 And the younger, she also bare a son, and called
his name Benammi: the same is the father of the
children of Ammon unto this day.
2 Samuel 13:28-29
28 Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying,
Mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry with wine,
and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him,
fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous,
and be valiant.
29 And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as
Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons
arose, and every man gat him up upon his mule, and
fled.
The interesting thing is the double meaning that
both words in this section possess. Ne¯phalios means
sober, but it also means watchful and vigilant;
paroinos means addicted to wine, but it also means
quarrelsome and violent. The point that the
Pastorals make here is that Christians must allow
themselves no indulgence which would lessen their
Christian vigilance or tarnish their Christian
conduct.
There follow two Greek words which describe two
great qualities which must characterize the
Christian leader. He must be prudent (so¯phro¯n)
and well-behaved (kosmios).
We have translated so¯phro¯n as prudent, but it is
virtually untranslatable. It is variously translated
as of sound mind, discreet, prudent,
self-controlled, chaste or having complete control
over sensual desires. The Greeks derived it from two
words which mean to keep one’s mind safe and sound.
The corresponding noun is so¯phrosune¯, and the
Greeks wrote and thought much about it. It is the
opposite of extreme behaviour and lack of
self-control. Plato defined it as ‘the mastery of
pleasure and desire’. Aristotle defined it as ‘that
power by which the pleasures of the body are used as
law commands’.
The Jewish writer Philo defined it as 'a certain
limiting and ordering of the desires, which
eliminates those which are external and excessive,
and which adorns those which are necessary with
timeliness and moderation’. Pythagoras said that it
was ‘the foundation on which the soul rests’. The
second-century Syrian-Greek author, Iamblichus, said
that ‘it is the safeguard of the most excellent
habits in life’. Euripides, the Greek dramatist,
said that it was ‘the fairest gift of God’. The
seventeenth-century churchman Jeremy Taylor called
it ‘reason’s girdle and passion’s bridle’. R. C.
Trench describes so¯phrosune¯ as ‘the condition of
entire command over the passions and desires, so
that they receive no further allowance than that
which law and right reason admit and approve’.
Gilbert Murray, the classical scholar, wrote of
so¯phro¯n: ‘There is a way of thinking which
destroys and a way which saves. The man or woman who
is so¯phro¯n walks among the beauties and perils of
the world, feeling love, joy, anger and the rest;
and through all he has that in his mind which saves.
Whom does it save? Not him only, but, as we should
say, the whole situation. It saves the imminent evil
from coming to be.’ E. F. Brown, who was a
missionary in India, quotes in illustration of
so¯phrosune¯ a prayer of the thirteenth-century
theologian Thomas Aquinas which asks for ‘a quieting
of all our impulses, fleshly and spiritual’.
~Barclay Commentary
Now to the other commentaries on our study now of
verse 5
For if a man know not how to
rule - This is a beautiful and striking
argument. A church resembles a family. It is,
indeed, larger, and there is a greater variety of
dispositions in it than there is in a family. The
authority of a minister of the gospel in a church is
also less absolute than that of a father. But still
there is a striking resemblance. The church is made
up of an assemblage of brothers and sisters. They
are banded together for the same purposes, and have
a common object to aim at. They have common feelings
and common needs. They have sympathy, like a family,
with each other in their distresses and afflictions.
The government of the church also is designed to be
“paternal.” It should be felt that he who presides
over it has the feelings of a father; that he loves
all the members of the great family; that he has no
prejudices, no partialities, no selfish aims to
gratify.
Now, if a man cannot govern his own family well; if
he is severe, partial, neglectful, or tyrannical at
home, how can he be expected to take charge of the
more numerous “household of faith” with proper views
and feelings? If, with all the natural and strong
ties of affection which bind a father to his own
children; if, when they are few comparatively in
number, and where his eye is constantly upon them,
he is unable to govern them aright, how can he be
expected to preside in a proper manner over the
larger household where he will be bound with
comparatively feebler ties, and where he will be
exposed more to the influence of passion, and where
he will have a much less constant opportunity of
supervision? Confucius, as quoted by Doddridge, has
a sentiment strikingly resembling that before us:
“It is impossible that he who knows not how to
govern and reform his own family, should rightly
govern and reform a people.” We may remark, also, in
this verse, a delicate and beautiful use of words by
the apostle to prevent the possibility of
misapprehension. While he institutes a comparison
between the government of a family and that of the
church, he guards against the possibility of its
being supposed that he would countenance “arbitrary”
authority in the church, even such authority as a
father must of necessity employ in his own family.
Hence, he uses different words. He speaks of the
father as “ruling” over his own family, or
“presiding over it” - προστῆναι prostēnai; he
describes the minister of religion as “having a
tender care for the church” - epimelēsetai.
~Barnes Notes
Now to the Adam Clarke
For if a man know not -
Method is a matter of great importance in all the
affairs of life. It is a true saying, He that does
little with his head must do much with his hands;
and even then the business is not half done for want
of method. Now, he who has a proper method of doing
business will show it in every affair of life, even
the least. He who has a disorderly family has no
government of that family; he probably has none
because he has no method, no plan, of presiding. It
was natural for the apostle to say, If a man know
not how to rule his own house, how shall he take
care of the Church of God? Look at a man’s domestic
arrangements; if they be not good, he should not be
trusted with any branch of government, whether
ecclesiastical or civil.
~Adam Clarke
Let us look now at the John Gill:
For if a man know not how to
rule his own house - Which is an affair of
less importance, and more easy to be done; not
requiring so much resolution, prudence, care, and
thought:
how shall he take care of the
church of God? - preside over it, rule in it,
provide for it, and see that everything is in its
proper place, and done according to the will of God.
The argument is from the lesser to the greater.
~John Gill
The People's New Testament commentary
says...
For if a man know not -
The order of his own house will show whether he is
fit to have a charge in the house of God. The sins
of Eli's sons showed that Eli, though a good man,
was unfitted to rule.
~People's New Testament commentary
Let us go now to the Treasury of Scriptural
Knowledge:
For if a man know not how to
rule his own house:
1 Samuel 2:29-30
...speaking of Eli
29 Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine
offering, which I have commanded in my habitation;
and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves
fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel
my people?
30 Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said
indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father,
should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD
saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I
will honour, and they that despise me shall be
lightly esteemed.
1 Samuel 3:13
...speaking of Eli
and his sons
For I have told him that I will judge his house for
ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his
sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them
not.
How shall he take care of the
church of God?:
1 Timothy 3:15
But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou
oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God,
which is the church of the living God, the pillar
and ground of the truth.
Acts 20:28
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the
flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath
purchased with his own blood.
Ephesians 1:22
And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him
to be the head over all things to the church,
Ephesians 5:24
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so
let the wives be to their own husbands in every
thing.
Ephesians 5:32
This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning
Christ and the church.
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