Survey
of the Letters of Paul: 1 Timothy 3:7
1 Timothy 3:7
Moreover he must have a good report of them which
are without; lest he fall into reproach and the
snare of the devil.
Let us begin in the Barclay Commentary for 1
Timothy 3:1-7 where we left off in our study of
verse 6.
THE CHARACTER OF THE CHRISTIAN LEADER
THE Christian leader must be hospitable (philoxenos).
This is a quality on which the New Testament lays
much stress. Paul bids the Roman church to ‘extend
hospitality’ (Romans 12:13). ‘Be hospitable to one
another without complaining’, says Peter (1 Peter
4:9). In the Shepherd of Hermas, one of the very
early Christian writings, it is laid down: ‘The
episkopos must be hospitable, a man who gladly and
at all times welcomes into his house the servants of
God.’ The Christian leader must be a man with an
open heart and an open house.
Quoted verses:
Romans 12:13
Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to
hospitality.
1 Peter 4:9
Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
The ancient world was very careful of the rights of
guests. Strangers were under the protection of Zeus
Xenios, whose title was Protector of Strangers. In
the ancient world, inns were notoriously bad. In one
of Aristophanes’ plays, Heracles asks his companion
where they will stay for the night; and the answer
is: ‘Where the fleas are fewest.’ Plato speaks of
the innkeeper being like a pirate who holds his
guests to ransom. Inns tended to be dirty and
expensive and, above all, immoral. The ancient world
had a system of what were called guest friendships.
Over generations, families had arrangements to give
each other accommodation and hospitality. Often, the
members of the families came eventually to be
unknown to each other by sight and identified
themselves by means of what were called tallies. A
stranger seeking accommodation would produce one
half of some object; the host would possess the
other half of the tally; and when the two halves
fitted each other the host knew that he had found
his guest, and the guest knew that the host was
indeed the longstanding family friend.
In the Christian Church, there were wandering
teachers and preachers who needed hospitality. There
were also many slaves with no homes of their own to
whom it was a great privilege to have the right of
entry to a Christian home. It was of the greatest
blessing that Christians should have open to them at
all times Christian homes in which they could meet
like-minded people. We live in a world where there
are still many who are far from home, many who are
strangers in a strange place, many who live in
conditions where it is hard to be a Christian. The
door of the Christian home and the welcome of the
Christian heart should be open to all who find
themselves in such situations.
The Christian leader must be didaktikos, that is,
must possess an aptitude for teaching. It has been
said that his duty is ‘to preach to the unconverted
and to teach the converted’. There are two things to
be said about this. First, it is one of the
disasters of modern times that the teaching ministry
of the Church is not being carried out as it should
be. There is any amount of topical preaching and any
amount of encouragement; but there is little use in
urging people to be Christians when they do not know
what being a Christian means. Instruction is a
primary duty of the Christian preacher and leader.
The second thing is this. The finest and the most
effective teaching is done not by speaking but by
being. Even those with no gift of words can teach,
by living in such a way that in them others see the
reflection of the Master. A saint has been defined
as someone ‘in whom Christ lives again’.
The Christian leader must not be a man who assaults
others (ple¯kte¯s, a striker). That this
instruction was not unnecessary is seen in one of
the very early regulations of the Apostolic Canons:
‘A bishop, priest or deacon who smites the faithful
when they err, or the unbelievers when they commit
injury, and desires by such means as this to terrify
them, we command to be deposed; for nowhere hath the
Lord taught us this. When he was reviled, he reviled
not again, but the contrary. When he was smitten, he
smote not again; when he suffered, he threatened
not.’ It would be most unlikely that any Christian
leader today would strike another Christian, but the
fact remains that blustering, bullying, irritable,
bad tempered speech or action is forbidden to
Christians.
The Christian leader must be gentle. The Greek is
epieike¯s, another of these completely
untranslatable words. The noun is epieikeia, and
Aristotle describes it as ‘that which corrects
justice’ and as that which ‘is just and better than
justice’. He said that it was that quality which
corrects the law when the law errs because of its
generality. What he means is that sometimes it may
actually be unjust to apply the strict letter of the
law. R. C. Trench said that epieikeia means
‘retreating from the letter of right better to
preserve the spirit of right’ and is ‘the spirit
which recognizes the impossibility of cleaving to
all formal law . . . that recognizes the danger that
ever waits upon the assertion of legal rights, lest
they should be pushed into moral wrongs...the spirit
which rectifies and redresses the injustice of
justice'. Aristotle describes in full the action of
epieikeia: ‘To pardon human failings; to look to the
law-giver, not to the law; to the intention, not to
the action; to the whole, not to the part; to the
character of the actor in the long run and not in
the present moment; to remember good rather than
evil, and the good that one has received rather than
the good that one has done; to bear being injured;
to wish to settle a matter by words rather than
deeds.’ If there is a matter under dispute, it can
be settled by consulting a book of practice and
procedure, or it can be settled by consulting Jesus
Christ. If there is a matter of debate, it can be
settled in law, or it can be settled in love. The
atmosphere of many churches would be radically
changed if there was more epieikeia within them.
The Christian leader must be peaceable (amachos).
The Greek word means disinclined to fight. There are
people who, as we might put it, are ‘trigger-happy’
in their relationships with other people. But real
Christian leaders want nothing so much as they want
peace with other people.
The Christian leader must be free from the love of
money. He will never do anything simply for profit’s
sake. He will know that there are values which are
beyond all monetary value. ~Barclay Commentary
Now to the commentaries.
Moreover he must have a good report of them which
are without - Who are without the church; that is,
of those who are not Christians. This includes, of
course, “all” classes of those who are not
Christians - pagans, infidels, Jews, moral people,
and scoffers. The idea is, that he must have a fair
reputation with them for integrity of character. His
life must be in their view upright. He must not be
addicted to anything which they regard as
inconsistent with good morals. His deportment must
be such that they shall regard it as not
inconsistent with his profession. He must be true
and just and honest in his dealings with his
fellow-men, and so live that they cannot say that he
has wronged them. He must not give occasion for
scandal or reproach in his contact with the other
sex, but must be regarded as a man of a pure life
and of a holy walk. The “reason” for this injunction
is obvious. ~ Barnes Notes
It is his business to endeavor to do such people
good, and to persuade them to become [more mature]
Christians [firstfruits]. “But no minister of
the gospel can possibly do such people good, unless
they regard him as an upright and honest man.” No
matter how he preaches or prays; no matter how
orthodox, learned, or apparently devout he may be,
all his efforts will be in vain unless they regard
him as a man of incorruptible integrity. If they
hate religion themselves, they insist justly that
since he has professed it he shall be governed by
its principles; or if they feel its importance, they
will not be influenced to embrace it by a man that
they regard as hypocritical and impure. Go to a man
whom you have defrauded, or who regards you as
having done or attempted wrong to any other one, and
talk to him about the necessity of religion, and he
will instinctively say that he does not “want” a
religion which will not make its professor true,
honest, and pure. It is impossible, therefore, for a
minister to over-estimate the importance of having a
fair character in the view of the world, and no man
should be introduced into the ministry, or sustained
in it, who has not a fair reputation. ~ Barnes
Notes
Lest he fall into reproach - That is, in such a way
as to bring dishonor on the ministerial character.
His life will be such as to give people occasion to
reproach the cause of religion. ~ Barnes Notes
And the snare of the devil - The snare which the
devil lays to entrap and ruin the ministers of the
gospel and all good people. The snare to which
reference is here made, is that of “blasting the
character and influence of the minister of the
gospel.” The idea is, that Satan lays this snare so
to entangle him as to secure this object, and the
means which he uses is the vigilance and suspicion
of those who are out of the church. If there is
anything of this kind in the life of a minister
which they can make use of, they will be ready to do
it. Hence, the necessity on his part of an upright
and blameless life. Satan is constantly aiming at
this thing; the world is watching for it, and if the
minister has any “propensity” which is not in entire
accordance with honesty, Satan will take advantage
of it and lead him into the snare. ~ Barnes Notes
Now from the Adam Clarke commentary...
The sixteenth requisite is, that he should have
a good report of them which are without - That he
should be one who had not been previously a
profligate [recklessly wasteful; wildly
extravagant], or scandalous in his life. Such a
person, when converted, may be a worthy private
member of religious society; but I believe God
rarely calls such to the work of the ministry, and
never to the episcopate [the position, term, or
office of a bishop]. Them that are without are
the Jews, Gentiles, and the unconverted of all
kinds. For the meaning of this term see the note on
Colossians 4:5. ~Adam Clarke
Quoted verse:
Colossians 4:5
Walk in wisdom toward them that are without,
redeeming the time.
Lest he fall into reproach - For his former
scandalous life. ~Adam Clarke
And the snare of the devil - Snares and temptations,
such as he fell in and fell by before. This is
called the snare of the devil; for, as he well knows
the constitution of such persons, and what is most
likely to prevail, he infers that what was effectual
before to their transgressing may be so still;
therefore on all suitable occasions he tempts them
to their old sins. Backsliders in general fall by
those sins to which they were addicted previously to
their conversion. Former inveterate habits will
revive in him who does not continue to deny himself,
and watch unto prayer.
The snare of the devil. - Some would translate
παγιδα του διαβολου, the snare of the accuser; and
they give the same meaning to the word in 1Timothy
3:6, because it is evident that διαβολους has that
meaning, 1Timothy 3:11, and our translators render
it slanderers. Now, though διαβολος signifies an
accuser, yet I do not see that it can, with any
propriety, be restrained to this meaning in the
texts in question, and especially as the word is
emphatically applied to Satan himself; for he who,
in Revelation 12:10, is called the accuser of the
brethren, is, in Revelation 12:9, called the great
dragon, the old serpent, the Devil, διαβολος, and
Satan. ~Adam Clarke
Quoted verses:
1 Timothy 3:6
Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he
fall into the condemnation of the devil.
1 Timothy 3:11
Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers,
sober, faithful in all things.
Revelation 12:10
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is
come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our
God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of
our brethren is cast down, which accused them before
our God day and night.
Revelation 12:9
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent,
called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the
whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his
angels were cast out with him.
Let us contrast these two commentaries with the John
Gill...
Moreover, he must have a good report of them which
are without - That is, "without the church", as the
Arabic version reads; for wicked men, though they
dislike the principles and profession of godly
ministers, and despise their office, yet cannot but
speak well of their becoming life and conversation.
And this part of their character is necessary to
invite persons to hear them, and to recommend their
ministry to them, as well as for the reasons that
follow: ~John Gill
lest he fall into reproach - into the reproach of
men; not only of the world, but of professors of
religion; who may be apt to upbraid him with his
past sins; especially such that may fall under his
censures, admonitions, and reproofs, which hereby
will become in a great measure useless and
ineffectual: ~John Gill
and the snare of the devil - lest Satan should take
encouragement from hence to tempt him to other and
greater sins; or lest finding himself slighted and
despised by the people of God, because of his former
sins, he should break out into anger and revenge
against them; or into despondency and despair in
himself; or should be negligent of his duty, and
timorous of exhorting and reproving others, lest
they should retort upon him, and reproach him with
his former crimes. The Jews have a regard to the
wisdom, prudence, gravity, and manners, of a man
they appoint as a minister of a congregation. Their
rule is this (z): [z = Maimon. Hilchot
Tephilla, c. 8. sect. 11.]
"they do not appoint a messenger or minister of a
congregation, but he who is the greatest in the
congregation for wisdom and works; and if he is an
elderly man, it is the better; and they take care
that the messenger or minister of the congregation
be a man whose voice is pleasant, and he is used to
read: but he whose beard is not full grown, though
he is a very considerable man, he may not be a
minister of the congregation, because of the honour
of the congregation.'' ~John Gill
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