Survey of the Letters of Paul:  1 Timothy 3:12

1 Timothy 3:12
Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

Let us begin the lesson in Barclay's commentary:

IN CHRISTIAN SERVICE

In the same way, the deacons must be men of dignity. They must not be the kind of men who say one thing to one person and another to another. They must not be given to overindulgence in wine or prepared to stoop to disgraceful ways of making money; they must hold the secret of the faith which has been revealed to them with a clear conscience. The deacons too must first of all be put upon probation, and, if they emerge blameless from the test, let them become deacons . . . Deacons must be married only once; they must manage their own children and their own homes well. For those who make a fine job of the office of deacon win for themselves a fine degree of honour, and they gain much boldness in their faith in Christ Jesus.

In the early Church, the function of the deacons lay much more in the sphere of practical service. The Christian Church inherited a magnificent organization of charitable help from the Jews. No nation has ever had such a sense of responsibility for the poorer brother and sister as the Jews had. The synagogue had a regular organization for helping such people. The Jews rather discouraged the giving of individual help to individual people. They preferred that help should be given through the community and especially through the synagogue. ~Barclay commentary

This verse is very much like what we see in verses 2, 4 and 5.

1 Timothy 3:2-5
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

Most every commentary you go to will read similarly as follows:

Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife - see notes, 1 Timothy 3:2.
Ruling their children and their own houses well - see notes, 1 Timothy 3:4-5.

We are going to follow suit here.

For the first part of the verse, see the Lesson on 1 Timothy 3:2.

For the second part of the verse, see the Lessons on Verse 4 and Verse 5.

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