Chapter 3
1 This is a faithful saying : someone who seeks to be an overseer desires a good work .
2 The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife , temperate , sensible , modest , hospitable , good at teaching;
3 not a drinker, not violent , not greedy for money, but gentle , not quarrelsome, not covetous;
4 one who rules his own house well , having children in subjection with all reverence;
5 ( for how could someone who doesn’ t know how to rule his own house take care of God ’s assembly ?)
6 not a new convert , lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil .
7 Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside , to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil .
8 Servants , in the same way , must be reverent, not double-tongued , not addicted to much wine , not greedy for money,
9 holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience .
10 Let them also first be tested ; then let them serve if they are blameless.
11 Their wives in the same way must be reverent, not slanderers , temperate , and faithful in all things .
12 Let servants be husbands of one wife , ruling their children and their own houses well .
13 For those who have served well gain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus .
14 These things I write to you , hoping to come to you shortly ,
15 but if I wait long , that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in God ’s house , which is the assembly of the living God , the pillar and ground of the truth.
16 Without controversy , the mystery of godliness is great : God was revealed in the flesh , justified in the spirit , seen by angels, preached amongst the nations , believed on in the world , and received up in glory .