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Qualifications for Overseers

¹ The saying is trustworthy: if anyone aspires to supervision, he desires a good work. ² Therefore the overseer must be irreproachable, the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, skillful in teaching, ³ not addicted to wine, not a violent person, but gentle, peaceable, not loving money, ⁴ managing his own household well, having children in submission with all dignity ⁵ (but if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), ⁶ not newly converted, lest he become conceited and fall into the condemnation of the devil. ⁷ But he must also have a good testimony from those outside, in order that he may not fall into disgrace and the trap of the devil.

Qualifications for Deacons

⁸ Deacons likewise must be dignified, not insincere, not devoted to much wine, not fond of dishonest gain, ⁹ holding the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience, ¹⁰ and these also must be tested first; then let them serve if they^[a] are above reproach. ¹¹ The wives^[b] likewise must be dignified, not slanderous, temperate, faithful in all things. ¹² Deacons must be husbands of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. ¹³ For those who have served well acquire a good standing for themselves, and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

The Mystery of Godliness Described

¹⁴ I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you in a short time. ¹⁵ But if I am delayed, I am writing^[c] in order that you may know how one must conduct oneself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and mainstay^[d] of the truth. ¹⁶ And most certainly, great is the mystery of godliness: