III.  Faithful is the saying, if any one desires the office of overseer, he desires a good work.

²The overseer then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, discreet, orderly, hospitable, apt in teaching;

³not given to wine, not a striker, but forbearing, averse to strife, not a lover of money;

⁴presiding well over his own house, having his children in subjection with all decorum;

⁵(but if one knows not how to preside over his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

⁶not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the Devil.

⁷But he must also have a good testimony from those without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the Devil.

⁸Deacons in like manner must be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of gain;

⁹holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

¹⁰And let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, being without reproach.

¹¹[Their] wives in like manner must be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.

¹²Let the deacons be husbands of one wife, presiding well over their children and their own houses.

¹³For they that have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴These things I write to thee, hoping to come to thee shortly;

¹⁵but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to conduct thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

¹⁶And confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifested in the flesh, was justified in the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the Gentiles, was believed on in the world, was received up in glory.