Study Desk

Qualifications for Overseers and Deacons

Here is a trustworthy saying:^(a) Whoever aspires to be an overseer^(b) desires a noble task.

Now the overseer is to be above reproach,^(c) faithful to his wife,^(d) temperate,^(e) self-controlled, respectable, hospitable,^(f) able to teach,^(g)

not given to drunkenness,^(h) not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome,⁽ⁱ⁾ not a lover of money.^(j)

He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full^[a] respect.^(k)

(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?)^(l)

He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited^(m) and fall under the same judgment⁽ⁿ⁾ as the devil.

He must also have a good reputation with outsiders,^(o) so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.^(p)