• 1. ¶ THIS is a true saying: If a man desires the office of an elder, he aspires to a good work.
  • 2. He who becomes an elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, alert mentally, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, and apt at teaching;
  • 3. Not given to wine, not hasty to strike, not quarrelsome, but meek, not greedy of filthy lucre;
  • 4. One who rules well his own household and keeps his children under submission to bring them up with all purity.
  • 5. For if a man does not know how to rule well his own household, how shall he take care of the church of God?
  • 6. He should not be a recent convert, lest he become proud and fall into the condemnation of the devil.
  • 7. Moreover, he must have a good report from outsiders, lest he fall into reproach and the snares of the devil.
  • 8. ¶ Likewise deacons must be pure, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;
  • 9. But they must uphold the divine mystery of faith with a pure conscience.
  • 10. Let these first be examined, and then let them minister after they have been found blameless.
  • 11. Likewise their wives must be chaste, alert mentally, faithful in all things, and not slanderers.
  • 12. Let the deacons be appointed from those who have not been polygamous, ruling their children and their own households well.
  • 13. For those who minister well earn good recognition for themselves and grow more familiar with the faith of Jesus Christ.
  • 14. ¶ These things I write to you, although hoping to come to you shortly,
  • 15. So that if I am delayed, you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
  • 16. Truly great is this divine mystery of righteousness; it is revealed in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory.