This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; 1 Timothy 3:1-3

As we continue to work through the Epistles of Timothy, we see these are instructions on how we should run the Church. In the previous Chapter we looked over the order of the Church, now we are going to take a look at the qualifications for the leaders of the Church. The first thing we want to point out is the original Greek word “episkope” this word is translated as Bishop in the KJV, also translate as “overseer” “leader” This word basically covers any leadership role within the Church, such as Bishop, Pastor, Elder (Acts 20:17, Acts 20:28, Titus 1:5-9, 1 Peter 5)

So the qualifications that the Apostle Paul is going to mention, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, applies to all Pastors, Bishops, Elders, any leaders within the Church. The first qualification we see is the “husband of one wife”. We went over Pauls teaching in 1 Timothy Chapter 2, woman are not to have spiritual authority over men, also here the overseer is to be the husband of one wife. With these scriptures, I think its a clear case God’s design for the Church was to have male Pastors, Bishops, Elders, ect. Again this does not mean woman are not as qualified, its just Gods design for the Church as it is Gods design for the family and society.

The qualifications are also for the overseer to be “blameless”, “sober minded”, “of good behavior”, “hospitable”, “able to teach” “not give to wine (alcoholic), “not violent”, “not greedy” and be “gentle”  Now as we look through this list, we wonder how can anyone meet all these qualifications? I’m sure we as leaders of the Church fall short somewhere, however the Apostle Paul is emphasizing the standard God has put on the leaders of the Church. This is not a role or position that should be taken lightly, this is not a calling you just dabble in, when you step into the pulpit, there should be a “Fear of God” upon you, that you are trying to be a servant of Christ to the best of your abilities.

We see all around Christianity today, fallen leaders, not only have the disgraced their families, they have disgraced their Church community, they have also disgraced Christ. Everything we do is a representation of Christ. As the Apostle James said “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. (James 3:1) Yes the Pastor, Bishop, Elder, and leaders of the Church will be held under stricter judgement for their life

Many people feel they are “called to ministry” but is that truly the will of God? Feelings are not truth, if the Word of God written by the Holy Spirit disqualifies you, you really need to pray and ask God is this really the calling place upon my life?

We will continue working through this text on our next post…God bless