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365 Graça & Adoração Da Criação ao Apocalipse
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1 Timothy — Chapter 3

Qualifications of Leaders

"For if anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?"

— 1 Tim 3:5

1 Timothy 3 lists the qualifications for bishops (elders) and deacons — the most comprehensive text on church leadership in the NT.

👑 Qualifications of the Bishop (3:1-7)

1 Tim 3:1-7
"The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach; not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well..."
The 15 qualifications of the bishop (episkopos): most are character qualities, not technical skills. 'Husband of one wife' — debated: prohibition of polygamy, or of remarriage after divorce/widowhood? The context favors marital faithfulness. 'Able to teach' (didaktikos) is the only specific ministerial qualification.

🏛️ The Mystery of Godliness (3:14-16)

1 Tim 3:16
"Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory."
The six-line Christological hymn — likely liturgical. The six statements in pairs: incarnation/resurrection, angelic revelation/human proclamation, worldwide faith/glorious exaltation. 'God was manifested in the flesh' (theos ephanerothes en sarki) — the incarnation as divine epiphany.