Qualifications of Overseers

3 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the office of an overseer, he desires a good work. ² An overseer then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach; ³ not given to drunkenness, not violent, not greedy for money, but patient, not argumentative, not covetous; ⁴ and one who manages his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence. ⁵ For if a man does not know how to manage his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? ⁶ He must not be newly converted, so that he does not become prideful and fall into the condemnation of the devil. ⁷ Moreover he must have a good reputation among those who are outsiders, so that he does not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

Qualifications of Deacons

⁸ Likewise deacons must be serious, not insincere, not given to much wine, not greedy, ⁹ keeping the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. ¹⁰ And let them first be tested; then, being found blameless, let them serve as deacons.

¹¹ Likewise, their wives must be serious, not slanderers, sober, and faithful in all things.

¹² Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, managing their children and their own houses well. ¹³ For those who have served well in the office of deacon purchase for themselves good standing and great boldness in the faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

The Mystery of Our Religion

¹⁴ I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you shortly, ¹⁵ but if I am delayed, you might 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 Without question, great is the mystery of godliness: