The Biblical Qualifications of an Elder, Part 1: 1 Timothy 3 and 5

 It is possible to make the Bible into the mouthpiece for any idea a person wants to support. This can only be done, of course, if the Bible is used rather than exposited. Some people have in their heads what they personally think a pastor should look like and then argue for qualifications of elders based upon those personal preferences. These are then read into the text, supported by false inferences, and/or prooftexts that are ripped from their contexts. One might say such a use of Scripture displays a lack of qualification within itself. 

However, the Bible tells us clearly what the qualifications for an elder are in the Gospel of Matthew, Acts 6 and 20, 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and 1 Peter 5, so we'll go over these clear texts in this series.

The longest description of qualifications is the Gospel of Matthew, but since I am already going over the Sermon on the Mount, I will leave further discussion in this series for the remaining texts in Matthew that address the issue head on rather than attempt a full exposition of Matthew. Second to this, the largest description of qualifications is found in 1 Timothy 3 and 5, so that is where we will start. 

I will include here a translation of the instructions to deacons and deaconesses since what is true for these lower offices are certainly qualifications needed for higher ones. Hence, what is said of them is also that which is required for the elders.

I will attempt to translate words that are often misunderstood with their definitions and to what they refer in the context of 1 Timothy instead of just an English gloss that explains nothing of what the text is getting at. In light of this translation philosophy, the texts read as follows:

1 Timothy 3:1-13

πιστὸς ὁ λόγος˸ 

Εἴ τις ἐπισκοπῆς ὀρέγεται,* καλοῦ ἔργου ἐπιθυμεῖ.* 2 δεῖ οὖν τὸν ἐπίσκοπον ἀνεπίλημπτον εἶναι,* μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἄνδρα, νηφάλιον σώφρονα κόσμιον φιλόξενον διδακτικόν,* 3 μὴ πάροινον μὴ πλήκτην⸆,* ἀλλʼ ἐπιεικῆ ἄμαχον ἀφιλάργυρον,* 4 τοῦ ἰδίου οἴκου καλῶς προϊστάμενον,* τέκνα ἔχοντα ἐν ὑποταγῇ, μετὰ πάσης σεμνότητος 5 (εἰ δέ τις τοῦ ἰδίου οἴκου προστῆναι οὐκ οἶδεν, πῶς ἐκκλησίας θεοῦ ἐπιμελήσεται;),* 6 μὴ νεόφυτον,* ἵνα μὴ τυφωθεὶς εἰς κρίμα ἐμπέσῃ τοῦ διαβόλου. 7 δεῖ δὲ ⸆ καὶ μαρτυρίαν καλὴν ἔχειν ἀπὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν,* ἵνα μὴ εἰς ὀνειδισμὸν ἐμπέσῃ καὶ παγίδα τοῦ διαβόλου.* 

This following statement is to be a guide for you: If anyone wants to be an ecclesiastical governor, it is a good work that he desires to partake in. Therefore, it is essential that the ecclesiastical governor be beyond the point of anyone being able to make an accusation of sin stick to him. He is not to have more than one woman, someone who thinks clearly, having complete control over his emotions so as to not be controlled by them, being appropriate with other people, one who lodges Christian missionaries he does not know when they are in need, one who is an expert in interpreting the Scripture, not someone who drinks more alcohol at times than he should, not someone who threatens people to get his way, but one who does not need to always get his own way, looking to avoid fighting over personal preferences, not being one who is emotionally stirred up by getting less money than he thinks he deserves, doing a good job of leading the religious and moral direction of his household by having the children in his household in full submission to that religious and moral direction with a behavior that takes holiness seriously. (But if anyone does not know how to direct his own household in their religious and moral behavior how will they take care of the church of God?); not someone who is still immature in the faith so that he will not be easily blinded by arrogance and fall into the judgment of the devil; but it is also an essential that he have a good testimony to his moral behavior among those who are outside the church in order that he might not fall into public disgrace and into the trap of the devil.

8 Διακόνους ὡσαύτως °σεμνούς,* μὴ διλόγους, μὴ οἴνῳ πολλῷ προσέχοντας,* μὴ αἰσχροκερδεῖς, 9 ἔχοντας τὸ μυστήριον τῆς πίστεως ἐν καθαρᾷ συνειδήσει.* 10 καὶ οὗτοι δὲ δοκιμαζέσθωσαν πρῶτον,* εἶτα διακονείτωσαν ἀνέγκλητοι ὄντες.* 

11 Γυναῖκας ὡσαύτως σεμνάς, μὴ διαβόλους, νηφαλίους, πιστὰς ἐν πᾶσιν. 

12 διάκονοι ἔστωσαν μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἄνδρες,* τέκνων καλῶς προϊστάμενοι καὶ τῶν ἰδίων οἴκων. 13 οἱ γὰρ καλῶς διακονήσαντες βαθμὸν ἑαυτοῖς καλὸν περιποιοῦνται καὶ πολλὴν παρρησίαν ἐν πίστει τῇ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ.  (Kurt Aland et al., Novum Testamentum Graece, 28th Edition. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012), 1 Ti 3:1–13).

Deacons [i.e., Servants of the Elders and People] likewise must not be people who others can make an accusation of sin stick to them, they must not be people who say one thing to one person and a contradictory thing to another person, they must be people who don't have much to do with a lot of alcohol, they should not be okay with acquiring money through immoral means, holding to the divine interpretation of the faith with a pure conscience; but these people are to be thoroughly tested before they are made deacons to see if they are truly all of these things, and then only afterward let them serve as deacons, having been found to be blameless of anything mentioned above.

Women deacons are likewise to be people who cannot have any accusation of sinfulness stick to them, they are not to be slanderers [i.e., people who spread accusations without the testimony of two or three reliable witnesses], they are to be women who don't drink much alcohol, women who can be trusted in word and deed.

Deacons are to have only one woman, leading their children and their own household well in religious and moral behavior. Because those who serve as deacons gain a good status for themselves and are given much influence in the church when it concerns the faith which is in Christ Jesus. 

1 Timothy 5:17-22

17 Οἱ καλῶς προεστῶτες πρεσβύτεροι διπλῆς τιμῆς ἀξιούσθωσαν,* μάλιστα οἱ κοπιῶντες ἐν λόγῳ καὶ διδασκαλίᾳ.* 18 λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφή·* ⸂βοῦν ἀλοῶντα οὐ φιμώσεις⸃, καί·* ἄξιος ὁ ἐργάτης ⸄τοῦ μισθοῦ⸅ αὐτοῦ.* 19 κατὰ πρεσβυτέρου κατηγορίαν μὴ παραδέχου, ⸋ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ ἐπὶ δύο ἢ τριῶν μαρτύρων⸋.* 20 Τοὺς ⸆ ἁμαρτάνοντας ἐνώπιον πάντων ἔλεγχε,* ἵνα καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ φόβον ἔχωσιν. 

21 Διαμαρτύρομαι ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ⸂Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ⸃ καὶ τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν ἀγγέλων, ἵνα ταῦτα φυλάξῃς χωρὶς προκρίματος, μηδὲν ποιῶν κατὰ ⸀πρόσκλισιν.* *22 χεῖρας ταχέως μηδενὶ ἐπιτίθει μηδὲ κοινώνει ἁμαρτίαις ἀλλοτρίαις·* σεαυτὸν ἁγνὸν τήρει. (Kurt Aland et al., Novum Testamentum Graece, 28th Edition. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012), 1 Ti 5:17–22).

The elders who lead well are to be considered worthy of a double payment, specifically speaking, those who exhaust themselves in study and teaching. Because it is written, "Do not muzzle the ox when he is eating from the grain that he is threshing" and "the worker is due his pay." Do not even let a person accuse an elder of anything unless it is solely upon the basis of evidence that would hold up under the scrutiny of a court [lit. upon the basis of two or three witnesses]. Those who sin are to be rebuked in front of everyone in order that the rest may fear. 

I bear witness before God and Christ Jesus and His elite angels that you are to follow these orders without prejudging a matter, or doing anything that is preferential to someone you like. Do not transfer the spiritual power of your ministry quickly to anyone so as to not partake in their personal sins. Keep yourself pure.