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1Ti_3:5 in a parenthesis gives the reason why a bishop ought to know how to govern his house properly.
εἰ δέ τις τοῦ ἰδίου οἴκου προστῆναι οὐκ οἶδε ] δέ shows that the confirmatory clause is adversative; the conclusion is made a minori ad majus. Bengel: plus est regere ecclesiam, quam familiaim.[120]
Πῶς ἘΚΚΛΗΣΊΑς ΘΕΟῦ ἘΠΙΜΕΛΉΣΕΤΑΙ ] The contrast here made becomes still more forcible when it is observed that in 1Ti_3:15 Paul calls the ἘΚΚΛΗΣΊΑ the ΟἾΚΟς ΘΕΟῦ .
ἘΠΙΜΕΛΉΣΕΤΑΙ ] The future here, as often with the Greeks, expresses the capability; see Bernhardy’s Syntax, p. 377. The verb ἐπιμελέομαι has not only the more general meaning of “take care of something” (Luk_10:34-35), but also more definitely, “fill an office, be overseer over something,” in which sense it is used here.
For a right understanding of the connection of this verse with what precedes, it is to be observed that the first requisite for a successful superintendence is obedience ( ὙΠΟΤΑΓΉ ) from the church towards its superintendent. It is the bishop’s duty so to conduct himself that the members of the church may be obedient to him, not as servants to a master, but as children to a father, that they may show him obedience in love.
[120] Theodoret: ὁ τὰ σμικρὰ οἰκονομεῖν οὐκ εἰδὼς , πῶς δύναται τῶν κρειττόνων καὶ θείων πιστευθῆναι τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν .