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1Ti_3:9. Ἔχοντας τὸ μυστήριον τῆς πίστεως ἐν καθαρᾷ συνειδήσει ] The emphasis is not on ἔχοντας , as if it meant “holding fast,” but on ἐν καθαρᾷ συνειδήσει (Wiesinger).
τὸ μυστήριον τῆς πίστεως ] This collocation occurs nowhere else. Πίστις is not the doctrine of faith (Heumann), but subjective faith (de Wette). Μυστήριον is the subject-matter of faith, i.e. the divine truth, which is a secret not only in so far as it was hidden from the world until it was revealed at the appointed time (Rom_16:25) and remains hidden to every man till the knowledge of it is wrought in him by the Spirit of God (1Co_2:7-10; 1Co_2:14), but also in so far as it is even to the believer ὑπερβαλλοῦσα τῆς γνώσεως (Wiesinger). The expression is synonymous with that in 1Ti_3:16 : τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον .
ἐν καθαρᾷ συνειδήσει ] Comp. 1Ti_1:5; 1Ti_1:19. The clause is to be joined closely with ἔχοντας , and is to be understood neither specially of occupying the office, nor quite generally of the virtuous life, or “the moral disposition” (Hofmann), but of purity and uprightness in regard to the mystery of the faith. It stands in contrast with the impurity of the heretics, who had their conscience stained by the mingling of truth with errors; comp. 1Ti_4:2.