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The Office of a Bishop, or Pastor.
v. 1. This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
v. 2. A bishop, then, must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
v. 3. not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
v. 4. one that rules well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
v. 5. (for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God?)
v. 6. not a novice, lest, being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
v. 7. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
Here is a very complete table of duties for pastors and all public teachers in the Church, very much like that given in the first chapter of the letter to Titus: Trustworthy is the word, If any one covets the office of a bishop, he desires an excellent work. The doctrine which the apostle here teaches concerning the episcopal office, or ministry, is true, certain, trustworthy for all times. St. Paul here refers to the overseership, to the office of the ministry, in a very casual way, showing that he was not introducing a strange or new order of things. Originally the ministers of the Word and the deacons together seem to have formed the presbytery of the congregations, the former being designated as bishops, or overseers. It was only at the end of the first century that the chairman of the board of presbytery received the definite title of "bishop," which name was later applied only to the highest church officer in a diocese, city, or district. The hierarchical system of the Roman Church and of the Church of England is not based upon any command of the Lord, but is a mere human institution. Paul is speaking of the simple conditions as they obtained at his time when he states that if one aspires to the office of a bishop, he desires an excellent work. The ministry is a work, a labor, a toil which is fine, excellent, precious, good, not on account of the persons engaged in it, but on account of its object, Eph_4:8-12. Both preachers and hearers, however, should remain conscious of the fact that it is a service, a work, a labor, whose obligation and responsibility, not to speak of the actual activity, both mentally and physically, make it anything but a sinecure if it is properly done. The apostle therefore commends such men as aspire to this office, as are willing to take upon themselves the labor which the grace of God imposes upon them in this most glorious of all occupations.
The apostle now enumerates the principal qualifications of a bishop, of a minister of the Gospel: It is necessary, then, that a bishop be blameless. This demand, in a measure, anticipates and includes all the attributes that are named by the apostle. A minister must have a blameless, irreproachable character; he must lead such a life, not that he be altogether sinless, but that he abstain from all conduct which would rightly render him infamous in the opinion of the world. As the first requisite under this heading, St. Paul mentions: the husband of one wife, that a pastor lead a chaste and decent life, confining his attentions to his wife, if he have one, as he normally will, not living in concubinage or bigamy, or rejecting a woman to whom he is lawfully betrothed for another. Furthermore, a pastor should be sober, not only temperate in every form of sensual enjoyment, but filled with spiritual sobriety, and therefore careful, cautious, discreet, able to retain his cool judgment at a time when practically the whole world is swept with a flood of false enthusiasm and of a "Christianity" which is strongly anti-Biblical. A Christian minister and teacher, moreover, must be sound-minded, firm in character, fully master of himself, not a play of his affections and passions; decorous, displaying his spiritual sound-mindedness in his conduct, in his actions, in his speech, in the proper tact toward all men with whom he comes into contact; in short, every pastor should be a refined, courteous, polite gentleman.
These attributes of the person will naturally find their application in the entire life of the minister or teacher. He will be given to true hospitality, not in encouraging tramps or other undesirable loafers, but in showing all love toward strangers, especially those of the household of faith, Rom_12:13 : Heb_13:2; 1Pe_4:9. He must be apt to teach, able to impart knowledge to others; there must be either a natural or an acquired ability, for which reason this point is of prime importance in the training of future pastors and teachers. A congregation has a right to expect, to demand, this qualification, for unless a minister is really in a position to communicate the Christian doctrine to his hearers, he will be lacking in an essential point of his office.
The next attributes concern the relation of a pastor not only to his own members, but also to those that are without. He must not be addicted to wine, to the habitual, intemperate use of strong drink of any kind, he must not be a friend of carousals. "his is demanded with all the greater emphasis, since it may result in wanton profligacy as well as in drunken quarrels, in which he is apt to become, as Paul puts it, a striker, a quarrelsome person, always stalking about with a chip on his shoulder, engaged in heated controversy at the slightest provocation. Instead of these vices of recklessness, pride, and selfishness the apostle counsels leniency, bidding the minister be mild, be ready at all times with a conciliatory tone, avoid dissension and quarrels as long as it can be done without denial of the truth, abstain from selfishness, from covetousness and avarice. If these sins take hold of a person, they render him unfit for the glorious work of the ministry and for dispensing its priceless blessings.
The apostle now emphasizes the function of overseer which belongs to the office of the ministry: One able to manage his own house well, keeping his children in subjection by the application of all gravity (but if any one does not know how to manage his own house, how will he take the proper care of the Church of God?). A minister should have the ability to lead, to rule. He must exhibit the dignity and gravity which is conscious of the obligation resting upon him, also in his own home; he cannot be a mere figurehead. His rule and. management of his own house must be in conformity with the office entrusted to him. His children, therefore, must be in a state of submissiveness to him; he must guard his fatherly authority with quiet firmness of character. There may be cases, of course, in which children will go wrong in spite of all the efforts of the father to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. But in general it holds true that people may rightly draw conclusions as to a pastor's ability to be an overseer of the flock by the success of his management at home. If he cannot take proper care of the small house congregation entrusted to him, how much less will he be able to give proper attention to the needs of every member of his larger flock? If he cannot do justice to the responsibility of managing those dependent upon him by nature, how will he do justice to the pastoral care of the children of God in the congregation?
The apostle now concludes his enumeration of the qualifications of a bishop: Not a novice, lest he, filled with conceit, fall into the judgment of the devil. A recent convert to Christianity should not be given the responsible position of bishop. He is still too weak and too inexperienced in spiritual matters; he is not yet able to meet the dangers and temptations of the office successfully. And the greatest danger would be in his own mind, namely, that his elevation to this high office tends to make him conceited, inflated with vanity. Should this condition result, however, then the inexperienced novice would fall into the condemnation of the devil, the judgment which struck Satan on account of his pride, on account of which he was cast out of heaven and met his doom. But just as a person that aspires to the office of a bishop must guard against the sin of pride, so he must use all careful watchfulness against the wary traps of the deceiver: But it is also necessary that he have a good report among outsiders, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil: The apostle does not mean to say, of course, that a Christian pastor should try to please all men, even with denial of the truth in word or deed, but he does demand that the candidate for the ministry shall have such a reputation in the community that criticism as to his moral life shall have no foundation, that nothing really infamous can be laid to his charge. Should public opinion, in such a case, be discredited and defied in a superior spirit, the result may be a discrediting, a reproach which may work harm to the Gospel of Christ. The censure directed against the person of the candidate would then be transferred to his office. In consequence of this not only he himself may fall into the snare of the devil by being driven back into his former sins, but the offense of the occurrence would be used by Satan to work in others an aversion to the doctrine of Christ. The dignity and beauty of the ministry is so great that the greatest care must be exercised in observing the qualifications here enumerated and in selecting such candidates for the pastoral office as measure up to the standard here set.