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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 1 Timothy 3:5 - 3:5
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5. The verse is parenthetical, and the argument is a minori ad maius. Tacitus has almost the same idea: “A se suisque orsus primum domum suam coercuit (sc. Agricola) quod plerisque haud minus arduum est quam provinciam regere” (Agr. 19). The conception of the ἐπίσκοπος as the οἰκονόμος, and of the Church as οἷκος θεοῦ, the familia or household of which the Master is God, is touched on by St Paul in 1Co 4:1; Gal 6:10; Eph 3:9; and has its roots in the O.T. (Cp. Num 12:7 and Hos 8:1.) Ability to rule is here represented as an indispensable qualification for the due discharge of the office of an ἐπίσκοπος. See below on 1Ti 3:15.
πῶς ἐπιμελήσεται. We find πῶς followed by a future of moral capacity, as here, in 1Co 14:7; 1Co 14:9; 1Co 14:16. The verb ἐπιμελεῖσθαι occurs elsewhere in the N.T. only in Luk 10:34-35; the presidents of the Essene communities were called ἐπιμεληταί (Josephus B. J. II. 8. 6). The ἐκκλησία in question is the local Christian community over which the ἐπίσκοπος is placed. See on 1Ti 3:12 and on 1Ti 3:15.