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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadEzekiel, Jonah, and Pastoral Epistles by Patrick Fairbairn - 1 Timothy 3:3 - 3:3
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Ver. 3. The apostle proceeds with the enumeration of qualities that ought to meet in the pastor: ìὴ ðÜñïéíïí , which the Authorized Version renders, “not given to much wine,” but it is rather not a brawler, or of vinous temperament, not given to such impetuous and violent behaviour as is wont to be exhibited by persons under their cups. Hence it is followed by ìὴ ðëÞêôçí , not a striker, which is in the same line, pointing to the natural outbursts of the kind of temper indicated in the preceding epithet. (The ìὴ áé ̓ ó÷ñïêåñäç ͂, which follows in the received text, has no support but from some of the later, the cursive mss.) Then in two other epithets we have the converse of those negative qualities: but mild ( ἐðéåéêῆ , the equitable, beseeming, as opposed to what is intemperate or boisterous), peaceable, averse to fighting ( ἄìá÷ïí ). A quite different characteristic follows, which has no immediate connection with those just given, and is therefore not to be viewed as dependent on the but ( ἀëëὰ ) a little before: not a lover of money, or avaricious. This points to another very important quality in a minister of the gospel. Few things, indeed, are more certainly fatal to the position he ought to occupy in men’s regard, and the spiritual ends he should aim at accomplishing, than a perceptible fondness for worldly treasure. He must be known to love his work for its own sake, not for the incidental earthly benefits that may or may not come in its train. What has been said of genius and wisdom “of every kind, may yet more emphatically be said of the spirit that should actuate the true minister of the gospel. “It must learn that its kingdom is not of this world. It must learn to know this, and to be content that this should be so; to be content with the thought of a kingdom in a higher, less transitory region. Then, peradventure, may the saying be fulfilled with regard to it, that he who is ready to lose his life shall save it” (Hare). Striving to awaken generous thoughts and lofty aspirations in the minds of others, the pastor may come in a measure to reap material benefits from the operation of these; but if his own soul is grovelling in the dust, and the love of worldly pelf holds him captive, both himself and his mission are sure to be despised.