Ezekiel, Jonah, and Pastoral Epistles by Patrick Fairbairn - 1 Timothy 3:4 - 3:4

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Ezekiel, Jonah, and Pastoral Epistles by Patrick Fairbairn - 1 Timothy 3:4 - 3:4


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Ver. 4. The proper pastor is further described as ruling well his own house—his own ( ἰäßïõ ) as contradistinguished from God’s, the relatively little, and more easily managed; having children in subjection with all gravity, or decency of deportment; having, in short, a well-ordered and properly trained household. And the special reason follows, introduced by the adversative particle äÝ , which no more in such a connection than any other can be strictly rendered for (Winer, Gr. § 53, 2, b), since it introduces parenthetically a statement which forms an antithesis to the one immediately preceding, yet an antithesis which at the same time constitutes a reason: But if one knows not how to rule his own house, how shall he take charge of the church of God?—if within the narrower sphere, and with all the advantage which a parent’s position and influence naturally secure for him, he should prove deficient in the proper governing authority, how certainly may he be expected to fail in the efficient management and control of things pertaining to the church of God! The future here ( ἐðéìåëÞóåôáé ), as frequently elsewhere, especially in interrogative sentences, involves the idea of possibility (Winer, Gr. xl. 6); and so Chrysostom expressly puts it: “He, then, who does not rightly administer these [smaller] things, how shall he be able ( ðῶò äõíç ́ óåôáé ) to administer the affairs of the church?”