This {1} is a true saying, {2} If a man {a} desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

(1) Having completed the treatise of doctrine and of the manner of handling of it, as well also of public prayer, he now in the third place comes to the persons themselves, speaking first of pastors, and afterwards of deacons. And he uses a preface, so that the church may know that these are certain and sure rules.

(2) The office of bishop, or the ministry of the word is not an idle dignity, but a work, and that an excellent work: and therefore a bishop must be furnished with many virtues both at home and abroad. Therefore it is necessary before he is chosen to examine well his learning, his gifts, his abilities, and his life.

(a) He does not speak here of ambitious seeking, of which there cannot be a worse fault in the Church, but generally of the mind and disposition of man, prepared and disposed to help and edify the Church of God, when and wherever it will please the Lord.

People's New Testament

3:1 Bishops and Deacons

SUMMARY OF I TIMOTHY 3:

The Qualifications of Bishops. Of Deacons. Their Wives. The Reason for Writing to Timothy of These Matters. They Mystery of Godliness.

If a man desireth the office of a bishop. Here, for the first time in the New Testament, is there a delineation of the qualifications and duties of bishops and deacons. Both offices have been alluded to in Acts (elders, Ac 11:30 14:23 15:02 16:04 20:17; deacons, Ac 6:1-6), and both are named in Php 1:1. To form a correct idea of the New Testament bishop we must get away from modern episcopacy. The New Testament bishop was not diocesan, but in charge of a single church. Each church had a plurality. Elders or presbyters, and bishops were only different designations for the same office. This arrangement was not changed until after the close of the first century and the death of the last of the apostles. Of these statements, admitted by the candid learned even of episcopal bodies, the following proofs may be submitted: (1) Paul summons the elders of the church at Ephesus (Ac 20:17), and calls them bishops ( overseers ) in Ac 20:28. (2) In the church of Philippi the bishops and deacons are named as the officers (Php 1:1). (3) Paul in this Epistle names bishops and deacons as the officers (1Ti 3:1,12), but names elders as officers entrusted with the same duties already named as those of the bishops in 1Ti 5:17-22. (4) In the Epistle to Titus, Paul commands to ordain elders in every city (Titus 1:5), but in turn describing the qualifications of an elder he calls him a bishop (Titus 1:7). (5) Peter addresses elders and commands them to exercise the office of bishops over the flock (1Pe 5:1,2). The Greek word episkope, as well as the word bishop, etymologically means to act as an overseer, or to take the oversight. (6) I might add that Clement of Rome, who wrote to Corinthians about the beginning of the second century, uses the terms interchangeably.

Desireth a good work. A very important duty.

Wesley's Notes

3:1 He desireth a good work - An excellent, but laborious, employment.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 3

1Ti 3:1-16. Rules as to Bishops (Overseers) AND Deacons. The Church, and the Gospel Mystery Now Revealed to It, Are the End of All Such Rules.

1. Translate as Greek, "Faithful is the saying." A needful preface to what follows: for the office of a bishop or overseer in Paul's day, attended as it was with hardship and often persecution, would not seem to the world generally a desirable and "good work."

desire-literally, "stretch one's self forward to grasp"; "aim at": a distinct Greek verb from that for "desireth." What one does voluntarily is more esteemed than what he does when asked (1Co 16:15). This is utterly distinct from ambitious desires after office in the Church. (Jas 3:1).

bishop-overseer: as yet identical with "presbyter" (Ac 20:17, 28; Tit 1:5-7).

good work-literally, "honorable work." Not the honor associated with it, but the work, is the prominent thought (Ac 15:38; Php 2:30; compare 2Ti 4:5). He who aims at the office must remember the high qualifications needed for the due discharge of its functions.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:1-7 If a man desired the pastoral office, and from love to Christ, and the souls of men, was ready to deny himself, and undergo hardships by devoting himself to that service, he sought to be employed in a good work, and his desire should be approved, provided he was qualified for the office. A minister must give as little occasion for blame as can be, lest he bring reproach upon his office. He must be sober, temperate, moderate in all his actions, and in the use of all creature-comforts. Sobriety and watchfulness are put together in Scripture, they assist one the other. The families of ministers ought to be examples of good to all other families. We should take heed of pride; it is a sin that turned angels into devils. He must be of good repute among his neighbours, and under no reproach from his former life. To encourage all faithful ministers, we have Christ's gracious word of promise, Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world, Mt 28:20. And he will fit his ministers for their work, and carry them through difficulties with comfort, and reward their faithfulness.