1 Timothy 3:1
New International Version
Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.

New Living Translation
This is a trustworthy saying: “If someone aspires to be a church leader, he desires an honorable position.”

English Standard Version
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

Berean Standard Bible
This is a trustworthy saying: If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble task.

Berean Literal Bible
Trustworthy is the saying: If anyone aspires to overseership, he is desirous of a good work.

King James Bible
This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

New King James Version
This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.

New American Standard Bible
It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.

NASB 1995
It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.

NASB 1977
It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.

Legacy Standard Bible
It is a trustworthy saying: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a good work.

Amplified Bible
This is a faithful and trustworthy saying: if any man [eagerly] seeks the office of overseer (bishop, superintendent), he desires an excellent task.

Christian Standard Bible
This saying is trustworthy: “If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble work.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
This saying is trustworthy: “If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble work.”

American Standard Version
Faithful is the saying, If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
This is a trustworthy saying, that if a man desires Eldership, he desires a good work.

Contemporary English Version
It is true that anyone who desires to be a church official wants to be something worthwhile.

Douay-Rheims Bible
A faithful saying: if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

English Revised Version
Faithful is the saying, If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
This is a statement that can be trusted: If anyone sets his heart on being a bishop, he desires something excellent.

Good News Translation
This is a true saying: If a man is eager to be a church leader, he desires an excellent work.

International Standard Version
This is a trustworthy saying: The one who would an elder be, a noble task desires he.

Literal Standard Version
The word [is] steadfast: If anyone longs for overseership, he desires a right work;

Majority Standard Bible
This is a trustworthy saying: If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble task.

New American Bible
This saying is trustworthy: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task.

NET Bible
This saying is trustworthy: "If someone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a good work."

New Revised Standard Version
The saying is sure: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task.

New Heart English Bible
This is a faithful saying: If someone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a good work.

Webster's Bible Translation
This is a true saying, If a man desireth the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

Weymouth New Testament
Faithful is the saying, "If any one is eager to have the oversight of a Church, he desires a noble work."

World English Bible
This is a faithful saying: someone who seeks to be an overseer desires a good work.

Young's Literal Translation
Stedfast is the word: If any one the oversight doth long for, a right work he desireth;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Qualifications for Overseers
1This is a trustworthy saying: If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble task. 2An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,…

Cross References
Acts 20:28
Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.

Philippians 1:1
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

1 Timothy 1:15
This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.


Treasury of Scripture

This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desires a good work.

is a.

1 Timothy 1:15
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

1 Timothy 4:9
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.

2 Timothy 2:11
It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:

the office.

1 Timothy 3:2-7
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; …

Acts 1:20
For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.

Philippians 1:1
Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

bishop.

Acts 20:28
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

Hebrews 12:15
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

1 Peter 4:15
But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.

desireth.

Proverbs 11:30
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

Luke 15:10
Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

Romans 11:13
For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

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Bishop Church Desire Desires Desireth Desiring Eager Exercise Faithful Fine Good Heart Noble Office Overseer Oversight Position Right Seeks Sets Statement Stedfast Sure Task True. Trustworthy Word Work
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Bishop Church Desire Desires Desireth Desiring Eager Exercise Faithful Fine Good Heart Noble Office Overseer Oversight Position Right Seeks Sets Statement Stedfast Sure Task True. Trustworthy Word Work
1 Timothy 3
1. How bishops, deacons, and their wives should be qualified;
14. and to what end Paul wrote to Timothy of these things.
15. Of the church, and the blessed truth therein taught and professed.














III.

(1) This is a true saying.--There is no reason why the rendering of this formula adopted in 1Timothy 1:15, "faithful is this saying," should be altered here. The "faithful saying" here refers to the wish for high and arduous work in the Church of Christ, and declares such a wish to be a noble one; for the office in question was a beautiful one, and honourable, and in those days meant stern and ceaseless work, grave and constant danger. It was no doubt one of the well-known sayings among the brethren of the first days, and not improbably, with the other "faithful sayings" of this group of Epistles, formed a part of their liturgy, and was woven into some of their special prayers offered in public. Perhaps this "faithful saying" was a portion of a prayer offered not unfrequently in the public assembly, asking that volunteers might be moved by the Holy Ghost to present themselves for the then dangerous office of ordained ministers of the Word.

"Well might a man desire the office of chief pastor; it was indeed a good work;" but, in the first place, such a dignity could only be held by one possessing many qualities, then and there enumerated.

If a man desire the office of a bishop.--More accurately rendered, If a man seeketh. In the . . Pastoral Epistles the Greek words rendered "bishop" and "presbyter" or elder (episcopos, presbuteros), are applied indifferently to the same person, for up to this period (A.D. 65-6) no necessity had arisen in the constitution of the Church for the appointment of a special order of superintending presbyters. The numbers of the members of the brotherhood, though every year showing a vast increase, were still, comparatively speaking, small. St. Peter, St. Paul, St. James and St. John, and certainly the majority of the apostolic college, were still living; while, till A.D. 70, the Jerusalem congregation still acted as the central authority of the Church, and grave questions continued to be referred to the Fathers resident there.

Early in the second century, however, there is not a shadow of doubt that the episcopal office, as we understand it, was widely established. During the last thirty years, then, of the first century, this great change in Church organisation must have been effected--that is, during the life-time of St. John. How this was brought about is admirably stated by Professor Rothe, of Heidelberg, as quoted by Canon Lightfoot in his dissertation on the Christian ministry (Commentary on the Epistle to the Philippians), who, without accepting all the details suggested, still in the main agrees with the famous Heidelberg professor in his theory respecting the very early establishment of episcopacy in the Catholic Church. After painting the distractions and growing dissensions of the Church, occasioned by the jealousies between the Jewish and Gentile brethren, and the menacing apparition of the Gnostic heresy, Rothe states how, in the face of this great emergency, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. James were carried away by death almost at the same time; while, with the overthrow of Jerusalem very shortly after, the visible centre of the Church was removed, the keystone of the fabric was withdrawn, and the whole edifice was threatened with ruin. There was a crying need for some organisation which should cement together the diverse elements of Christian society, and preserve it from disintegration. Out of this need the Catholic Church in its episcopal character arose. From notices in Eusebius, Irenaeus, and Clement of Rome, Rothe (quoted by Lightfoot) concludes "that, immediately after the fall of Jerusalem, a council of the surviving Apostles and first teachers of the gospel was held to deliberate on the crisis, and to frame measures for the well-being of the Church. The centre of the system thus organised was episcopacy, which at once secured the compact and harmonious working of each individual congregation, and, as the link of communication between the separate brotherhoods, formed the whole into one undivided Catholic Church. Recommended by this high authority, the new constitution was immediately and generally adopted."

He desireth a good work.--The office of a presbyter of the Church in the days of St. Paul was a difficult and dangerous post. It involved much labour; it was full of risk; it meant a hard and severe life; yet, from the Christian's standpoint, it was a work, if faithfully performed, of all toils the most beautiful, the most honourable, the most noble. "Negotium non otium" comments Bengel, in his usual pithy, untranslatable way.

Verse 1. - Faithful is the saying for this is a true saying, A.V.; seeketh for desire, A.V. Faithful is the saying (see above, 1 Timothy 1:15, note). This manifestly refers to what follows, not, as Chrysostom and others, and margin of the R.V., to the saying which precedes, in 1 Timothy 2:15. Seeketh (ὀρέγεται); literally, stretches out his hands after. It is peculiar in the New Testament to the pastoral Epistles and the Epistle to the Hebrews, though common in classical Greek (see 1 Timothy 6:10; Hebrews 11:16). The noun ὔρεξις, appetite, desire (which is found several times in the LXX.), is used once by St. Paul (Romans 1:27). The office of a bishop; meaning here, as everywhere else in Scripture, that of a presbyter, or priest. Ἐπισκοπή, in the sense of "the episcopate," occurs only here and Acts 1:20, where it is rendered "bishopric" in the A.V., and "overseer-ship" in the margin of the R.V., being the translation in the LXX. of Psalm 108 (Psalms 109, A.V.) of the Hebrew פְקֻדָתו, "his office." Elsewhere (Luke 19:44; 1 Peter 2:12; 1 Peter 5:6) it means "visitation." But ἐπίσκοπος, "bishop" (ver. 2) - except in 1 Peter 2:25, where it is applied to Christ - always means the overseer of the particular flock, - the presbyter (Acts 20:28; Philippians 1:1; Titus 1:7); and ἐπισκοπεῖν the functions of such ἐπίσκοπος (1 Peter 5:2 compared with 1). It was not till the sub-apostolic age that the name of ἐπίσ᾿οπος was confined to the chief overseer who had "priests and deacons" under him, as Timothy and Titus had. Possibly this application of the word arose from the visits of the apostles, and afterwards of men sent by the apostles, as Timothy and Titus, Tychicus and Artemas, were, to visit the Churches, being occasional and temporary only, as those of Visitors. For such occasional visitation is implied in the verb ἐπισκέπτεσθαι (Matthew 25:36, 43; Luke 1:68, 78; Acts 7:23; Acts 15:36; James 1:27). Afterwards, when the wants of the Churches required permanent oversight, the name ἐπίσκοπος - vescovo (It.), eueque (Fr.), bischof (Get.), bisceop (A.S.), aipiskaupus (Moeso-Goth.), etc. - became universal for the chief overseer of the Church. A good work (καλοῦ ἔργου, not ἀγαθοῦ, as ver. 10). Καλού means "honourable," "becoming," "beneficial," and the like.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
[This is] a trustworthy
Πιστὸς (Pistos)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4103: Trustworthy, faithful, believing. From peitho; objectively, trustworthy; subjectively, trustful.

saying:
λόγος (logos)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3056: From lego; something said; by implication, a topic, also reasoning or motive; by extension, a computation; specially, the Divine Expression.

If
εἴ (ei)
Conjunction
Strong's 1487: If. A primary particle of conditionality; if, whether, that, etc.

anyone
τις (tis)
Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5100: Any one, some one, a certain one or thing. An enclitic indefinite pronoun; some or any person or object.

aspires to be
ὀρέγεται (oregetai)
Verb - Present Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 3713: To stretch forth, mid: To hanker after, long for, be eager for, aspire to.

an overseer,
ἐπισκοπῆς (episkopēs)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 1984: From episkeptomai; inspection; by implication, superintendence; specially, the Christian 'episcopate'.

he desires
ἐπιθυμεῖ (epithymei)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1937: To long for, covet, lust after, set the heart upon. From epi and thumos; to set the heart upon, i.e. Long for.

a noble
καλοῦ (kalou)
Adjective - Genitive Neuter Singular
Strong's 2570: Properly, beautiful, but chiefly good, i.e. Valuable or virtuous.

task.
ἔργου (ergou)
Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular
Strong's 2041: From a primary ergo; toil; by implication, an act.


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NT Letters: 1 Timothy 3:1 This is a faithful saying: if (1 Tim. 1Ti iTi 1tim i Tm)
1 Timothy 2:15
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