[1] This is a faithful saying: if a man seeks the office of an overseer, he desires a good work.
[2] The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching;
[3] not a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;
[4] one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence;
[5] (but if a man doesn’t know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the assembly of God?)
[6] not a new convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.
[7] Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.
[8] Servants, in the same way, must be reverent, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for money;
[9] holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
[10] Let them also first be tested; then let them serve if they are blameless.
[11] Their wives in the same way must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.
[12] Let servants be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.
[13] For those who have served well gain for themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
[14] These things I write to you, hoping to come to you shortly;
[15] but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
[16] Without controversy, the mystery of godliness is great: God was revealed in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and received up in glory.