Bishops & Deacons - 1 Timothy 3

2:1-5 - After instructing Timothy on what to teach the women of his congregation how to act, Paul continues by talking about what the members in church leadership should be focusing on, beginning with Bishops. He says that bishops should be “blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, give to hospitality, apt to teach.” So a man that would be a bishop should be mild mannered and committed to the cause, but also friendly so as to be considered “hospitable.” He should be welcoming and a good teacher. Paul continues, “not given to win, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous.” It seems like his first part talks about the passive characteristics of a bishop but these are more active characteristics to avoid. The word “wine” is cross-referenced with the word of wisdom, which I assume means drunkard. I mean, I know that there are people who can drink alcohol socially and not have problems with having alcohol in their lives, but so many of the problems that individuals and our society as a whole has stems from alcohol. I think I read somewhere once that 80% of violent crimes happen while someone has been drinking. Now that sounds like an exaggeration, but I truly believe that without alcohol in our society, we would be much better off. I believe it’s more dangerous than any other drug. Anyway, the potential bishop cannot be a “striker” which is cross-referenced to mean a “bully, violent person.” This means he should be slow to anger, not easily irritated. He should also be “not greedy.” This is a hard one because everyone has their best interests at heart and serves to make their own existence more comfortable. However, I think that this can mean that this man is more focused on the kingdom of God than on his own wealth. He must also “ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity.” I’m not exactly sure what the subjection thing means but it implies that this is a family man, focuses on the well being of his children. Now I’m not going to say this to be offensive, but in my experience, a man who is truly interested in his children’s happiness is rare. I know logically that this probably isn’t the majority, but throughout my lifetime I’ve only been shown over and over again men who serve themselves only, causing his children to suffer either intentionally or unintentionally. So for this potential bishop to be a man who cares for his family both physically and emotionally, he has to be very evolved indeed. Because having a house in order doesn’t mean that his children need to be obedient and quiet because they fear him, it means that they should be loved and nurtured as individuals. That is a higher level of operating, even for me. But these characteristics that he’s honed in his family can then be utilized as his work with the church and its patrons. 2:6 - This seems to be the only requirement that is different between the bishops and deacons, and that is that the bishop should be “not a novice.” This is cross-referenced to mean “recent convert,” meaning that the potential bishop should be a member of the church for a long enough time that he’d be able to not be “lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.” Having been an active and believing member for many years, I see the office of the bishop as one that is full of work, heartache, and headache. The hours are long, the burden overwhelming. But even for men who have been active and believing members for a long time, the position of bishop can be viewed as a status symbol, as a way to coerce their members to engage in their own business dealings, skimming a little bit of tithing money off the top, etc. I know several men who succumbed to the pressure of the office, leaving their wives for girlfriends, committing adultery, stealing, etc. especially in areas where membership concentration is high and the office of bishop is highly respected outside of official church capacities, like Utah. This isn’t to say that converts will be “lifted up with pride” and that other seasoned members won’t, the temptation is absolutely always there for anyone. But by letting someone get settled in their testimony before heaping loads of responsibility on them, they are getting a better chance of being set up for success. But again, this isn’t always the case as we’ve heard numerous times of new converts becoming branch presidents right after baptism. This is why reliance on the Spirit is so critically important. 2:7 - Not only should the potential bishop be good with people in the church but he should “have a good report of them which are without,” meaning the non-members. We know that a bishop is in charge of the congregation of a certain area, but he is also steward over all people in that area, members and non-members. It would be quite a shock to hear from a person belonging to a group you do not belong to say something to the affect of “I know you’re not a member, but I’m in charge of you.” I would look at someone who said that to me like they were crazy. But if it’s true that a bishop of an area is responsible for the well-being of all people in his stewardship, then he has to be kind to all, he has to draw them in and accept his leadership with love, kindness, and genuine regard for who they are and what they believe. 2:8-13 - With exception of the “novice” part, the requirements for deacons are the same as they are for bishops. The IM notes that while during Paul’s time, the deacons were to be grown men with families, now this is not the requirement anymore. It seems like he’s still speaking about deacons specifically, but I think this requirement is meant for both them and bishops, he says, “Even so much their wives be grace, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.” If the requirements for a bishop are patience, kindness, commitment to the gospel, then it would make sense that the requirements for the bishop’s wife should be the same, if marriage is truly as important as we claim it is. I heard a story once about a ward where it was time for the bishopric to be replaced. There was one guy in the ward who everyone knew would be perfect to be bishop. The stake president met with him and even though he was wonderful, the Spirit said, “not this guy.” Everyone the SP talked to said that it should be this certain guy and he kept praying about it but the answer was always “no.” Finally, they called someone else and on the day that they announced the new bishopric, after sacrament meeting the “perfect” guy’s wife came up to the SP and demanded to know why her husband wasn’t picked. He would have been perfect and it’s his turn and all that. At that point, the SP realized that it was the man who was a bad fit for the bishopric, but his wife. I don’t know if this is true, but it makes sense. Another story I heard was of a man who was divorced and then got remarried. He was called to some high calling, I don’t remember what it was exactly, if it was bishop or on the high council or something like that but one night he got home super late from a church meeting and his new wife had gone to be. But before she went, she left a note saying something like, “There’s dinner in the oven for you. I’m so grateful to the be wife of a righteous priesthood holder.” He saw the note and he cried because his first wife would always get mad when he was out late with church callings, and it was such a support to have someone who was proud of what he was doing. Some of these church callings are so intense, just with the work alone, having your significant other be unsupportive or even destructive in your efforts will absolutely ruin any work you mean to do in your calling. Now, again, I don’t know if this is true, but I would imagine it’s true for someone somewhere just from what I’ve seen as far as families of church leadership goes. Imagine doing all the work of an intense calling and knowing when you get home that you are going to fight because of it. It’s such a catch 22 because the wife usually wants a church going man, but then when he’s asked to serve in that position, then she doesn’t support him in that. And it would go the same way with any calling that the wife has. 3:14-16 – Apparently Paul plans on visiting Timothy soon, but he says “if I tarry long,” he writes so that he can know how to “behave thyself in the house of God.” And Paul testifies that Jesus Christ, “the pillar and ground of the truth,” was born a mortal man, was testified of by the Holy Spirit, “seen of angels,” taught the gospel to the gentiles, and ascended into heaven to be “receive up into glory.” This seems like a farewell, but there are still two more chapters so we’ll see how it goes.