Montgomery - I Timothy - 3

3:1  This is a faithful saying, "If any man is seeking the office of a minister he is aspiring to a noble task."

3:2  The minister should be a man of blameless character; he should be husband of but one wife; he should live a sober, self-restrained, orderly life; he should be hospitable, skilled in teaching;

3:3  no drinker or brawler; but forbearing, peaceable, and no money- lover;

3:4  he should be a man who rules his own household well, and keeps his children ever under control and thoroughly well behaved.

3:5  For if a man does not know how to rule his own household, how shall he take charge of a church of God?

3:6  He must not be a recent convert, lest he be blinded with pride, and incur the doom of the devil.

3:7  He should also have a good reputation among outsiders, lest he fall into reproach, and into a snare of the devil.

3:8  Deacons, likewise, must be serious, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of gain,

3:9  holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

3:10  They should first be tested, and after that, if they are found irreproachable, let them serve as deacons.

3:11  Deaconesses likewise must be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.

3:12  Let deacons be the husband of but one wife, men who rule their children and their household properly.

3:13  For those who have well discharged the duties of a deacon are gaining an honorable position for themselves, as well as much fearless confidence in the faith of Christ Jesus.

3:14  Although I am hoping to come to you before long,

3:15  I am writing this to you in case I should be detained, to let you see how you ought to behave in the household of God - the Church of the everliving God, the pillar and mainstay of the truth.

3:16  Yes! without contradiction, great is the mystery of godliness!