1 Timothy 3:15

After δεῖ, some Western authorities (followed by the Latin Vulgate) insert σε; but its insertion is due to a misconception of the meaning. See note in loc.

15. πῶς δεῖ ἐν οἴκῳ θεοῦ�, how men ought to behave themselves in God’s household. This is the general subject of chaps. 2 and 3; and the insertion of σε after δεῖ (see crit. note), or the limitation of the words to Timothy (how thou oughtest to behave thyself &c.), is quite misleading. On οἷκος θεοῦ see note on 1 Timothy 3:5 above; cp. also 2 Timothy 2:20. No stress can be laid on the absence of the definite article, which is used but sparingly throughout the Pastorals.

ἥτις, quippe quae, explanatory of οἷκος θεοῦ.

ἐκκλησία θεοῦ ζῶντος. The term ἐκκλησία, representing the קָהָל of the O.T., has, like its Hebrew original, a double meaning, sometimes being used for the local Christian congregation, sometimes in the larger sense of the new Israel in covenant relation with God. Thus God’s household which indeed is the Ecclesia of the living God is the assembly of the faithful, baptized into the Threefold Name. ἡ ἐκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ is a frequent expression of St Paul’s (cp. 1 Corinthians 10:32; Acts 20:28 &c.).

We have the phrase the living God again in ch. 1 Timothy 4:10; cp. Deuteronomy 5:26; 2 Corinthians 3:3; 2 Corinthians 6:16 &c. It may perhaps point a contrast with the idols of the heathen, such as Artemis of Ephesus; but (more probably) it emphasises the continuous providence of God in the guidance of His Church: He is not to be conceived of merely as the Supreme Being, but as the Heavenly Master Whose care is over all His family.

στῦλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς�., a pillar and stay of the Truth. Here, the absence of the definite article seems to be deliberate. The Church is not the pillar of the Truth, for the Truth has other supports in conscience and in Scripture; but the Church, and every local branch of the Church, is a pillar and stay of the Truth. Without such external aids, such permanent witness, the Truth itself might be endangered. And such a conception of the Church justifies the minuteness of the injunctions that have been given in chaps. 2 and 3; whatever contributes to the dignity of the Church’s worship and to the worthiness of the Church’s ministers, in so far is a strengthening of the majesty of the Truth[529].

[529] The expression στῦλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς� has been referred by some, not to the Church, but to Timothy himself, on the grounds that στῦλος is generally applied to persons in the N.T. (Galatians 2:9; Revelation 3:12), and that the Letter of the Churches of Lyons and Vienne (Eus. H.E. v. 1. 6) speaks of the martyr Attalus as στῦλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα, with an evident reminiscence of this passage. But if στῦλος καὶ ἑδρ. κ.τ.λ. here referred to Timothy, we should certainly expect accusatives, and farther the full phrase is far stronger than στῦλος by itself, too strong, indeed, to be used of any single individual. The expression, as used of Attalus, is a quotation and a somewhat loosely applied quotation; its occurrence in the Letter of the Churches of Lyons and Vienne cannot be taken as ruling the interpretation of the verse before us.

ἐδραίωμα is not found elsewhere in the Greek Bible, but St Paul has ἑδραῖος several times (1 Corinthians 7:37; 1 Corinthians 15:58; Colossians 1:23). It seems to mean bulwark or stay (Vulg. firmamentum) rather than ground or foundation, the sense usually assigned to it here.