1 Timothy 3:2

With the qualifications of the episcopus as given here should be compared those of the deacons, 1 Timothy 3:8 sqq., and those of the episcopus in Titus 1:6 sqq.

δεῖ οὖν … ἀνεπίλημπτον εἶναι. The ἐπισκοπή being essentially a good work, “ bonum negotium bonis committendum ” (Bengel). The episcopus is the persona of the Church. It is not enough for him to be not criminal; he must be one against whom it is impossible to bring any charge of wrong doing such as could stand impartial examination. (See Theodoret, cited by Alf.). He must be without reproach (R.V.), irreprehensible (Trench), a term which involves a less exacting test than blameless (A.V.); the deacon (and the Cretan episcopus) must be ἀνέγκλητος, one against whom no charge has, in point of fact, been brought.

No argument can be based on the singular τὸν ἐπίσκοπον, here or in Titus 1:7, in favour either of the monarchical episcopate or as indications of the late date of the epistle; it is used generically as ἡ χήρα, ch. 1 Timothy 5:5; δοῦλον Κυρίου, 2 Timothy 2:24.

The better to ensure that the episcopus be without reproach, his leading characteristic must be self-control. In the first place and this has special force in the East he must be a man who has natural or acquired a high conception of the relations of the sexes: a married man, who, if his wife dies, does not marry again. Men whose position is less open to criticism may do this without discredit, but the episcopus must hold up a high ideal. Second marriage, which is mentioned as a familiar practice (Romans 7:2-3), is expressly permitted to Christian women in 1 Corinthians 7:39, and even recommended to, or rather enjoined upon, young widows in 1 Timothy 5:14.

μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἄνδρα, of course, does not mean that the episcopus must be, or have been, married. What is here forbidden is digamy under any circumstances. This view is supported (a) by the general drift of the qualities required here in a bishop; self-control or temperance, in his use of food and drink, possessions, gifts, temper; (b) by the corresponding requirement in a church widow, 1 Timothy 5:9, ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς γυνή, and (c) by the practice of the early church (Apostolic Constitutions, vi. 17; Apostolic Canons, 16 (17); Tertullian, ad Uxorem, i. 7: de Monogam. 12; de Exhort. Castitatis, Song of Solomon 7:13; Athenagoras, Legat. 33; Origen, in Lucam, xvii. p. 953, and the Canons of the councils, e.g., Neocaesarea (A.D. 314) Song of Song of Solomon 7. Quinisext. Song of Song of Solomon 3).

On the other hand, it must be conceded that the patristic commentators on the passage (with the partial exception of Chrysostom) Theodore Mops. Theodoret, Theophylact, Oecumenius, Jerome suppose that it is bigamy or polygamy that is here forbidden. But commentators are prone to go too far in the emancipation of their judgments from the prejudices or convictions of their contemporaries. In some matters “the common sense of most” is a safer guide than the irresponsible conjectures of a conscientious student.

νηφάλιον : temperate (R.V.). A.V. has vigilant here, following Chrys.; sober in 1 Timothy 3:11, and Titus 2:2, with vigilant in margin. As this quality is required also in women officials, 1 Timothy 3:11, and in aged men, Titus 2:2, it has in all probability a reference to moderate use of wine, etc., and so would be equivalent to the μὴ οἴνῳ πολλῷ προσέχοντας of the diaconal qualifications, 1 Timothy 3:8. ἐγκρατῆ is the corresponding term in Titus 1:8. The adj. only occurs in these three places; but the verb νήφειν six times; in 1Th 5:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:8, and in 1 Peter 4:7, it is used of the moderate use of strong drink.

σώφρονα : soberminded (R.V.), serious, earnest. See note on 1 Timothy 2:9. Vulg., prudentem here and in Titus 2:2; Titus 2:5; but sobrium in Titus 1:8. Perhaps σεμνός (1 Timothy 3:8) is the quality in deacons that corresponds to σώφρων and κόσμιος in the episcopus.

κόσμιον : orderly (R.V.), perhaps dignified in the best sense of the term. ordinatum ([264] 47). “Quod σώφρων est intus, id κόσμιος est extra” (Bengel). The word is not found in Titus.

[264] Speculum

φιλόξενον : This virtue is required in the episcopus also in Titus 1:8, but not of the deacons, below; of Christians generally, 1 Peter 4:9; 1 Timothy 5:10 (q.v.), Romans 12:13; Hebrews 6:10; Hebrews 13:2; 3 John 1:5. See Hermas, Sim. ix. 27 (“Bishops, hospitable persons (φιλόξενοι), who gladly received into their houses at all times the servants of God without hypocrisy”). This duty, in episcopi, “was closely connected with the maintenance of external relations,” which was their special function. See Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire, p. 368.

διδακτικόν, as a moral quality would involve not merely the ability, but also the willingness, to teach, such as ought to characterise a servant of the Lord, 2 Timothy 2:24. The notion is expanded in Titus 1:9. The deacon's relation to theology is passive, 1 Timothy 3:9