1 Timothy 3:5

The argument is akin to that stated by our Lord, Luke 16:10. “He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much, etc.” It is all the more cogent inasmuch as the Church is the house of God. The point is resumed in 1 Timothy 3:15. Alf. quotes a sentence from Plato in which both προστῆναι and ἐπιμελεῖσθαι are used of the government of a family; nevertheless it is not fanciful to suppose that we have here a deliberate interchange of terms, προστῆναι being, as we have seen above, almost a technical term to express Church government; while ἐπιμελ. expresses the personal care and attention of a father for his family. See the use of the verb in Luke 10:34-35, and of ἐπιμέλεια in Acts 27:3.

ἐκκλησία θεοῦ is also found in 1 Timothy 3:15. ἐκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ occurs nine times in Paul (1 Thess.; 2 Thess.; 1 Cor.; 2 Cor.; Gal.). The omission of the article before θεοῦ is characteristic of the Pastorals. The phrase is found also in St. Paul's apostolic charge to the episcopi of Ephesus in Acts 20:28.