Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

1 Timothy 3:13

1 Timothy 3:13. Purchase for themselves a good degree. The English rendering sounds hard and technical, but it is not easy to suggest a better. ‘Step,' ‘station,' ‘rank,' ‘position,' have been pro-posed, and all (except perhaps the first, which yet is the more literal) fairly represent the meaning of the word. In any case the meaning is obscure. We have (1) ‘They gain for themselves an upward step, a higher position,' sc. the office of a bishop-elder; and (2) ‘They gain a noble position where they are.' The arguments for (2) preponderate. It is not in harmony with St. Paul's character to suggest promotion as a motive for work, but rather to urge that a man should abide in his calling (1 Corinthians 7:20). There is no evidence that such promotion was common in the Apostolic Age, when men were made deacons or bishops according to their special gifts. Accepting (2), the thought is that the humbler work may be made as noble as the higher.

Great boldness in the faith. Is the boldness one of feeling or utterance? Is the ‘faith' the trust of the man in God, or the creed which he believes? No certain answer can be given to these questions, but so far as it is necessary to define where possibly the writer did not define, the latter view seems preferable.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

1 Timothy 3:13

Old Testament

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