| 3:1 | This [is] a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. |
| 3:2 | A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, soberminded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; |
| 3:3 | not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; |
| 3:4 | one who rules his own house well, having [his] children in submission with all reverence |
| 3:5 | (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); |
| 3:6 | not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the [same] condemnation as the devil. |
| 3:7 | Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. |
| 3:8 | Likewise deacons [must be] reverent, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, |
| 3:9 | holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. |
| 3:10 | But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being [found] blameless. |
| 3:11 | Likewise [their] wives [must be] reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. |
| 3:12 | Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling [their] children and their own houses well. |
| 3:13 | For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. |
| 3:14 | These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; |
| 3:15 | but if I am delayed, [I write] so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. |
| 3:16 | And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory. |
1 Timothy 3 - New King James Version
