1This is a faithful saying: someone who seeks to be an overseer desires a good work. 2The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching; 3not a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; 4one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence; 5(for how could someone who doesn’t know how to rule his own house take care of God’s assembly?) 6not a new convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. 7Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.
8Servants, in the same way, must be reverent, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for money, 9holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 10Let them also first be tested; then let them serve if they are blameless. 11Their wives in the same way must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, and faithful in all things. 12Let servants be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. 13For those who have served well gain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
14These things I write to you, hoping to come to you shortly, 15but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 16Without controversy, the mystery of godliness is great:
God was revealed in the flesh,
justified in the spirit,
seen by angels,
preached among the nations,
believed on in the world,
and received up in glory.
1Fidelis sermo: si quis episcopatum desiderat, bonum opus desiderat. 2Oportet ergo episcopum irreprehensibilem esse, unius uxoris virum, sobrium, prudentem, ornatum, pudicum, hospitalem, doctorem, 3non vinolentum, non percussorem, sed modestum: non litigiosum, non cupidum, sed 4suæ domui bene præpositum: filios habentem subditos cum omni castitate. 5Si quis autem domui suæ præesse nescit, quomodo ecclesiæ Dei diligentiam habebit? 6Non neophytum: ne in superbiam elatus, in judicium incidat diaboli. 7Oportet autem illum et testimonium habere bonum ab iis qui foris sunt, ut non in opprobrium incidat, et in laqueum diaboli. 8Diaconos similiter pudicos, non bilingues, non multo vino deditos, non turpe lucrum sectantes: 9habentes mysterium fidei in conscientia pura. 10Et hi autem probentur primum: et sic ministrent, nullum crimen habentes. 11Mulieres similiter pudicas, non detrahentes, sobrias, fideles in omnibus. 12Diaconi sint unius uxoris viri, qui filiis suis bene præsint, et suis domibus. 13Qui enim bene ministraverint, gradum bonum sibi acquirent, et multam fiduciam in fide, quæ est in Christo Jesu. 14Hæc tibi scribo, sperans me ad te venire cito: 15si autem tardavero, ut scias quomodo oporteat te in domo Dei conversari, quæ est ecclesia Dei vivi, columna et firmamentum veritatis. 16Et manifeste magnum est pietatis sacramentum, quod manifestatum est in carne, justificatum est in spiritu, apparuit angelis, prædicatum est gentibus, creditum est in mundo, assumptum est in gloria.