1 Timóteo 3
J. Vernon McGee · Citado em PreceptAustin
1 Timóteo 3
Vernon McGee - The thing that must be understood is that you will be blamed for things if you hold an office, any office, in the church. What is important is that the accusation must not be true. An elder must be blameless in the sense that he will not be found guilty of anything of which he might be accused. Shortly after I had been called to a pastorate in downtown Los Angeles, I met Dr. James McGinley in Chicago. He asked me, "How do you like being pastor in that great church?" "Well," I said, "it's a marvelous opportunity, but I find myself in a very unique place: I am accused of many things, and I can't defend myself. You cannot spend all your time answering everybody, so I've determined to just preach the Word of God and not try to answer them." Dr. McGinley said, "Just rejoice that the things you are accused of are not true." It is nice to be in that position, and that should be the position of a bishop -- blameless: accused, but not guilty. (Borrow 1 Timothy in Thru the Bible, page 441ff) MacArthur rightly points out that "Pastors must take great care to remain above reproach for several reasons. First, they are the special targets of Satan, and he will assault them with more severe temptation than others. Those on the front lines of the spiritual battle will bear the brunt of satanic opposition. Second, their fall has a greater potential for harm. Satan knows that when a shepherd falls, the effect on the sheep is devastating. Third, leaders’ greater knowledge of the truth, and accountability to live it, brings greater chastening when they sin. Fourth, elders’ sins are more hypocritical than others’ because they preach against the very sins they commit. (See 1 Timothy Commentary) A life without blame is the overarching requirement for leadership in the church. -- John MacArthur MacArthur quotes the Puritan writer Richard Baxter in his classic book The Reformed Pastor - Take heed to yourselves, lest your example contradict your doctrine (ED: AKA "HYPOCRITE!"), and lest you lay such stumbling-blocks before the blind, as may be the occasion of their ruin; lest you unsay with your lives, what you say with your tongues; and be the greatest hinderers of the success of your own labours.… One proud, surly, lordly word, one needless contention, one covetous action, may cut the throat of many a sermon, and blast the fruit of all that you have been doing (ED: WOE!!!). Take heed to yourselves, lest you live in those sins which you preach against in others, and lest you be guilty of that which daily you condemn. Will you make it your work to magnify God, and, when you have done, dishonour him as much as others? Will you proclaim Christ’s governing power, and yet contemn it, and rebel yourselves? Will you preach his laws, and wilfully break them? If sin be evil, why do you live in it? if it be not, why do you dissuade men from it? If it be dangerous, how dare you venture on it? if it be not, why do you tell men so? If God’s threatenings be true, why do you not fear them? if they be false, why do you needlessly trouble men with them, and put them into such frights without a cause? Do you ‘know the judgment of God, that they who commit such things are worthy of death (Ro 1:32KJV+);’ and yet will you do them? ‘Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery,’ or be drunk, or covetous, art thou such thyself? ‘Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?’ (cf Ro 2:21, 23) What! shall the same tongue speak evil that speakest against evil? Shall those lips censure, and slander, and backbite your neighbour, that cry down these and the like things in others? Take heed to yourselves, lest you cry down sin, and yet do not overcome it; lest, while you seek to bring it down in others, you bow to it, and become its slaves yourselves: ‘For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage.’ (2Pe 2:19+) ‘To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.’ (Ro 6:16KJV+) O brethren! it is easier to chide at sin, than to overcome it. The following qualifications in a sense help understand what it means to be a man above reproach. The husband of one wife - Greek is "a one woman man." NEB has "faithful to his one wife." The meaning is debated - it could simply mean one at a time (that's enough for most men!), or that he should be married, or that he not have more than one wife or that he not have been divorced.
1 Timóteo 3
Vernon McGee - Sometimes a man is converted one week, and the next week he is made a church officer or asked to give his testimony. He is not ready for it. This is a caution that needs to be heeded today.I had the privilege for several years of teaching a Bible study group of Christians in Hollywood. It was natural for them to want to push to the front some prominent personality who had recently made a decision for Christ. However, the cause of Christ is hurt when those who are young in the faith attempt to speak on matters of doctrine about which they are not knowledgeable.(See Thru the Bible) I can echo McGee's caution about even giving one's testimony too soon after being saved! One reason is we need be sure they are fruit bearing and truly saved. Another reason is that they (from my experience) tend to place more emphasis on their sins prior to being saved then on their Savior. I will never forget how defiled I and many others felt by a man who owned a strip club and (ostensibly) was saved, giving lurid details about some of his sinful encounters prior to supposedly being saved. This testimony was actually given at his baptism in front of 500+ people. I was horrified as was my wife! And then in the next hour he came to the Bible class I was teaching and set in the front row and was argumentative as we divided the word literally. I was very uncomfortable as were many in the class. Needless to say, he never returned to my Bible class! So that (hina)(term of purpose/result) -- What is a possible result if a babe in Christ is appointed to the position of elder? Paul will explain. He will not become conceited (tuphoo - puffed up, very proud) - Become conceited is passive voice which means the pride comes not from the person's new creation in Christ (cf 2Co 5:17+), but most likely from their fallen flesh, the old Adam who still has life and power in our body (as all of us know only too well!). The literal picture is one becoming "smoke blinded." The new convert who is appointed a new elder is in danger of a new way of thinking, specifically of thinking more highly of himself than he ought! Pride is the "weed" that can grow up in this "newly planted" saints cardiac garden! The Greek verb tuphoo means literally "to raise a smoke" which is a great word picture because smoke draws attention to itself but is wholly without substance. Woe!
1 Timóteo 3
Vernon McGee - I believe that a man who has the qualifications ought to seek the office. He ought to want a place where he can use the gift that the Spirit of God has given him (ED: WHILE I BASICALLY AGREE WITH MCGEE, THIS MAN MUST SEEK GOD AND TRUST HIS SPIRIT TO ENERGIZE HIS SEEKING OF THE OFFICE). If the Spirit of God has not given him the gift and is not leading him, then it would be a tragedy indeed if a man sought the office of bishop. (ED: ONE HAS TO WONDER IF THIS COULD BE ONE REASON FOR SUCH HIGH RATES OF "BURN OUT" FOR PASTORS? JUST WONDERING!) (Borrow 1 Timothy in Thru the Bible, page 441) Jesus the Head of the Church alluded to the qualifications for spiritual leaders in Mark 10:42-44+ "Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. “But (STRONG TERM OF CONTRAST) it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all." Patrick Fairbairn writes “The seeking here intended … must be of the proper kind, not the prompting of a carnal ambition, but the aspiration of a heart which has itself experienced the grace of God, and which longs to see others coming to participate in the heavenly gift” (1 Timothy 3) John
1 Timóteo 3
Vernon McGee - "The husband of one wife." This can be interpreted two ways. It could mean that he ought to be married. I feel that Paul had this in mind. You may say, "Well, Paul was not married." I take the position that Paul had been married and his wife had died. He could not have been a member of the Sanhedrin without being married. He simply had not married again, perhaps because of his travels as an apostle. When I first became a pastor I was not married and I was frequently kidded by a friend who said I had no right to be a pastor if I wasn't married. Using this verse, he would say, "You should be the husband of one wife." However, I think that the primary meaning here is that the bishop or elder should not have two wives. Polygamy was common in Paul's day, and bigamy was certainly prevalent. The officer in the church should be the husband of one wife. (Borrow 1 Timothy in Thru the Bible, page 441ff) MacArthur sees a meaning in this qualification which is different than most of the other commentators - The issue is not the elder's marital status, but his moral and sexual purity. This qualification heads the list, because it is in this area that leaders are most prone to fail (ED: EXCELLENT POINT!). Various interpretations of this qualification have been offered. Some see it as a prohibition against polygamy—an unnecessary injunction since polygamy was not common in Roman society and clearly forbidden by Scripture (Gen 2:24), the teaching of Jesus (Mt 19:5, 6; Mk 10:6-9), and Paul (Eph 5:31). A polygamist could not even have been a church member, let alone a church leader. Others see this requirement as barring those who remarried after the death of their wives. But, as already noted, the issue is sexual purity, not marital status. Further, the Bible encourages remarriage after widowhood (1Ti 5:14; 1Co 7:39). Some believe that Paul here excludes divorced men from church leadership. That again ignores the fact that this qualification does not deal with marital status. Nor does the Bible prohibit all remarriage after divorce (see Mt 5:31, 32; 19:9; 1Co 7:15). Finally, some think that this requirement excludes single men from church leadership. But if that were Paul's intent, he would have disqualified himself (1Co 7:8). A "one-woman man" is one totally devoted to his wife, maintaining singular devotion, affection and sexual purity in both thought and deed. To violate this is to forfeit blamelessness and no longer be "above reproach" (Titus 1:6, 7). Cf. Pr 6:32, 33. *(Borrow - see page 1864 The MacArthur Study Bible)