Qualifications for Elders, part 1

"Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach..." (1 Timothy 3:2-3)

Here Paul begins listing the qualifications for elders or overseers.

He begins with “an overseer must be above reproach”. That seems to be a pretty vague term. So what does without reproach mean anyway. We know it doesn’t mean that a man has to be without sin. As Paul tells us in Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” It can’t mean that the man has to get along and be liked by everyone. Romans 12:18 tells us “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” Paul understood that it is not possible to like everyone or be liked by everyone but tells us to do our best to live peacefully with everyone. What Paul is saying here is that if a man desires to be an elder he must, as Ligon Duncan puts it, be “free from scandalous sins and offensive habits that would lay him open to public criticism.” So now the question is what is the definition of a “scandalous sin?” John Calvin would comment: “There will be no one found among men that is free from every vice; but it is one thing to be blemished with ordinary vices, which do not hurt the reputation, because they are found in men of the highest excellence, and another thing to have a disgraceful name, or to be stained with any baseness.” The point is this: no man is free of sin but he must not have any habitual, ongoing, unrepentant sin that would give reason for other Christians to question his character or chafe under his authority.

Paul then says that the elder must be “the husband of one wife”. This raises more questions. This certainly does not mean that the elder must be married. Paul was not married and Timothy probably wasn’t either. Both were single men who ruled over their churches. It also does not mean that divorced men can’t hold the office of elder, as long as their divorce was biblically warranted (Matt. 19:1-9; 1 Cor. 7:12-16). Being “the husband of one wife” means that the husband is a one woman man. This means he takes the covenant of marriage seriously and loves his wife as Christ loves the church. He doesn’t look at porn, he doesn’t flirt with other women, and he doesn’t think of old girlfriends. After Jesus, his wife is the most important person in his life and the way he lives is a testament to that.

An elder must also be “sober-minded”. The elder has to be of sound mind meaning he has to be able to face situations and think through them without overreacting. He cannot be an emotional roller-coaster who has the ups and downs of a teenage girl.

He must also be “self controlled”. The elder must be able to control himself in all areas of his life. He must not be controlled by anything but rather have control of himself. Practically this means being able to say no to the temptations that call out to him daily.

He must be “respectable”. An elder should be the kind of man a person looks at with a great deal of respect for the life that he lives. His life should preach the Gospel as much or more than his words.

An elder should be “hospitable”. The Christian life is not to be lived out alone. There are no “lone rangers” in the body of Christ. One way we live this out is by being hospitable to others. We should welcome others to live the Christian life with us and that means having them into our homes. We should be inviting Christians and non-Christians alike to join us in what Jesus has done in our lives.

The last qualification listed in verse 2 is “able to teach”. This is the qualification that sets elders apart from deacons. An elder must have both a good enough grasp of the gospel and the ability to clearly communicate it so that others may learn and be built up by it.