Truth wins

When we stop measuring time according to the cycles of national leaders and instead zoom out to see the cycle of nations, an evident pattern begins to appear. Truth is the strongest force in the world. The more information is able to circulate freely, the more quickly truth becomes evident, and the more truth becomes evident, the more tyranny is stifled and liberty is granted to the individual. Koine Greek and the Roman roads allowed for the greatest circulation of information since the Tower of Babel, and in 350 years Christianity went from being a sect of Judaism with followers numbering in the hundreds, to the official position of the Roman Empire with an estimated 15 million followers. However, this was not simply a shift in the demographics of a new religion; everywhere that Christianity had influence, people’s lives began to change for the better. Human sacrifice ended, temple prostitution ended, slaves were viewed as humans made in the image of God, women were seen as valuable co-heirs of Heaven, and weaker vessels to be honored and protected on earth. As the Roman Empire morphed into the Roman Catholic Church, information once again became highly regulated and suppressed, and the pattern held true, tyrants ruled with an iron fist, individual liberty was nearly eradicated, and the standard of living for the uneducated masses went down drastically. With the invention of the printing press, information began to circulate again, the corrupt Roman Catholic Church lost its grip on the flow of information, truth rose to the surface, and over the next 400 years, monarchs were replaced with constitutional law, democratic elections, and the consent of the governed. Over this period of time chattel slavery was all but eradicated, medicine advanced by leaps and bounds, we went from transportation by horse and carriage and sailboats, to jet engines and nuclear submarines. Certainly, we also had violent revolutions, droughts, famines, persecutions, and wars in these centuries. But the trajectory was undeniably, up. When one thinks of the advances in civilizations brought about by 500 years of Koine Greek and Roman roads, and then the truly mind-numbing advances brought about by 500 years of the printing press, what will the next 500 years hold now that we have the information pipeline that is the internet? So long as information is allowed to flow freely, I am confident that truth will once again defeat all her foes, and so long as truth is shining on a larger audience, history would suggest that Liberty and its shadow Prosperity, will flourish century upon century. Let’s remember that when it doesn’t seem to be growing year over year. John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Nothing new under the sun.

Then all the liberals of America gathered themselves together, and came to the president, and the courts, and the legislature. And said unto them, Behold, our system is old, and our sons walk not in our ways: now make us a socialist healthcare plan like all the nations. But the thing displeased the ones who understood history and economics, when they said, Give us a socialist healthcare plan. And they said, This will be the manner of the socialist healthcare plan: It will take your sons, and administer sex changes without parental consent. And it will take your daughters and perform abortions on them, and sell the body parts of your murdered grandchildren. And it will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to the bureaucrats. And it will take half of your seed, and of your vineyards, to pay for the healthcare of the lazy and the reprobate. And it will force you to pay for contraceptives and abortions and sex changes for your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men. And it will create death panels to decide whether thy father’s father is worth saving, and whether thy mother’s mother still adds value to society. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your socialist healthcare plan which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of reason; and they said, Nay; but we will have a socialist healthcare plan over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our socialist healthcare plan may pay for all our procedures, and we may be seen as progressive and hip. And the LORD hearkened unto their voice, and gave them over to the socialist healthcare plan.

In defense of using gospel tracts.

As God has chosen to use the written word as the primary means of revealing to us not only himself, but the sum of all truth in the Holy Writ, we can hardly overemphasize the importance of communication in this manner. Christianity has always spread furthest and widest among people groups who could generally read and write as a populace. Nor has it only been through inspired scriptures that people have been informed of God’s truth, but from the careful record keeping of the kings of Israel, to the copious volumes written by the Jews concerning their history, laws, and traditions, to the overwhelming amount of doctrine written by the early church fathers, to the reformers and puritans who were famous for their detailed writings on the effect of scripture on every aspect of life, the written word has helped God’s people in all ages not only in their own day but as a way of preserving orthodox truth from generation to generation.
It is also helpful to recognize that a work does not have to be lengthy and comprehensive in order to be impactful and serve the purpose for which it was written. The Apostles’ Creed is a very short statement, yet it has been the standard of Trinitarian Christianity for millennia. Some of the letters that were written as inspired epistles were only a couple of paragraphs long. Paul’s statement to the Philippian jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Is a poignant message that needed later teaching in order to be brought to fruition, but was the proverbial “foot in the door” that God used to begin the process of salvation to that jailer and his household.
These truths being recognized, it then follows that there is a real and helpful place for gospel truths that can be communicated through the written word. Nor does every piece of literature have to be fully comprehensive of every gospel truth, but some may present the truths of God’s law condemning sinful man, others may more fully explain the propitiation of Christ through his perfect life, death and resurrection, still others may exhort and teach particular ways in which those who have believed are to live and think and act.
As Satan used even the very words of God in an evil way in his temptation of Christ, so we must recognize that the depraved human heart will find a way to twist every good thing for his own devises and we are not exempt from some of those temptations. When we use such good pieces of truthful literature as have been afore mentioned in order to check off a legalistic checklist, as a means to hide our identity as Christians by only anonymously leaving them places for people to later find, or for other sinful reasons, God may and will use the dissemination of truth for his glory and purposes (Phil. 1:15-18), but we will be judged for our sinful motives. Some lawful uses for such tracts might be to leave somewhere in a public place for someone to later find with whom you would never otherwise have the chance to share truth, to hand to someone with whom you do not have time to engage in lengthy conversation (grocery store cashier, delivery man, etc.), to give to someone who has asked you a specific question that you believe is better explained in the pamphlet than you could explain yourself, etc.
Whether such tracts must be simply black and white booklets, or may be designed to draw the eye to them seems to me an obvious answer. So long as we are not using ungodly means in an attempt to justify a “godly” end, I suppose we ought to be more creative, purposeful, and bold than we already are in drawing in the lost world’s attention that we might tell them of Christ and pray that the Spirit would give entrance of the light into their hearts! I suppose that there are many in today’s Christians circles who would condemn Paul for using an alter to an unknown God to capture the Athenians attention only to tell them of Christ. But I believe we ought to all be more like Paul, using every means that is afforded us to share the glorious truths of the gospel, understanding that it is only by the word that faith comes!

Active commands found in Hebrews

1. Give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. (2:1)
2. Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. (3:1)
3. Exhort one another daily. (3:13)
4. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. (4:1)
5. Labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. (4:11)
6. Hold fast our profession. (4:14)
7. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace. (4:16)
8. Follow them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (6:12)
9. Draw near [to God] with a true heart in full assurance of faith. (10:22)
10. Hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. (10:23)
11. Consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. (10:24)
12. Exhort one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (10:25)
13. Call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions. (10:32)
14. Lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us. (12:1)
15. Run with patience the race that is set before us. (12:1)
16. Look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. (12:2)
17. Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. (12:3)
18. Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees. (12:12)
19. Make straight paths for your feet. (12:13)
20. Follow peace with all men, and holiness. (12:14)
21. Look diligently [for sin]. (12:15)
22. Let brotherly love continue. (13:1)
23. Entertain strangers. (13:2)
24. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. (13:3)
25. Be content with such things as ye have. (13:5)
26. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. (13:7)
27. Offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. (13:15)
28. Do good and communicate. (13:16)
29. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves. (13:17)
30. Pray for us. (13:18)
31. Suffer the word of exhortation. (13:22)

Active commands found in Titus

1. Speak the things which become sound doctrine. (2:1)
2. Aged men: be sober. (2:2)
3. Aged men: be grave. (2:2)
4. Aged men: be temperate. (2:2)
5. Aged men: be sound in faith, charity, and patience. (2:2)
6. Aged women: be in behavior as becomes holiness. (2:3)
7. Aged women: teach good things.(2:3)
8. Young women: be sober. (2:4)
9. Young women: love your husbands. (2:4)
10. Young women: love your children. (2:4)
11. Young women: be discreet. (2:5)
12. Young women: be chaste. (2:5)
13. Young women: be keepers at home. (2:5)
14. Young women: be good. (2:5)
15. Young women: be obedient to your own husbands. (2:5)
16. Young men: be sober minded. (2:6)
17. Young men: show yourself a pattern of good works. (2:7)
18. Young men: in doctrine show uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned. (2:8)
19. Servants: be obedient to your own masters, please them well in all things. (2:9)
20. Servants: show all good fidelity. (2:10)
21. Deny ungodliness and worldly lust. (2:12)
22. Live soberly, righteously, and godly. (2:12)
23. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. (2:15)
24. Let no man despise you. (2:15)
25. Be subject to principalities and powers. (3:1)
26. Obey magistrates. (3:1)
27. Be ready to every good work. (3:1)
28. Be gentle. (3:2)
29. Show all meekness to all men. (3:2)
30. These things affirm constantly. (3:8)
31. A man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition reject. (3:10)
32. Learn to maintain good works for necessary uses. (3:14)

Active commands found in II Timothy

Keep in mind that the epistles to Timothy were to a specific pastor, in a certain place, at a particular time. Therefore, many of the commands are to particular groups of people (pastors, widows, deacons' wives, servants, etc.) and are not for all people everywhere to obey. That being said, we can all learn from these commands and if you happen to fall into one of the unique groups, the command is indeed still for you today!

1. Stir up the gift of God which is in thee. (1:6)
2. Be thou partaker in the affliction of the gospel. (1:8)
3. Hold fast the form of sound doctrine. (1:13)
4. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost. (1:14)
5. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (2:1)
6. The things you have heard of me commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others. (2:2)
7. Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. - 2:3
8. Charge them before the Lord not to strive about words with no profit that only subvert the hearers. (2:14)
9. Study to show thyself approved unto God. (2:15)
10. Shun profane and vain babblings. (2:16)
11. Let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. (2:19)
12. Flee youthful lusts. (2:22)
13. Follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord. (2:22)
14. Avoid foolish and unlearned questions. (2:23)
15. Be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves. (2:24-25)
16. Continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of. (3:14)
17. Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. (4:2)
18. Watch in all things. (4:5)
19. Endure afflictions. (4:5)
20. Do the work of an evangelist. (4:5)
21. Make full proof of your ministry. (4:5)

The humility of Joshua

Josh. 3:7 And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.
Josh. 3:8 And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.
Josh. 3:9 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.
Josh. 3:10 And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
Josh. 3:11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.

Note here how Joshua takes the influence that God gives him with the people and uses it to increase their faith in God. Although God tells Joshua that the parting of the Jordan would be the means by which he would cause Joshua to be magnified in the eyes of the people, Joshua turns right to the Children of Israel and tells them that this would be the means by which they would know that God was among them and would not fail to drive their enemies out before them. The selflessness that was exhibited here by Joshua should be an example for all of us. How easy would it have been for Joshua to turn right around and say, "God has told me that he will part the Jordan in order for me to be magnified in your eyes!" However, he had a mind of service toward the people, to do what was best for them, and he knew that what was best for them was always more of God. More faith in him, more love for him, more obedience to him, and more trust in his words. If God's plan was for Joshua to be magnified in the eyes of the people, there was no reason for Joshua to grandstand or pontificate, God can and will accomplish his plan without our egotism.
What a lesson in humility and service is here to be gained for us, how often is our first priority on making sure we look good or we get our due instead of doing what is best for others, particularly the children of God? Let us commit to be more like Joshua by using whatever influence or respect we have with others to point them back to Christ, if we use it simply to make ourselves feel better or to increase our material wealth we have prostituted one of the good gifts of God, and using what could have been used to glorify God as a means of glorifying ourselves makes us guilty of idolatry!

The benevolence of Job

Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out. (Job 29:12-17)
From the law of Moses (Deut. 24:17) to the God's words to his people through the prophets (Isa. 1:17) to the words of Jesus while he was on the earth (Matt. 25:31-46) to the epistles (James 1:27) it has consistently been the express will of God that his people ought to be generous, sacrificial, benevolent people toward those who cannot care for themselves. In this passage of Job we see that while he was in the midst of his affluence he was being very benevolent to the helpless. Indeed, he seems to ascribe his affluence in large part to his kindness and generosity, a truth also taught throughout the scriptures. Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. (Luke 6:38)
Not only does the bible regularly express these type commands and examples, but it also provides me with the motivation which ought to cause me to want to be giving and gracious from my heart: I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see! If God has so freely given me spiritual and eternal riches, how motivated ought I to be to share with others the temporal gifts he has given me? This caused me to ask myself if I could honestly say along with Job that I had been such an aid to the less fortunate, and if not, what are some practical ways in which I can do better at being that kind of biblically consistent Christian.

1. I delivered the poor that cried... and him that had none to help him.
There is a soup kitchen in my town, it is open for one hour in the afternoon, two days a week and they feed lunch to anyone who wants to come in and eat. I can donate my time and little money to help them feed the hungry. In so doing I would be obeying the scriptural commands and find an outlet for the for the vertical kindness that has been shown to me to be shared horizontally.

2. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me.
Every day in our country over 3,000 babies are killed! How many christians are actively working to be a voice for those who are "ready to perish" who do not have a voice for themselves?! I have donated to my local pregnancy crisis center multiple times, and I have gone to abortion clinics within a couple hours of where I live multiple times to preach the gospel and beg mothers not to kill their children. But I can do both of those more, this is no small issue! Oh that I could honestly say with Job that some have blessed me for helping spare their life when they were about to be killed!

3. I was eyes to the blind.
If you know someone personally who is blind you have a great opportunity to ask them how you can be a blessing to them, by driving for them, reading for them, or a dozen other small things that you probably take for granted with your eye sight and never think twice about. If you don't know anyone personally who is blind, you can volunteer online at gatewave.com to record yourself reading books to help the blind.

4. Feet was I to the lame.
Again, I'm a firm believer in prioritizing your time and efforts and if there is someone you know personally, perhaps in your church or a family friend who is elderly and can't get around much, offer to help them with housework, yardwork, errand running, etc. If you don't know anyone personally, a nursing home is a great place to start! Almost all of the people there are in wheelchairs or on walkers, they are literally lame and if "all" you do is visit them and spend a few minutes a week with them, you will probably never know how much they would appreciate that.

5. The cause which I knew not I searched out.
Job did not just sit around and wait for these cases to come to him, but if he didn't know of a cause, he searched for one! Have we become so caught up in our selves and our personal lives that we never take time to look for opportunities to minister and invest in the lives of those who are less fortunate than we.

A common objection to this kind of exhortation to benevolence and generosity is that perhaps that person has gotten himself into that situation by sin and poor choices and I don't want to reward that. While I do not want to discourage using wisdom and discernment, I also do not want to forget that my motivation to be kind and merciful is God's kindness and mercy towards me, which was shown to me in spite of the fact that I got myself into the position I was in by my own sinfulness and bad choices. I would rather err on the side of being too generous, too gracious, too benevolent. I think God will find that more acceptable than if I erred on the side of being too cynical, too selfish, and too stingy.

Can a young, single man be a biblically qualified elder?

I took my first official ministerial position the day after my nineteenth birthday, I was in my senior year of bible college and was being brought in to a very small Baptist Church as an Assistant Pastor with the idea that over the next year I would transition to Senior Pastor. Seven years later, I am back at the church that I spent my teenage years in, but now as an Associate Pastor, and yet I'm still only in my mid-twenties and single. Nearly everyone who finds out that I'm in the ministry comments on how young I am and many question whether or not my youth and singleness disqualify me from being able to appropriately carry out the necessary requirements that come with pastoring.
Let me address these issues one at a time. First the issue of age. There is only one place in scripture that I am aware of where the topic of age is addressed in relation to a bishop's qualifications. That is in I Timothy 4:12 where Paul commands Timothy to let no man despise his youth. Some have argued that this is an ambiguous term that under Roman divisions of age dealt with men between 30-40 years old. Others have done their own math based on when they think I Timothy was written and the known fact that Timothy died at 80 years old in the year 97 AD. Those using this method of calculating have put him anywhere between 23 - 48 years old at the writing of 1 Timothy (John Gill, the puritanical pastor who wrote a verse-by-verse commentary on the entire bible is of the belief he was 23). A third argument is that in the Old Testament a Levite was not allowed to become a priest until he was 30 years old, therefore the same must be true of a New Testament bishop. I see a couple of problems with defining the word "youth" to mean thirties or forties.
First, why would a man in his thirties or forties, need to be told to let no man despise his youth? If that was the typical time frame for a man to become a priest for the Israelites, and the time when a man moved from youth to middle age for a Roman, who would it be that was questioning his qualification? It seems to me that the command not to allow anyone to despise his youth, assumes that there were those who were of the opinion that he was too young by societal norms.
Secondly, we see the word "youth" used in many places throughout the scripture and we rarely to never assume these places to be talking about a man around 40 years old. In Genesis 8:21 God says he will not destroy every living thing on the earth again "for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." Do we think that man's heart is evil from the time he is in his thirties? In I Samuel both Saul and Goliath disdained David because he was a "youth", was he a man in his late thirties? Wouldn't that put him in the prime of his life and the most formidable age he would ever be? Proverbs 5:18 tells men to rejoice in the wife of their youth, are we to take that to mean a man shouldn't marry until he is in his late thirties? Lam. 3:27 says it is good that a man bear the yoke in his youth. Shall we then put off working until we reach our mid-forties? The rich, young ruler in Matt. 19:20 said he had kept the commandments from his "youth up," did Jesus understand him to mean that he had begun keeping the law in his thirties? I think from just these few examples we see that the definitions for "youth," "grown man," and "old man" have not changed much since biblical times. If anything we live in a culture that extends childhood longer than they would have in those days.
The second objection I often get is that the qualification for pastors in both I Timothy and Titus include being the husband of one wife and having his children in subjection. There are many who take this to mean that only a married man with children can be pastors. If that is in fact what those verses mean, then neither Jesus nor Paul were qualified to be pastors.Seeing that it was Paul who was writing these and that he did in fact start many churches, I do not believe this to a consistent understanding of those verses. Rather, I take it to mean he is not to be the husband of more than one wife, he is not to be a polygamist. This may even mean he cannot be divorced and remarried, but the fact that he says the husband of one wife, coupled with the fact that the first interpretation would disqualify himself, causes me to think he does not here exclude single men. It is also relevant to note that in I Cor. 9 where Paul is talking about the rights of gospel ministers, he says they have the "power," or the right, to have a wife, which reading would imply that while the right was theirs, not all took advantage of it. It is not that he must have one wife in order to be qualified, but that if he has more than one he is disqualified. The reason for the stipulation that they have their children in subjection is clearly stated to be because if their household is not in order, we can see a clear flaw in their leadership ability. Much like the qualification for wives, this requirement ensures that a man who has an unruly household is precluded from becoming a minister, not that a man with only one child or childless altogether is kept from the presbytery.
Last (and least), the argument is often made that a young, single, childless pastor will not have the experience to help the older, married with children, men in his congregation because he doesn't have the experience. But nowhere in scripture do we find experience to be an important trait in a bishop. What of the divorced and remarried men in the congregation? They will not have a minister who has the experience to help them. What of the widow and widower? The minister will probably not have the experience to help them. What of the man in the military, the man with the special needs child, the man with a degenerative disease? There are a million specific situations every human will uniquely encounter that the pastor probably won't have personal experience with, therefore he is to know God's Word intimately. He is to be able to rightly divide the Word of truth, he is to be instant in season and out of season, he is to be ever ready to give an answer to those who ask about the hope that lies within him. He is to be of sound speech that those who are opposed to the truth may be ashamed with no evil thing left to say to us. The job of the pastor is to be steeped in the Book, not personal experience.
Let me close all of this out by saying two things. First, the qualifications for an elder are steep, they are heavy, they are demanding on a man of any age. The pool of men who are in their youth, who can bear them, is very small in our society. He cannot be a novice (newly saved and/or unlearned in doctrine), he must flee youthful lusts, he must be an example in word and deed, etc. I am not here promoting that every 19 year old who has the urge should be made a pastor, but rather that there are occurrences where young men do in fact meet all of the qualifications. Secondly, I am sure ministry is much easier with a wife. There are unique challenges to trying to minister as a single man. I am sure there are benefits to having children that prove that you can practice what you preach when it comes to child-rearing. Quite the opposite of promoting singleness or childlessness in pastors, I would recommend it when God allows it. But if God in his divine wisdom has withholden a wife from a man, or if he has given him a wife but has closed her womb, he is not disqualified from serving, he will simply have to do it with the handicaps that God, in his good pleasure, has seen fit to place him under at that stage in his life.

Active commands found I Timothy

Keep in mind, that the epistles to Timothy were to a specific pastor, in a certain place, at a particular time. Therefore, many of the commands are to particular groups of people (pastors, widows, deacons' wives, servants, etc.) and are not for all people everywhere to obey. That being said, we can all learn from these commands and if you happen to fall into one of the unique groups, the command is indeed still for you today!
1. War a good warfare. (1:18)
2. Hold faith, and a good conscience. (1:19)
3. Make supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. (2:1-2)
4. Men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. (2:8)
5. Women adorn yourselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. (2:9-10)
6. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. (2:11)
7. A bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. (3:2-7)
8. Deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. The husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. (3:1-10, 12)
9. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. (3:11)
10. Refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. (4:7)
11. Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. (4:12)
12. Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. (4:13)
13. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them. (4:16)
14. Honour widows that are widows indeed. (5:3)
15. If any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents. (5:4)
16. Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work. (5:9-10)
17. The younger widows refuse. (5:11)
18. Let the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. (5:14)
19. If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged. (5:16)
20. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.
21. Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. (5:19)
22. Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear. (5:20)
23. Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure. (5:22)
24. Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour. (6:1)
25. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. (6:2)
26. If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; from such withdraw thyself. (6:3, 5)
27. Having food and raiment let us be therewith content. (6:8)
28. Man of God, flee these things [love of riches]; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. (6:11)
29. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. (6:12)
30. Keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: (6:14)
31. Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. (6:17-19)
32. Keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called. (6:20)