1 Timothy 3:5

1Ti 3:5. Οὐκ οἶδε, if a man does not know) Paul intimates that the man who rightly rules his own house will have well-behaved children.—πῶς, how) It requires higher qualifications to rule the Church, than a family.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ti_3:5 in a parenthesis gives the reason why a bishop ought to know how to govern his house properly.

εἰ δέ τις τοῦ ἰδίου οἴκου προστῆναι οὐκ οἶδε] δέ shows that the confirmatory clause is adversative; the conclusion is made a minori ad majus. Bengel: plus est regere ecclesiam, quam familiaim.[120]

Πῶς ἘΚΚΛΗΣΊΑς ΘΕΟῦ ἘΠΙΜΕΛΉΣΕΤΑΙ] The contrast here made becomes still more forcible when it is observed that in 1Ti_3:15 Paul calls the ἘΚΚΛΗΣΊΑ the ΟἾΚΟς ΘΕΟῦ.

ἘΠΙΜΕΛΉΣΕΤΑΙ] The future here, as often with the Greeks, expresses the capability; see Bernhardys Syntax, p. 377. The verb ἐπιμελέομαι has not only the more general meaning of take care of something (Luk_10:34-35), but also more definitely, fill an office, be overseer over something, in which sense it is used here.

For a right understanding of the connection of this verse with what precedes, it is to be observed that the first requisite for a successful superintendence is obedience (ὙΠΟΤΑΓΉ) from the church towards its superintendent. It is the bishops duty so to conduct himself that the members of the church may be obedient to him, not as servants to a master, but as children to a father, that they may show him obedience in love.

[120] Theodoret: ὁ τὰ σμικρὰ οἰκονομεῖν οὐκ εἰδὼς, πῶς δύναται τῶν κρειττόνων καὶ θείων πιστευθῆναι τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ti 3:5 . The argument is akin to that stated by our Lord, Luk 16:10 . “He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much, etc.” It is all the more cogent inasmuch as the Church is the house of God. The point is resumed in 1Ti 3:15 . Alf. quotes a sentence from Plato in which both προστῆναι and ἐπιμελεῖσθαι are used of the government of a family; nevertheless it is not fanciful to suppose that we have here a deliberate interchange of terms, προστῆναι being, as we have seen above, almost a technical term to express Church government; while ἐπιμελ . expresses the personal care and attention of a father for his family. See the use of the verb in Luk 10:34-35 , and of ἐπιμέλεια in Act 27:3 .

ἐκκλησία θεοῦ is also found in 1Ti 3:15 . ἐκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ occurs nine times in Paul (1 Thess.; 2 Thess.; 1 Cor.; 2 Cor.; Gal.). The omission of the article before θεοῦ is characteristic of the Pastorals. The phrase is found also in St. Paul’s apostolic charge to the episcopi of Ephesus in Act 20:28 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For--Greek, "But."

the church--rather, "a church" or congregation. How shall he who cannot perform the lesser function, perform the greater and more difficult?

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. For if a man know not] Method is a matter of great importance in all the affairs of life. It is a true saying, He that does little with his head must do much with his hands; and even then the business is not half done for want of method. Now, he who has a proper method of doing business will show it in every affair of life, even the least. He who has a disorderly family has no government of that family; he probably has none because he has no method, no plan, of presiding. It was natural for the apostle to say, If a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God? Look at a man's domestic arrangements; if they be not good, he should not be trusted with any branch of government, whether ecclesiastical or civil.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5 And if any one know not how to rule his own house This argument, drawn from the less to the greater, is in itself manifest, that he who is unfit for governing a family will be altogether unable to govern a people. Besides that it is evident that he is destitute of the virtues necessary for that purpose, what authority will he have over the people, seeing that his own house makes him contemptible?

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(5) For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?—The well-ordered household, the decent, modest behaviour, the reverent, affectionate relations between parents and children, between the master and the dependents—these things are to be the test of a man’s fitness for holding high office in the public community of believers, for, as Theodoret observes, if a man cannot rule decorously a small community (such as a family), how shall he be judged a fit person to be entrusted with administration in a broader sphere—with duties which have to do with divine things?

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. for if a man know not] but, the force of the adversative conjunction being, ‘You may think me needlessly particular in requiring this, but a straw will shew how the wind blows, a bad parent will make a bad pastor.’ The negative is to be taken closely with the verb ‘is ignorant.’ There is a preference, especially in later Greek, for the stronger negative where there is an antithesis or where there is special emphasis by the negativing of a single word. Cf. Winer, § 55, 2; Jas_2:11; 1Ti_5:8; 2Ti_2:14.

Both the words ‘rule’ and ‘take care’ have an obvious bearing on St Paul’s conception of the ministry as being especially for government. So too what follows.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For if a man know not how to rule his own house,.... Which is an affair of less importance, and more easy to be done; not requiring so much resolution, prudence, care, and thought:

how shall he take care of the church of God? preside over it, rule in it, provide for it, and see that everything is in its proper place, and done according to the will of God. The argument is from the lesser to the greater.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

Ver. 5. For if a man know not how] A very cogent argument from the less to the greater; used also by our Saviour, Luk 16:11-12. Eli was justly taxed and Augustus heavily upbraided with their domestic disorders, as therefore unfit for government.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For if a man know not how to rule - This is a beautiful and striking argument. A church resembles a family. It is, indeed, larger, and there is a greater variety of dispositions in it than there is in a family. The authority of a minister of the gospel in a church is also less absolute than that of a father. But still there is a striking resemblance. The church is made up of an assemblage of brothers and sisters. They are banded together for the same purposes, and have a common object to aim at. They have common feelings and common needs. They have sympathy, like a family, with each other in their distresses and afflictions. The government of the church also is designed to be “paternal.” It should be felt that he who presides over it has the feelings of a father; that he loves all the members of the great family; that he has no prejudices, no partialities, no selfish aims to gratify.

Now, if a man cannot govern his own family well; if he is severe, partial, neglectful, or tyrannical at home, how can he be expected to take charge of the more numerous “household of faith” with proper views and feelings? If, with all the natural and strong ties of affection which bind a father to his own children; if, when they are few comparatively in number, and where his eye is constantly upon them, he is unable to govern them aright, how can he be expected to preside in a proper manner over the larger household where he will be bound with comparatively feebler ties, and where he will be exposed more to the influence of passion, and where he will have a much less constant opportunity of supervision? Confucius, as quoted by Doddridge, has a sentiment strikingly resembling that before us: “It is impossible that he who knows not how to govern and reform his own family, should rightly govern and reform a people.” We may remark, also, in this verse, a delicate and beautiful use of words by the apostle to prevent the possibility of misapprehension. While he institutes a comparison between the government of a family and that of the church, he guards against the possibility of its being supposed that he would countenance “arbitrary” authority in the church, even such authority as a father must of necessity employ in his own family. Hence, he uses different words. He speaks of the father as “ruling” over his own family, or “presiding over it” - προστῆναι prostēnai; he describes the minister of religion as “having a tender care for the church” - ἐπιμελὴσεται epimelēsetai.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

For if a man hath a family, and hath showed that he neither hath wit nor honesty enough to govern that little society, which hath his constant presence with it, with what reason can any one presume, that he should be fit to be trusted with the care of the church of God? Which is a larger society, with all the members of which he is not so constantly present, and over whom he hath not such a coercive power, and as to whom a far greater care must be taken.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. House… church—An argument from the less to the greater: from the man’s own house to the house of God. The passage suggests the relations of the episkopos to his Church; those of paternity, rule, instruction.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But for for, A.V, knoweth for know, A.V

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. For if a man know not. The order of his own house will show whether he is fit to have a charge in the house of God. The sins of Eli's sons showed that Eli, though a good man, was unfitted to rule.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

5. The verse is parenthetical, and the argument is a minori ad maius. Tacitus has almost the same idea: “A se suisque orsus primum domum suam coercuit (sc. Agricola) quod plerisque haud minus arduum est quam provinciam regere” (Agr. 19). The conception of the ἐπίσκοπος as the οἰκονόμος, and of the Church as οἷκος θεοῦ, the familia or household of which the Master is God, is touched on by St Paul in 1Co 4:1; Gal 6:10; Eph 3:9; and has its roots in the O.T. (Cp. Num 12:7 and Hos 8:1.) Ability to rule is here represented as an indispensable qualification for the due discharge of the office of an ἐπίσκοπος. See below on 1Ti 3:15.

πῶς ἐπιμελήσεται. We find πῶς followed by a future of moral capacity, as here, in 1Co 14:7; 1Co 14:9; 1Co 14:16. The verb ἐπιμελεῖσθαι occurs elsewhere in the N.T. only in Luk 10:34-35; the presidents of the Essene communities were called ἐπιμεληταί (Josephus B. J. II. 8. 6). The ἐκκλησία in question is the local Christian community over which the ἐπίσκοπος is placed. See on 1Ti 3:12 and on 1Ti 3:15.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. For the analogy from the family to the Church, cf. Eph 2:19 οἰκεῖοι τοῦ θεοῦ, 5:23-6:9, where the family is treated as the nursery in which the virtues characteristic of the Church are trained. The analogy from the family to the State is common in classical writers; cf. Sen. de Clem. i. 9., “quo hoc animo facis? ut ipse sis princeps? … domum tuam tueri non potes,” Tac. Agr. 19, and other instances in Wetstein and Dibelius.

ἐκκλ. θεοῦ] St. Paul only in N.T.: here and 15 only without the article, “a church of God’s.”

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Shall he take care of [επιμελησεται] . Only here and Luk 10:34.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.