Additionally, they must first be tested. Then, if they are above reproach, let them serve as deacons.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let them also first be tested; then let them serve if they are blameless.
- KJV And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless.
- NKJV But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless.
- NASB These men must also first be tested; then have them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach.
- NLT Before they are appointed as deacons, let them be closely examined. If they pass the test, then let them serve as deacons.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Deacons should first be tested, then serve if found blameless. It calls for proven character before official service.
Overview
Paul directs that deacon candidates be examined before appointment. Only those shown to be 'blameless' should serve. The principle protects the church by ensuring leaders are tested, not hastily installed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 1 Tim 5:22Do not be too quick in the laying on of hands and thereby share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
- 1 Tim 3:13For those who have served well as deacons acquire for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
- Titus 1:6–7An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, having children who are believers and who are not open to accusation of indiscretion or insubordination.
- 1 Cor 1:8He will sustain you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 1 Tim 3:6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same condemnation as the devil.
- Acts 6:1–2In those days when the disciples were increasing in number, the Grecian Jews among them began to grumble against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
- 1 Tim 3:2An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
- Col 1:22But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence—
- 1 Jn 4:1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.
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There is 'one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all' — the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh.
How 1 Timothy 3:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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