For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for the church of God?
Parallel translations
- WEB (but if a man doesn’t know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the assembly of God?)
- KJV (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
- NKJV (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);
- NASB (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?),
- NLT For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?
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
If a man cannot manage his own home, he cannot care for God's church. It draws a direct line from household to church leadership.
Overview
Paul reasons that ability to lead a family is a test for caring for 'the assembly of God.' The church is pictured as God's household needing godly oversight. Domestic faithfulness is no minor matter but evidence of pastoral fitness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 1 Sam 3:13I told him that I would judge his house forever for the iniquity of which he knows, because his sons blasphemed God and he did not restrain them.
- Eph 5:24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
- Acts 20:28Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.
- Eph 5:32This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church.
- 1 Tim 3:15in case I am delayed, so that you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
- Eph 1:22And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church,
- 1 Sam 2:29–30Why then do you kick at My sacrifice and offering that I have prescribed for My dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves with the best of all the offerings of My people Israel.’
- 1 Cor 10:32Do not become a stumbling block, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God—
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
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.
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Original language
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