World English Bible · Under Rome
1 Timothy 3
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This is a saying: someone who seeks to be an overseer a good work. The overseer therefore must be without , the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching; not a drinker, not , not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence; (for how could someone who doesn't know how to rule his own house take care of ?) not a new convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have good from those who are outside, to avoid falling into and the snare of the devil. Servants, in the same way, must be reverent, not double-tongued, not addicted to much , not greedy for money, holding of the in a pure . Let them also first be ; then let them if they are blameless. Their wives in the same way must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, and in all things. Let servants be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For those who have well gain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the which is in Christ . These things I write to you, hoping to come to you shortly, but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in house, which is of the living , and ground of the truth. Without controversy, of godliness is great: was in , in , seen by , preached among the nations, on in the world, and received up in .
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
Christians read this chapter differently
- Who decides, in a church? · 1 Timothy 3:1-13
Every view at its strongest, with who holds it and what it has to answer for.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.