1 Timothy 3.1-The Pastor-Teacher and the Office of Overseer
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday October 29, 2022
Pastor-Teacher Series: 1 Timothy 3:1-The Pastor-Teacher and the Office of Overseer
Lesson # 5
1 Timothy 3:1 It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. (NASB95)
“It is a trustworthy statement” is composed of the nominative masculine singular form of the adjective pistos (πιστός), “a trustworthy” and the articular nominative masculine singular form of the noun logos (λόγος), “statement.”
This expression πιστὸς ὁ λόγος appears five times in the Pastorals, three in 1 Timothy (1:15; 3:1; 4:9), once in 2 Timothy (2:11) and once in Titus (3:8).
The direction and extent of the “sayings” referred to by the formula in 1 Timothy 3:1 and 4:9 are disputed.
Though I believe that 3:1 precedes the saying and 4:9 follows it, however, most expositors agree that in 1 Timothy 1:15 and 2 Timothy 2:11 the formula precedes the saying and that in Titus 3:8 it follows.
The expanded phrase καὶ πάσης ἀποδοχῆς ἄξιος, “and deserves full acceptance” that appears in 1 Timothy 1:15 and 4:9 “serves as reinforcement stressing the need to affirm as true the cited material when (perhaps) the material did not elicit this affirmation clearly on its own.” (Knight, Faithful Sayings, 29, 144)
These faithful sayings are an articulation of the gospel and an expression of Paul’s apostolic authority and are designed by way of implication to oppose those pastors in Ephesus who sought to be teachers of the Law and taught false doctrine.
In 1 Timothy 3:1, the trustworthy statement is “If someone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a good work.” (NET)
This statement is a commendation of the office of overseer designed to refute those who reject the authority of the overseer as a result of those overseers in Ephesus who were abusing their authority and teaching false doctrine.
It is a Spirit inspired evaluation of the office of overseer, affirming its value and implying its importance to the body of Christ.
Some contend that the trustworthy statement does not refer to this conditional clause but rather that it refers to Paul’s statement in verse 15.
In response to this, this conditional clause in 1 Timothy 3:1 would be appear much too abrupt without the formula πιστὸς ὁ λόγος and seems very appropriate with the conditional clause in 1 Timothy 3:1. (Knight, page 153)
Also, the function of overseer, i.e. pastor-teacher and its value in the church is taught throughout the New Testament (John 21:15-17; Acts 6:1-6; Romans 12:7; 1 Corinthians 9:14; 12:28; Galatians 6:6; Ephesians 4:1-16; Philippians 1:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13; 1 Timothy 4:11, 13, 16; 5:17; 2 Timothy 2:24; 3:16; Hebrews 13:7; 1 Peter 5:1-7).
In 1 Timothy 3:1, the adjective pistos means “faithful, trustworthy” and is again modifying the noun logos as it did in 1 Timothy 1:15.
Logos means “statement” and refers to the statement that “if any one aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.” (NASB95)
Pistos expresses the idea that this statement is an accurate and faithful commendation of the office of overseer as a good work and it also is a commendation of the value of the office of overseer.
The adjective pertains to the fact that this statement is worthy of trust or belief and is dependable and implies that it originates from God and is inspired by Him.
This adjective ascribed to this statement is an expression of Paul’s apostolic authority.
It is designed to rebuke and refute those pastors in Ephesus who rejected the authority of the overseer after the failure of many of the overseers in Ephesus who sought to be teachers of the Law and taught false doctrine.
It is designed therefore to reaffirm the value of the office of overseer and the spiritual authority delegated to the overseer by the Lord.
It expresses Paul’s Spirit inspired evaluation of this office.
In 1 Timothy 3:1, the noun logos means “statement” or “saying” and denotes a declaration or an assertion, which is identified for the reader by the conditional clause.
It is therefore making the assertion about the statement Εἴ τις ἐπισκοπῆς ὀρέγεται, καλοῦ ἔργου ἐπιθυμεῖ, “if anyone aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.”
This statement is trustworthy in the sense that it reaffirms the value of the office of overseer and commend this office as a good work.
“If any man aspires to the office of overseer” is composed of the conditional particle ei (εἰ), “if” and the nominative masculine singular form of the indefinite pronoun tis (τις), “any man” and the genitive feminine singular form of the noun episkope (ἐπισκοπή), “the office of overseer” and the third person present middle indicative form of the verb orego (ὀρέγω), “aspires to.”
The conditional particle ei introduces a protasis of a first class condition that indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument.
The idea behind the first class condition is not “since” but rather, “if-and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that, then...”
This would encourage Paul’s audience to respond and come to the conclusion of the apodosis since they already agreed with him on the protasis.
Therefore, Paul is employing the first class condition as a tool of persuasion with his audience.
Paul’s audience would respond to his protasis.
Here the protasis is “if and let assume that it is true for the sake argument that any man who aspires to the office of overseer.”
The audience would respond that there are men who do aspire to this office.
The apodosis is “(then) he desires a good work.”
The basic relation that the protasis has to the apodosis is “equivalence.”
This means that the office of overseer is a good work and a good work is that of overseeing the body of Christ.
The indefinite pronoun tis introduces a member of the body of Christ without further identification and it speaks of any member of the human race without exception and distinction.
The masculine form of the word indicates that only men can hold this office and possess the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher, which is supported by the fact that in 1 Timothy 3:2, Paul says that the overseer must be a one-woman man.
If women could be pastors, then why didn’t he address their qualifications for ministry?
Also, Paul just got through teaching the women in the Christian community in Ephesus that they could not teach men the Word of God in public in the local assembly or exercise authority over them.
Here in 1 Timothy 3:1, the verb orego denotes a positive ambition that is virtuous since it is produced by the Holy Spirit and is thus according to the will of the Father.
That it is a positive ambition is clearly indicated by the fact that Paul is commending the position sought after.
The present tense of the verb is a “gnomic present,” which is used to describe something that is true “any” time and “does” take place and so therefore, the “gnomic” present says that if any man in the body of Christ “does at any time” aspire to the office of overseer, then he desires a good work.
The middle voice of the verb is an indirect middle indicating that the subject acts for himself or in their own interest and thus indicates that if any man in the body of Christ aspires to the office of overseer, they are acting in their own interests since the apodosis states that it is a good work.
The noun episkope is related to the noun episkopos, which means “overseer” emphasizing the pastor-teacher’s role as the protector of the souls of his congregation from the false doctrine that permeates the cosmic system of Satan (Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:7; 1 Pet. 2:25).
Therefore, in 1 Timothy 3:1, the noun episkope means “office of overseer” or “position of overseer” and emphasizes the pastor-teacher’s role as the protector of the souls of his congregation by teaching them sound doctrine and refuting false doctrine that originates from the cosmic system of Satan.
“It is a fine work he desires to do” is composed of the genitive neuter singular form of the adjective kalos (καλός), “a fine” and the genitive neuter singular form of the noun ergon (ἒργον), “work” and the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb epithumeo (ἐπιθυμέω), “he desires.”
In 1 Timothy 3:1, the verb epithumeo means “desire” and is used in a positive sense as indicated by its object καλοῦ ἔργου, “a fine work” and it means “to greatly desire to do or have something” (Louw and Nida, 25.12).
The present tense of the verb is a “gnomic present,” which is used for a general timeless fact or spiritual axiom, or an eternal spiritual truth and thus indicates that if any man in the body of Christ aspires to the office of overseer, he “as an eternal spiritual truth” desires a noble work.
In 1 Timothy 3:1, the adjective kalos means “noble” in the sense of possessing outstanding qualities and great importance and describes something whose importance is superior to all others.
Here it describes the office of overseer and describes this office as “noble” in the sense that this position in the body of Christ is of the utmost importance in life possessing outstanding qualities because it is on behalf of a superior sovereign king, Jesus Christ and the body of Christ.
The word speaks of this office as of the utmost importance or the most important thing that a Christian man could do in life since the function of this office promotes spiritual growth of the body of Christ and glorifies God and it is of the utmost importance because its function protects the flock of God from false doctrine.
The noun ergon means “occupation” since it speaks of the function of the office of overseer or in other words, the function of the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher.