What is the household requirement for a pastor in 1 Timothy 3?
Paul writes in 1 Timothy 3 that a pastor or bishop must rule well his own house, having his children in subjection. The same standard applies to deacons. This household requirement shows that leadership in spiritual matters requires faithful management of one’s family first.
Les explains from 1 Timothy chapter 3 that the qualifications for a pastor or bishop begin with a true saying: if a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. The pastor must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, and not covetous. Then the household requirement is stated: he must rule well his own house, having his children in subjection. Les points out that when you come down to the deacons, it is the same thing. He also notes that this process of leadership in the realm of the Spirit demanded that Paul was married and had children. What happened to him we do not know. Les likes to think that after Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, which upset his whole apple cart of life, he turned his back on his well-paying position as a member of the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees. He says in Galatians that he profited in the Jews religion, making big money as one of Israel’s religious leaders, and he turned his back on all that. Les wonders what his wife and kids did.
One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;