Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 1 Timothy · About this commentary
Deacons Likewise
1 Timothy 3:8-10
8 Servants, in the same way, must be reverent, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for money, · WEB
The second office is described almost entirely in the same terms as the first, and the one requirement that is dropped is instructive.
In the same way ties this list to the previous one, and the overlap is nearly total. Dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain — the same concerns about speech, self-control and money.
What is absent is the item that made the first list distinctive: able to teach does not appear. The letter does not explain the omission, and no theory survives being built on a silence; but the difference is real and it is the only substantive one. Whatever this service involved, teaching is not named as its qualification.
Verse 9 states the positive requirement in a phrase worth pausing on: holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. Not expounding it — holding it. And the vessel specified is a conscience, which is the letter's recurring concern 1 Timothy 1:5 1 Timothy 1:19, where a conscience thrust aside was what preceded the shipwreck.
Verse 10 adds a procedure the first list did not carry: let them first be tested. The verb is the one used for assaying, and the letter gives no method — no examination is described, no period is specified.
What it does specify is order. Testing first, then serving, and only if they are blameless. Read alongside the warning against laying on hands hastily 1 Timothy 5:22, the letter's concern is plainly with appointing people quickly and regretting it.
settled What this mark means