If any be blameless
Lessons
I. Character, the primary qualification for office is the church.
II. Domestic and social relationships, conducive, rather than hindrances, to christian service.
III. Good family government, a guarantee for church government. (F. Wagstaff.)
A man of scandalous life is unfit to be a minister
1. Our apostle here first insisteth upon the life of him that is to be chosen, and afterwards requireth his fitness for doctrine: and so in his charge to Timothy that he should lay hand on no man rashly, addeth, that some men’s sins go beforehand, and some men’s sins follow after judgment: as though he had said more largely, Use all the circumspection thou canst, yet some hypocrites will creep into the ministry. Some are inwardly profane, and such close sinners thou canst not discern, till afterward they manifest themselves. Others are open sinners, of which thou mayest judge aright; these latter thou art to hinder, the former reclaim, or seasonably remove, and so salve up the sore again: for how requisite is it that such a sweet and favourite doctrine should be matched with a sweet and savoury Christian conversation!
2. That such an high calling is to be graced with an unreprovable life was typified in the law sundry ways, as after we shall more clearly see in the positive virtues required, especially in that prohibition that none of Aaron’s sons, or seed, that had any blemish in him, might once press to offer before the Lord, neither come near the vail, nor stand by the altar.
3. A scandalous and obnoxious person shall never do good in his calling. For although the things of Christ, as the Word, sacraments, and doctrine, depend not upon the person of the minister, but on the ordinance of Christ, neither in themselves are the worse in bad men’s hands, no more than a true man’s piece of gold in the hands of a thief; yet by our weakness, in such a man’s hand, they are weaker to us: and although no man can answer or warrant the refusing of pure doctrine (which is not to be had in respect of persons) for the spotted life of the minister, who, while he sitteth in Moses’s chair (be he Pharisee, be he hypocrite) must be heard, yet can it not be but that the wickedness of Eli’s sons will make the people abhor the offerings of the Lord, which what a grievous sin it was before the Lord (see 1 Samuel 2:17). Again, how can he benefit his people whose hands are bound, whose mouth is shut, and cannot utter the truth without continual galling and sentencing of himself? and when every scoffer shall be ready to say to him, “Art thou become weak like one of us?” and the word shall be still returned upon himself, how can it be expected that he should do good amongst them?
4. It is a most dangerous condition to himself to be a good teacher of a bad life, for such a one is in the snare of the devil, that is, when he seeth his life still more and more exprobrated, and himself more despised every day than other (for it is just with God that with the wicked should be reproach), then he begins to grow so bold and impudent, as that he casts off all shame and care, and as one desperate and hardened in sin, prostituteth himself remorselessly unto all lewdness and ungodly conversation. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Rules to keep a man unreprovable
1. Labour with thy heart to see itself still in the presence of God, and this wilt be a means to keep it in order; whores otherwise an unruly heart will break out one time or other.
2. Have a care of a good name, as well as a good conscience; not so much for thy own as for God’s glory: neither because thyself, but ethers stand much upon it.
3. Avoid occasions of sins, appearances of evil, seeing thy motes become beams.
4. Study to do thy own duty diligently, meddle not with other men’s matters.
5. Curb and cover thine own infirmities, buffet thy body, and bring it in subjection (1 Corinthians 9:1-27).
6. Daily pray for thyself, with a desire of the prayer and admonition of others. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Importance of good ministerial character
Personal character is of the utmost moment in the work of admonition. We must not try to remove motes from the eyes of others while we have beams in our own. Quarles reminds us that “He who cleanses a blot with blurred fingers, makes a greater blot. Even the candle snuffers of the sanctuary were of pure gold” (Exodus 37:23). We may not urge others to activity, and lie still like logs ourselves. A quaint old preacher of the sixteenth century has put this truth into homely, pungent words: “Beloved in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, it is a very monstrous thing that any man should have more tongues than hands. For God hath given us two hands and but one tongue, that we might do much and say but little. Yet many say so much and do so little, as though they had two tongues and but one hand; nay, three tongues and never a hand. Such as these (which do either worse than they teach, or else less than they teach, teaching others to do well and to do much, but doing no whir themselves) may be resembled to divers things. To a whetstone, which being blunt itself, makes a knife sharp. To a painter, which being deformed himself, makes a fair picture. To a sign, which being weather beaten, and hanging without itself, directs passengers into the inn. To a bell, which being deaf and hearing not itself, calls the people into the church to hear. To a goldsmith, which being beggarly, and having not one piece of plate to use himself, hath stores for others which he shows and sells in his shop. Lastly, to a ridiculous actor in the city of Smyrna, who pronouncing ‘O coelum,’ O heaven, pointed with his finger toward the ground. Such are all they which talk one thing and do another; which teach well and do ill.” (C.H. Spurgeon.)
The secret of a blameless life
Archbishop Beusou, speaking after Earl Granville had unveiled the memorial to his predecessor, adorned the occasion by a reference to the secret of the beautiful life of the late Archbishop Tate. “I have heard,” he said, “and I believe it is true, that on the first day of his wedded life he and his bride pledged themselves to each other that they would never quarrel with any one, and I believe that, with God’s blessing and help, that pledge was kept to the end.” Husband of one wife:--In the corrupt facility of divorce allowed both by Greek and Roman law, it was very common for man and wife to separate, and marry other parties during the life of each other. Thus, a man might have three or four living wives, or women who had successively been his wives. An example of this may be found in the English colony of Mauritius, where the French revolutionary law of divorce had been left unrepealed by the English Government; and it is not uncommon to meet in society three or four women who have all been wives of one man, and three or four men who have all been husbands of one woman. Thus, successive rather than simultaneous polygamy is perhaps forbidden here, (Conybeare and Howson.)
The husband of one wife
The family arrangements in the Isle of Crete were the result of heathenism, and, of course, polygamy had prevailed. Many believers had several wives, as is often the case in heathenism at the present time, and one of the most difficult questions of modern missions is how to treat such cases. When a man and his two wives, for example, all at the same time become Christians, and demand baptism and the Lord’s supper, what am I to do? There is no passage that I know of in the Word of God to guide me in the matter; and I am left to the general rules of Scripture, to the dictates of wisdom and prudence, and to the leadings of Divine Providence. If, however, such a man wished to become an elder, I would say, No, for a bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, and not of two wives, according to the decision of the apostle Paul (W. Graham, D. D.)