1 Timothy 3:13

13 For they that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

1 Timothy 3:13 Meaning and Commentary

1 Timothy 3:13

For they that have used the office of a deacon well
With diligence and faithfulness, with simplicity and cheerfulness; taking good care of the minister and poor, and of the discipline of God's house:

purchase to themselves a good degree;
not an higher office, as that of presbytery or episcopacy, which is a sense calculated to serve a hierarchy; nor a degree in glory and happiness hereafter; but rather an increase of gifts and grace; or a degree of respect and honour in the church: or the sense is, they possess and enjoy, which is the meaning of the word rendered "purchase", a very honourable office in the church; and which is so to them, they using it well, and discharging it in an honourable manner; unless the apostle should design what the Jews called (atwnmyhmd agrd) , "a degree of faith": ^F2 but that is expressed in the next clause:

and great boldness in the faith, which is in Christ Jesus:
either in the exercise of the grace of faith at the throne of grace; or in asserting the doctrine of faith before men; and in reproving either for error or immorality: all which may be boldly done by those who use this office well.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 Zohar in Exod. fol. 36. 3.

1 Timothy 3:13 In-Context

11 Women in like manner [must be] grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.

12 Let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling [their] children and their own houses well.

13 For they that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

14 These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly;

15 but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.