1 Timothy 3:13

13 For those who have served well acquire a good standing for themselves, and great boldness in the faith [that 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 The wives likewise [must be] dignified, not slanderous, temperate, faithful in all [things].

12 Deacons must be husbands of one wife, managing [their] children and their own households well.

13 For those who have served well acquire a good standing for themselves, and great boldness in the faith [that is] in Christ Jesus.

14 I am writing these [things] to you, hoping to come to you in a short time.

15 But if I am delayed, [I am writing] in order that you may know how one must conduct oneself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and mainstay of the truth.