If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly.
Men having a good record, husbands of one wife, whose children are of the faith, children of whom it may not be said that they are given to loose living or are uncontrolled.
If any is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot, or disorderly.
if anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, who are not accused of loose or unruly behavior.
if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly.
If any be blameless - See the notes on 1 Timothy 3:2, etc.
Having faithful children - Whose family is converted to God. It would have been absurd to employ a man to govern the Church whose children were not in subjection to himself; for it is an apostolic maxim, that he who cannot rule his own house, cannot rule the Church of God; 1 Timothy 3:5.
If any be blameless, the husband of one wife - See the notes at 1 Timothy 3:2.
Having faithful children - See the notes at 1 Timothy 3:4-5. That is, having a family well-governed, and well-trained in religion. The word here - πιστὰ pista - applied to the children, and rendered faithful, does not necessarily mean that they should be truly pious, but it is descriptive of those who had been well-trained, and were in due subordination. If a man's family were not of his character - if his children were insubordinate, and opposed to religion - if they were decided infidels or scoffers, it would show that there was such a deficiency in the head of the family that he could not be safely entrusted with the government of the church; compare the notes at 1 Timothy 3:5. It is probably true, also, that the preachers at that time would be selected, as far as practicable, from those whose families were all Christians. There might be great impropriety in placing a man over a church, a part of whose family were Jews or heathens.
Not accused of riot - That is, whose children were not accused of riot. This explains what is meant by faithful. The word rendered "riot" - ἀσωτία asōtia - is translated excess in Ephesians 5:18, and riot in Titus 1:6; 1 Peter 4:4. It does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament, though the word riotous is found in Luke 15:13; see it explained in the notes at Ephesians 5:18. The meaning here is, that they should not be justly accused of this; this should not be their character. It would, doubtless, be a good reason now why a man should not be ordained to the ministry that he had a dissipated and disorderly family.
Or unruly - Insubordinate; ungoverned; see the notes, 1 Timothy 1:9; Luke 3:4.
1:6 The husband of one wife - Surely the Holy Ghost, by repeating this so often, designed to leave the Romanists without excuse.