1 Timothy 3:8–10

¹PAUL and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

³Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

⁴But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

⁵¶ And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:

⁶Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

³Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;

²³Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.

³The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

⁹Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:

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

²¹Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.

¹⁰Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

²They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.

²Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp rasor, working deceitfully.

⁷For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;

²Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

⁹For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.

¹⁹Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.

¹³Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

¹⁹Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:

⁹Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

¹⁰If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:

⁵Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

¹⁶And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

²²Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.

¹³For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

⁶If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.

⁷For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;

⁸Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

⁶Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.

¹AND in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.

²Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.

¹BELOVED, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

²²In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: