1 Timothy 3:12
◄  1 Timothy 3:12  ►
New International Version (©2011)
A deacon must be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household well.

New Living Translation (©2007)
A deacon must be faithful to his wife, and he must manage his children and household well.

English Standard Version (©2001)
Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
Deacons must be husbands of one wife, managing their children and their own households competently.

International Standard Version (©2012)
Ministers must be husbands of one wife and must manage their children and their families well.

NET Bible (©2006)
Deacons must be husbands of one wife and good managers of their children and their own households.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English (©2010)
A Minister should be one who has one wife and leads his children and his household well.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
A deacon must have only one wife. Deacons must manage their children and their families well.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

American King James Version
Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

American Standard Version
Let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Let deacons be the husbands of one wife: who rule well their children, and their own houses.

Darby Bible Translation
Let the ministers be husbands of one wife, conducting their children and their own houses well:

English Revised Version
Let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

Webster's Bible Translation
Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children, and their own houses well.

Weymouth New Testament
A deacon must be true to his one wife, and rule his children and his own household wisely and well.

World English Bible
Let servants be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

Young's Literal Translation
Ministrants -- let them be of one wife husbands; the children leading well, and their own houses,

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:8-13 The deacons were at first appointed to distribute the charity of the church, and to manage its concerns, yet pastors and evangelists were among them. The deacons had a great trust reposed in them. They must be grave, serious, prudent men. It is not fit that public trusts should be lodged in the hands of any, till they are found fit for the business with which they are to be trusted. All who are related to ministers, must take great care to walk as becomes the gospel of Christ.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - Deacons for the deacons, A.V.; husbands for the husbands, A.V. Husbands of one wife (see above, ver. 2, note). Ruling, etc. (προιδτάμενοι); literally, being at the head of, presiding over (see ver. 4, note). In Romans 12:8 and 1 Thessalonians 5:12 it is applied to the spiritual ruler, the ἐπίσκοπος or πρεσβυτερος of the Church. Elsewhere only in the pastoral Epistles (above, vers. 4 and 5; 1 Timothy 5:17; Titus 3:8, 14). Their own houses (above, ver. 5). "Their own" is in contrast to" God's house."

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife,.... See Gill on 1 Timothy 3:2.

ruling their children and their own houses well. These qualifications are the same with those of the bishop or elder; See Gill on 1 Timothy 3:4.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. husbands of one wife—(See on [2470]1Ti 3:2).

ruling their children—There is no article in the Greek, "ruling children"; implying that he regarded the having children to rule as a qualification (1Ti 3:4; Tit 1:6).

their own houses—as distinguished from "the Church of God" (see on [2471]1Ti 3:5). In the case of the deacons, as in that of the bishops, he mentions the first condition of receiving office, rather than the special qualifications for its discharge. The practical side of Christianity is the one most dwelt on in the Pastoral Epistles, in opposition to the heretical teachers; moreover, as the miraculous gifts began to be withdrawn, the safest criterion of efficiency would be the previous moral character of the candidate, the disposition and talent for the office being presupposed. So in Ac 6:3, a similar criterion was applied, "Look ye out among you seven men of honest report." Less stress is laid on personal dignity in the case of the deacon than in that of the bishop (compare Notes, see on [2472]1Ti 3:2,3).

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Qualifications for Deacons
…11Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. 12Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. 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.

Philippians 1:1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
1 Timothy 3:2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
1 Timothy 3:4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect.
1 Timothy 3:8 In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain.