ACC ~ 1 Timothy 3 v4 - 5

A GOOD STATESMAN. CHRYSOSTOM: The church leader must be “one that governs well his own house.” Even those who are without the church have the saying that one who is a good manager of a house will be a good statesman. For the church is, as it were, a small household. In a house there are children and wife and domestic duties, and some one person has to provide order for them all. So in the church there are women, children, employees and subordinates. As a man has in his wife a partner in power, so does one who presides over the church. HOMILIES ON 1 TIMOTHY 10.

GUIDANCE TO COUNTER DISBELIEF. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: What is meant by good management, in the case of the children, is that the father is to guide them with wise counsel, such that, if they end up as nonbelievers, it is not his fault. COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY.

TEACHING VIRTUE. THEODORET OF CYR: As a good overseer of his children, the father’s task is not to abdicate to their opinion but to teach them all the virtues, even if he must act strongly to shape their wills. INTERPRETATION OF THE FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY.

ONLY BY GOOD SELF-GOVERNANCE CAN ONE GOVERN OTHERS. PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS: Therefore how could we avoid being ashamed as we witness reason harmed by anger and desire, when we see it driven from the authority given to it by God so that in an unholy and unjust manner trouble, discord and disorder are stirred up in us? That is why our blessed and God-given lawmaker proclaimed that anyone who has not put his own house in order is unfit to hold authority in the church of God. For the one who commands himself will command another. LETTERS 8.3.

1 Tim