Homily 11 — First Timothy 3, verses 8 to 16

“In the same way deacons must be dignified, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for shameful gain, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. And let these also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons, if they are found blameless.” [a]

Having spoken of bishops, and described their character and the qualities they ought to have, Paul passes over the order of presbyters and goes on to that of deacons. The reason he leaves them out is that there was no great difference between presbyters and bishops. Both had taken on the office of teachers and of those who preside in the church, and what he has said about bishops applies to presbyters as well. For bishops are superior only in having the power to ordain, and seem to have no other advantage over presbyters.

“In the same way deacons.” That is, they should have the same qualities as bishops. And what are these? To be blameless, sober, hospitable, patient, not quarrelsome, not greedy. That this is what he means when he says “in the same way” is clear from what he adds: “dignified, not double-tongued,” that is, not hollow or deceitful. For nothing degrades a man so much as deceit, and nothing does so much harm in the church as insincerity. “Not given to much wine, not greedy for shameful gain, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.” In this way he explains what he means by “blameless.”

And here he requires, though in other words, that a deacon be “not a new convert,” when he says, “And let these also be tested first.” The word “also” is added to connect this with what he had said before about bishops, for nothing comes in between. And the reason for “not a new convert” is the same in their case. For would it not be absurd? A newly bought slave is not trusted with anything in a house until he has given proof of his character over a long trial. Yet a man is to come into the church of God straight out of paganism and at once be set in a place of the highest rank?

Verse 11: “In the same way the women must be dignified, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.” [d]

Some have thought that this is said of women in general, but it is not so. Why would he bring in something about women in the middle of his subject? He is speaking of those who hold the rank of deaconesses.

Verse 12: “Let deacons be husbands of one wife.”

This, then, must be understood as referring to deaconesses. For that order is necessary, useful and honorable in the church. Notice how he requires the same virtue from deacons as from bishops. Though they were not of equal rank, they must be equally blameless, equally pure.

“Managing their children and their own households well.”

Verse 13: “For those who have served well as deacons gain for themselves a good rank, and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.”

Everywhere they are required to manage their children well, so that others may not be made to stumble by their misconduct.

“Those who have served well as deacons gain for themselves a good rank,” that is, advancement, “and great boldness in the faith of Jesus Christ.” It is as if he said that those who have been found watchful in the lower rank will soon rise to the higher.

Verses 14 and 15: “I write these things to you, hoping to come to you soon. But if I am delayed long, so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.”

So as not to plunge Timothy into dejection by giving him orders about such matters, he says: I am writing this way not as though I were not coming. I will indeed come. But in case I am delayed, I write so that you will not be distressed. He writes this to him to keep him from being dejected, but to the others to rouse them to greater earnestness. For his presence, even when it was only promised, would have a great effect. And do not find it strange that, though he foresaw everything through the Spirit, he did not know this, and says only, “I hope to come,” and, “but if I am delayed,” which implies uncertainty. For since he was led by the Spirit, and did not act on his own inclination, it was natural that he should be uncertain about this matter.

“So that you may know,” he says, “how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” Not like that house of the Jews. For it is the church that upholds the faith and the preaching of the word. For the truth is the pillar and the foundation of the church. [f]

Verse 16: “And beyond all dispute, great is the mystery of godliness: God was revealed in the flesh, proved right in the Spirit.”

Here he is speaking of the plan of salvation carried out for our sake. Do not tell me about the bells, or the holy of holies, or the high priest. The church is the pillar of the world. Think about this mystery, and you will be struck with awe. For it is indeed “a great mystery,” and “a mystery of godliness,” and that “beyond all dispute” or question, for it is beyond all doubt. In his directions to the priests he had required nothing like what is found in Leviticus, and so he refers the whole matter to Another, saying, “God was revealed in the flesh.” The Creator was seen in flesh. “He was proved right in the Spirit”: as it is said, “Wisdom is proved right by her children”; or else because he practiced no deceit, as the prophet says, “Because he had done no violence, and no deceit was found in his mouth” (Isaiah 53, verse 9; First Peter 2, verse 22).

“Seen by angels.” So the angels, together with us, saw the Son of God, having never seen him before. Great, truly great, was this mystery! “Preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world.” He was heard of and believed in throughout the world, as the prophet foretold when he said, “Their sound has gone out into all the world” (Psalm 19, verse 4). Do not think these are mere words. They are not; they are full of hidden realities. [j]

“Taken up in glory.” He ascended on the clouds. “This Jesus,” it says, “who has been taken up from you, will come in the same way as you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1, verse 11).

Notice the good judgment of blessed Paul. When he urges the deacons to avoid excess in wine, he does not say, “Do not be drunkards,” but “not” even “given to much wine.” A fitting caution. For if those who served in the temple did not taste wine at all, much less should these. Wine brings disorder to the mind, and even where it does not make a man drunk, it saps the soul’s strength and loosens its firmness.

He calls the plan of salvation carried out for us a “mystery,” and well it may be called one, since it is not plain to everyone. Indeed, it was not plain even to the angels. How could it have been, when it was “made known through the church” (Ephesians 3, verse 10)? That is why he says, “Beyond all dispute, great is the mystery.” Great indeed it was. For God became man, and man became God. A man was seen without sin! A man was taken up, was preached in the world! Together with us the angels saw him. This is truly a mystery!

So let us not expose this mystery. Let us not lay it out everywhere, but let us live in a way worthy of the mystery. Those to whom a mystery is entrusted are great persons. We count it a mark of favor if a king entrusts a secret to us. But God has entrusted his mystery to us, and still we are ungrateful to our Benefactor, as though we had not received the greatest benefits. We ought to shudder at our own dullness toward such kindness. And how is that a mystery which everyone knows? In the first place, not everyone knows it; and before, they did not know it at all, but now it has been revealed.

So then, in keeping this mystery, let us be faithful to our trust. He has entrusted so great a mystery to us, and we do not trust him even with our money, though he has told us to store up our wealth with him, where no one can take it away, and neither moth nor thief can destroy it. He promises to repay us a hundredfold, and still we do not obey him. Yet here, when we entrust a deposit to someone, we get nothing back in addition, and we are thankful if what we deposited is returned. With him, if a thief steals it, he says: Charge that to my account. I do not say to you, “A thief has taken it,” or, “A moth has eaten it.” He repays a hundredfold here, and eternal life is added on top of it in the world to come, and still we do not store up our treasure there! But you say: “He repays slowly.” Well, this too is a proof of the greatness of his gift, that he does not repay here in this mortal life. Or rather, he does repay a hundredfold even here. For did Paul not leave his tools behind, and Peter his rod and hook, and Matthew his tax booth? And was not the whole world opened to them more than to kings? Was not everything laid at their feet? Were they not appointed rulers and lords? Did people not put their lives into their hands, hang wholly on their advice, and enlist in their service? And do we not see many such things even now? Many men of poor and lowly means, who did nothing but work with the spade and hardly had enough food to live on, with nothing to their name but that they were monks, have become more famous than anyone and been honored by kings. [l]

Are these things of little account? Then consider that they are only extras; the principal sum is stored up for the life to come. Despise riches, if you want riches. If you want to be truly rich, become poor. For such are God’s paradoxes. He does not want you to be rich through your own worrying, but through his grace. He says: Leave these things to me. Make spiritual things your concern, so that you may know my power. Flee from the yoke of slavery that riches lay on you. As long as you cling to them, you are poor. When you despise them, you are rich twice over: such things will flow in on you from every side, and you will need none of the things the crowd needs. For to be truly rich is not to possess much, but to need little. So long as a king needs anything, he is no different from the poor man. For this is poverty: to be in need of others. By this reasoning the king is poor, insofar as he needs his subjects. [n]

But the man who is crucified to the world is not so. He lacks nothing, for his own hands are enough to support him, as Paul said, “These hands have provided for my needs and for those who were with me” (Acts 20, verse 34). These are the words of the man who says, “As having nothing, and yet possessing everything” (Second Corinthians 6, verse 10). This is the man whom the people of Lystra took for a god. If you want to gain the things of this world, seek heaven. If you want to enjoy things here, despise them. For he says, “Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6, verse 33).

Why do you admire these trifles? Why long for things of no real worth? How long will you be poor? How long a beggar? Lift your eyes to heaven, think of the riches there, and smile at gold. Think how little use it is: its enjoyment lasts only for the present life, and compared with eternity the present life is like a grain of sand, or a drop of water beside the boundless ocean. This wealth is not a possession; it is not property; it is a loan for use. For when you die, whether you want to or not, all that you have passes to others, and they in turn give it up to others, and those to others again. [p]

For we are all strangers passing through. And the tenant of a house is perhaps more truly its owner, for the owner dies, while the tenant lives on and still enjoys the house. And if the tenant pays rent for it, the owner might be said to have paid for it too, for he built it, and took pains over it, and furnished it. Ownership, in fact, is only a word. In reality we are all owners only of other people’s possessions. Only those things are our own which we have sent ahead of us to the other world. Our goods here are not our own. We have only the use of them for our lifetime, or rather, they fail us even while we live.

Only the virtues of the soul are properly our own, such as almsgiving and love. Even those outside called worldly goods “external things,” because they are outside us. But let us make them internal. For we cannot take our wealth with us when we leave this world, but we can take our almsgiving. Or rather, let us send it on ahead of us, so that it may prepare a home for us in the eternal dwellings (Luke 16, verse 9).

Goods are named from their use, not from ownership. They are not our own, and possessions are not property but a loan. For how many masters has every estate had, and how many will it have! There is a wise proverb (and popular proverbs, when they contain any wisdom, are not to be despised): “O field, how many men’s have you been, and how many men’s will you be?” This is what we should say to our houses and to all our goods. Virtue alone can leave with us and go with us to the world above. So let us give up and put out this love of wealth, so that we may kindle in ourselves a love for heavenly things. These two loves cannot hold one soul. For it says, “Either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other” (Matthew 6, verse 24). [r]

Do you see a man with a long train of attendants clearing a way through the streets, dressed in silk, riding high and stiffening his neck? Do not be overawed; smile. Just as we laugh when we see children playing at being kings, so laugh at his pomp, for it is no better than theirs. It is not even as pleasant, for it has none of the innocence and simplicity of children. With them it is laughter and pleasure; here a grown man is made ridiculous and contemptible.

Give glory to God, who has kept you free from this theatrical show. For if you are willing, lowly as your station is, you can be higher than the man raised up in his chariot. And why? Because though his body is lifted a little off the ground, his soul is fastened to it. “My strength clings to my flesh,” it says (Psalm 102, verse 6), but you walk in heaven in your spirit. What if he has many attendants clearing his way? Is he more honored by this than his horse is? And how absurd it is to drive men ahead of you to clear the way for an animal to pass! And then, what sort of honor is it to sit astride a horse? It is an honor his slaves share with him. Yet some are so vain about it that they have a horse led along behind them even when they have no need of it. What greater folly can there be? To want to be distinguished by their horses, by the costliness of their clothes, by their retinue! What can be more contemptible than a glory that consists of horses and servants? [s]

Are you virtuous? Then do not use such marks of distinction. Have your ornaments within yourself. Do not owe your glory to the presence of others. The most wicked, corrupt and base of men can reach that kind of honor, in fact anyone who is rich. Actors and dancers may ride on horseback with a servant running in front of them, yet they are still only actors and dancers. Their horses and attendants win them no respect. For when the graces of the soul are missing in such people, adding these external things is useless and empty. When a wall is weak, or a body is diseased, whatever you put on it, it remains unsound and decayed. So it is here: the soul stays the same and gains nothing from things outside it, not even if the man wears a thousand gold ornaments.

So let us not be anxious for such things. Let us draw away from the things of time and pursue greater distinctions, the spiritual ones, which will make us truly worthy of reverence, so that we too may obtain the blessings to come, through the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.