1 Timothy 3:3 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Timothy 3:3

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‘Not given to wine.’ Literally the original says, not one who lingers beside wine. Does this imply that it is legitimate for elders to be drinkers of wine, if the apostle goes no further here than to say, not one who lingers long beside his wine? There is a similar requirement for deacons in verse 8: ‘not given to much wine.’ Is he therefore implying that elders and deacons are allowed to drink in moderation? The answer to that is, yes and no, because in Bible times, particularly in the Old Testament, wine was permitted to God's people. Wine was the essential sanitary drink of the times in that hot climate. In New Testament times I am quite firmly of the opinion that abstinence is announced, and it begins to come in. But there was great toleration in the enforcement of it, because most of these people who were converted then were Jews, and they were given time by the Lord to discontinue these practices. So it is likely that there is not an absolute prohibition being laid down in these verses, and the Apostle is saying something more modest.‘No striker’ – that ties up with what is later in the same verse, ‘not a brawler.’ Surely the apostle Paul did not expect there to be church members who were in the habit of raising the fist and striking. He obviously uses this in a figurative sense to include people who were violent with their words and in their attitude. Today we might say, not a contentious person, not a person who verbally is always hitting out, inflammable, or short tempered. An office bearer must be able to see that there is a possibility that this bad behaviour can be controlled and put right, and that the person can see the error of his or her ways. Something can be done about this. Don't let him make the situation worse. The objective of bearing office is to bring about advance. Things will go wrong because we are all sinful people, and we do say things that are most unworthy of believers, and fly off at tangents at times. Don't have office bearers who immediately take up a hostile position to any wrong behaviour. We have to be able to contend for the truth, and be able to tell when the truth is imperilled, but an office bearer mustn't be inflammatory by nature.‘Not greedy of filthy lucre.’ That naturally ties up with ‘not covetous’: not greedy for money, and not covetous, which means not a lover of money. Not set upon gain, motivated by wanting more of something. These are two different aspects of the same thing. What motivates you and what satisfies you? The church does not want people in office who are motivated by a desire for more, either in their career ambitions or in possessions. What drives them, what moves them, is something for them: money and security and things to be seen. The apostle Paul tells us elsewhere that he is to be modest in his lifestyle, a self-controlled, non-covetous man. You read of these fantastic incomes that some of the pastors in America earn, and it's against the Scripture. They shouldn't be doing that. Just as we would disqualify a man from ministry for being an adulterer, so we should disqualify one who is covetous. ‘But patient’, patience is the great watchword of the office of elder. Not easily riled, not oversensitive and reactive, even when spoken to inappropriately.

Application

The command to be ‘not covetous’ has been neglected by the churches of Jesus Christ in this land over the centuries to the church's peril and loss. It has been customary to appoint to office people of substance and station, who live well, who are rich and full of self-consideration. Sometimes the churches have reasoned in a very carnal way, and they have said, ‘Obviously these are men of stature who have succeeded in public life, in business life. These are the natural leaders.’ But were they not morally qualified? While they may have been strong in some qualities, they were weak men in others. They were men who pampered themselves. They loved money and needed what money could buy in order to give them happiness, so they were spiritually weak men who compromised their lives. Not surprisingly with weak leaders the churches of Christ have collapsed over the last hundred years when faced with the tide of higher criticism and Darwinism and modernism, theological decadence and the Charismatic movement. They may have been people of strong personality and strong business success, but as spiritual men they have been weak men who depended upon worldly crutches and wealth. We always ignore the instructions of the word at our peril.

The context obviously conditions the word ‘patient’. What is meant here is patience in relation to circumstances, patience not restless. It's the opposite of covetous in a sense: not ambitious, not dissatisfied, not always wanting. We are to be impatient in one sense. It is a noble and Scriptural thing to be impatient for blessing, impatient with one's own poor progress in the spiritual life, impatient about how little one accomplishes. Patient here is the opposite of striker, brawler, and even of greedy of filthy lucre. You want an elder to be someone who is going to be loyal and true and have stickability. If people don't appreciate him that much, because the particular roles he has are relatively unseen ones, then he remains a patient man. He is not going to say, ‘I want to do something else. I am not appreciated.’

Questions

The main reason why we today do not drink alcoholic drinks is because we feel obliged to obey the Scriptures to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Activities and practices may change categories. From being acceptable, they may become bad and unacceptable. In Bible times the alcohol industry was of an altogether different nature from what it became in the unfolding centuries, especially after the invention of the still. In Bible times it was a cottage industry and wine was not plentiful. You could run out of it even at a festive occasion such as the wedding in Cana in Galilee. And we know from Scripture that the wine in ancient times was generally diluted with water. If you lived in luxury you might dilute it with milk, says the Scriptures. What has happened since Bible times is that this industry now operates on a massive scale, and inebriating drinks are widely available. They are vastly more attractive than ever they were in ancient times. They are vastly more potent, and they are vastly more expensive. The Old Testament sanitary drink has moved from the category of that which is acceptable into the category of that which is positively damaging. Timothy was an abstainer and the great thing about Timothy is that he copied everything the apostle did, and it was the apostle Paul who had to instruct him to take a little wine for medicinal purposes. The law forbade any alcohol to priests on duty; priests and Hebrew kings were actually forbidden from touching alcohol while they were in the temple, and of course the teaching of the New Testament is we are now kings and priests unto God. We are always on duty.

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

1 Timothy 3:3 Commentary and Bible Study