Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience is a qualification for deacons as church officers, calling them to hold firmly to the Christian faith while keeping a clear conscience. Keeping a pure conscience means being grave and honest in speech rather than double-tongued, not speaking fair words to the face while criticizing behind the back, and being free from selfishness, self-confidence, intemperance, and greed, with a faith that works by love and purifies the soul. This fitness is proved beginning with home training and faithful performance of smaller, less responsible Christian duties, showing fear of God, continual humility, love of the truth, and willingness to be counseled, so that only proven, blameless men are fitted for the larger responsibility of the deacon's office and the care of the church.
The same qualification belongs among the standards for church officers generally and is equally essential for elders. These standards are connected with temperance and require careful selection of those entrusted with church responsibilities. The verse stands in connection with temperance and health reform, which call for an intelligent, practical response to the light given in Scripture, while each person remains individually accountable.
The requirement extends to obedience and order in the household: deacons must educate, train, and discipline their children in right habits and practices, presenting a well-disciplined family in which children are under the control of father and mother and father and mother are under the control of God. Failing to require obedience and order in the home is disobedience to God's word, and neglecting this home work neglects setting the church in order, eclipsing the light so it cannot shine in correct example in eating, dressing, and working in right lines. Those who refuse to see the necessity of this home work will be blinded so they will not see the necessity of obeying God in other lines. The command to deacons belongs with the duty to practice God's word and to keep order in the home and the church.
The same requirement applies to other church workers, so that a sanitarium manager is expected to understand the points of the faith and to show Christ in life and work. Church leaders holding this qualification must remain faithful to sound principles, including rebuking sin, even when their faithfulness brings opposition or trial.
Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience is a qualification for deacons as church officers, calling them to hold firmly to the Christian faith while keeping a clear conscience. Keeping a pure conscience means being grave and honest in speech rather than double-tongued, not speaking fair words to the face while criticizing behind the back, and being free from selfishness, self-confidence, intemperance, and greed, with a faith that works by love and purifies the soul. This fitness is proved beginning with home training and faithful performance of smaller, less responsible Christian duties, showing fear of God, continual humility, love of the truth, and willingness to be counseled, so that only proven, blameless men are fitted for the larger responsibility of the deacon's office and the care of the church.
The same qualification belongs among the standards for church officers generally and is equally essential for elders. These standards are connected with temperance and require careful selection of those entrusted with church responsibilities. The verse stands in connection with temperance and health reform, which call for an intelligent, practical response to the light given in Scripture, while each person remains individually accountable.
The requirement extends to obedience and order in the household: deacons must educate, train, and discipline their children in right habits and practices, presenting a well-disciplined family in which children are under the control of father and mother and father and mother are under the control of God. Failing to require obedience and order in the home is disobedience to God's word, and neglecting this home work neglects setting the church in order, eclipsing the light so it cannot shine in correct example in eating, dressing, and working in right lines. Those who refuse to see the necessity of this home work will be blinded so they will not see the necessity of obeying God in other lines. The command to deacons belongs with the duty to practice God's word and to keep order in the home and the church.
The same requirement applies to other church workers, so that a sanitarium manager is expected to understand the points of the faith and to show Christ in life and work. Church leaders holding this qualification must remain faithful to sound principles, including rebuking sin, even when their faithfulness brings opposition or trial.