SPECIAL TOPIC: ABOVE REPROACH

SPECIAL TOPIC: ABOVE REPROACH (from Titus 1:6)

This is the key to all of the qualifications for
church leaders, both positive and negative, of
both 1 Timothy and Titus (cf. Titus 1:6,7; 1 Tim. 3:2,7,10; 5:7; 6:14). This is
not the exact Greek term found in 1 Timothy 3, but a synonym used in exactly the
same way. The minister must be a good witness to those within the believing
community and to the unbelievers in the community (cf. Titus 2:5,8,10; Acts
2:47; 4:4,31; 5:13,42). See notes at 1 Tim. 3:2,3.

These qualifications must be interpreted in light of two purposes: (1) the
leaders must be acceptable to believers and unbelievers; evangelism is the
ultimate goal and (2) the leaders must be observably different from the false
teachers. It is difficult to know exactly how to apply these qualifications to
different cultures and time periods. Believers must guard against historically
conditioned rules, yet be open to God-given principles. My experience with
modern western churches has been that:

1. they proof-text one or more of these qualifications, but ignore or
depreciate others

2. they add to these guidelines and claim biblical authority for the
additions

3. they interpret these rules in light of our day instead of a first century
culture, which was disrupted by false teachers

4. they take ambiguous phrases and turn them into dogmatic rules that
universally apply