What A Bishop Must Be.
A bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach; patient, ruling well his own house, a lover of good men, just, holy, temperate, etc. See 1 Tim. 3:2-4: Titus 1:7, 8.
Blameless. This word is synonymous with spotless, faultless, irreproachable. A person or thing is blameless when it is free from fault.
The husband of one wife. No one can meet the New Testament requirements for bishop or pastor who has two wives, though one be divorced.
Vigilant. He must be so watchful as to early discover danger of any kind and use the utmost precaution to avoid it.
Sober. This word is not applied only to freedom from intoxication by spirituous liquors, but is synonymous with calmness, quietness, grave, sedate, steady, serious, solemn, etc. The Greek “sophron” for sober in these texts means sound mindedness.
Of good behavior. Their conduct must be free from levity, folly, or anything that tends to degrade morals.
Given to hospitality. (Lover of hospitality. Titus 1:8.) He must love in his heart to receive and entertain strangers without remuneration, to be kind and pleasing in his manners.
Apt to teach. He must possess a talent or God-given [pg 149] ability to teach the Word to others in a simple manner.
Patient. He must be free from ill passion and irritableness. He must be calm, and possess a tranquility and evenness of life. His composure and holy tranquilness is such that commands and quiets all strife, contentions and heated discussions.