Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Timothy 3:7

"Moreover he must have good testimony from them that are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil." — 1 Timothy 3:7 (ASV)

Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without.—The man to be chosen as a responsible office-bearer in the Church should be one possessing a stainless reputation for integrity and honour with the world outside the Church; he should be one regarded by the world at large as having led a self-restrained, decorous life—a life free from those disorders and licentious practices which worldly men, even while themselves indulging in them, are the first to condemn in others.

Lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.—For such a person, bringing with him into the new society his unhappy reputation, earned in the old thoughtless days—if placed in the new society in a prominent position of authority—would draw down upon himself and the brotherhood over which he presided many a reproach, many a sneer. Those who once knew him among other associations living a very different life would be only too ready to attack the blameless character of the congregation through the stained and scarred reputation of their minister.

The temptation to fall away and deny his Lord in such a case would be overwhelming. The man might be in earnest, might be wishful to lead a new and better life, but the risk that one with such connections, with such memories of old days, would necessarily run, must be very great.

Weakened and disheartened, such a presbyter would be likely to fall an easy prey into some snare skilfully laid by the Enemy, and, by his fall, cause a terrible and damaging injury to the Church of Christ. For these weighty reasons St. Paul charged Timothy to be very watchful when he chose his presiding elders, to elect only those who, in the dissolute society of Ephesus, had known how, even in old days, to preserve their good name stainless, their character unscarred.

The snare of the devil.—The teaching here of St. Paul concerning the Evil One deserves a special comment. What he says in 1 Timothy 3:6–7 is simply introduced as part of the main argument, which relates exclusively to the care to be exercised in the selection of fit persons for the sacred offices in the congregations. It is evidently not introduced as a special teaching on this mysterious subject.

No disputes on this point had yet arisen at this early period in Christian history. It lays down, however, certain broad principles which must have been the groundwork of St. Paul’s belief in this now disputed question; and receiving as we do St. Paul’s words in this and in his other epistles as an authoritative declaration of the mind and will of the Holy Spirit, it seems that these broad principles should have all weight whenever the doctrine concerning the Spirit of Evil is discussed.

The lines here sketched are as follows:

1. The personality of the Evil One is distinctly affirmed.
2. This unhappy being has fallen and has been condemned, and is now able to lay snares for and to tempt men.
3. An overweening pride seems to have been the cause which led to this once mighty one’s fall.
4. All idea of dualism—encompassing the old Persian belief (adopted in the Manichaean heresy and in so many other false creeds) of two eternally opposed principles, presiding respectively over the realms of light and darkness—is distinctly repudiated here by Paul. In the course of his argument, he casually introduces the Evil One—the Enemy of man—as one who at some remote period rebelled, was crushed, and condemned, but to whom, in the supreme Providence of God, some terrible power over man was left.