MODERN LITERAL VERSION

3:1 Faithful is the saying, If a man is aspiring to the overseership, he is desiring a good work.
3:2 Therefore it is essential for the overseer to be: unimpeachable, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, orderly, hospitable, skilled in teaching;
3:3 not a drunkard, not a bully, not covetous, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a money-lover;
3:4 one who is governing his own house well, having his children in subjection with all honesty;
3:5 (but if anyone does not know how to govern his own house, how will he care for the congregation* of God?;)
3:6 not a new-convert, (that* when he is puffed up, he might not fall into the condemnation of the Devil).
3:7 But it is also essential for him to have a good testimony from those who are outside the congregation *; that* he may not fall into reproach and the snare of the Devil.

3:8 {F} Deacons likewise* must be honorable, not double-tongued, not taking-heed to much wine, not covetous;
3:9 holding the mystery of the faith in a clean conscience.
3:10 But let these also first be tested; thereafter let them {F} serve, if they are irreproachable.

3:11 Their wives likewise* must be honorable, not slanderers, but temperate, faithful in all things.

3:12 Let {F} deacons be husbands of one wife, governing their children and their own houses well.
3:13 For* those who have {F} served well acquire for themselves a good rank and much boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

3:14 I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you shortly;
3:15 but if I am slow, that* you may know how men ought to conduct themselves in the house of God, which is the congregation* of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.
3:16 And confessedly great is the mystery of godliness*: God was manifested in the flesh, was justified in the spirit, was seen by messengers, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was received up in glory.
{Footnotes: 1Ti 3:8,9,12,13- The Greek word is diakonos; ‘deacon' is the transliteration. This word and its compounds in all other contexts are translated ‘serve', ‘servant', or ‘service' (see 3:10 & 3:13). Because ‘elder' (‘overseer' in Phil. 1:1) a known office of the congregation* is used, this context calls for an office or serving position in the congregation*. The actual word in Greek means ‘servant' who serves in reference to his job. The same word is used by Paul to describe a ‘policeman' (in modern terms) in Rom. 13:4. Context could also mean ‘Those who minister,' in general. Other Greek synonyms in the MLV are translated ‘domestic servant' ‘attendant' ‘attendants' ‘minister*' and ‘bondservant.'}