1 Timothy 3:9

Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.—The thought again comes to the surface—mere orthodoxy without the Christ-life was an empty, useless characteristic feature in any one; but here the man of God, writing to his dear son these solemn warnings respecting fit and proper persons to be chosen for their Master’s work, has besides in these words another end in view. He had been dwelling with great earnestness on the outward characteristics which a deacon of the Church should possess—the high and stainless name—the generous respect which his old way of living had won for him among unbelievers as well as with believers; but, in addition to these things, it was absolutely necessary for one occupying such a post to know something of the deeper spiritual life—he must hold the mystery of the faith. Now what does St. Paul mean by the mystery? He speaks of it as “a treasure” which must be held in the casket of a pure conscience. This mystery was what was sometimes hidden, but which was now revealed by the advent of St. Paul’s Master, and comprehended the truths of the redemption, the atonement, and mighty cleansing powers of the precious blood of Christ. These—the master truths of Christianity—must the appointed teacher firmly grasp; and the true deacon, whose office it was rather to administer than to preach to the people, must also be especially careful to show that he lived the life he professed to teach; or, in St. Paul’s own simile, must preserve the casket in which the precious mystery was shrined, holy and undefiled before men—he must hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:8-13 The deacons were at first appointed to distribute the charity of the church, and to manage its concerns, yet pastors and evangelists were among them. The deacons had a great trust reposed in them. They must be grave, serious, prudent men. It is not fit that public trusts should be lodged in the hands of any, till they are found fit for the business with which they are to be trusted. All who are related to ministers, must take great care to walk as becomes the gospel of Christ.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Holding the mystery of the faith - On the word "mystery," see notes on 1 Corinthians 2:7. It means that which had been concealed, or hidden, but which was now revealed. The word "faith" here, is synonymous with "the gospel;" and the sense is, that he should hold firmly the great doctrines of the Christian religion which had been so long concealed from people, but which were now revealed. The reason is obvious. Though not a preacher, yet his influence and example would be great, and a man who held material error ought not to be in office.

In a pure conscience - A mere orthodox faith was not all that was necessary, for it was possible that a man might be professedly firm in the belief of the truths of revelation, and yet be corrupt at heart.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. the mystery of the faith—holding the faith, which to the natural man remains a mystery, but which has been revealed by the Spirit to them (Ro 16:25; 1Co 2:7-10), in a pure conscience (1Ti 1:5, 19). ("Pure," that is, in which nothing base or foreign is intermixed [Tittmann]). Though deacons were not ordinarily called on to preach (Stephen and Philip are not exceptions to this, since it was as evangelists, rather than as deacons, they preached), yet as being office-bearers in the Church, and having much intercourse with all the members, they especially needed to have this characteristic, which every Christian ought to have.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Not ignorant or inconstant persons, but such as were acquainted with the mysteries of the gospel, and believed them, and held to them; and men of a holy life.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Holding the mystery of the faith,.... The doctrine of the Gospel, called the "faith", because it contains things to be believed; proposes Christ the object of faith; is the means by which faith comes, and is unprofitable without it: it is called "the mystery", because it is of divine revelation, and could have never been discovered by human reason; and now it is revealed, the modus of many things contained in it remains a mystery; several of the doctrines of it are mysterious ones, particularly the doctrine of the Trinity; and which the ancient Jews call by this very name, (a) , "the mystery of faith"; the incarnation of the Son of God, the union of the saints to Christ, and their communion with him, and the resurrection of the dead, with others. Now this mysterious doctrine of faith is to be held by deacons; they are to profess it, and to hold fast the profession of it and that

in a pure conscience; with a conscience sprinkled by the blood of Christ; with a conscience void of offence both towards God and man; with a suitable life and conversation; a conversation becoming the Gospel of Christ, and by which it is adorned: and this part of their character is necessary, that such may be able to instruct and establish those who are weak in the faith, and oppose and refute the erroneous, and also recommend the Gospel by their own example; otherwise should their principles or practices be bad, their influence on others might be very pernicious and fatal.

(a) Zohar in Gen. fol. 12. 4. & 13. 1, 2. & in Exod. fol. 66. 3.

Geneva Study Bible

Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

1 Timothy 3:9. Ἔχοντας τὸ μυστήριον τῆς πίστεως ἐν καθαρᾷ συνειδήσει] The emphasis is not on ἔχοντας, as if it meant “holding fast,” but on ἐν καθαρᾷ συνειδήσει (Wiesinger).

τὸ μυστήριον τῆς πίστεως] This collocation occurs nowhere else. Πίστις is not the doctrine of faith (Heumann), but subjective faith (de Wette). Μυστήριον is the subject-matter of faith, i.e. the divine truth, which is a secret not only in so far as it was hidden from the world until it was revealed at the appointed time (Romans 16:25) and remains hidden to every man till the knowledge of it is wrought in him by the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:7-10; 1 Corinthians 2:14), but also in so far as it is even to the believer ὑπερβαλλοῦσα τῆς γνώσεως (Wiesinger). The expression is synonymous with that in 1 Timothy 3:16 : τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον.

ἐν καθαρᾷ συνειδήσει] Comp. 1 Timothy 1:5; 1 Timothy 1:19. The clause is to be joined closely with ἔχοντας, and is to be understood neither specially of occupying the office, nor quite generally of the virtuous life, or “the moral disposition” (Hofmann), but of purity and uprightness in regard to the mystery of the faith. It stands in contrast with the impurity of the heretics, who had their conscience stained by the mingling of truth with errors; comp. 1 Timothy 4:2.

Expositor's Greek Testament

1 Timothy 3:9. τὸ μυστήριον τῆς πίστεως: the faith as revealed, is the same as τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον, 1 Timothy 3:16. In the earlier epistles of St. Paul τὸ μυστήριον is a revealed secret, in particular, the purpose of God that Jew and Gentile should unite in one Church. The notion of a secret is still prominent, because the revelation of it was recent; but just as revelation passes from a phase of usage in which the wonderful fact and manner of the disclosure is prominent to a stage in which the content or substance of what has been revealed is alone thought of, so it was with μυστήριον; in the Pastorals it means the revelation given in Christ, the Christian creed in fact. See Dean Armitage Robinson, Ephesians, p. 234 sqq., and Lightfoot on Colossians 1:26. It was not the function of a deacon to teach or preach; it was sufficient if he were a firm believer. ἐν. καθ. συνειδ. is connected with ἔχοντας. Hort (Christian Ecclesia, p. 201) approves of the expl. given by Weiss of τὸ μυστ. τ. πίστ., “the secret constituted by their own inner faith”. This seems unnatural.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. the mystery of the faith] Apparently repeated again 1 Timothy 3:16 as ‘the mystery of godliness.’ The word ‘mystery’ is significant. Coming from the Greek, ‘to close the mouth,’ and so ‘to initiate,’ it was originally used of the secret rites of Eleusis in Attica, into which each year the youth of Athens were initiated at the annual celebrations. Thence by the process so loved by St Paul of consecrating old words to higher use it becomes the pregnant expression of the truth, ‘latet in vetere novum testamentum, vetus in novo patet.’ It is a truth once hidden but now revealed, a truth which may be apprehended though not comprehended. So the Atonement is a mystery, 1 Corinthians 2:1-2; 1 Corinthians 2:7, the Catholicity of the Church is a mystery, Ephesians 3:3-4; Ephesians 3:9; the Incarnation is a mystery, 1 Timothy 3:16. In St Paul’s final thought of revelation in this chapter the ‘secret now told’ embraces the whole of God’s saving love, in one or other of its aspects, here as the ‘creed of creeds,’ in 1 Timothy 3:16 as the ‘work of works,’ here the life of Christ, there ‘the life in Christ’ We are familiar with a somewhat similar use of ‘mystery’ in the ‘mystery plays’; and compare the word ‘mystery’ in the Prayer-Book Communion Office as the equivalent of ‘Sacrament,’—the union of the outward and visible sign and the inward and spiritual grace, the living spirit through the lifeless matter—‘the dignity of that holy mystery’; ‘He hath instituted and ordained holy mysteries’; ‘have duly received these holy mysteries.’ See further, Appendix, G.

Bengel's Gnomen

1 Timothy 3:9. Τῆς πίστεως, of the faith) The deacons were often speaking of the Christian faith, as opportunity offered, in the discharge of their duty; and even though they should not speak, still they were bound to attend to the duties of their office, and go to the church with a holy mind, and with the desire to show a good example.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. Μυστήριον, a mystery, is that which, having been long hidden, is at length disclosed, either to men generally or to elect disciples. It is derived from μυέω, to initiate, of which the passive μυέομαι, to be instructed or initiated, is found in Philippians 4:12, and is common in classical Greek, being itself derived from μύω, "to close the lips as in pronouncing the syllable μῦ," whence also taurus. The idea is of something secret, which might not be spoken cf. In the New Testament we have "the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 13:11; Luke 8:10; Mark 4:11); and St. Paul brings out the full force of the word when he speaks (Romans 16:25) of "the mystery which was kept secret (σεσιγημένου) since the world began... but is now made known to all nations for the obedience of faith" (see too Ephesians 3:3-6; Colossians 2:26, etc.). "The faith" is equivalent to "the gospel," or "the kingdom of heaven," or the "godliness" of ver. 16 (where see note); and "the mystery of the faith" might be paraphrased by "the revealed truth of Christianity". What is added, "in a pure conscience," teaches us that orthodoxy without personal holiness is little worth. Holding "the truth in unrighteousness" is severely condemned by St. Paul (Romans 1:18). He says of himself (Acts 23:1), "I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day" (comp. Acts 24:16; 2 Corinthians 1:12; 1 Timothy 1:5, 19, etc.). It is much to be observed how St. Paul, the great teacher of the doctrine of g-race, lays constant stress upon the functions of the conscience, and the necessity of having a pure conscience. 1 Timothy 3:9

Vincent's Word Studies

The mystery of the faith (τὸ μυστήριον τῆς πίστεως)

The phrase N.T.o. In the Gospels only, mystery or mysteries of the kingdom of God or of heaven. In Paul, mystery or mysteries of God, of his will, of Christ, of the gospel, of iniquity, the mystery kept secret or hidden away. Several times without qualification, the mystery or mysteries. See on 2 Thessalonians 2:7. The mystery of the faith is the subject - matter of the faith; the truth which is its basis, which was kept hidden from the world until revealed at the appointed time, and which is a secret to ordinary eyes, but is made known by divine revelation. Comp. Romans 16:25; Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:26; 1 Corinthians 2:7. For the faith see on Galatians 1:23, and comp. Introduction to these Epistles, VI.

In a pure conscience (ἐν καθαρᾷ συνειδήσει)

Comp. 2 Timothy 1:3, 2 Timothy 1:5, 19. Const. with holding. The emphasis of the passage is on these words. They express conscientious purity and sincerity in contrast with those who are described as branded in their own conscience, and thus causing their followers to fall away from the faith (1 Timothy 4:1, 1 Timothy 4:2). The passage illustrates the peculiar treatment of "faith" in these Epistles, in emphasizing its ethical aspect and its ethical environment. This is not contrary to Paul's teaching, nor does it go to the extent of substituting morals for faith as the condition of salvation and eternal life. See 2 Timothy 1:9; 2 Timothy 2:1; Titus 3:5. Nonetheless, there is a strong and habitual emphasis on good works (see 1 Timothy 2:10; 1 Timothy 5:10; 1 Timothy 6:18; 2 Timothy 2:21; 2 Timothy 3:17; Titus 1:16; Titus 2:7, Titus 2:14; Titus 3:1, Titus 3:8, Titus 3:14), and faith is placed in a series of practical duties (see 1 Timothy 1:5, 1 Timothy 1:14; 1 Timothy 2:15; 1 Timothy 4:12; 2 Timothy 1:13; 1 Timothy 1:19; 1 Timothy 2:7; 1 Timothy 3:9; 1 Timothy 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:22; 2 Timothy 3:10). "Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience" is a significant association of faith with ethics. As Weiss puts it: "It is as if the pure conscience were the vessel in which the mystery of the faith is preserved." The idea is sound and valuable. A merely intellectual attitude toward the mystery which, in every age, attaches to the faith, will result in doubt, questioning, and wordy strife (see 1 Timothy 6:4; 2 Timothy 2:23; Titus 3:9), sometimes in moral laxity, sometimes in despair. Loyalty and duty to God are compatible with more or less ignorance concerning the mystery. An intellect, however powerful and active, joined with an impure conscience, cannot solve but only aggravates the mystery; whereas a pure and loyal conscience, and a frank acceptance of imposed duty along with mystery, puts one in the best attitude for attaining whatever solution is possible. See John 7:17.