ἔχοντας : See note on chap. i. 19.
Ver. 9. τὸ μυστήριον τῆς πίστεως: the faith as revealed, is the same as τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον, ver. 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 vevelation 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, Ὁ. 234 5ᾳᾳ., and Lightfoot on Col. i. 26.
II. γυναῖκας " ὡσαύτως ‘ σεμνάς, μὴ “διαβόλους,
m Seer Tim. i. 4.
ni Τα 7, not LXX,
o Ver. 16, 1 Cor. ii. 17, iv. 1, Eph. vi. το, Col. i. 26, 27, ii. 2, iv. 3. q z Cor. xi. 28, xvi. 3, 2 Cor. viii. 22, xiii. 5, 1 Thess. il. 4. s 3 Macc. v. 31, 1 Cor. i. 8, Col. i. 22, Tit. i. 6, 7.
t Acts xix. 22, ver. t 2 Tim. 11].
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 (Chris- tian 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.
Ver. το. δοκιμαζέσθωσαν : Chrys. notes that this corresponds to the provision py νεόφυτον in the case of the episcopus. This testing of fitness for the office of deacon may have been effected either by (a) a period of probationary training,— if the injunction in v. 22, “ Lay hands hastily on no man,’’ has reference to ordination, it is another way of saying δοκιμαζέσθωσαν πρῶτον,- οἵ by (6) the candidates producing what we should call testimonials of character. Such testimonials would attest that a man was ἀνέγκλητος, 1.6., that no specific charge of wrong-doing had been laid against him (unblamed is Hort’s rendering). Until a man has proved his suitability for a post by administering it, this is the most that can be demanded. Each step subjects a man’s character to a fresh strain. If he comes out of the trial un- scathed, he is entitled to be called ἀνεπί- λημπτος. It is significant that in Tit. i. 6, 7, where the ordination of presbyters, or episcopi, with no antecedent diaconate is contemplated, this elementary and superficial test, that they should be ἀνέγκλητοι, is mentioned. See note on ver. 2. In a normal condition of the Church, episcopi are chosen from those whose fitness is matter of common knowledge.
διακονείτωσαν: For instances of this absolute technical sense of the word see reff.
Ver, 11. γυναῖκας: Sc. δεῖ εἶναι, not governed by έχοντας (ver. g). These are the deaconesses, ministrae (Pliny, Ep. x. 97) of whom Phoebe (Rom. xvi. 1) is an undoubted example. They performed for the women of the early Church the same sort of ministrations that the deacons did for the men. In confirmation of this
116
, u Seever. 2." νηφαλίους, πιστὰς ἐν πᾶσιν.
w See ver. 4.
x See ver. 1Ο.
y Here only, Νο,
view it should be noted that ὡσαύτως is used in introducing a second or third member of a series. See οὐ 11. 9. The series here is of Church officials. Again, the four qualifications which follow cor- respond, with appropriate variations, to the first four required in deacons, as re- gards demeanour, government of the tongue, use of wine, and trustworthiness. And further, this is a section dealing wholly with Church officials. These considerations exclude the view that women in general, as R.V. apparently, are spoken of. If the wives of the deacons or of the clergy were meant, as A.V., it would be natural to have it un- ambiguously expressed, ᾳ.5., by the addi- tion of αὐτῶν.