Paul finishes his description of the qualities of the elder in this week’s passage, before he shifts to deacons, who have very similar characteristics. In these final two verses of his qualifications, he lists two final considerations.

You can find these qualities in 1 Timothy 3:6-7:

In the first three verses, Paul goes through a long list of attributes, one right after another. In the next two verses, he devotes the entire passage to one qualification. In this week’s passage, he wraps up his discourse with two final thoughts for elders.

The first of these two is the idea that an elder must not be a new convert, or a novice. New converts would not have the expected spiritual maturity that a leader would have. The Ephesian church had been in existence for at least a dozen years or more, so spiritually mature men would have been available, in contrast to Titus’ instructions on Crete, which was a brand new church, where everyone was a new convert (Titus 1.) The prime concern here is spiritual maturity, not necessarily longevity in time (see 1 Timothy 5:22).

If someone rose too quickly into such a position of leadership, the temptation is to become conceited and proud. Since the false teachers were described as conceited (1 Timothy 6:4), one has to wonder if Paul still has them in mind as he writes this.

The next phrase, “fall under the same judgment as the devil” is rather obscure. The most likely interpretation is that this refers to the condemnation pronounced upon the devil due to the crucifixion and resurrection. Because of these, Satan has been dealt his death blow, to be fully realized at the end of time.

The second quality that Paul discusses in this passage is the idea of having a good reputation with outsiders. While early Christianity was treated rather severely in the early periods of its history, these Christians were still a part of the community in which they lived, and as such, needed to be held in high regard by those they came into contact with. The idea here is integrity and being above reproach.

The idea is quite simple: if an elder cannot be seen as a man of integrity, then non-believers will not be drawn to the gospel; in fact, they may be repulsed instead. This leads to disgrace, and is seen as the devil’s trap. After all, if Satan can cripple the church’s testimony, he achieves his purposes easily. That is a trap to be avoided.

With that, Paul wraps up is discussion of the qualifications of an elder. His next topic will be the next level of church leadership… deacons.

While these qualities are specifically targeted towards elders, they are extremely applicable to all of us, in varying degrees, and worthy of our efforts. While some fit more that others, almost all of these are aspects of our lives of faith that we can put into place, helping us grow closer to Christ.

These two final considerations seem more targeted than the rest of the list? Which of these do you think is the hardest to attain? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.