What Does 1 Timothy 3:1 Mean?
This word is steady. If anyone reaches for overseeing, he longs for a good work.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.THE KEY
The verse measures oversight by the good work it carries, not by the title it holds.
THE MEANING
When you desire responsibility for others, the verse points to the work that desire reaches toward: watching over and serving. Its value appears in the care you enact, not in the position attached to it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that wanting responsibility is inherently vanity: the desire can be directed toward good work.
THE ROOT
ἐπισκοπῆς
episkopēs
GROWS FROM
σκοπ-
skop-
To look toward, observe, or keep watch.
“office of a bishop” in this verse is episkopēs. The word translated “office” carries the sense of oversight: watching over with attention. Its family connects the role to seeing and caring for others, rather than simply holding a position.
ALSO GROWS
episkopos: Overseer; one who watches over.
ἐπίσκοπος
The related title makes the role’s watchful responsibility explicit.
episkopeō: To oversee or attend to.
ἐπισκοπέω
This verb presents oversight as an action of attention and care.
ἔργον
ergon
GROWS FROM
ἐργ-
erg-
Work or deed; something done.
The verse calls oversight a good work, putting its substance in what is done. The same word family names both working and the worker, tying the role to active labor rather than status.
ALSO GROWS
ergazomai: To work, labor, or do.
ἐργάζομαι
The verb turns “work” from an abstract label into something carried out.
ergatēs: Worker or laborer.
ἐργάτης
This branch names the person through the work they do, echoing the verse’s focus on responsibility as labor.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents authority as responsibility carried for others, expressed through service and care.
Moreover, you shall look out from all the people for men of strength, who stand in awe of God, men of truth, who hate plunder; and set such over them as rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.It will not be so among you. But whoever wants to be great among you, let him be your servant.Shepherd the flock of God among you, watching over it, not by force but willingly, according to God; and not for shameful gain but eagerly.THE THREAD
For we are his making, created in the Anointed One, Jesus, for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that in them we might walk.“Good work” in 1 Timothy and “good works” here share the Greek word ἔργον (ergon). Oversight belongs to a wider life of work already prepared to be walked in.
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