Moreover he must have a good
report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of
the devil.
He
must have a good report of them which are without. This means that he must be
well spoken of by unbelievers. Now, some unbelievers will simply hate him for
his Faith. But if a man has integrity, is honest, kind, and loving, even
unbelievers will notice and will not have bad things to say about him. If the
Pastor does not have anyone outside of the Faith that speaks well of him, this
Scripture warns that he will fall in to reproach (correction/needing to be
corrected) and the snare of the devil.
8 Likewise must the deacons
be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of
filthy lucre;
Deacons, like pastors, are expected to be sober minded/level headed/realistic
(grave); and not gossips or deceptive saying one thing to one party and another
thing to another party (doubletongued). In addition, they are not to be given
to drunkenness and excessive drinking. The Scripture here does not say that
they must abstain from all wine. Likewise, they must not be greedy for money,
but humble and content.
1 Tim 3:7-8 (KJV)
