- I Timothy 3:4-5
- Does the plural word “children” exclude the man with one child?
- Greek: tekna
- Compare the same word in:
- I Timothy 5:4
- Matthew 22:24
- I Corinthians 7:14
- Old Testament: Genesis 21:7
- Modern usage
- “Do you have children?”
- “You must supervise your children.”
- What about children who are grown and gone?
- Titus 1:6
- “keeping his children under control”
- “one who manages his own household well”
- I Timothy 3:12
- I Thessalonians 5:12
- Once the children are grown and gone, is that father still “managing” / “ruling” them?
- Is he still charged with keeping his children “under control” / “in subjection”?
- Considerations
- How would you rate a man who is already an elder?
- How long, and for how much, is one accountable before God as a parent?
- What if the grown children die?
- What about Proverbs 22:6? “Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
- Proverbs gives us general truths but they have exceptions (Proverbs 18:22.
- Example: Jehoiada and Joash (II Chronicles 24:2
- Contrast with: Eli (I Samuel 2:29
- The reason God wants us to look at the children is for what it reveals about the man himself. I Timothy 3:2
- Opposite example: What about a bad dad whose kids leave hom and then turn good?
- What if the wife did virtually all of the training?
- We’re not interested in the kids per se. We’re interested in what we learn about the man from looking at the kids.
- Is Titus 1:6?
- Greek: pista
- I Timothy 6:2
- Matthew 24:4
DW
August 25, 2013
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