• 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