1 Timothy 3:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

That is, with preservation of the right dogma, while also having a blameless life. For a pure conscience exists with a blameless life.

Let them be steadfast during persecution in the mysteries of faith, and let them piously serve the Mystery of the Body of Christ in purity of their conscience.

"Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience," that is, confirming faith by works. For by "pure conscience" the Apostle meant good works. The doer of them is not wounded by conscience.

By the expression "the mystery of the faith," he indicated the mystical dogmas of the faith. By the words "in a pure conscience," he indicated a blameless life.

The mystical knowledge and perception of faith is preserved by purity of conscience.

"Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience." The Christian teaching is here called the mystery of faith because it was revealed to men by God and could not be understood except by faith. Deacons are required to preserve this mystery in a pure conscience, without any cunning or pretense. As Theodoret explains, they must confirm their faith by good works. At the same time, the Apostle may also have had in mind that deacons, who had more frequent dealings with outsiders than others, should keep the dogmas of the faith secret from non-Christians.

"Deacons likewise must be pure," that is, must be so, "not double-tongued, not given to much wine," and so forth (1 Tim. 3:8-13). He regards the moral qualities required for worthy deacons as necessary also for the episcopal and presbyteral rank. Speaking about deacons, he omits only teachability. But he adds that they must hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. According to the explanation of Blessed Theophylact, this means that deacons must keep the right dogma and have a blameless life. He also adds that they should be tested before their appointment, and that those who have served well should then be counted worthy of higher degrees. "Women likewise must be pure, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things" (1 Tim. 3:11).

The instructions concerning deacons are still more accommodating. Of them are especially required silence, reliability in keeping secrets, that they not drink much wine, and that they not be inclined to love of gain. They too must not be recent converts, and they must be tested for moral fitness for service in the Church. According to St. John Chrysostom's explanation, "not double-tongued" means not wicked and not crafty. "For nothing makes a man so dishonorable as wickedness, and nothing brings such harm to the Church as craftiness." The Apostle may have commanded deacons to be "not given to much wine" because they were generally in charge of the economic side, including wine. They were also in charge of all offerings, including monetary ones.

Deacons, whose chief duty was to care for the poor, went from one house to another. They therefore must not say one thing in one place and another elsewhere, that is, be double-tongued. They must not irritate the poor by their own lack of restraint, and must not be lovers of gain, lest they become thieves of the gifts entrusted to them. In general, their conscience must be pure. In it, as in a treasury, the faith must be preserved in complete integrity. In this way they would be inaccessible to the seductions of false teachers. At the same time, the Apostle gives a brief instruction concerning deaconesses as well. Deacons who fulfill the Apostle's prescriptions exactly acquire good standing among the faithful, that is, they obtain a good degree. They themselves begin to act with full boldness, which faith in Christ gives them, and are not troubled by any attacks.

The mystery of the faith is that of which the Apostle speaks below: "Confessedly great is the mystery of piety: God was manifested in the flesh... received up in glory" (compare 1 Tim. 3:16). God descended to earth in the Incarnation and arranged for us a wondrous form of salvation. This is a mystery because it remains incomprehensible to us even after the revelation and after the actual accomplishment of salvation. It is incomprehensible both in how this was accomplished by God incarnate, and in how it is effectively appropriated by us and saves us. This mystery is received by faith. We believe that it is undoubtedly so, since God Himself has done all this and has explained it to us.