1 Timothy 3: Hospitable and Able to Teach
Hospitable and Able to Teach 1 Timothy 3:2 What has gone before... Paul's description of a person suitable for consideration as overseer of a church began with one who was above reproach: faithful in marriage, sober-minded, self-controlled and respectable. Moving on... "An overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable..." 1 Timothy 3:2 (ESV) HOSPITABLE: philoxenos "fil-OX-en-os" (fond of guests); from philos (dear, as a friend; fond or friendly, referring to an associate or neighbor) and xenos (foreign, as alien or novel; a guest or entertainer) "Hospitable" seems to provide at the same time the means and the motive for spending time with new acquaintances: treat them as friends and regard their quirks as entertaining. The word, "hospitable" is found three times in the Bible: used twice by Paul in similar directions to Timothy and Titus concerning overseers.