1 Timothy 3:7

Plain English Version

He has to be a man that everybody says is a good man. Even people that are not Christians have to say that he is good. If they know that he is a good man, they will respect him. The devil always tries to make Christian leaders go wrong so that he can shame them. It is like the devil has a trap and tries to catch them in it, but he can’t catch a man that is always good.

Cross References

Mark 4:11

Jesus said, “You mob follow me, so God wants you to know what my stories are all about, so I will tell you what they mean. Those stories are about how God gets people into his family. But other people don’t follow me, so they only get the picture stories. I will not tell them what they mean.

Acts 10:22

They said, “Cornelius sent us. He is a boss in the Roman army. He is a good man, and he respects God. All the Jewish people say he is a good man too. God sent one of his angel messengers to Cornelius and told him to ask you to come to his house and talk to him.”

Acts 22:12

A Jewish man lived in that town. He respected God, and he properly followed our Jewish laws. His name was Ananias. All the Jewish people living in Damascus said that he was a good man.

Acts 6:3

So, friends, you pick 7 of your own men to do that job. They can give the money and food to the widows. You have to pick men that other people say are good men. They have to be men that God’s Holy Spirit controls properly, and they have to be men that always think properly. We will let those men take over that work. They will give money and food to the widows,

1 Corinthians 10:32

Don’t do anything that might give other people problems. Don’t make problems for Jewish people, or for people that are not Jewish. And don’t make problems for God’s people.

1 Corinthians 5:12

You see, I can’t be the judge of people that are not Christians. God will judge those people, and he will punish those people that do bad things. But if a Christian in your church group does bad things, you have to work out how to punish them. You have to do what God says in his book, “Get rid of bad people from your group.”

Colossians 4:5

And you too, whenever you are with people that don’t believe in Jesus, if you can tell them about him, you have to do it. Be sensible in how you live with those people.

1 Thessalonians 4:12

Then you will not have to ask other people for things. If you live like that, the people that don’t know God will see that you are good, and they will respect you.

1 Thessalonians 5:22

But if it is wrong, or if it tells you to do a bad thing, don’t do it. Keep away from every sort of bad thing, and don’t listen to messages that don’t come from God.

1 Timothy 3:6

He has to be a man that has been a Christian for a long time, not a new Christian. A new Christian might start to think he is smart, and God might have to throw him out, like he threw the devil out after the devil thought he was smart. That devil is now the boss over the bad spirits. –

1 Timothy 5:14

So I’m saying this to young widows. Don’t try to get on to the church’s list, but instead, go ahead and marry somebody, and have kids, and look after your family. If you do that, our enemy will not have any reason to say bad things about us.

1 Timothy 6:9

But people that try to get lots of money, they let the devil trick them. The devil is the boss over the bad spirits. He gets those people to want things so much that they will do anything to get them. That’s how they fall into the devil’s trap. They do silly things, and bad things too. The devil really wrecks them.

Titus 2:5

and to control themselves, and to only sleep with their own husbands, and not to do what married people do together with anybody else. And they can teach them to work hard at home, and to do good things, and to think about what their husbands want and agree with them. So people will see the things that the young women do, and they will not be able to say anything bad about God’s message.

Titus 2:8

The message you teach has to be right, so that nobody can rubbish it. Then your enemies can’t say anything bad about you. Anyone that says bad things about you will shame themselves.

1 Samuel 2:24

My sons, stop it. Lots of God’s people talk about you. That bad news is everywhere.