1 Timothy · 16 verses
1 Timothy 3
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
The church’s test begins at home: an overseer must manage his household before he can care for God’s.
The household at the gatevv. 1–7
The noble task of oversight arrives with an astonishingly domestic examination. The overseer must be temperate, hospitable, able to teach, gentle, peaceable, and free from the love of money—but the hinge is the household. Children under control, complete dignity, and a good reputation with outsiders stand between aspiration and office. Even the devil appears here, providing both condemnation and a snare, as if the household list had acquired a trapdoor.
The unexplained womenvv. 8–13
Deacons receive a similar inspection: dignity, plain speech, sobriety, freedom from greed, and a clear conscience. They are to be tested before serving. Then, without introduction or explanation, the text turns to “the women,” requiring dignity, restraint, and faithfulness, before returning to the deacon as husband and household manager. The women enter like a door opening briefly in a corridor, and the passage carries on without saying who opened it.
The great mystery, spoken plainlyvv. 14–16
The speaker hopes to come soon, but writes in case of delay, so that conduct in God’s household may be known. That household is called the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. Then comes the splendid paradox: the mystery of godliness is great, yet it is presented as a common confession and a sequence of public movements—appeared, vindicated, seen, proclaimed, believed, taken up. Mystery, here, has a surprisingly busy itinerary.
The text
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Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
1 Tim 3:1This is a trustworthy saying: If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble task.
1 Tim 3:2An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
1 Tim 3:3not dependent on wine, not violent but gentle, peaceable, and free of the love of money.
1 Tim 3:4An overseer must manage his own household well and keep his children under control, with complete dignity.
1 Tim 3:5For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for the church of God?
1 Tim 3:6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same condemnation as the devil.
1 Tim 3:7Furthermore, he must have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the snare of the devil.
1 Tim 3:8Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued or given to much wine or greedy for money.
1 Tim 3:9They must hold to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.
1 Tim 3:10Additionally, they must first be tested. Then, if they are above reproach, let them serve as deacons.
1 Tim 3:11In the same way, the women must be dignified, not slanderers, but temperate and faithful in all things.
1 Tim 3:12A deacon must be the husband of but one wife, a good manager of his children and of his own household.
1 Tim 3:13For those who have served well as deacons acquire for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
1 Tim 3:14Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these things
1 Tim 3:15in case I am delayed, so that you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
1 Tim 3:16By common confession, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed among the nations, was believed in throughout the world, was taken up in glory.
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 337 passages were voted onto 16 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 16John 1:14The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- 16Hebrews 1:3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
- 16Mark 16:19After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
- 16Romans 16:25Now to Him who is able to strengthen you by my gospel and by the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery concealed for ages past
- 161 John 1:2And this is the life that was revealed; we have seen it and testified to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us.
- 16Philippians 2:6–8Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
- 16Luke 24:4While they were puzzling over this, suddenly two men in radiant apparel stood beside them.
- 16Colossians 1:23if indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
- 2Titus 1:6–9An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, having children who are believers and who are not open to accusation of indiscretion or insubordination.
- 151 Peter 2:5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
- 22 Timothy 2:24And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.
- 161 Peter 1:12It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they foretold the things now announced by those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
- 1Titus 1:7As God’s steward, an overseer must be above reproach—not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not greedy for money.
- 15Ephesians 2:21–22In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
- 1Acts 20:28Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.
- 72 Corinthians 8:21For we are taking great care to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men.
Onward