“An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach . . .” (1 Tim. 3:2).
The elder (along with all leaders in the church) is to be respectable. We could translate this word “dignified,” or “decent.”
The word is also used in the New Testament to describe women’s clothing. Paul says in 1 Tim. 2:9 that the women’s clothing should be “respectable.” In a similar sense, an elder must be outwardly respectable, even well put-together. The elder is to be well-behaved.
To say it negatively, he is to be a man who is not sloppy or disheveled. The word is closely connected to the idea of self-control, and one could say that being respectable is the outward manifestation of being self-controlled. He does not look or act in a way that embarrasses himself or others.
Everything about the elder should be respectable to the observation of those he shepherds.
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