¹ This is a saying to be trusted: "Whoever aspires to the office of pastor desires an excellent work." ² So the pastor must be a man above reproach, must have only one wife, must be temperate, sensible, well-behaved, hospitable, skillful in teaching; ³ not addicted to strong drink, not pugnacious, gentle and not contentious, not avaricious, ⁴ managing his own house well, with perfect seriousness keeping his children under control ⁵ (if a man does not know how to manage his own house, how can he take care of a church of God?). ⁶ He must not be a new convert, or else becoming conceited he may incur the doom the devil met. ⁷ He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, or else he may incur reproach and fall into the devil's trap.