What Does 1 Timothy 3:9 Mean?

(9) **Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.**—The thought again comes to the surface—mere orthodoxy without the Christ-life was an empty, useless characteristic feature in any one; but *here* the man of God, writing to his dear son these solemn warnings respecting fit and proper persons to be chosen for their Master’s work, has besides in these words another end in view. He had been dwelling with great earnestness on the *outward* characteristics which a deacon of the Church should possess—the high and stainless name—the generous respect which his old way of living had won for him among unbelievers as well as with believers; but, in addition to these things, it was absolutely necessary for one occupying such a post to know something of the deeper spiritual life—*he must hold the mystery of the faith.* Now what does St. Paul mean by the mystery? He speaks of it as “a treasure” which must be held in the casket of a pure conscience. This mystery was what was sometimes hidden, but which was now revealed by the advent of St. Paul’s Master, and comprehended the truths of the redemption, the atonement, and mighty cleansing powers of the precious blood of Christ. These—the master truths of Christianity—must the appointed teacher firmly grasp; and the true deacon, whose office it was rather *to administer* than *to preach* to the people, must also be especially careful to show that he lived the life he professed to teach; or, in St. Paul’s own simile, must preserve the casket in which the precious mystery was shrined, holy and undefiled before men—*he must hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.*