God is loving, faithful and merciful. There are few of us today in the United States who would measure up to the qualifications listed to be a leader in the church. Although the Father forgives all those who are sincerely repentant and our sins are no longer held against us leadership positions within the Church are better handled by those persons who have shown that they are fully in control of their own lives and moderate in all things given to them by God.
The idea is not that a bishop is sinless but that he displays mature, consistent Christian conduct that gives no reason for anyone to accuse him of anything. Sober-minded means that an overseer must have control of his body and mind. It is a balanced state of mind arising out of self-restraint. A bishop or overseer should contend for the faith without being contentious.
3 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. 2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; 3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; 4 one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence 5 (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); 6 not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. 7 Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
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