Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of dishonest gain;
All Commentaries on 1 Timothy 3:8 Go To 1 Timothy 3
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Likewise the Deacons. That is, they should have the same qualities as Bishops. And what are these same? To be blameless, sober, hospitable, patient, not brawlers, not covetous. And that he means this when he says likewise, is evident from what he says in addition, grave, not doubletongued; that is, not hollow or deceitful. For nothing so debases a man as deceit, nothing is so pernicious in the Church as insincerity. Not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. Thus he explains what he means by blameless. And here he requires, though in other words, that he be not a novice, where he says, Let these also first be proved, where the conjunction also is added, as connecting this with what had been said before of Bishops, for nothing intervenes between. And there is the same reason for the not a novice in that case. For would it not be absurd, that when a newly purchased slave is not entrusted with anything in a house, till he has by long trial given proofs of his character, yet that one should enter into the Church of God from a state of heathenism, and be at once placed in a station of preeminence?
