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
Athanasius the Apostolic
AD 373
What Moses taught, Abraham observed. What Abraham observed, Noah and Enoch acknowledged, discriminating pure from impure and becoming acceptable to God. For Abel too in this way witnessed, knowing what he had learned from Adam. This one himself had learned from that Lord, who said, when he came at the end of the ages for the abolishment of sin, “I give no new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which you have heard from the beginning.” In the same way also the blessed apostle Paul, who had learned it from the Lord, when describing ecclesiastical functions, forbade that deacons, not to say bishops, should be doubletongued. In his rebuke of the Galatians, he made a broad declaration: If anyone preach any other gospel unto you than that which you have received, let him be anathema, as I have said, so say I again.
