The Logic Behind 1 Timothy 3:6

As your week draws to a close, allow me to pose a question for you to consider:

What reality lays behind Paul's logic in 1 Timothy 3:6?

He is describing necessary qualifications for a man who would lead as an Elder in God's church. Verse six gives this warning:

1 Tim. 3:6: "He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil."

What is it in a recent convert that would make one susceptible to conceit? Or consider the other side of that question: what is it about a length of years spent walking with the Lord that would make one more resistant to conceit?

As years go by in the Lord, God’s Spirit builds us up in many ways. We are renewed in our thinking, for example. That includes things like (1) a growth in knowledge of God's Word, (2) growth in wisdom, (3) growth in our ability to exercise the gifts that the Spirit has given us.

Yet I do not think those are the things that directly protect us, in the way 1 Tim. 3:6 describes. Instead, I believe Paul is pointing to another ministry of the Spirit over time: the Holy Spirit does just build us up; He breaks us down, in order to build us up. A long track record of walking with the Lord, means much more than a long track record of growth. It means a long track record of failings, held up closely to us that we might recognize them as demonstrations of our true selves. It means a long track record of learning not to hide behind excuses and justifications, but instead being forced to admit that my deepest problems are internal, not external. In short, it means a long track record of Humble Pie.

This, of course, is true for all God's people, not merely men whom He is preparing to lead--so that as God grows and matures His people, and they come into various places of responsibility or recognition, they do so with a deep (and deepening) recognition of their own inherent unworthiness. "Any usefulness God's people might get out of me," they say, "will come purely out of God's diligent, patient, transformative power." And thus, when a mature believer is called to the sober responsibility of Eldership, their posture changes not by a puffing out of the chest, but by a lowering of the chin and a bowing of the knee in prayer. 

"To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen" (1 Tim. 1:17).