An elder is a man who shows good faith and leadership skill and whom the congregation respects. Maturity, not age, marks him, since Titus and Timothy were elders. The terms presbyteros (elder), episcopos (overseer, or bishop), and steward (oikonomos) describe one job: dignity and maturity, shepherding the flock, and administering the church. The chief qualification is being blameless, or above reproach, with no hidden sins or skeletons that would bring dishonor on him, the church, or God. His family reveals this: he is the husband of one wife, and his children are faithful and neither wild nor insubordinate. Titus 1:7 names negatives that disqualify him immediately: self-willed, quick-tempered, given to wine or any addiction, violent, and greedy for dishonest gain. Titus 1:8 names positives: hospitable, a lover of good, sober-minded, just, holy, and self-controlled. Justice governs how he treats others, holiness his submission to God, and self-control how he treats himself. Finally, he must hold fast the faithful word as he was taught, so that by sound doctrine he can exhort and convict those who contradict. He may neither add to Scripture nor take from it, as Deuteronomy 4:2 and Revelation 22:18-19 show, because altering God's Word destroys its power and weakens his arguments. Titus had to evaluate candidates closely, even in Crete, where blameless men were hard to find.

Paul instructs Timothy that an elder must not be a novice, someone fairly new to the faith, "lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil" (I Timothy 3:6). Newer translations render pride as conceit and condemnation as judgment or snare. The Greek word behind "pride" literally means "wrapped up in smoke," and the image of pride as a trap leading to death shows why inexperience is dangerous. Smoke is visible yet insubstantial, so pride is vanity, futile and profitless, like grasping at shadows. Smoke also disorients, stings the eyes, and suffocates, as in a house fire where most victims die of smoke inhalation before the flames reach them. In the same way pride disorients a person, creates pain, and chokes out life. Satan's fall through pride, described in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, shows where this snare leads. Paul warns that even a converted person can fall into it if he is not aware and mature enough to fight and overcome its subtle, persuasive power. A man recently converted lacks that maturity, so he should not be ordained to office.