Verse 6
‘Not a novice, lest being puffed up he fall into the condemnation of the devil.’
A further important qualification was that he should not be new to the Christian faith, or someone with no experience of giving guidance and doctrinal help. Otherwise one danger for him would be that he might become puffed up (literally ‘wrapped in smoke’, but developing to signify ‘being conceited’. Possibly we might render ‘lost in clouds of conceit’) and pretentious, swaggering around and beginning to think of himself as better than he ought to think, with the result that he might come under the same condemnation as the Devil as one who leads men astray, is motivated by too much pride, and is unwilling to respond to the reins. Alternately ‘falling under the condemnation of the Devil’ may parallel being handed over to the Devil (1 Timothy 1:20) and indicate excommunication. It may well be that some of the false teachers were novices who had been promoted too quickly.
The Ephesian church was now well established and had been for some time. There was therefore now no necessity to look to new converts for elders. The passage of only a few years would bring about such a situation, so this is not an indication of lateness. Interestingly Paul omits this in his guidance to the more newly formed Cretan church.
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