This is a faithful saying: if a man seeks the office of an overseer{Or, bishop}, he desires a good work.
He desireth a good work ... Some of the supermoralists are critical of Paul's encouraging the ambition of men to be elders; but such a self-righteous attitude is due to a failure to understand that "In the early history of the church, willingness to serve as an overseer meant sacrifice."[3] "Paul calls the office a "good work," which shows that an elder has something on his shoulders besides holding down a office."[4] "We read of elders visiting the sick (James 1:27; 5:12,14), feeding the flock on the word of God and protecting it from enemies (Acts 20:29-31)."[5] As regards the definition of "bishop," "Thayer defined the word: an overseer, a man charged with the duty of seeing that things to be done by others are done rightly, any curator, guardian, or superintendent."[6] This definition, of course, along with Paul's using the singular number, "bishop," has been made the excuse for attempted justification of the monarchical conception which in later times was fastened upon this office; but as White assures us: