a. They use sound doctrine. An overseer who is holding firmly to the trustworthy word as taught must do something with that word. Paul mentions two things. The first is that He may be able to instruct sound Doctrine. Now the trustworthy word and sound or healthy doctrine go hand-in-hand. Sound doctrine or correct teachings are derived from the trustworthy word. Sound doctrine is not derived from human philosophy or pragmatism but what is taken from the word of God. There are two words that we use in the church to talk about the difference between these. They are exegesis and eisegesis. Exegesis is when you pull the meaning and teachings from the text and that is what is taught. Eisegesis is where you start with a meaning or teaching and then you go back to scripture and place that meaning into it. We should always strive for exegesis because when we do eisegesis we can get into a lot of trouble. So the sound doctrine is what is taught by Jesus and by the apostles. A good overseer will mine the truths that are already there and will present those truths to those whom he’s teaching. b. They act as paracletes. If we were to translate this literally it says “to encourage with teaching sound.” To encourage comes from the verb form of the word paraclete. At the time of Paul’s writing of this word paraclete in during the Roman Empire, the people would have understood it to mean a person of high social standing who spoke on behalf of a defendant in a court of law before a judge. In other words, an advocate. In the Gospel of John, we find Jesus using the word to describe the Holy Spirit when he says in John 14:16 “and I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate.” And so when we look at this word to instruct, or to encourage, all these meanings are tied up into this one word. You have the idea of summoning or inviting to or to besiege or to beg. It means to exhort, to admonish, to comfort, to encourage, and to console. All these things are what the Holy Spirit does for the Christian. So you take this and apply it to the overseer who is supposed to take the trustworthy word and encourage and summon people to it and instruct them with it and comfort them with it. Can you see why it is so important for the overseer to hold on to that word? He must know it and hold onto it against all other teachings because he must come alongside his fellow believers and use it as the source of comfort and instruction.