Don Johnson

Yes, exactly.

One minor puzzle is why the “qualification” lists in 1 Tim and Titus are not exactly the same. In my understanding, part of the reason is that Titus is for the situation of a new church while 1 and 2 Tim is for the situation of an established church with challenges. In other words, in some sense it makes sense to read Titus first among the pastorals, as that will follow the timeline of a congregation.

Carving up 1 Tim into teaching units is part of the challenge of understanding it. I do believe 1 from at least Tim 2:8 the teaching unit continues thru 1 Tim 3 and to break it apart misses some aspects of what is being taught by Paul.

Paul is not teaching qualifications for overseers in a vaccum (AKA a theory course), he is giving practical guidelines to an existing congregation with challenges. Part of those guidelines include what an overseer “looks like” for those that wish to be one, or even better, those who wish to be restored to one.