NOVICE nŏv’ ĭs (νεόφυτος, G3745, newly planted). The word occurs only in 1 Timothy 3:6 (KJV), and means one newly planted in the Christian faith—one who recently has become a Christian. In his instruction to Timothy, Paul wrote that if any man desires the office of a bishop, he must not be a recent convert to Christianity, “or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.”