Let us read verses 17-22
17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour,
especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.
18 For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth
out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.
19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three
witnesses.
20 Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.
21 I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect
angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before
another, doing nothing by partiality.
22 Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's
sins: keep thyself pure.
Now to the Barclay commentary:
RULES FOR PRACTICAL ADMINISTRATION
1 Timothy 5:17–22
First, the paraphrase of the verse from the
commentary:
Let elders who discharge their duties well be judged
worthy of double honour, especially those who toil
in preaching and in teaching; for Scripture says:
‘You must not muzzle the ox when he is treading the
corn’, and ‘The workman deserves his pay.’
Do not accept an accusation against an elder unless
on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
Rebuke those who persist in sin in the presence of
all, so that the others may develop a healthy fear
of sinning
I adjure you before God and Christ Jesus and the
chosen [elect] angels that you keep these regulations
impartially, and that you do nothing because of your
own prejudices or predilection.
Do not be too quick to lay your hands on any man,
and do not share the sins of others. Keep yourself
pure.
HERE is a series of the most practical regulations
for the life and administration of the Church.
(1) Elders are to be properly honoured and properly
paid. When threshing was done in the middle east,
the sheaves of corn were laid on the
threshing-floor; then oxen in pairs were driven
repeatedly across them; or they were tethered to a
post in the middle and made to march round and round
on the grain; or a threshing sledge was harnessed to
them and the sledge was drawn to and fro across the
corn. In all cases, the oxen were left unmuzzled and
were free to eat as much of the grain as they
wanted, as a reward for the work they were doing.
The actual law that the ox must not be muzzled is in
Deuteronomy 25:4.
The saying that the laborer deserves to be paid is a
saying of Jesus (Matthew 10:10). It is most likely a
proverbial saying which he quoted. Everyone who
works deserves financial support; and the harder
people work, the more they deserve. Christianity has
never had anything to do with the sentimental ethic
which clamors for equal shares for all. The reward
must always be proportionate to the level of toil.
Quoted verse:
Matthew 10:10b
...for the workman is worthy of his
meat.
It is to be noted what kind of elders are to be
especially honoured and rewarded. It is those who
toil in preaching and teaching. The elder whose
service consisted only in words and discussion and
argument is not in question here. Those whom the
Church really honoured were the ones who worked to
edify and build it up by preaching the truth and by
educating the young and the new converts in the
Christian way.
(2) It was Jewish law that no one should be
condemned on the evidence of a single witness: ‘A
single witness shall not suffice to convict a person
of any crime or wrongdoing in connection with any
offence that may be committed. Only on the evidence
of two or three witnesses shall a charge be
sustained’ (Deuteronomy 19:15). The Mishnah, the
codified Rabbinic law, in describing the process of
trial, says: ‘The second witness was likewise
brought in and examined. If the testimony of the two
was found to agree, the case for the defence was
opened.’ If a charge was supported by the evidence
of only one witness, it was held that there was no
case to answer.
Quoted verse:
Deuteronomy 19:15 but I will read verses 15 through
21. These scriptures are linked clearly to the
instructions in Matthew 18 or the "offending brother
resolution instructions." The God-given
concepts are equal.
Deuteronomy 19:15-21
15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for
any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he
sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the
mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be
established.
16 If a false witness rise up against any man to
testify against him that which is wrong;
17 Then both the men, between whom the controversy
is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests
and the judges, which shall be in those days;
18 And the judges shall make diligent inquisition:
and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and
hath testified falsely against his brother;
19 Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to
have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the
evil away from among you.
20 And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and
shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among
you.
21 And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go
for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for
hand, foot for foot.
In later times, church regulations laid it down that
the two witnesses must be Christian [Spirit-holding
firstfruits], for it would
have been easy for a malicious non-Christian to make
up a false charge against a Christian elder in order
to discredit him, and through him to discredit the
Church. In the early days, the Church authorities
did not hesitate to apply discipline; and Theodore
of Mopseuestia, one of the early fathers who lived
in the late fourth and early fifth centuries, points
out how necessary this regulation was, because the
elders were always liable to be disliked and were
especially open to malicious attack ‘due to the
retaliation by some who had been rebuked by them for
sin’. Those who had been disciplined might well seek
to get their own back by maliciously charging an
elder with some irregularity or some sin.
The fact remains that this would be a happier world
– and the Church, too, would be happier – if people
would realize that it is nothing less than sin to
spread stories of whose truth they are not sure.
Irresponsible, slanderous and malicious talk does
infinite damage and causes infinite heartbreak, and
such talk will not go unpunished by God.
(3) Those who persist in sin are to be publicly
rebuked [meaning within the
congregation of firstfruits]. That public rebuke had a double value. It
sobered sinners into a consideration of their ways,
and it made others take care that they did not
involve themselves in a similar humiliation. The
threat of publicity is no bad thing if it keeps
people on the right path, even through fear. A wise
leader will know the time to keep things quiet and
the time for public rebuke. But, whatever happens,
the Church must never give the impression that it is
condoning sin.
(4) Timothy is urged to administer his office
without favoritism or prejudice. The biblical
scholar B. S. Easton writes: ‘The well-being of
every community depends on impartial discipline.’
Nothing does more harm than when some people are
treated as if they could do no wrong and others as
if they could do no right. Justice is a universal
virtue, and the Church must surely never fall below
the impartial standards which even the world
demands.
(5) Timothy is warned not to be too hasty ‘in laying
hands on any man’. That may mean one of two things.
(a) It may mean that he is not to be too quick in
laying hands on any man to ordain him to office in
the Church. Before people gain promotion in
business, or in teaching, or in the army or the navy
or the air force, they must prove that they deserve
it. No one should ever start at the top. This is
doubly important in the Church, for those who are
raised to high office and then fail in it bring
dishonour, not only on themselves, but also on the
Church. In a critical world, the Church cannot be
too careful in regard to the kind of men and women
whom it
chooses as its leaders.
(b) In the early Church, it was the custom to lay
hands on a sinner who repented, who had given proof
of repentance and who had returned to the fold of
the Church. It is laid down: ‘As each sinner
repents, and shows the fruits of repentance, lay
hands on him, while all pray for him.’ The early
Church historian Eusebius tells us that it was the
ancient custom that repentant sinners should be
received back with the laying on of hands and with
prayer. If that is the meaning here, it will be a
warning to Timothy not to be too quick to receive
back anyone who has brought disgrace on the Church,
to wait until the individual has shown genuine
[repentance and invoking of
Godly principles-fruit] and a true determination to live according
to that declaration of repentance. That is not for a
moment to say that such a person is to be held at
arm’s length and treated with suspicion, but rather
to be treated with all sympathy and with all help
and guidance in the period of probation. But it is
to say that membership of the Church is never to be
treated lightly, and that people must show their
[repentance] for the past and their determination for
the future before they are received not into the
fellowship of the Church but into its membership.
The fellowship of the Church exists to help such
people redeem themselves, but its membership is for
those who have truly pledged their lives to Christ.
~Barclay Commentary
This verse for today, verse 18, has three
phrases:
1] For the scripture saith.
2] Thou halt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the
corn.
3] And the labourer is worthy of his reward.
Let us first get the overall from the Matthew
Henry Concise commentary:
This commentary is covering verses 17-25.
Care must be taken that ministers are maintained.
And those who are laborious in this work are worthy
of double honour and esteem. It is their just due,
as much as the reward of the labourer. The apostle
charges Timothy solemnly to guard against
partiality. We have great need to watch at all
times, that we do not partake of other men's sins.
Keep thyself pure, not only from doing the like
thyself, but from countenancing it, or any way
helping to it in others. The apostle also charges
Timothy to take care of his health. As we are not to
make our bodies masters, so neither slaves; but to
use them so that they may be most helpful to us in
the service of God. There are secret, and there are
open sins: some men's sins are open before-hand, and
going before unto judgment; some they follow after.
God will bring to light the hidden things of
darkness, and make known the counsels of all hearts.
Looking forward to the judgment-day, let us all
attend to our proper offices, whether in higher or
lower stations, studying that the name and doctrine
of God may never be blasphemed on our account.
~Matthew Henry Concise
commentary
Now that we have seen the concise commentary of
Matthew Henry, let us go to the larger version:
I. Concerning the supporting of ministers. Care must
be taken that they be honourably maintained (1Timothy
5:17): Let the elders that rule well be counted
worthy of double honour (that
is, of double maintenance, double to what they have
had, or to what others have), especially
those who labour in the word and doctrine, those who
are more laborious than others. Observe, The
presbytery ruled, and the same that ruled were those
who laboured in the word and doctrine: they had not
one to preach to them and another to rule them, but
the work was done by one and the same person. Some
have imagined that by the elders that rule well the
apostle means lay-elders, who were employed in
ruling but not in teaching, who were concerned in
church-government, but did not meddle with the
administration of the word; and I confess this is
the plainest text of scripture that can be found to
countenance such an opinion. But it seem a little
strange that mere ruling elders should be accounted
worthy of double honour, when the apostle preferred
preaching to baptizing, and much more would he
prefer it to ruling the church; and it is more
strange that the apostle should take no notice of
them when he treats of church-officers; but, as it
is hinted before, they had not, in the primitive
church, one to preach to them and another to rule
them, but ruling and teaching were performed by the
same persons, only some might labour more in the
word and doctrine than others.
Here we have,
1. The work of ministers; it consists principally in
two things: ruling well and labouring in the word
and doctrine. This was the main business of elders
or presbyters in the days of the apostles.
2. The honour due to those who were not idle, but
laborious in this work; they were worthy of double
honour, esteem, and maintenance. He quotes a
scripture to confirm this command concerning the
maintenance of ministers that we might think
foreign; but it intimates what a significancy there
was in many of the laws of Moses, and particularly
in this, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treads
out the corn, Deuteronomy 25:4. The beasts that were
employed in treading out the corn (for
that way they took instead of threshing it)
were allowed to feed while they did the work, so
that the more work they did the more food they had;
therefore let the elders that labour in the word and
doctrine be well provided for; for the labourer is
worthy of his reward (Matthew 10:10), and there is
all the reason in the world that he should have it.
We hence learn,
(1.) God, both under the law, and now under the
gospel, has taken care that his ministers be well
provided for. Does God take care for oxen, and will
he not take care of his own servants? The ox only
treads out the corn of which they make the bread
that perishes; but ministers break the bread of life
which endures for ever.
(2.) The comfortable subsistence of ministers, as it
is God's appointment that those who preach the
gospel should live of the gospel (1 Corinthians
9:14), so it is their just due, as much as the
reward of the labourer; and those who would have
ministers starved, or not comfortably provided for,
God will require it of them another day.
Quoted scriptures:
Deuteronomy 25:4
Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out
the corn.
Matthew 10:10
Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats,
neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is
worthy of his meat.
1 Corinthians 9:14
Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which
preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
1] For the scripture saith.
For the Scripture saith
- This is adduced as a reason why a church should
show all due respect and care for its ministers. The
reason is, that as God took care to make provision
for the laboring ox, much more should due attention
be paid to those who labor for the welfare of the
church. ~Barnes Notes
To me the most remarkable element in this phrase is
that Paul was always, in his spiritual writing,
referring either to direct scripture or making
spiritual conclusion based on both biblical
principles and spirit-driven logic or unction of the
Holy Spirit [1 John 2:20]. We see in the
commentaries, a number of times that Paul adduced
something from scripture. "Adduced" means to cite as
an example or means of proof in an argument,
teaching or discussion. This is what all firstfruits
are doing. You are out there in the world making a
multitude of decisions every day. Some are routine
and some are important or even life-changing. We are
to make all decisions based on spiritual and moral
principles.
Notice some quotes on making wise decisions. You
will see they originate in spiritual and moral
principles.
“Let me not hurt, by any selfish deed, Or
thoughtless word, the heart of foe or friend; Nor
would I pass, unseeing, worthy need, Or sin by
silence when I should defend... 'The world is better
that I lived to-day.'”
“Each day when I awake I know I have one more day to
make a difference in someone's life.”
“Be careful of your actions. You never know when
your creating a memory.”
“Every thought is a seed. If you plant crab apples,
don't count on harvesting Golden Delicious.”
"There are three constants in life... change, choice
and principles."
Proverbs 12:15
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he
that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean
not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall
direct thy paths.
2] Thou halt not muzzle the ox
that treadeth out the corn.
Barnes Notes:
The Scripture saith, Thou
shalt not muzzle the ox - This is a manifest
proof that by τιμη, honor, in the preceding verse,
the apostle means salary or wages: “Let the elders
that rule well be accounted worthy of double honor,”
a larger salary than any of the official widows
mentioned before, for “the laborer is worthy of his
hire.” The maintenance of every man in the Church
should be in proportion to his own labor, and the
necessities of his family. He that does no work
should have no wages. In the Church of Christ there
never can be a sinecure [A position or office that
requires little or no work but provides a salary].
They who minister at the altar should live by the
altar; the ox that treadeth out the corn should not
be muzzled; the laborer is worthy of his hire: but
the altar should not support him who does not
minister at it; if the ox won’t tread out the corn,
let him go to the common or be muzzled; if the man
will not labor, let him have no hire.
~Barnes
Notes
John Gill ...and I
really like what this one has to say:
The Scripture saith, Thou
shalt not muzzle the ox -
The ox, for its strength and labour, is a fit
emblem of a Gospel minister; and its treading the
corn out of the husk and ear aptly represents the
beating out, as it were, of Gospel truths, by the
ministers of it, their making the doctrines of the
Gospel clear, plain, and evident to the
understandings of men; wherefore, as the ox was not
muzzled when it trod out the corn, but might freely
and largely feed upon it, so such who labour in the
preaching of the Gospel ought to have a sufficient
and competent maintenance: for which purpose this
citation is made. ~John
Gill
3] And the labourer is worthy of
his reward.
Barnes Notes:
And, The labourer is worthy of
his reward - This expression is found
substantially in Matthew 10:10, and Luke 10:7. It
does not occur in so many words in the Old
Testament, and yet the apostle adduces it evidently
as a quotation from the Scriptures, and as authority
in the case. It would seem probable, therefore, that
he had seen the Gospel by Matthew or by Luke, and
that he quoted this as a part of Scripture, and
regarded the Book from which he made the quotation
as of the same authority as the Old Testament. If
so, then this may be regarded as an attestation of
the apostle to the inspiration of the “Gospel” in
which it was found. ~Barnes
Notes
Quoted verses:
Matthew 10:10
...referenced above
Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats,
neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is
worthy of his meat.
Luke 10:7
And in the same house remain, eating and drinking
such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy
of his hire. Go not from house to house.
John Gill:
And the labourer is worthy of
his reward - which seems to be taken from
Luke 10:7 [above]
which Gospel was now written, and in the hands of
the apostle; who here, by two testimonies, the one
from Moses, and the other from Christ, supports the
right of the honourable maintenance of the ministers
of the Gospel. ~John Gill
What we learn in this lesson:
1] This verse is speaking to preaching and teaching
elders of the church.
2] Care must be taken that ministers are maintained.
3] Ministers are to guard against partiality.
4] Ministers are to take care of their health.
5] Study that the name and doctrine of God may never
be blasphemed on our account.
6] All firstfruits should make decisions based on
the Word of God and spiritual and moral principles.
7] Acknowledge God in all your ways and He will
direct your paths.
8] The ox, for its strength and labour, is a fit
emblem of a Gospel minister.
|