1 Timothy 5:19

5:17-25 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.

1 Timothy 5:19-20 . Against an elder — Or presbyter; do not even receive an accusation — Unless it is offered to be proved by two or three credible witnesses — By the Mosaic law a private person might be cited (though not condemned) on the testimony of one witness. But St. Paul forbids an elder to be even cited on such evidence, his reputation being of more importance than that of others. Them that sin — Namely, openly and scandalously, and are duly convicted; rebuke before all the church, that others also may fear — To commit the like offences.

Against an elder; whether an elder in years or in office, though the latter being the persons formerly spoken of, seen here principally intended. Recieve not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses; that is, not to proceed to any judicial inquiry upon it, Deu 17:6 . This was a law concerning all elders or younger persons, especially in capital causes, but the apostle willeth this to be more specially observed as to officers in the church, whose faithful discharge of their trusts usually more exposeth them to people’s querulous tongues.

1 Timothy 5:19 . Πρεσβυτέρου , an elder ) 1 Timothy 5:17 .— κατηγορίαν , accusation ) According to the law of Moses, a private person might be summoned, but not condemned, when there was only one witness: Paul directs that an elder should not even be summoned; for both his character as an innocent person stands higher, and he is more exposed to envy and calumny.— μὴ παραδέχου , do not receive ) Timothy had therefore the power of judging in the Church, 1 Timothy 5:21 ; 1 Timothy 5:24 .

Receive not an accusation (κατηγορίαν μὴ παραδέχου) Neither word in Paul. For accusation see on John 5:45. It means a formal accusation before a tribunal. The compound verb παρὰ emphasizes the giver or transmitter of the thing received: to receive from another. But (ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ) Except. A pleonastic formula, except in case. The formula in 1 Corinthians 14:5; 1 Corinthians 15:9. Before (ἐπὶ) Or on the authority of. On condition that two witnesses testify. The O.T. law on this point in Deuteronomy 19:15. Comp. Matthew 18:16; John 8:17; 2 Corinthians 13:1.

19. Against an elder—a presbyter of the Church. receive not—"entertain not" [Alford]. but before two or three witnesses—A judicial conviction was not permitted in De 17:6; 19:15, except on the testimony of at least two or three witnesses (compare Mt 18:16; Joh 8:17; 2Co 13:1; 1Jo 5:6, 7). But Timothy's entertaining an accusation against anyone is a different case, where the object was not judicially to punish, but to admonish: here he might ordinarily entertain it without the need of two or three witnesses; but not in the case of an elder, since the more earnest an elder was to convince gainsayers (Tit 1:9), the more exposed would he be to vexatious and false accusations. How important then was it that Timothy should not, without strong testimony, entertain a charge against presbyters, who should, in order to be efficient, be "blameless" (1Ti 3:2; Tit 1:6). 1Ti 5:21, 24 imply that Timothy had the power of judging in the Church. Doubtless he would not condemn any save on the testimony of two or three witnesses, but in ordinary cases he would cite them, as the law of Moses also allowed, though there were only one witness. But in the case of elders, he would require two or three witnesses before even citing them; for their character for innocence stands higher, and they are exposed to envy and calumny more than others "Receive" does not, as Alford thinks, include both citation and conviction, but means only the former.

Verse 19. - Except at the mouth of for but before , A.V. An elder ; here clearly a presbyter, as the context proves. Receive ( παραδέχου ); give ear to , entertain ; as in Acts 22:18 , "They will not receive thy testimony." At the mouth of , etc. There is a reference to the law in Numbers 35:30 ; Deuteronomy 19:15 , and elsewhere (to which our Lord also refers, John 8:17 ), and St. Paul applies the principle of the law to Timothy's dealings with presbyters who might be accused of not "ruling well." He was not to encourage delatores , secret accusers and defamers, but if any one had a charge to make against a ruler, it was to be done in the presence of witnesses ( ἐπί with a genitive). A doubt arises whether" the witnesses" here spoken of were to be witnesses able to support the accusation, or merely witnesses in whose presence the accusation must be made. The juxtaposition of the legal terms κατηγορία and ἐπὶ μαρτύρων favors the strict meaning of μαρτύρων , witnesses able to support the κατηγορία . And, therefore, the direction to Timothy is, "Suffer no man to accuse a presbyter unless he is accompanied by two or three witnesses who are ready to back up the accusation." The italic the mouth of , in the R.V., is not necessary or indeed justified. There is no ellipsis of στόματος . Ἐτὶ δύο ῃ} τριῶν῞ μαρτύρων , " before two or three witnesses," is good classical Greek. 1 Timothy 5:19

19 . Against an elder ] A continuation of Timothy’s official duties towards the presbyters, as is indicated by the context. The Mosaic precept here referred to is given in its most general terms, Deuteronomy 19:15 , ‘One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin … at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.’ So the preposition rendered by A.V. here ‘before’ is more exactly given R.V. at the mouth of , the phrase being given thus in full, Matthew 18:16 . Winer’s note , § 47, 9th ed. ‘by, with, on the testimony of … witnesses’ is more exact than the phrase in his text ‘before witnesses.’ The reason for being particular here is that in our idiom ‘to hear a thing only before witnesses’ implies merely sufficient publicity and evidence of its having been heard , an entirely different thing from what the Greek conveys with the context . The preposition by itself would equally well bear either meaning e.g. (1) in 2 Corinthians 7:14 , ‘our glorying which I made before Titus;’ (2) in the common phrase ‘of a truth,’ Luke 4:25 , ‘of a truth,’ i.e. with, on the firm basis of truth, ‘I say unto you.’ Both meanings come from the proper notion of superposition . but before ] Lit. to give an English colloquial pleonasm, ‘except unless.’ So with more stress than ‘but,’ except it be .

The phrase occurs 1 Corinthians 15:2 , where R.V. alters ‘unless’ into ‘except.’ Cf. the old use of ‘but’ according to its derivation, ‘touch not a cat but without a glove,’ and Spenser ‘But this I read that but its remedy Thou her afford, full shortly I her dead shall see.’ This direction is to be regarded as embodying the sense of what St Paul wished to convey under the form of another quotation from O.T., so that we should paraphrase, ‘except it be,’ in the spirit of the old precept, ‘at the mouth of two or three witnesses,’ and so Drs Westcott and Hort print the words. This is the simplest answer to De Wette’s question whether Timothy is not to observe this judicial rule in all cases as well as merely in the case of an elder. There is no question of the precise observance of this or any other purely ceremonial precepts any longer. The spirit however lives; ‘judge, rebuke, but never on ill-supported accusations.’

1 Timothy 5:19 . The mention of καλῶς προεστῶτες πρεσβύτεροι , and of what was due to them, naturally suggests by contrast the consideration of unsatisfactory presbyters. Yet even these were to be protected against the possibility of arbitrary dismissal. They were to have a fair trial in accordance with the provisions of the Old Law, Deuteronomy 19:15 (see also Deuteronomy 17:6 , Numbers 35:30 . This requirement of two or three witnesses is used allegorically in 2 Corinthians 13:1 . Cf. John 8:17 , Hebrews 10:28 .) It has been asked, Why should this, the ordinary rule, be mentioned at all? The solution is to be found in a consideration of the private, unofficial, character of the Christian Church when this epistle was written. The Church was altogether a voluntary society, unrecognised by the state. The crimes of which its governors could take cognisance were spiritual; or if they were such as were punishable by the ordinary state law, the Church was concerned only with the spiritual and moral aspect of them, that is to say, so far as they affected Church life. There were then no spiritual courts, in the later sense of the term. No Church officer could enforce any but spiritual punishments. In these circumstances, the observance of legal regulations would not be a matter of necessity.

Indeed a superintendent who was jealous for the purity of the Church might feel himself justified in acting even on suspicion, when the question arose as to the dismissal of a presbyter. ἐκτὸς εἰ μή : This phrase arises from a blend of εἰ μή and ἐκτὸς εἰ . Examples of its use are cited from Lucian. Alford notes that similar “pleonastic expressions such as χωρὶς εἰ or εἰ μή , are found in later writers such as Plutarch, Dio Cassius, etc.”. Deissmann cites an instructive example for its use in the Cilician Paul from an inscription of Mopsuestia in Cilicia of the Imperial period ( Bible Studies , trans. p. 118). See reff. ἐπὶ … μαρτύρων : This seems an abbreviation for ἐπὶ στόματος μαρτ . So R.V. Cf. 2 Corinthians 13:1 , Hebr. עַל־פִּי עֵד . It is a different use from ἐπὶ in the sense of before (a judge), Mark 13:9 , Acts 25:9-10 . See Blass, Gram . p. 137.