NOTES for Ti1 5:17-25

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¹⁷Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

¹⁸For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.

¹⁹Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.

²⁰Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.

²¹I 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.

²²Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure.

²³Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.

²⁴Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.

²⁵Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.

Returning to the theme of the presbyterate and the laying on of hands, Paul calls Timothy to special caution regarding accusations brought against presbyters (vv. 17-20), as well as to prudence regarding the laying on of hands (v. 22).

These instructions are not accidental; they are connected with the very essence of the relationships that bind the members of the church community to one another. The Church consists of those who seek the Kingdom and live in it, but each has his own measure of rootedness in the new life. Until the end of time, no Christian can be absolutely sure of his salvation, just as no Christian can be completely freed from the power of sin. A constant struggle must be waged against it both by individual members of the Church and by the church communities of which the Church actually consists.

In a certain sense there is always something of which each Christian can be accused and convicted, because full freedom from sin still lies ahead even for members of the Church. And while the war with the forces of darkness continues - for the Church as a whole, and with personal sins for each Christian - the stumblings, breakdowns, and failures of those who are most visible, who most often and for the longest time stand in public view, become especially noticeable. Such are, for example, the presbyters mentioned by the apostle, those who labor "in word and in teaching" (v. 17). That is why caution in judgment and condemnation is especially important here. It is no accident that Paul requires accusations brought against presbyters to be accepted only if they are confirmed by no fewer than two witnesses (v. 19).

Such a procedure is prescribed by the Torah for cases in which the accusation allows the possibility that a court may impose a death sentence (Deut 17:6). As is clear, the apostle looks at accusations brought against presbyters as accusations deserving death. Of course, in this case the issue was not capital punishment, but rather possible excommunication. Yet the point was not only that. The point, above all, was that a presbyter who consciously does something that profanes his ministry loses the Kingdom and the gifts he received during the laying on of hands. That is why it was fundamentally important to understand, in each concrete case, whether the matter concerned an involuntary sin, which is practically inevitable for everyone, whatever spiritual gifts a minister may possess, or a conscious sin after which the minister ceases to be a minister.

And the issue is not only that an error in judgment could turn into monstrous injustice for the accused. The point is that a false accusation in this case destroys the spiritual space, the space of the Kingdom, inside which alone the Church can exist. Of course, a church community where such an injustice has occurred can outwardly continue its existence, but it will inevitably lose what constitutes the foundation of the Church. Only an appearance will remain, one that can sometimes deceive seekers, but can never give them what it promises. And Paul warns Timothy against committing this terrible mistake, a mistake that can destroy the Church by depriving the faithful of the Kingdom.

Other notes

For Ti1 5:19

¹⁹Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.

How often we put others through a "debriefing" based on completely unreliable information or simply on a biased... Read more

How often we put others through a "debriefing" based on completely unreliable information or simply on a biased attitude. Paul insists that in the Church such a thing is unacceptable. A presbyter, a person clothed with authority and responsibility, can be accused only when there are three witnesses. Witnesses, precisely. Not gossips, not people with their own opinions, but witnesses who have facts for a charge.

This is hard to accept because it then becomes impossible to call a person to account for a wrongdoing or a crime if only the injured party can testify. But the Church has no criminal code, and it lives by other norms and rules. In the Church everything hidden becomes manifest. Both the bad and the good will come out sooner or later. And if in the world people want immediate retribution, in the Church we know for certain that vengeance can be left to God.

For Ti1 5:24-25

²⁴Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.

²⁵Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.

Words that sooner or later all secret will necessarily be manifested can be considered already a commonplace. And although they are said by the Savior, today they are usually understood as something, which is not at all what Jesus said, and that is what apparently indicates the apostle after Him. Today it is usually about the fact that, as it is said, the history sooner or later will put every thing in place. In a certain sense, it is certainly the truth: sometimes even today are made the archaeological discoveries, which shed light on the secrets of the past (more often, it must be recognized, for the crimes, than for good works).

Here is only that we today, we do not worry about the deeds of people, who lived centuries, and sometimes millenniums ago, and also about their crimes. In this sense we could say that their bad deeds remained a secret, also however as the good, of which, it must be recognized, the fallen man always shows much less interest. But Jesus, quite as Paul, had certainly another thing in mind, and it is clearly not "about the judgment of people" or "about the judgment of history". Indeed for Jesus, quite as for Paul, the Kingdom and its history were always in the first place.

And in the Kingdom, their laws differ from the laws of the non transformed world. Here it becomes visible what in the non transformed world remains hidden. In the non transformed world, one can be a scoundrel, a villain or a scamp, while keeping a completely decent appearance. Such thing is impossible in the Kingdom: because here the substance is completely dependent of the spirit, and the body cannot hide the spiritual quality of man, just as what takes place in the non transformed world, the material which is inert enough not to reflect every change in the spiritual state of man.

And since the history develops such that the Kingdom sooner or later, having opened totally, will seize the whole world, having transformed it and having made it one of its part, so sooner or later everyone will be in the position of a person who can hide nothing. Of course, this applies not only to the evil deeds, but also to the goods. But the good deeds, becoming part of the Kingdom, immediately after the fulfillment can really turn out known to all those who have a relation with the Kingdom, before the evil deeds, which probably will be discovered only on the day of the judgment. However, no deed can be hidden for ever. Neither the good, nor the evil.

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NOTES for Ti1 5:17-25

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