1 Timothy 5

Elders who rule well are worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching. Wesley: faithful stewards, a more abundant provision, because they will employ it to God's glory; especially those who labor diligently in the word.

In practice: honor is both respect and support. Elders can rule well or poorly; the "well" is a condition. Grace that calls a man to teach also calls the church not to starve the labor by which they heard the gospel.

Calvin: elder here is office, not merely age. Double honor is compared with the honor already due to widows; elders who rule well, especially those who labor in word and doctrine, should receive even more. Honor is due to the work, not to a bare title.

God gives pastors and ruling elders as gifts. The Spirit who called them to labor also commands the flock to support them. Ingratitude that pinches the teacher is one of Satan's old tricks against the Word.

Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle the ox when it treads out the grain," and, "The laborer is worthy of his wages." Moses and the Lord's proverb stand side by side as God's own voice for the preacher's keep.

The church is commanded, not merely invited, to pay those who labor. This duty can be neglected. Grace does not make oxen or laborers magically full; people must obey the text they hear.

Calvin: if God forbids unkindness to the brute, how much more humanity toward men. "The laborer is worthy of his hire" is proverbial equity. They are cruel who suck out a man's sweat and then refuse him bread—and worse when the man is a pastor.

God has spoken in Scripture; the church's purse is under that Word. Support of ministers is not a tip for charisma. It is obedience to the Lord who uses means to keep instruction in His church.

Don’t receive an accusation against an elder except on the word of two or three witnesses. Elders are easy targets; the Torah's witness rule is pastoral protection, not a clergy exemption from sin.

Accusations can be true or false. The congregation must not swallow a rumor, and the elder must not hide behind the rule. Grace trains both courage to speak with witnesses and patience not to ruin a man by a single tongue.

Calvin: godly teachers are more liable to slander than others. Satan labors to draw hearts from ministers so that instruction falls into contempt. The two-or-three rule, though common to all, is applied here because elders especially need it.

God protects the office for the sake of the Word. This is not sacerdotal immunity. Sufficient proof still stands; the Spirit who hates false witness also hates a church that will not hear a well-attested charge.

Those who sin are to be rebuked in the sight of all, that the rest also may be in fear. Wesley: elders that sin scandalously and are duly convicted, rebuke before the church.

An elder can persist in sin. Public rebuke is a means to restore or to warn. Perseverance is required; office does not place a man beyond falling. The fear in the rest is healthy: grace can be neglected even in the pulpit.

Calvin modifies the protection of v. 19: none may escape the punishment due to sin. Open, glaring transgression by elders should be openly reproved so that others fear. Private faults are another matter; public scandal is not.

God keeps His church by discipline as a means. The elect are not left to rot in open sin without the Father's rod. Public rebuke is love for the flock and, where the man is Christ's, a severe mercy that preserves rather than a proof that grace has run out.

In the sight of God, Christ Jesus, and the elect angels, Timothy is charged to keep these things without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality. The unseen court is already in session.

Impartiality is a grace that can be refused. Friends can be shielded, enemies rushed to judgment. The charge assumes Timothy might fail; heaven's witnesses make the duty weighty and the obedience free and responsible.

Calvin: Paul adjures him because the subject is both important and extremely difficult. God, Christ the appointed Judge, and elect angels as witnesses stand before Timothy's eyes so that he executes the office as in their presence. No haste, no acceptance of persons.

Election appears even in "chosen angels"—kept by God, unlike the fallen. The Lord who elects also demands impartial discipline. The pastor's integrity is lived under a sovereignty that sees every leaning.

Don’t lay hands hastily on anyone, and don’t share in other people’s sins. Keep yourself pure. Wesley: appoint no man without full trial, else you are accessory to his misbehavior; keep yourself pure from the blood of all men.

Ordination is a responsible act. Haste can share another man's sins. Purity here is moral and official: Timothy can keep himself, and he can also become complicit. Grace assists the slow, testing process.

Calvin: laying on of hands is ordination. Do not receive too easily one barely tried. He who consents to an unlawful ordination shares the guilt. Keep yourself pure: if you cannot hinder others from polluting themselves, at least keep your counsel uncontaminated.

God calls, and the church tests. Rash hands do not force the Spirit; they implicate the ordainer. Purity is the Lord's gift and command for the man who would not share other men's sins.

Even an austere young minister is told not to harm the body God uses for ministry.

This is liberty for health, not a license to excess. Paul still says “a little.” Grace can be neglected either by intemperance or by a harshness toward the body that leaves the pastor too sick to serve. God cares for Timothy's stomach as well as his doctrine.

Calvin: Timothy was austere, even careless of health, not from ambition or superstition. Paul does not forbid water absolutely, but as the ordinary drink, and he adds "a little" to meet mockers. Excessive abstinence that breeds disease is blamed; intemperance is worse.

The Spirit does not require a show of severity. God preserves His servants through ordinary means, including medicine. Use the body as an instrument for service, not as a project of proud self-denial or of appetite.

The sins of some are evident, preceding them to judgment; the sins of others appear later. Character is not always obvious on ordination day.

Hidden sin will surface. Judgment is grave, and some men's guilt arrives in time for the church to see. The verse trains patience and watchfulness: do not rush hands (v. 22), because grace neglected in secret still comes to light.

Calvin consoles Timothy: some evils cannot be corrected at once; hypocrites must sometimes be endured until God brings them to public view. Other sins follow after more covertly, yet they will not always be concealed. Wait for the time God has appointed.

Providence, not pastoral omniscience, unmasks the hypocrite. Hidden sin hurries or limps to judgment under God's hand. The church need not panic or play God; the Judge will not miss what we cannot yet prove.

So also there are good works that are obvious, and those that are otherwise can’t be hidden. Hidden obedience has a future tense: it will be seen.

The widow's unnoticed feet-washing and the elder's quiet labor will not stay buried. Continue in good works; this is how grace, used, becomes visible. Neglect hides for a while; faithfulness will not stay secret.

Calvin: sometimes piety wins early applause; if not, the Lord will not suffer uprightness to be always oppressed. It shall shine like the dawn. We need a calm spirit, and we must not go beyond the limit of our knowledge.

God will vindicate the good works He Himself prepared. Hidden fruit is still His. Pastors wait for the day of revelation rather than demand the world's immediate thanks.