Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Paul’s Instruction to Timothy

labor at preaching and teaching. In the same way that needy widows had been abandoned by family members and fellow believers as a re sult of self-centered living caused by false teaching (1 Tim. 523-16), it appears that the church’s spiritual leaders had been neglected. So Paul exhorts the church saying, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.” The elders to whom Paul refers are identified by two qualifying clauses: “who rule well” and “those who work hard at preaching and teaching.” There are two ways to understand how these clauses relate to one another, and they depend on how one translates the Greek ad verb malista. Most commentators render malista by its standard meaning: “especially,” “above all,” or “particularly,” and the New American Standard Bible here renders malista as “especially.” If this rendering is correct, Paul has two groups of elders in focus: those who exercise pastoral leadership well and those who give special attention to teaching as well as ruling. Elders who lead well deserve “double honor,” but “above all” those who work hard at preaching and teach ing. The other interpretation contends that in certain contexts malista means “that is,” “in other words,” or “to be precise.” 2“ In this sense, the term is used when a general statement needs to be more precisely defined. It is possible that this is how malista should be read in 1 Timo thy 4210; 2 Timothy 4:13; and Titus 1:10. If this is how malista is used in 1 Timothy 5:17, the text should read: “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, that is, those who work hard at preaching and teaching.” If this is the case, the clause “those who work hard at preaching and teaching” defines more precisely the general clause, “the elders who rule well.” Both clauses refer to one and the same group: those who labor at preaching and teaching. Although both interpretations fit the context, the first interpretation is preferable because Paul could have stated directly that teaching el ders deserve double honor without the mention of ruling well. The fact that he mentions both ruling well and laboring at teaching, how ever, suggests he has in mind all elders who deserve double honor because of their work, but chiefly those who labor at teaching. Re gardless of the interpretation favored, Paul’s uppermost concern is that the congregation properly honor those elders who labor at preaching and teaching. On this point there should be little disagreement.

207