1 Timothy 5.19-An Accusation Against a Pastor Must Be Supported By Two or More Witnesses
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday January 14, 2023
Pastor-Teacher Series: 1 Timothy 5:19-An Accusation Against a Pastor Must Be Supported by Two or More Witnesses
Lesson # 19
In 1 Timothy 5:19, the apostle Paul commands Timothy to continue making it his habit of not receiving an accusation against an elder except however, on the basis of two or three witnesses.
1 Timothy 5:19 Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. (NASB95)
“Do not receive an accusation against an elder” is a prohibition that forbids anyone in the Christian community receiving or acknowledging as true an accusation that is made against one of their elders.
This is important because those in positions of leadership in the secular world or spiritual leadership are subject to scrutiny, criticism and rumors.
Therefore, this prohibition would protect the elders from erroneous or unsubstantiated accusations.
Here in 1 Timothy 5:19, this prohibition is setting the parameters of due process in the examination and if necessary discipline of elders.
So Paul is teaching that one is innocent until proven guilty.
The language that the apostle Paul is using here is legal indicating that a formal hearing would be in view when an accusation is made against a pastor-teacher, i.e. an elder.
So Paul gives this instruction to protect pastors from malicious and unsubstantiated accusations.
Paul is taking from the Mosaic Law and specifically two texts in Deuteronomy which prohibited the establishment of guilt on the basis of a single witness.
Deuteronomy 19:15 “A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. 16 If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, 17 then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. 18 The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. 20 The rest will hear and be afraid and will never again do such an evil thing among you. 21 Thus you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” (NASB95)
Deuteronomy 17:6 “On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. 7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 8 If any case is too difficult for you to decide, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, and between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your courts, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God chooses. 9 So you shall come to the Levitical priest or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them and they will declare to you the verdict in the case. 10 You shall do according to the terms of the verdict which they declare to you from that place which the Lord chooses; and you shall be careful to observe according to all that they teach you. 11 According to the terms of the law which they teach you, and according to the verdict which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left.” (NASB95)
An accusation should only be considered if two or three witnesses swear to it.
When such accusations are proven true, then Timothy was to rebuke the offenders publicly meaning before the entire congregation.
This would constitute church discipline.
The Lord Jesus Christ cited this Old Testament principle of two or more witnesses to establish a matter (Matthew 18:16; John 8:17) and the early first century apostolic church was governed by it (2 Corinthians 13:1).
This law of multiple witnesses is alluded to in other passages in the New Testament (Matthew 18:19-20; 27:38; Mark 6:7; Luke 9:30, 32; 10:1; 24:13; John 20:12; Acts 1:10; Hebrews 6:18; Revelation 11:3-4).
In 1 Timothy 5:19, the present imperative form of the verb paradechomai (παραδέχομαι), “do receive” and the negative particle me (μή), “not” has the force of a general precept and makes no comment about whether the action is going on or not.
Therefore, the present imperative form of the verb and the negative particle me indicate that as a general precept, the Ephesian Christian community must not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses.
The fact that Paul addresses this issue of accusation against elders implies that there was a problem in the Christian community in Ephesus with regards to their attitudes towards pastor-teachers.
Of course, there were Christians who adhered to this prohibition issued by Paul in 1 Timothy 5:19 and there must have been some that did not otherwise he would not address this issue in the first place.
Thus it is best to view this present imperative and the negative particle me as expressing a general precept.
He is simply communicating a general precept of the Word of God and the Lord and the apostles’ teaching without reference to whether there was a violation of this prohibition or not.
Paul’s statements in 1 Timothy 1:3 and 4:6 imply that Timothy was carrying out everything he wrote in this epistle including this prohibition in 1 Timothy 5:19.
Furthermore, Paul would not have delegated Timothy such a difficult task as the one in Ephesus unless he felt confident that his young delegate could carry out everything he required of him.
Therefore, this prohibition is simply a reminder to Timothy to continue doing what Paul told him to do before he left for Macedonia.
The adjective presbuteros (πρεσβύτερος), “an elder” is referring to those who held the office of overseer, which could only be held by those men with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher and leadership that had met the qualifications listed by Paul in 1 Timothy 3:1-7.
This is indicated by the fact Paul is discussing the treatment of elders in 1 Timothy 5:17-25.
This prohibition forbids Timothy and anyone in the Christian community receiving or acknowledging as true an accusation that is made against an elder.
As we noted, this is important because those in positions of leadership are subject to scrutiny, criticism and rumors.
Therefore, this prohibition would protect the elders from erroneous or unsubstantiated accusations.
This prohibition sets the parameters of due process in the examination and if necessary discipline of elders.
So Paul is teaching that one is innocent until proven guilty.
The language that the apostle Paul is using here is legal indicating that a formal hearing would be in view when an accusation is made against a pastor-teacher, i.e. an elder.
Paul gives this instruction to protect pastors from malicious and unsubstantiated accusations.