210419 Pastoral Finances Meeting with Sean Haworth

To determine the Biblical understanding of Pastoral Finances

1 Timothy 5:17–18

The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing,” and “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”

The word for “honor” is τιμή and has a semantic range inclusive of the following ideas:

τιμή honor; value; price

noun, genitive, singular, feminine | genitive of reference

BDAG price, value; honor, reverence; honorarium, compensation; privilege

Louw-Nida amount, price, cost

DBL Greek honor; value; price; pay

TDNTEDNT price, value; honor

NASB Dictionaries to value; honor; a valuing; a price

Usage as price in the NT includes the following passages

Mt 27:6The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.”

Mt 27:9Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled : “ And they took the thirty pieces of silver , the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel;

Ac 19:19And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.

Ac 5:2and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Ac 5:3But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?

1 Co 6:20For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

1 Co 7:23You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.

The word for “wages” is μισθός and has a semantic range inclusive of the following ideas:

μισθός misthos reward; wages; pay

BDAG pay, wages; recompense

Louw-Nida reward, recompense

LTWDBL Greek a wage; reward

TDNTEDNT pay, reward (noun)

NASB Dictionaries wages; hire

Usage as “wages” in the NT includes the following passages

Mt 20:8“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’

Lk 10:7“Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house.

Jn 4:36“Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

1 Ti 5:18For the Scripture says, “ You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing , ” and “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”

2 Pe 2:13suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you,

2 Pe 2:15forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

Ro 4:4Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.

With regard to whether church widows should be paid via 1st Timothy 5:3:

The immediate preceding context would suggest that this is speaking with regard to how a Christian should deal with other Christians… not necessarily renumeration for labor. Older men are to be appealed to - not sharply rebuked, younger men as brothers etc…

Paul gives Timothy guidance that rather than be a burden on the church the widow’s own family must support them as a return for raising them. If they meet certain criteria (ie 60+ etc) then they can gain be supported by the church but that is only as a last resort if her family will not support her (v8-10). The idea is not compensation but sustenance and shelter.

Read 1st Corinthians 9 in its entirety… The context of the letter to the Corinthian church is that Paul had certain detractors that faulted his subpar oratory skills - that seemed to be their preference as seen with Apollos. Paul gave them the purest cleanest Gospel not standing on his “rights” but giving them every benefit.

From the context of both Old Testament and New Testament as well as even the pagan religions of that day those that served in a religious capacity were to be sustained by their work for their work.

While what Paul did is commendable he presents it in his argument of what not to do. John Piper has a very excellent video that I watched several years ago called “Salary for Pastors,”