“The elders who are good leaders are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says: Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain, and, “The worker is worthy of his wages.”
The rest of this chapter will be directed at how the church is to treat its elders. These are the elders that Paul was writing about earlier in his letter-see chapter 3, verses1 through 7 for his instructions on how to Timothy was to pick these men, if you need a refresher. These men are the ones who would oversee the church, “preaching and teaching,” Paul writes in verse 17.
Before we move on to the instructions on how to treat the elders, I want to look at some other places in scripture we see that these men were clearly set apart. We first read it in chapter 14 of Acts. Starting in verse 21, we read about churches being planted in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. Then, in verse 23, we read, “When they had appointed elders for them in every church and prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” Later in the book of Acts, we read Paul’s farewell speech to the elders of the Church of Ephesus-the same group he is now instructing Timothy on-and he finishes with this. “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood” (20:28).
So now Paul is writing to Timothy to tell him, and the church, that these elders, those who are good leaders and especially the ones who work hard at preaching and teaching, are worthy of double honor. He then uses two scriptures in verse 18 to emphasize this. In case there is any doubt about what Paul means about “double honor,” let’s look at the passages he quotes.
The first one he quotes is from the Old Testament. This is from Deuteronomy 25:4 and it is a direct quote of the passage. It is from Mosaic law, and in the law, it is part of teaching the Israelites how to treat their animals, setting them apart from the other nations. But Paul uses this verse in his letter to Corinth, showing that a worker deserves a wage. “Am I saying this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the law also say the same thing? For it is written in the law of Moses, Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain. Is God really concerned about oxen? Isn’t he really saying it for our sake? Yes, this is written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes should thresh in hope of sharing the crop” (1 Corinthians 9:8-10). We will be coming back to these verses later.
Paul also quotes Jesus. When Jesus sends out his disciples, he tells them this. “Remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they offer, for the worker is worthy of his wages. Don’t move from house to house” (Luke 10:7). Here, Jesus was quoting Old Testament law. In Leviticus 19:13, we read, “Do not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages due a hired worker must not remain with you until morning.”
I want to add one thought on “double honor” before I move on. While “double honor” certainly includes financial compensation, it also means they are worthy of respectful submission-hence the “double honor.” Two verses that are helpful here are found in 1 Peter and Hebrews. “In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud
but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). And, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you” (Hebrews 13:17).
It is clear by this passage that we are to pay our pastors a salary. But how much should that be? I did a blog post on this topic when I was studying 1 Peter, and I will link to it here: 1 Peter 5:1-4 (Part 2) – Abundant Joy. There is a fine line between not paying our pastors enough and paying them too much. This is where the elder board must rely on the help of the Holy Spirit to determine what the appropriate salary is.
One thing that will determine a pastor’s salary is the size of the church. Larger churches will be able to pay their pastors a full salary. I am not saying that the larger the church, the higher a pastor’s salary should be. I realized as I was writing this that most churches in America, and indeed, around the world, are small. I looked up some statistics, and small churches make up nearly 70% of all congregations in the United States. A small church is one with less than 100 attendees. Worldwide, the average church size is between 30 and 50 people. Churches of this size may not be able to pay their pastors a full salary, or any salary at all. So the pastor is bi-vocational, meaning that they work a full-time job in addition to their role as a pastor. In an article for Logos online, Karen Engel writes that the numbers of churches with bi-vocational pastors are increasing. She writes, “Sometimes churches offer a small salary, so the pastor either lives on a meager budget or juggles a second job. Often, however, there’s no salary at all-many pastors work full time to support themselves and their families while carrying all the responsibilities of a staff pastor.”
There are some denominations who do not believe in having paid clergy. The Primitive Baptists split off from mainstream Baptists in the early 1800s. One of the reasons they split was over paid clergy. They also oppose formal theological seminaries because they believe that God qualifies a man to preach through the Holy Spirit, not through human schooling. Another denomination is the Plymouth Brethren. This group was formed in the early 19th century in England after dissatisfaction with the Anglican church. They reject an ecclesiastical arrangement and focus instead on an individual’s relationship with God. It is now worldwide and has 55,000 members. They do not have a hierarchical structure or paid clergy.
One of the reasons that churches give for not paying leaders is that because Paul refused to take money, so should pastors. Let’s go back to that passage in 1 Corinthians 9. Paul starts out his argument in verses 3 through 11 saying that if the people of Corinth have received spiritual benefit from him and Barnabas, then isn’t it right for them to receive material benefits from them? Indeed, doesn’t the law say the same thing? Then he goes on in verses 12 through 15 to say that even though he has this right, he chooses not to use it, for the sake of the gospel. In verse 14 he writes, “In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel.” In his letter to the Galatians, Paul writes, “Let the one who is taught the word share all his good things with the teacher” (Galatians 6:6). So even though Paul chose not to be compensated for his preaching, he clearly taught that a pastor was worthy of being paid.
I have one last thought on these two verses before I wrap up this post. I wrote about this when I was studying 1 Peter, and I will end with it here. It is important to compensate our pastors for their preaching, but we must be careful in this era of mega-churches not to make pastors into celebrities and put them on a pedestal. There are two dangers to this. The first is that we make idols out of these pastors, and second is that the celebrity pastors begin to make an idol out of money and fame. Both are going to lead to destruction. We would be wise to heed Peter’s words at the end of his first letter.
“I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed: Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory” (1 Peter 4:1-4).
Grace be with you!
Abundant Joy 