In chapter 5 verse 17, Paul continues to tell Timothy advice that that he need to help his church. Paul tells Timothy in verse 17, "Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching." Paul told Timothy in verse 1 of chapter 3 that elders seek a "noble task." Elders are called by God to serve the church, to teach and show the light that comes from God. Since they are teachers, they are judge stricter ( James 3:1) because they are teaching the body. They they are not teaching the Word right. They are not teaching the truth, they are not helping the church to grow in Christ. In verse 18 Paul writes, "For the Scripture says, 'You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,'and, 'The laborer deserves his wages.' " The reference that Paul uses is Deuteronomy 25:4 and Luke 10:7. In the first verse, "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain." is used twice (besides this time), the other time is 1 Corinthians 9:9. When Moses wrote this law, it was a miscellaneous law. In the the Hebrew, it means to stop/cover a mouth of an ox when it crushes grain. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:9-10, "For it is written in the Law of Moses: 'Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.' Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest." Paul is using Deuteronomy 25:4the same way in 1 Timothy 5:18. So Elders should be able to have a share of what they help produce. This is way Paul also writes, " 'The laborer deserves his wages.' " This verse is used in Luke 10:7 after Jesus sent 72 out to proclaim his name. Jesus in Luke 10:5 & 6 is telling them to find a house with a man of peace. In verse 7, Jesus tells them that they are to eat what every is given to them for they deserve the wage for proclaiming his name. The 72 are out to reap a harvest is what Luke said in Luke 10:2. So the elders deserve to share the harvest of believers and to get what they deserve for it.
The next advice Paul gives Timothy is "Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses." In context with what Paul is writing to Timothy, it makes sense. In chapter 3 of 1st Timothy verse 2, Paul tells Timothy that "overseers (or Elders) must be above reproach." So if they are wrong, there needs to be two or more witnesses to it should that the one did not take it wrong. Deuteronomy 19:15 even says that a person who accuses/charges a brother must have 2 or 3 witnesses. Back then they did not have DNA testing our finger prints. They had to have a witnesses to crimes to even prove people guilty. Deut. 19:18-19 says that false witnesses would receive the same punishment that the person the accused would have been given if they would have been found guilty. What would happen if he would only require 1 person to convict people of crimes? I think that a lot more people would be in jail for doing something they did not do because someone did not like them. The same would happen to elders in the church. A person did not want to believe or disliked what an elder said could get him fired from being an elder.
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