Concerning the Elders

As we continue in 1 Timothy, we see that Paul continues giving advice to his young understudy, whom he appointed as pastor of the Ephesian church. In this week's text, Paul continues with more advice, which includes using wine for medicinal purposes and using caution when ordaining an elder for service. However, I intend to spend more time on what it means to honor the pastor, protect the pastor, and handle serious complaints against the pastor. Verse 19 says, “Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses,” which makes it sound like a pastor can get away with a lot of misdeeds if there isn’t more than one witness. That may be how it appears in some of our modern English versions, but I have found that the Greek sheds more light on this issue. This is very important if we want to have a victim-centric approach to victims of sexual abuse.