1 Timothy 5:17 - Exposition

Those for they , A.V.; in teaching for doctrine , A.V. The elders ( πρεσβυτεροι ) here in its technical sense of "presbyters," which in the first age were the ruling body in every Chinch (see Acts 14:23 ; Acts 20:2 , Acts 20:4 , Acts 20:6 , Acts 20:22 ), after the analogy of the elders of the Jews. Rule well (at καλῶς προεστῶτες ). The presbyters or elders were the chiefs, rulers, or presidents, of the Church (see Romans 12:8 ; 1 Thessalonians 5:12 ; and above, 1 Timothy 3:4 , 1 Timothy 3:5 ). It seems that they did not necessarily teach and preach, but those who did so, laboring in the Word and teaching, were especially worthy of honor. Double honor (see note on 1 Timothy 5:3 ) means simply increased honor, not exactly twice as much as some one else, or with arithmetical exactness. So the word διπλοῦς is used in Matthew 23:15 ; Revelation 18:6 ; and by the LXX . in Isaiah 40:2 ; Jeremiah 16:18 ; and elsewhere also in classical Greek. And so we say, "twice as good," "twice as much," with the same indefinite meaning. The Word and teaching. The "Word" means generally "the Word of God," as we have "preach the Word," "hear the Word," "the ministry of the Word," "doers of the Word," etc. And although there is no article before λόγῳ here yet, considering the presence of the preposition ἐν , and St. Paul's less careful use of the article in his later Epistles, this absence is not sufficient to counterbalance the weight of those considerations which lead to the conclusion that "laboring in the Word" refers to the Word of God. The alternative rendering of "oral discourse" or "in speaking" seems rather weak. Teaching would mean catechetical instruction and similar explanatory teaching. Labor ( οἱ κοπιῶντες ); a word very frequently used by St. Paul of spiritual labors ( Romans 16:6 , Romans 16:12 ; 1 Corinthians 15:10 ; Galatians 4:11 ; Colossians 1:29 , etc.).