Elders Worthy of Double Honor
17 Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox when it treads out the grain.” And, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” 19 Don’t receive an accusation against an elder except at the word of two or three witnesses. 20 Those who sin, reprove in the sight of all, that the rest also may be in fear.
Elders are to be paid, and the argument for it puts a line from the law beside a saying of the Lord as though they were one authority.
Verse 17 asks for double honor for elders who lead well, and the word for honor includes payment — the next verse quotes two texts about wages, which settles the sense.
The qualifier is not decorative: especially those who labor in word and teaching. The verb for labor means work to the point of exhaustion, and the phrase implies that not every elder did this.
Verse 18 gives the ground, and its structure is remarkable. It quotes the law against muzzling an ox as it treads out grain Deuteronomy 25:4, and then, introduced under the same heading of Scripture, a second line: the laborer is worthy of his wages — words recorded as the Lord's own Luke 10:7.
The two are set side by side without distinction. A letter written within a generation of the events is citing a saying of Jesus in the same breath as the Torah, and offers no argument for doing so.
Verse 19 then protects elders from the other direction. No accusation is to be received except on two or three witnesses — the evidentiary rule of the law Deuteronomy 19:15. A man in a public role is an easy target, and the letter builds in a filter.
Verse 20 removes the filter once the charge is established: those who persist in sin are to be reproved in the presence of all. The privilege of the office does not extend to private handling of proven fault, and the stated purpose is deterrent.
settled What this mark means