Featured Should a pastor be full time or bi-vo

I Tim. 5:17-18 "Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching (18)For the Scripture says, 'You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing' and 'The laborer is worthy of his wages,'

Paul appears to allow for elders to receive pay.

 

Double honor is not speaking of a salary. If it was, Paul would be contradicting himself when he told Elders to follow his example and work with their hands to provide for their sustenance and that of others.

 

The laborer is worthy of his wages. Especially those who preach and teach. What does that mean?

 

The word honor in verse 17 is also found in verse 3.

If one is going to argue that double honor is referring to a salary, then one must be consistent and pay widows half the amount they give pastors.

Do the widows get money each week like the pastors? Not that I've seen or heard.

 

I know many versions use the word wages in verse18, but I believe the word reward is the correct word.

My reasoning? Paul had already said that the elders should work to provide for themselves. Reward is not necessarily wages, but more of a gift of appreciation. If the congregation wants to honor the pastor, oreven if it is only one or two members who want to honor him, great... They should do so.

But putting one on a payroll can be a hindrance to the Gospel.

 

It is not clear to me that the Widows of verse three are not getting their needs met through the giving of the local Elder led assembly.

Some local assemblies cannot support a full time Pastor. That is why many church plants have part of the costs shouldered by the planting church or churches. Usually, three or so years is considered normative to establish a local assembly healthy enough to meet its needs.

 

Why did he tell those specific elders to do that? Does it have to be applied to all elders everywhere?

 

Whether we call it wages or reward, the idea seems to be compensation for the service provided. Note a different Greek word is translated wages at Romans 6:23.

One other idea conveyed with reward is that it is like tip money, given not because it is owed like a wage, but given to "honor" the service provided. Our rewards in heaven are not earned as a wage are they?

 

1Ti 5:17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.
1Ti 5:18 For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain," and, "The laborer deserves his wages."

 

The very idea of a full-time, payrolled sole-authority pastor would be completely foreign to First Century believers. The Biblical standard is multiple equal-authority elders who were already leaders within their own communities. The modern payrolled priestly-pastor more closely resembles Catholic priests than First Century elders; paid to be human mediators between believers & God.

 

The Greek word for "honor" here is timh (ti-me), which has a much wider range of meaning than the English word "honor." It can mean "honorarium, compensation, payment received for service (1 T 5.17)" (the Fribergs' Analytical Lexicon). The well respected BAGD has something similar. Abbot-Smith has "a price paid or received" (p. 446).

The Greek scholars are almost unanimous in this: it means monetary remuneration for pastors in 1 Tim. 5:17. A. T. Robertson says in his Word Pictures of the NT: "White suggests 'remuneration' rather than 'honour' for timês (a common use for price or pay). Liddon proposes 'honorarium' (both honour and pay and so 'double'). Wetstein gives numerous examples of soldiers receiving double pay for unusual services. Some suggest twice the pay given the enrolled widows" (accessed through PowerBible 3.3).

 

They which preach the Gospel was not referring to pastors. It was in reference to traveling ministers such as missionaries and evangelists.

 

Your interpretation of this verse is incorrect. There was a system of payment for ecclesiastical leaders in the first century and following thereafter. See my next reply for additional info.

 

This is also an incorrect view of things in the first century. Not only does the NT speak of remuneration for certain offices within the local church, surrounding documents also speak of controversies and policies around these issues.

One of the earliest documents, The Didache speaks about how to receive itinerant prophets who would come through the towns and cities and minister among the people. Also, 1 Clement and Ignatius Epistles also show patterns of authority and support for leaders in the local churches. While the system might not be as developed as we use today, it was in place. The earliest churches cared for and supported their leaders.

The early churches did not accept that the local church officers, which transitioned from apostle and prophets to bishops and elders (both local offices without governing authority over other churches), served a mediating role between them and God. Instead the overwhelming evidence is that the early offices (post-apostolic era into the late second century) existed to provide guidance and leadership for the local church as well as a sacerdotal function for the two ordinances while also providing an ordained leader for the local churches.

The earliest Christians through to late second, early third century proudly believed and practiced the priesthood of the believer as one of the central doctrines of the faith which gave way to equality in access and authority between clergy and laity. Even through the mid-4th century congregational votes were required to install a new pastor (or episkopos) in a local church.

 

Annsni,

Do a search through the Bible on all instances of preaching the Gospel. People were separated to preach the Gospel, called out from the local body of Believers, and sent to preach the Gospel. Stationary pastors are not told to preach the Gospel to their congregations. Their congregations already heard the Gospel, believed, and were joined to the Body. The pastor needs to feed the flock that which edifices them now that they are past the baby stage.. Not keep them on pablum.

 

Not being a pastor, but a preacher, I do not receive any wages from my homechurch, nor would I want any money from them. Our pastors do not receive wages from the church they pastor, but work throughout the week. I personally believe that the pastor should not receive a check from their church, but work a job and use the church money for other needs.