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1Ti_5:17. In this and the following verses Paul instructs Timothy as to his behaviour towards the presbyters.[187]
οἱ καλῶς προεστῶτες πρεσβύτεροι διπλῆς τιμῆς ἀξιούσθωσιν ] On καλῶς προεστῶτες , comp. 1Ti_3:4. The contrast to the elders “who superintend well,” is formed by οἱ ἁμαρτάνοντες , 1Ti_5:20, not merely, as van Oosterzee thinks, “those who distinguish themselves less in their office;” καλῶς does not denote a special distinction, but conduct worthy of the office.
Chrysostom explained τιμή by θεραπεία καὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων χορηγία ; de Wette translates it directly by “reward.” True, τιμή does occur in classic use in the sense of “present, reward”; but the context by no means demands that meaning here (in opposition to de Wette). We must keep here to the general meaning of τιμή , “honour,”—as in 1Ti_6:1 (comp. also τιμᾷν , 1Ti_5:3),—although we may grant that the apostle was thinking particularly of the honour which the church was bound to show to their elders by presenting them with the means necessary for their support. It is quite erroneous to interpret τιμή of a maintenance definitely fixed. The adjective διπλῆς is taken by most expositors in the wider sense; but though in the use of διπλόος it is not necessary to urge an accurate measure, still it is never equivalent to πλείων . It is certainly wrong to refer (see de Wette on the passage) the διπλῆς here to the heavenly and earthly honour (Ambrosius), or to the distinction between respect and reward (Matthies), or to the double portion of the first-born (Grotius), or to the double portion which, according to the Const. Apost. ii. 28, the presbyter received in the oblations (Heydenreich and Baur); all these references are arbitrary. The double honour here is that which comes to the presbyter on account of his office (not, as Hofmann thinks, on account of his age[188]), and that which he obtains by filling his office well.
μάλιστα οἱ κοπιῶντες ἐν λογᾷ καὶ διδασκαλίᾳ ] On κοπιῶντες , comp. 1Ti_4:10. Wiesinger says rightly: “we need not seek any special emphasis in κοπιῶντες : those who toil and moil in opposition to those who do not; κοπιάω is used, as elsewhere, of the teacher’s arduous vocation.”
The preposition ἐν denotes that λόγος κ . δ . is the sphere in which the work takes place (van Oosterzee).
λόγῳ καὶ διδασκαλίᾳ is not to be taken as an hendiadys. Λόγος is more general, διδασκαλία more special. Special stress is laid here on the latter, because activity in teaching was of special importance as a bulwark against heresies. This addition does not prove that at the time when this epistle was composed there was a clear distinction between ruling and teaching presbyters (in opposition to de Wette and Baur). The apostle might quite well have used the same expressions, although the individual superintendents laboured according to their gifts and free determination, not according to fixed rules.
[187] Strange to say, Hofmann asserts that in ver. 17 πρεσβύτεροι are not the presbyters, but “the men of advanced years, from whom the superintendents were chosen, and out of these the apostle exalts those who occupy this office worthily.” Only in ver. 19 does he think that πρεσβύτερος is used in the official sense.
[188] It might even be a younger man who filled the office of a presbyter.