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1Ti_5:18 furnishes the reason for the instruction given in 1Ti_5:16, a reason which attaches itself to the idea of κοπιῶντες .
λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφή · βοῦν ἀλοῶντα οὐ φιμώσεις ] This expression is found in Deu_25:4. φιμόω , though often used figuratively in the N. T., stands here in its literal meaning. The whole passage, however, is taken figuratively, just as at 1Co_9:9, where Paul handles it at greater length. Even Philo says (De Sacrif.): οὐ γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀλόγων ὁ νόμος , ἀλλʼ ὑπὲρ τῶν νοῦν καὶ λόγον ἐχόντων .
To these words of Scripture the apostle further adds: καὶ ἄξιος ὁ ἐργάτης τοῦ μισθοῦ αὐτοῦ ] These words are not quoted from the O. T., for the passages to which attention has been directed at Lev_19:13 and Deu_24:14 run differently; but they are found in the N. T. at Luk_10:7 (similarly Mat_10:10). Hence Baur and Plitt maintain that they are quoted from Luke.
The λέγει ἡ γραφή does not, however, compel us so to refer the words; the apostle simply adds to the words of Scripture a proverb (Christ, too, in the passage quoted seems to use the phrase as proverbial). So Calvin, also Wiesinger, van Oosterzee, Hofmann.
The two sentences, according to the apostle’s meaning, express the same thought; hence it is not improbable that the second was added as an interpretation of the first.