21: Accusations Against Pastors

Welcome to the Ready for Eternity podcast. I'm Eddie Lawrence. Accusations against pastors. A topic that's rocking churches nationwide. What happens when a spiritual leader is accused of a serious sin, but there's only one witness?

First Timothy 5 .19 seems clear on this. Don't even hear the charge without multiple witnesses. But in cases of abuse or other secret sins, there are rarely onlookers. Has scripture left us with an impossible dilemma?

A loophole for a sinning pastor? Let's find out. How should the church handle accusations against elders? Paul wrote the following to Timothy.

Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

The Meaning of 1 Timothy 5:19 and the King James Translation

First Timothy 5 .19. Seems clear enough, right? Obviously, this verse is meant to protect pastors from baseless accusations, and it follows the precept in Deuteronomy 17 .6 and 19 .15 of requiring multiple witnesses to bring a charge.

This seems cut and dry, but it leaves us with some serious questions. What are we supposed to do when someone accuses a pastor of an offense or even a crime, and there was only one witness? If we apply First Timothy 5 .19 literally, not only could a church take no action, but they wouldn't even be allowed to hear the accusation.

Paul seems to be saying that the charge cannot even be leveled against an elder unless there are multiple witnesses. What do we do about accusations when there aren't multiple witnesses? Every week there is a new and credible accusation that a pastor somewhere has sexually abused someone.

The problem is real, serious, and it's happening way too often. People who perpetrate sexual abuse don't commit their sins in front of multiple witnesses. Unless two or three people just happen to catch an abusive pastor in the act, there will never be witnesses to a sin of this nature.

So how do we abide by Paul's instructions in First Timothy 5 .19 when it comes to dealing with accusations of sexual abuse, or for that matter, any other kind of secret sin against a pastor? Has the New Testament come up short?

Is the New Testament letting a so-called pastor off the hook on a technicality? I don't believe the New Testament has left a loophole that gives sinning pastors a way to escape accountability. The Bible is God's message, and I don't accept for one minute that he has failed to instruct us about how to deal with such a serious problem.

Nevertheless, what are we to make of First Timothy 5 .19? In researching this verse, I became aware of differences in the English translations as compared with the Old King James Version. Listen to this verse being read from several modern Bible translations, and then at the end, listen to how the King James Version words it.

And let me give you a hint of what you're looking for. The modern versions all word the verse in a way that says that the charge must be brought on the evidence.

Of two or three witnesses. Take a listen. Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. New American Standard Bible. Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses.

New International Version. Don't accept an accusation against an elder unless it is supported by two or three witnesses. Christian Standard Bible. Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

English Standard Version. Against an elder receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses. King James Version.

Most all the modern Bible translations read similarly to each other, but different from the King James. What I soon realized is that the words in the modern translations are not in the original Greek text of 1 Timothy 5 .19.

The translation teams added the words on the evidence of, or is supported by, or is brought by, whatever the case may be. They added these words in an attempt to clarify the meaning for us. They made an interpretive decision on what they thought Paul meant, but maybe Paul didn't mean what they think he meant.

The word the King James Version translates as before is the Greek preposition epi. Epi has a range of meanings, which includes, but is not limited to, upon, over, on, at the time of, at, or to. Now, I know just enough about New Testament Greek to get myself in trouble.

Regardless, I'm aware that Greek prepositions are a little tricky. William Mounts in Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar said this,.

In Greek, the meaning of a preposition depends upon the case of its object.

In other words, a Greek preposition can change meaning depending on what kind of word follows it. In 1 Timothy 5 .19, epi is a preposition in the genitive case. Knowing this, the question we need to ask is how do our English Bibles translate epi in the genitive case in other New Testament passages?

The New Testament uses epi more than 200 times in the genitive case. In the vast majority of these instances, it appears as the English word on. It's noteworthy that in a number of verses, our English Bibles translate epi as before, just like the King James Version translates it in 1 Timothy 5 .19.

A remarkable picture emerges when we examine each verse where our Bibles translate epi as before. In the blog post that goes along with this podcast, I have a list of 10 verses that meet this criteria.

I'm not going to have all of those read on this podcast episode, I'm just going to do a few of them. I encourage you though to click on the link in the episode description and go take a look at all 10 verses.

Here's what you're going to notice. In every one of these verses, testimony was being offered in front of, or before, someone. Take a listen to three or four of these verses, and then go take a look at the blog post to see all.

Of them.

I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I'm going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews. Acts 26 .2, when one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?

1 Corinthians 6 .1. But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers. 1 Corinthians 6 .6. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate, made the good confession.

1 Timothy 6 .13.

In every verse, testimony was being offered in front of, or before, someone. Our English Bibles do not translate Epi as, on the evidence of, in any of these verses. It would seem odd that Epi should be translated this way in 1 Timothy 5 .19, while it's not translated this way anywhere else in the New Testament.

There are two other verses where Epi in the genitive case appears in English as the word before, and they are Matthew 18 .16 and 2 Corinthians 13 .1, and they read similarly to 1 Timothy 5 .19, but there is a significant difference.

In both of these verses, the word evidence is present in the Greek. As I mentioned before, in 1 Timothy 5 .19, the translators supplied the word evidence. It's not in the original Greek of 1 Timothy 5 .19.

Based on the comparison passages, it would seem the translators have made a mistake by supplying the additional wording. It's hard to fault them because the connection to Deuteronomy 17 .6 and 19 .15, which requires multiple witnesses to bring a charge, seems obvious.

Nevertheless, they are putting words in Paul's mouth. In Deuteronomy, the point was to establish the truth of the accusations. In 1 Timothy 5 .19, there's a nuanced difference. I'm arguing that it's better to go with the wording of the King James Version in this verse, since it does not add words in English that are absent in Greek.

Formal Accusations Before Witnesses, Not Proof of the Sin

With this in mind, and in relation to the accusation verses cited previously, a new picture emerges about 1 Timothy 5 .19. Paul is really saying that accusations against an elder must be made before witnesses.

In other words, the church cannot hear accusations against a pastor from an anonymous or secret source. The accuser must bring formal charges against a pastor before that is, in front of, two or three witnesses in the church who will hear the accusation.

In keeping with the spirit of the King James Version, I propose this alternate translation. It seems reasonable to assume that this is a prelude to Matthew 18 .16, where one who has charged against another takes a couple of witnesses with him.

In the case of a pastor accused of abuse, one would not expect the victim to confront their abuser alone. After all, being alone with the accused is what facilitated the alleged abuse in the first place.

So, 1 Timothy 5 .19 is about leveling a charge, not establishing truth. Taking the New Testament context into account, Paul is not telling Timothy that witnesses of the elder's sin are under consideration.

Rather, the witnesses are those who are to hear the accusation being made against him. 1 Timothy 5 .19 is not about establishing the fact that a pastor committed sin, it's about the process of lodging a formal accusation.

Due Process for Elders and the Need to Test Accusations

Why would the New Testament require this level of due process? 1 Timothy 3 has already established that elders are men whose reputations have made them above reproach. Therefore, an accusation against such a man demands a higher level of scrutiny.

A man who truly meets the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3 is quite likely not guilty of the accusation in the first place. However, then as now, men became pastors who should never have been pastors. It's also possible that a man was scripturally qualified in the past but has since fallen into sin.

In any case, an accusation against a shepherd is a serious matter, and the church must handle it with care and diligence. In addition, this process would tend to weed out false accusations. It's easy to spread lies about a pastor by whispering them in someone's ear.

It's not so easy to level false charges against him in front of several people. People who will bear witness to the claims and the accuser's identity. A credible accuser willing to formally present allegations against a pastor in the presence of witnesses would constitute a compelling case.

How Churches Should Handle Abuse Allegations

In conclusion, it would seem that our modern Bible translations have created difficulty for us in this verse. It's a fact that many bonafide victims encounter problems when reporting their pastors for abuse.

Critics often sharply criticize them for not having multiple witnesses to verify the truth of their claim. But how can they do this when the crime had no other witnesses? 1 Timothy 5 .19 is not a loophole which allows sinning, unrepentant pastors to keep getting away with it.

It's a process which enables their victims to bring a formal charge against them with the church.

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