The Biblical Approach to Honor, Rebuke, and Church Discipline - 1st Timothy 5

Rebuking Elders with Honor and Exhortation

But in being careful even when he has to rebuke them to show an honor with how he is restrained toward them. Now we find look here. It says do not rebuke an older man, but when you get to the end of the chapter right it talks about chapter 5 looking at verse 20.

Those who are sinning he's talking about elders rebuke in the presence of all the rest also may fear. So elders who are holding office or in a higher station than just men who are older, so there is a time to rebuke.

This is the general rule. Okay, and and sometimes we kind of treat general rules like they don't ever apply now general rules apply all the time with exceptions. The exceptions are things that we have to deal with and.

The exceptions are not the general rule. General rules are rules that are applied most of the time and so when you deal with that you you have to not treat a general rule like it is something that doesn't apply and and so.

Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father. Think about the infrequency with which you would think it's appropriate to rebuke your own father. That is the type of infrequency with which you should rebuke an older man.

So that's true, not just of people in general. That's true of presbyters, that's true of moderators of sessions, that's true of moderators of presbyteries who are.

Evangelists.

That's what Paul was saying to Timothy. Does that give you a sense of the level of respect that we ought to give to age? Do not rebuke an older man. But exhort him as a father. Exhortation is as opposed to one of the ways you can honor.

And by the way We should all take note of this for how to communicate when there's a duty to honor in general. Okay, if you got to if you got to talk to a person who's of higher station. You got to talk to your patriarch.

You got to talk to a church officer. You got to talk to a boss at work. You got to deal with any of that as opposed to things that you might rebuke an equal for or rebuke a subordinate for. When you're approaching a person you owe honor to.

You.

Displace rebukes with exhortations. There are times when you still have to give a rebuke a harsh rebuke even but you Tone down these things. The the soft word and patience are how rulers are one. And that's true also for older men.

Because older men will have been heads of house for a long time in many cases. Perhaps have at other charges of responsibility and so the recognition that age is to be honored and. The toning down so something you might rebuke instead you exhort to a positive duty.

So rebuke being replaced with exhortation. Remember what's exhortation. Rebuke is saying don't do that Stop it. And that the word here could also be translated as chastening. So it's really harsh rebuke or or physical chastisement.

So so as opposed to harsh rebuke instead. It doesn't say just give a normal rebuke. It says Exhort and so you're going from don't do that to here's a duty to perform. You ought to sir do this. So do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father.

Matthew Poole's commentary here on these I thought was was excellent and concise. So I included him word for word here for you on page one. The older men party says rebuke not an elder. It appears by the next verse that the Apostle by elder here understands not a church officer, but an ancient man an old man.

The word translated rebuke is translated to softly. It should be rebuke not too roughly as appears by the opposite phrase and indeed the word properly signifies to beat or lash. Rebuke him not but with a decent respect to his age.

But entreat him as a father so that your reproofs may look more like counsels and exhortations and rebukes.

Treating Younger Men, Older Women, and Younger Women with Brotherly and Sisterly Honor

Now.

We get to younger men and it says here. To exhort them as brothers. Now obviously there are times to rebuke younger men. But the idea here is that the general disposition of a person in authority ought not to be a like going around and scolding at young men, but instead to condescend.

Right like Deacon Schaefer was talking about condescending. The idea as Americans we don't like it when people condescend to us. Well, there are people in authority and they are higher than you. And so if they come down to your position, are they descending?

And if they do it with you to come alongside you is that condescending and. So is condescending always bad. Being condescending? I'm just constantly condescending. Just kidding. Sorry, that's some people might have that impression of the way I talk to you.

I. But that idea if you're in a position of authority you Intentionally try to raise people up. You're honoring people. When you're in a position of authority and you interact with people as equals. Calling them brother for example as a way of emphasizing equality and so when people of station Call somebody who's under their authority a brother.

That is an act of honor. In American culture we are accustomed to statements of equality constantly. So we just call everybody by their first name and It's assumed that everybody should interact as equals.

One of the few holdouts in our culture is the referring to parents as.

Mom or dad.

By children and in some families you you find people just referring to each other by first name. Without title or recognition of honor to parents. The use of titles the use of language is important and the idea of calling somebody a brother when they are below your station.

Think about how much Timothy as an evangelist as a Moderator of a presbytery of a session of and an elder right. He is a guy who Had to deal with young men and in dealing with them as brothers and exhorting them as brothers and generally treating them as Equals.

Do you see how honoring that is to those young men? So we have older men and younger men. Younger men raise them up by Honoring them as equals. Older men honor them Treating them with a gentleness and care based upon the age of the man and as opposed to a harsh rebuke Exhort so that's a couple of levels of reduction of the Sharpness you might expect right.

Harsh rebuke rebuke Exhortation this is kind of pulling it down. There's this significant reduction in the harshness as a way of honoring.

Age.

Matthew Poole says of the younger men and the younger men as brethren. Prudence also must be used as to the younger men. Ministers in rebuking them should remember that they are brethren and treat them accordingly not to imperiously.

Right there is a real equality in Christ That we have as brothers and fellow heirs that's used often for people with authority. Husbands for example are encouraged to remember that their wives or co-heirs.

Magistrates are called to remember to not degrade the dignity of people that are under their authority. When it is necessary for example to you the rod use the rod for chastisement a magistrate is limited to 40 lashes In order to not degrade the person below them in such a way as to disregard their humanity a limit given.

By God.

Older women there to be Exhorted as mothers. Let elder women the elder women as mothers. The same prudence also is to be used to matrons and aged women. Okay, so the idea of talking to an older woman that there is the general rule is things that are worthy of rebukes you replace with exhortations and With younger women to exhort them as sisters and being very careful to maintain all purity.

Now in maintaining all purity that includes a Greater distancing from young women than you would with other people the avoidance of the appearance of impropriety. Younger women as sisters yay. And to younger women to Considering our relation and equality in Christ right sisters are of an equal station to their brothers.

Considering our relation and equality in Christ with all purity only as to them considering their sex a Further gravity and prudence is to be used that we give no occasion to lust or unclean motions so that distinction of sex and age.

It's something that's important to maintain in the church. We must not give in to the spirit of the age that Asserts that sex is unimportant we must not give in to the spirit of the age that says to Disregard those that are older as opposed to honoring them and so we must regard male and female and we must regard youth and age.

Rank, Office, and Covenant Hierarchy in the Church, Household, and State

So when we think about go to page two. These things we think these are principles for evaluation of honor. And we have age that we've thought about on the first page and there's gifting which has been dealt with in terms of sex male or female and then there are things like abilities skills virtues graces.

The types of gifting that somebody might have being a prophetic priestly kingly these things to look for you look for gifting and other people. You seek to honor the gifting and other people and in engaging with people thinking about their gifting looking for ways to honor that and the gifting of male or female is honored by acts that are meant to help to maintain the appearance of propriety as well as the actuality of propriety.

Age we are told that when the gray-haired entered. What are we supposed to do everybody supposed to stand that applies? To people of rank in the covenant institutions. There's an order here. We first recognize age.

Gifting comes on after and if there's an aged person who's less skilled and a skilled person who's less aged. Which one stands for the other the young one who's skilled stands for the old one who's unskilled.

When we deal rank though? Rank is something that supersedes age and gifting. But even with rank there are duties to care for and honor People based upon their age and sex and their gifting. The ways they do that is not by giving up their stations, but by treating people in the appropriate ways.

From their position of authority. So I think about rank in the covenant institutions. I've got a list here for you of categories of rank that are real helpful for you to think of in the household the man and woman of the house remember we think about them as husband master father or wife mistress mother.

These are positions of authority and.

There are.

Heirs in the house. The firstborn son being a double portion heir other sons and daughters and the righteous man leaves an inheritance not just to his sons But also to his daughters historically that has sometimes taken the form of a dowry and Then a holding of a inheritance in the house as a protection for her with a bride price.

So the father held the bride price as a way of having an inheritance for her because he already gave the inheritance To her as a dowry to go out to her new house to help to advance things. So there's a earlier inheritance and a later inheritance built in that way.

Now.

In the house We have heirs and remember children have a duty like servants to obey their parents and to do work. Until they are until the time set by the father children are servants. They asked to be subject and do work.

We have suet we have servants there are stewards or managers that can be appointed. There's bond servants. That's a covenant servant a slave. You can have a bond servant based upon Debt not being paid unjust war.

Participants who are enslaved. You have criminals who are having to serve in order to pay back a criminal restitution. And you can have voluntary Covenanted servants. Bond slaves or any of those. And there are wage servants so bond servants or any of those and there are wage servants.

These are all various places there and when we think about the master and the mistress both govern the heirs and the servants. So these are things to be recognized which means you can have men in the household Underneath the authority of a woman as the mistress of the home now in the church.

The ranks that we have to deal with. We have officers. We have elders and deacons in there and with off with elders you have the graded courts. Right. Timothy is a member of at least the court of the 150 because it's a presbytery in Ephesus and Ephesus the presbytery Was pretty large.

I mean so you may well have him being in a second Regional presbytery one that's you know a synod as opposed to just a regional presbytery. Depending on how many elders they had and how many heads of house you can look at the numbers.

When you read about an axe and there's very large population of Christians there, so I don't know how large their presbytery gets but we have. If Timothy and he's a member of the graded courts going out past the smaller one.

And he's a moderator which the Old Testament you frequently see referred to as princes. Moderators referred to as princes just the the word prince is just a word for you know the first. You know the idea of the first amongst equals is the idea of a moderator governs their Sessions and a clerk or you find this referred to as a scribe.

So these are different places of honor the elder with those different roles of an elder deacons. You can officers can deputize authority to execute a task to a person that can be assigned as a Church can assign somebody to be a messenger or to carry money or to to execute a particular task.

So there's deputized authority they can go beyond just. You know for the performance of some task. And there are voting members communicate members and baptized members these are ways that authority and honor get dealt with and you have also the idea of the reception of Diaconal assistants, and so we'll get to that when we go to the The widows and how they're honored later on in the state.

You have officers that are officers for the legislature the executive branch or judicial branch and those those divisions of branches come from the Bible. We're told in Isaiah that God is the lawgiver.

That God is the king the God is the judge. Classic texts for Presbyterians. Asserting a limited and divided power government. There are people who have authority because they've been deputized or enlisted.

Which is a.

Indirect that they don't hold an office of themselves, but have a office that is dependent upon an office of another. There are citizens. And citizens have certain certain birthrights that pass down across.

Generations they are the covenanted members of a nation and there are subjects people that are not possessing of rights beyond due process. And having certain liberties protected but they don't have governing authority and they don't have the ability to wield the sword as a part of the military or for deputization or to enter into public office or to vote.

Women citizens pass along the rights of citizenship to their sons and daughters. But these are the principles you find so these are all over. This is a lot of stuff that you could find in different places of the Bible and we need to understand the nature of hierarchical structures in the covenant institutions as they're laid out in the Bible so that we can see them and honor them and the Household is the principal place where we deal with it.

The church is the place we're going to deal with it the next most and the state is generally more distant from us and so we don't interact with that as much but it's important that we have the structures of thought in our mind and That we honor legitimate office holders appropriately and deal with the authority of the state appropriately.

So these things we think about rank rank in those institutions and there's the duty of honor based upon age and gifting and Rank, these are things we need to think about as how we interpret how to deal with people when you interact with people.

It's important. To think about their age their sex and their rank. And that seems very contra American culture, but it's also very counter to the culture that the church is generally encouraged in America because.

Thinking about status is something that you've probably been told is sin. Well, it's your duty to think about the age. The sex and the rank of people you interact with. All right, page three here we talk about the true widow and principles of help for the worthy poor.

Honoring True Widows and Screening for the Worthy Poor

So the idea of the worthy poor is another thing that feels weird to people you go worthy poor. But who is worthy? Well, Paul gives us a very specific list of who is worthy.

And.

So this idea that there's a duty to deal with poor people based upon whether they are worthy poor or unworthy poor is Something that is important for us to give charity in a way that honors the Lord. As opposed to a way that dishonors the Lord indiscriminate charity Dishonors the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have duties of discrimination. In charity, we're always to give in the name of Christ, which means that we do it giving credit to Christ. We also do it seeking to evangelize and disciple and we need to think about the appropriate subjects to give charity to.

Appropriate objects to give charity to. So chapter 5 verse 3. Honor widows who are really widows. This kind of reminds you like not all Israel is of Israel, I guess not all widows are widows. This idea that there are people who are really widows.

Okay, so you honor them. How do you honor them? Honor here is used to refer specifically to giving money. Yes, you honor them by giving them.

Relief.

You honor them by giving them opportunity for service and you honor them by giving them Employment that's worthy for the filling of their time. So these true widows are to be honored. So then we get a bunch of here's here's some screens for you of who to not give this honor to.

But if any widow has children or grandchildren Let them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents. Okay, so you start to look for Does this widow have a clan that she's a part of? The children and grandchildren being the most obvious person is to look to.

There are.

Principles from the Old Testament we could look to about the kinsmen Redeemer and the inheritance lines that go. How do we find the next of kin? The first one is the child then the grandchild. Right. She's lost her husband.

So who's her next of kin her children than her grandchildren if she doesn't have children or grandchildren. You would look at the inheritance lines and the kinsmen Redeemer principles that you could find in the Old Testament.

Another helpful place for getting a sense of who those people are would be the laws of consanguinity and affinity. These are the closer relatives. These are the associates by clan. So this is outside of the particular individual household and it's Connected households that still have covenanted duties to each other.

We read about clans in the Old Testament and we kind of feel like it's an Old Testament thing whenever you talk about Clans or tribes or whatever, but the clan duties that existed in the Old Testament Continue to exist across households in the New Testament these moral duties.

If any widow has children or grandchildren let them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents. Showing piety at home is showing piety in the household. So let as opposed to having the widow receive help from the church instead the household needs to function properly and Do its duty show its piety out of the household to repay parents.

For this is acceptable before God so this is an argument that We should honor widows that are really widows. Don't let that over expand make sure to go through the ordery or priority of obligations and to do that to properly screen based upon order of priority of obligation is Acceptable as service before God in other words.

It's a good work to refuse to give Assistance in order to demand that others give the assistance they owe saying no and Saying you should do your job is An act that is acceptable before God now. She who is really a widow and left alone Trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.

But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives and these things. Command that they may be blameless. Okay, so that verse 7 who is this command going to. Is this thing come is this command going to The kinds of widows is it going to those who are children and grandchildren?

My understanding is that.

The.

People who are being commanded here. Now you can you can look at the plural, but they may be blameless. And you could apply that back to the children and grandchildren.

But.

Regardless of how you read that whether that's applied to the children or grandchildren or whether it's applied to the widow. The widow here who is a true widow. And who's left alone? Has certain qualifications that start to be listed here.

She must Trust in God. In other words, she must be a believer for the church to take a widow onto the roll. She must be a believer. She must trust in God. She must also Continue in supplications and prayers.

Night and day does so you could read that and say well. She needs to be praying all the time or she's just described or characterized by praying all the time. Now the point here is that she participates in the set times of worship.

The qualified widow participates in the set times of worship, but somebody who instead lives in pleasure is Dead while she lives so being enslaved to pleasure drunkenness or pleasure seeking avoiding of duties.

This is not somebody to be supported. They're not they don't believe there's no reason to look upon her as someone who trusts in God. So in other words if you're going to give help to a widow in your home.

If you're going to give ongoing assistance to anybody who's dependent upon you you have the right to impose upon them the duties. That you would expect them to submit to to submit to the Christian rule of your home.

That's if their dependents.

Now.

The expectation of the set times of worship. You would include in that Expecting them to participate in your family worship and expecting them to come with you to church, but she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives and these things command that they may be blameless that the Widow would be blameless or that the children and grandchildren will be blameless.

They have conditions in either case. We're talking about the children examining the widow or we're talking about the qualifications of the widow. Whatever the they is referring to we're talking about how to determine true widows.

So these things should be commanded that way the widow and the children who give support can be blameless. The blamelessness is a requirement for ongoing Support if you have unresolved conflict that you won't deal with.

That would be something that you go. Okay. Well if you're not willing to deal the conflict I'm not willing to continue to subsidize you verse 8, but if anyone does not provide for his own and Especially for those of his household especially there is the same word that earlier was used for especially when it says that Christ is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe it's namely So Christ is the Savior of all men namely those who believe that's the same here.

If anyone does not provide for his own Namely those of his household He has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever now the not denying not providing for your household the reason that still applies to these people these women that might come for help is because Certain people have claims to enter into your household and to receive support from you.

Those people who have a claim to enter into your household and to receive support from you are Known by the kinsmen. Redeemer inheritance affinity consanguinity rules. And we look at the idea of rules of charity for those who are proper recipients of charity throughout the Bible and they help us to Understand when we have a duty to give help to a person so if you won't provide for somebody that your household is a covenantal responsibility for you've denied the faith by your actions and you're worse than an Unbeliever.

In other words what what Paul is telling Timothy here is if People aren't willing to do their job and providing for their household. They need to be excommunicated so verse 9 Do not let a widow under 60 years old be taken into the number and Not unless she has and then it lists out a number of moral qualifications.

So this number is the number of people who are added to an ongoing list to receive ongoing support a list for ongoing support. There are one time, you know one-off assistances. There are limited time supports where you help people with the thing.

And your long-term solution is to is to remove them from that. For somebody who has an ongoing status where you're going they're supposed to continue to get the daily distribution unless something is brought to the attention of The church to deal with discipline to get on that list you must be a person who is 60 years old.

Which is used as a way of talking about people who have physical disability. This idea that you reach a point where you're not able to deal with work. That is physical in a way where you could earn your own living.

So the 60 years old relates to that it also relates to the ability to have children which we'll we'll see going down. So do not let a widow under 60 years old be taken into the number. And not unless she has been the wife of one man.

So officers are required to be one woman men and Women who are qualified to receive the ongoing care of the church are supposed to be women who are. One man women well reported for good works. And then there's a listing here of Kind of good works that women are supposed to focus on.

If she has brought up children. If she's lodged strangers. If she's washed the Saints feet. If she's relieved the afflicted. If she has Diligently followed every good work. Okay, so this this list of stuff here caring for loving children is a Important thing.

The fidelity to the husband and the care for the children. Are an emphasis here on a woman who's qualified to receive help? Hospitality. Using her domain as mistress of the house to bless others. Service to the Saints.

A washing of feet not an arrogant proud refusal to serve but instead of willingness to perform service at a low level relief of the afflicted. She used her resources and care to care for others when I needed relief.

She's seeking relief now, and she gave relief when it was within her power in the past. These are the kinds of work. She needs to be reported as having done. These are the focal points of women. Women if you want to understand How you're supposed to be a great mistress of the home.

This right here lists out a very short set of things that you should focus on. Focus on being a faithful. Help me to your husband. Focus on rearing children properly. Focus on hospitality. Focus on humble service.

Focus on relieving the afflicted. These are ministries of the home. That are important for you to be able to demonstrate in the event that you needed ongoing support from the church financially. You would want to have these things be attested about you.

If she has diligently followed every good work. In other words She's carefully seeking to not just avoid sin right the law of God's not just a list of don'ts. The law of God tells you what to focus your time on.

She carefully seeking not just to avoid sin. But to redeem the time with good works that are useful to the Saints and that glorify God. The Proverbs 31 woman is an example of what that looks like. This is what is necessary for a woman to receive ongoing relief from distress.

Ongoing honor for being in service to the church. Ongoing employment. To fill her time.

This.

Station the the congregationalist Puritans in New England in the Cambridge platform. Talked about this as an office. They even used the title of Deaconess to refer to it if by deaconess people mean widows who are ongoing receipts in an ongoing receipts of Support, but they don't have any authority to govern.

I don't have a problem. I don't think that's what that is. I don't think that the deaconess. When we talk about Phoebe, I don't think that's what that's referring to. I think what's being referred to there is simply that she served well.

Okay.

But if the.

Congregationalist in New England referred in that way. They weren't talking about any governing authority over capital or any role to be in charge of the administration of things. But they used that title sometimes to refer to that.

So This sometimes you will read old Saints including some of the debates in the Westminster Assembly. Talking about the use of the term deaconess to refer to a true widow. So when people who are liberals try to quote to you old things.

That say look the ancient church or the or the you know reformers or whatever believed in deaconesses. What they're trying to do is to rip out of context the discussion about the true widow and turn that into a ruling office.

Refusing Younger Widows, Marriage, and the Danger of Idleness

So beware of that trick. First four or sorry page four. But refuse younger widows. Here are people that are not supposed to be on the ongoing Dole. This would be things that you would apply as principles as well as for Men who need support.

So you might give a younger widow or a man support for a limited period of time. But they're not to go on to the Dole. They're not to go on to the role of those who are ongoing recipients of support without end.

But refuse the younger widows. But when they have begun to grow wanton and that grow wanton. The the Greek there is really when they have begun to have strong urges for physical desires in this translation of against Christ.

Right. For when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ. In other words. They've got a station if they're if they're put on the role of widows. Where they are listed out as those who are receive ongoing support.

They're expected. The people who are receiving ongoing support are expected to work as they are able and they have an honorable position of serving. With support from the church and they're able to receive direction to do work from the officers of the church.

And so if you have a younger widow on this role She is going to be strongly tempted by physical desire to have a husband and to have children and the desire to marry. Leads to verse 12 having condemnation because they've cast off their first faith.

Now.

How is that? This gets translated by? Anglicans federal visionists and Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox to mean this. Okay. Here's his other read this. Having condemnation because they've cast off their first promise or their first obligation of faithfulness.

It's just the word faith. But when they translate it as having having been like a a solemn vow or promise they interpret this to be referring to sort of nunnery vows and Interpreting this as nunnery vows.

They make it into a promise to never marry promises of perpetual singleness. Now, I think that's a preposterous Isagetical imposition on the text. Let me show you why. Okay, so but refuse the younger widows for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ.

They desire to marry having condemnation because they've cast off their first faith and then it lists out a bunch of other negative effects and It talks about what they should do instead which by the way is to get married.

So it seems to be an anti nunnery text if ever there were one. How did this get twisted into a pro nunnery text and then you get to? Verse 15 for some have already turned aside after Satan. The throwing off of their first faith is not a throwing off of a first promise to perpetual.

Singleness.

It's a throwing off of the faith and They've instead pursued after Satan. How is that? Well, especially in the early church as a minority of the population the desire to get married. You'd be tempted to go marry a relatively competent pagan man.

And so in the desire to get married being unhappy with the station of providing public service receiving remuneration for that. There's this temptation to go get married and to throw off your profession.

To instead go submit to a pagan man. So now let's walk through the rest of it. So this is this is not a text that proves that the woman on the dole takes vows of perpetual singleness. This is not a nunnery text.

Verse 11. Or refuse the younger widows for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ. They desire to marry having Condemnation because they have cast off their first faith. So going into immoral or wrong marriage is going and being tempted to marry unbelieving men.

Verse 13 and. Besides they learn to be idle. Okay, so if you pay a woman who is young to do this work of the church There's going to be a few problems. One of the problems is if you're trying to deal with her in all purity as a sister.

Do you think that the church officers should be palling around by themselves with young women? If you see that you need to call it out immediately is inappropriate and wrong and scandalous. So they're going to be left to their own devices or only be able to be interacted with when you've got Multiple officers or an officer and their wife or something like that.

So it requires significant Significant management manpower to deal with having idle young women around in the church. So they learn to be idle. They wander about from house to house. So they're going into places that aren't their jurisdiction.

Without legitimate callings to do so not only idle but also gossips. They're going around mouse to house and they start to tell people about the other people's houses and busybodies. They start to engage themselves into the business of those houses where they have no authority saying things which they ought not.

And so that disrupts the chain of command there disrupts those this is the effect of having women's ministers. Okay, if you have women that are ordained in the church, here's the effect. This is where that happens.

You employ women young women to go around the church and do stuff. The effect is They learn to be idle wandering about from house to house not only idle but also gossips and busybodies. Saying things which they ought not.

Therefore I desire the younger women widows marry bear children. Manage the house give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully. So women this is the general calling that women should pursue.