1 Timothy 5.20-Unrepentant Elders Are To Be Rebuked Publicly In Order To Deter Sinful Behavior In The Church
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday August 31, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 5:20-Unrepentant Elders Are To Be Rebuked Publicly In Order To Deter Sinful Behavior In The Church
Lesson # 117
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 5:20.
The apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 5:20 continues his discussion of elders by teaching Timothy and the Ephesian Christian community that those elders who are not unrepentant of sinful behavior are to be rebuked publicly before the congregation.
The purpose of such discipline is to deter the rest of the church from sinful behavior.
1 Timothy 5:20 Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. (NASB95)
“Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all” is composed of the articular accusative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb hamartano (ἁμαρτάνω) (ah-mar-tahnoe), “those who continue in sin” and this is followed by the preposition enopion (ἐνώπιον) (ennopee-own), “in the presence of” and then we have the genitive masculine plural form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “all” and this is followed by the second person singular present active imperative form of the verb elencho (ἐλέγχω) (eh-lenk-hoe), “rebuke.”
The verb hamartano means “to sin” and refers to any mental, verbal or overt act of sin that is contrary to the will and law of God and is used of elders who are committing sin and are unrepentant about it.
That the word is speaking of elders and not Christians in general as some argue is indicated clearly by the context since in 1 Timothy 5:17-25, Paul instructs Timothy as to the proper treatment of elders.
Throughout verses 17-25 Paul is addressing the issue of elders, i.e. overseers who are pastors-teachers, which is indicated by the fact that in verses 17-18 he speaks with regards to their remuneration, which is based on the Old Testament.
Then, in verses 19-21, he is addressing the topic of administering church discipline with sinning pastors who are unrepentant, which is to be impartial.
Verse 22, Paul addresses the issue of ordaining pastors and in verses 24-25, the apostle gives the reason for his statements in verse 22 telling Timothy why he should not be hasty in ordaining men as overseers.
Verse 23 is parenthetical addressing Timothy’s health, who is a pastor, and is a digression based upon Paul’s statement at the end of verse 22 for Timothy to keep himself pure.
Thus, his statements in verses 24 and 25 should be considered a part of the same discussion.
Now, in 1 Timothy 5:19, the apostle Paul commands Timothy to continue making it his habit of not receiving an accusation against an elder except however, on the basis of two or three witnesses.
Here in 1 Timothy 5:20, the apostle discusses what to do with those elders who have been found guilty of sin as supported by the two or three witnesses.
So once a particular sinful action on the part of the elder has been substantiated by two or three witnesses, Paul now moves to the next stage, namely how to deal with these elders.
That hamartano is speaking of elders who are unrepentant sinners is indicated by the present tense of the verb, which is a customary present that signals an action that regularly occurs.
Here the customary present tense of the verb describes these elders as “regularly” or “habitually” committing sin.
It emphasizes that these elders are committing a particular sin as a lifestyle or in other words, it is one that they habitually commit so as to hurt the testimony of the church and the spiritual growth of the pastor and as a result his congregation.
It indicates that this sin is not sporadic or occasional (which every Christian does) but a lifestyle and continues to be committed on a regular basis by the elder.
Thus, they have not repented of this sin meaning they have not stopped committing this sin on a habitual basis.
They would be repentant and consequently in fellowship with God if they had stopped committing this particular sin on a habitual basis.
In 1 Timothy 5:20, the verb elencho means “to rebuke” and refers to the third stage of church discipline prescribed by our Lord in Matthew 18:17, which is designed to get the sinning elder to admit his guilt and repent of the sin or abandon his sinful lifestyle whatever it may be.
The present imperative form of the verb is a “customary present imperative,” which is a command used of a general precept that teaches that Timothy and the Ephesian Christian community must rebuke elders who continue, as a lifestyle to commit a particular sin whatever it may be.
Paul’s statements in 1 Timothy 1:3 and 4:6 imply that Timothy was carrying out everything he wrote in this epistle including this command in 1 Timothy 5:20, which is addressed to Timothy as indicated by the second person singular form of the verb elencho.
Here in 1 Timothy 5:20, enopion means “in the presence of” and the adjective pas pertains to the totality of the Ephesian Christian community.
Therefore, Paul is telling Timothy that he must continue to rebuke in the presence of everyone, i.e., the entire Christian community, unrepentant elders.
The adjective does not refer to the elders in the Christian community in Ephesus but the entire church since Paul is following the Lord Jesus Christ’s teaching in Matthew 18:15-17, which addresses the subject of church discipline.
Specifically, Paul is speaking of administering the third stage of church discipline as taught by the Lord in Matthew 18:17, which would involve confronting and rebuking the unrepentant sinner in the presence of the entire church.
The fourth stage, which Paul does not mention, would involve removing the unrepentant elder from the fellowship of the church if he fails to admit his guilt.
“So that the rest also will be fearful of sinning” is composed of the conjunction hina (ἵνα) (ee-nah), “so that” and the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “also” and then we have the articular nominative masculine plural form of the adjective loipos (λοιπός) (leepoce), “the rest” and this is followed by the accusative masculine singular form of the noun phobos (φόβος) (foe-voce), “fearful” and then we have the third person plural present active subjunctive form of the verb echo (ἒχω) (eh-ho), “will be.”
This clause presents Paul’s purpose for Timothy obeying his previous command to continue rebuking those elders, who continue as a lifestyle sinning.
The adjective loipos refers to the Ephesian Christian community as a corporate but in contrast to the unrepentant elder who is being disciplined by the church for a sinful lifestyle.
The noun phobos speaks of fear of being disciplined publicly by the entire church for a sinful lifestyle.
Paul is teaching that the administration of church discipline with regards to an elder who refuses to admit his guilt and repent of his sinful lifestyle by rebuking him publicly before the entire church will serve as a deterrent to sinful behavior and lifestyles among the individual members of the Christian community.
Paul’s teaching in 1 Timothy 5:19-20 indicates that he is following the procedure to administer church discipline as taught by the Lord in Matthew 18:15-17.
The Lord teaches in this passage that church discipline begins with a private confrontation meaning that the believer who is habitually sinning or possesses a sinful lifestyle must first be confronted privately as taught by the Lord in Matthew 18:15.
Also, these sinning elders have been confronted by two or three witnesses as also taught by the Lord in Matthew 18:16.
The third stage of church discipline as taught by the Lord in Matthew 18:17 would require that the entire church rebuke the sinning elder and the last stage would involve him being removed from the fellowship of the church by the entire church.
The third stage is being referred to here in 1 Timothy 5:20.
The fourth stage is not mentioned by Paul since he just says to publicly rebuke the unrepentant elder and does not say to remove them, thus he is leaving room open for repentance for some of the apostate elders in Ephesus.
If the sinning elder does not repent from the rebuke of the entire church then he is to be removed from the fellowship of the church as taught in Matthew 18:17.
That Paul is following the Lord’s teaching in Matthew 18:15-17, is indicated by the fact that in 1 Timothy 5:19 he mentions two or three witnesses being used to establish guilt, which corresponds to Matthew 18:16.
Then, in 1 Timothy 5:20, he speaks of publicly rebuking the guilty party, which corresponds to Matthew 18:17, which indicates that Paul is not instituting a special way of disciplining pastors, i.e. elders.
If these elders repent, they should be allowed back in the fellowship of the church as taught by the Lord in Matthew 18:15-17.
Therefore, there are not two sets of rules with regards to church discipline meaning that the same rules that are used to deal with sinful behavior among individual Christians are to be used with respect to elders.
The same discipline of removing an unrepentant sinner from the congregation should be applied to unrepentant pastors.
The same grace that is to be demonstrated to repentant Christians after they have been confronted with regards to their sin is to be exercised towards repentant pastors.
If the church does not forgive and show grace to repentant pastors, is this not hypocrisy and sin itself and a poor testimony before the unsaved as well as a failure to exercise God’s love?
Paul’s teaching is not only within the framework of our Lord’s teaching in Matthew 18:15-17 but also within the framework of Deuteronomy 19:15-21.
This passage teaches that the punishment inflicted upon the guilty party is to cause the rest of the Israelite congregation to fear of receiving the same kind of punishment if they become involved in sin.