Testing Tradition

Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 1 Timothy 5:17 In my conversations with brothers over the years, the passage that has been presented to me as most foundational to support the tradition of paying pastors is 1 Timothy 5:17.  For a couple of years now, I've had my doubts that 1 Timothy 5:17 means what we've traditionally come to believe it means.  And over the last couple weeks I've become more convinced than ever that the traditional reading of this passage has misunderstood what Paul is trying to communicate. The following article comprehensively deals with the passage in relation to the topic but below I will focus on point two only, which was to me most insightful: http://tithing-russkelly.com/id35.html The context of "double honor" in 5:17 is that of rebuking wrongdoers in the church, and not "salary."  Verses 1-16 and 19-20 are clearly discussions of discipline....

Note: This is the second of a two-part series.  You can read part one  here .  Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Hebrews 13:17 There are at least two related ideas that are taught in many modern churches today  primarily  on the basis of this single verse: Within the church, elders/pastors have a unique authority that other believers don't have and believers are commanded to obey the elders/pastors in their church. God intends for a believer to enter into covenant membership in a specific church and it is those believers who are members of the church that elders/pastors in a church are accountable for. I would like to challenge both of these ideas and make the case that these ideas are more the product of ideas we read  into  the text than what the text itself says and mean...

Note: This is the first of a two-part series.  You can read part two here .  Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Hebrews 13:17 There are at least two related ideas that are taught in many modern churches today primarily on the basis of this single verse: Within the church, elders/pastors have a unique authority that other believers don't have and believers are commanded to obey the elders/pastors in their church. God intends for a believer to enter into covenant membership in a specific church and it is those believers who are members of the church that elders/pastors in a church are accountable for. I would like to challenge both of these ideas and make the case that these ideas are more the product of ideas we read into the text than what the text itself says and means. First, Hebrews 13:17 does ...

The word "apostle" literally means "sent one."  Apostles in general were those sent out as traveling ministers (e.g. Luke 9:1-2).  Below I will proceed to make a high level case in bullet form for why the role of Timothy in the early church was more apostolic than it was pastoral (not that there isn't overlap between the two).  Some who have a strict criteria for who can be an apostle might get tripped up by me saying that Timothy was an apostle.  I don't want that to be the main stumbling block.  So, if it helps, consider my use of the term "apostle" in association with Timothy as "lower case a" apostle, not "upper case A" Apostle.  Or, if that's still a stumbling block, then just use the term "apostolic worker" rather than "apostle" to describe Timothy.  The main point is functional in that Timothy was primarily a traveling minister, not so much about an office Timothy filled. Timothy traveled wit...