Bringing honor back
into focus, and remembering that the activity of the church is designed to
ultimately increase Jesus’ honor in the court of public opinion (honoring the
man that suffered what was then known as the greatest shame, which is a truly
radical notion), Paul can now be heard to say “Elders who provide effective
leadership must be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who work
hard in speaking and teaching. For the Scripture says, ‘Do not muzzle an
ox while it is treading out the grain,’ and ‘The worker deserves his pay.’” (1
Timothy 5:17-18)
It does not seem
unreasonable to propose that Paul has himself in view here in this section of
the letter. One could surmise that Paul is answering accusations that
have been leveled against him, as self-defense is a semi-regular feature of the
Pauline library. Most assuredly, the quotation from the twenty-fifth
chapter of Deuteronomy, in regards to the ox, is not Paul finding a proof-text
in regards to being paid for his teaching, with pay becoming equivalent to
“double honor,” nor should it be construed as such. Rather, the entire
section from Deuteronomy must be considered, and the context on offer is that
of adjudication.
There one reads “If
controversy arises between people, they should go to court for judgment.
When the judges hear the case, they shall exonerate the innocent but condemn
the guilty. Then, if the guilty person is sentenced to be a beating, the
judge shall force him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number
of blows his wicked behavior deserves. The judge may sentence him to
forty blows, but no more. If he is struck with more than these, you might
view your fellow Israelite with contempt. You must not muzzle your ox
when it is treading grain” (Deuteronomy 25:1-4). So the statement about
the ox is connected to controversy, judgment, exoneration, sentencing, and the
carrying out of a sentence. If Paul is indeed referencing himself as the
elder who provides effective leadership, then he is also demanding the double
honor of just treatment. Why should he receive anything less?
Though he is willing to suffer for his children, he will not be subject to
unfounded accusations.
At the same time, it
should be well understood that Paul does not demand honor for himself,
especially considering the fact that he writes things like “I was formerly a
blasphemer and a persecutor, and an arrogant man” (1:13a), while also referring
to himself as the worst of sinners (1:15,16). He is happy to shame
himself, with this self-shaming serving as a functional groundwork for what is
to come, but he is not about to put up with slander and attacks, which, if Paul
is to be viewed as the elder, seems to be implied.
Perfectly in line
with the Deuteronomy reference, and in another Deuteronomy quotation, Paul goes
on to write “Do not accept an accusation against an elder unless it can be
confirmed by two or three witnesses” (5:19). Of course, the
possibility continues to exist that the elder is not, in fact, Paul referring
to himself in the abstract, and that there is another problem in the church,
which also runs back to the idea that this is not to be viewed firstly as words
that establish church doctrine, but as words to be understood inside a
historical and cultural situation that can, after appropriate processing, be
applied as an operative principle for the church at large.
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