Last month I (Elder Robin Eckhardt) promised to write on the subject of what our Confession says about the church’s responsibility for supporting the full-time elder (Chapter 26, paragraph 10). In my research I found Professor Waldron’s article and thought I could not possibly write anything clearer or as concise. I give you Professor Waldron commentary on this section of the Confession:
“The thrust of paragraph 10 (of Chapter 26) is the material support of elders in the local church. Thus I want to isolate and concentrate attention on that subject. Such concentrated attention is, perhaps, especially warranted because only this paragraph of the chapter appears to have no pattern in any of the previous confessions from which the authors drew. There are, of course, not a few who have denied that an elder in the local church ought to be supported regularly. Since such a view can have devastating results for the church, it is important to focus our attention on this point. The biblical evidence is mainly to be found in three classis passages.
1 Timothy 5:17-18 describes material support as ‘honor’. What is double honor? Honor means here financial support! Honor in the New Testament frequently designates something of material value (Matt 27:6-9; Acts 4:34; 5:2-3; 7:16). Honor is used of material support in the immediate context of 1 Timothy 5:17-18. 1 Timothy 5:18 supports the statement of verse 17 (note the ‘for’) with verses used elsewhere in the New Testament to describe material support (1 Cor. 9:9; Matt. 10:10; Luke 10:7). What, then, is double honor? Two clues unlock the meaning of this unusual phrase. The first is the use of honor in verse 3. Note the connection with verse 17. Widows are to be honored (financially). Elders are to be doubly honored (financially). The second clue is the use of ‘double’ in the New Testament (Rev. 18:6; Matt. 23:15). Double is used figuratively to indicate amplitude or great extent. Double honor, then, is ample material or financial support.
Who are to be doubly honored? The answer is clearly elders who rule well, but especially those who labor in the word and teaching, the public ministry of the Word. Paul’s thought may be illustrated by means of two concentric circles. The outer circle encompasses all elders who rule well. The inner circle encompasses those elders who (are gifted to) ‘work hard at preaching and teaching’. Financial support must be focused in the inner circle and radiate outwards as the necessity and ability of the church makes this appropriate.
Galatians 6:6 describes material support as ‘sharing’. Two questions again must be put to this text. What is to be shared? ‘All good things.’ The ‘good things’ of verse 10 are clearly material blessings. The emphasis on ‘all good things’ designates an open-hearted generosity.
With whom are they to be shared? They are to be shared with the one who teaches the Word. The word translated ‘teach’ in this verse is the one from the which the English word ‘catechize’ is derived. It designates formal, regular, or systematic instruction (Romans 2:18).
The consequences of the duty stated in Galatians 6:6 must be emphasized. There are great spiritual consequences, for better or worse, depending on the performance of this duty (Galatians 6:7-9). The wicked and oppressive failure of most evangelical churches to support their pastors amply is at the root of much of the dearth and curse which is upon the professing church of Jesus Christ. Those who highly value the labor of the servant of God will find themselves blessed with highly valuable labor.
1 Corinthians 9:14 describes material support as ‘a living’. Two questions again enable us to understand its significance. Who should have a living? The one who preaches (solemnly proclaims) the gospel. What is to be earned? ‘A living’ or ‘livelihood’. This designates such a sufficiency of the world’s goods as to have a decent life, as opposed to such an insufficiency as makes life a slow death.
Other data may be found in Matthew 10:10; Luke 10:7; Philippians 4:10-20; 2 Timothy 2:4-6. Gospel ministers should be so supported as not to be necessarily entangled or distracted by worldly needs. 1 Peter 5:2 shows that the early church was marked by the custom of so comfortably supporting their teachers as to open the possibility that some should rule for the sake of sordid gain (1 Timothy 6:5).
A number of important conclusions may be drawn from this biblical data. The first is that certain elders in the local church are to be supported materially. No hair-splitting distinctions are to be found in these passages. The Bible does not fastidiously restrict support only to some rare class of teachers or itinerant missionaries. Its wording is broad. 1 Corinthians 9:14 speaks of ‘those who proclaim the gospel’. Galatians 6:6 speaks of ‘him who [regularly] teaches’. 1 Timothy 5:17 speaks of ‘the elders who rule well … especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching’. The second conclusion is that the focus of material support should be upon those elders who excel in the public ministry of the Word. This again underscores the pre-eminence of the Word in the church. The third conclusion is that the extent of material support given to such elders by the church ought to be generous and ample. It ought to be ‘a living’, ‘all good things’, and ‘double honor’ (1 Cor. 9:14; Gal. 6:6; 1 Tim. 5:17). The Confession’s language is admirable. Churches are ‘to communicate to them of all their good things, according to their ability, so as they may have a comfortable supply, without being themselves entangled in secular affairs, and may also be capable of exercising hospitality toward others’.”
Professor Waldron, S. E. A Modern Exposition of the 1689. England: Evangelical Press, 1989
