1 TIMOTHY 5:19 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.”
Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses — the high evidentiary standard (duo kai treis martyres) protecting elders mirrors Deuteronomy 19:15, recognizing both the seriousness of accusations and the power differential. Justice requires corroboration.
Church Fathers on 1 Timothy 5:19
May we then receive an accusation against a younger man, or against any one at all without witnesses? Ought we not in all cases to come to our judgments with the greatest exactness? What then does he mean? Do not so, he means, with any, but especially in the case of an elder. For he speaks of an elder not with respect to office, but to age, since the young more easily fall into sin than their elders. And it is manifest from hence that the Church, and even the whole people of…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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