Something we used to debate about in the Brethren Assemblies I grew up in was whether the early Christian leaders received a ‘stipend’.

When the New English Bible translation came out (my late teens) there was this astonishing version of  1 Tim 5:17:  ‘Elders who do well as leaders should be reckoned worthy of a double stipend, in particular those who labour at teaching and preaching.’

An interesting article in the journal Expository Times – ‘Did “Officials” in the New Testament Church receive a Salary?’ (Prof. J. Andrew Kirk, Union Seminary, Buenos Aires, Argentina), date unknown (but you can find it with the help of Google) – argues that ‘In the local church the elders should, not as a matter of duty but as an expression of thanksgiving, be rewarded in kind according to the work they put into overseeing the congregation. This never extended, however, to a regular formal stipend for the exercise of a full-time ministry in the church… The NEB translation and many commentators have been influenced more by contemporary practice than by sound exegetical methodology.’

Phew!

(BTW the NT texts the good professor tosses into the mix are pretty wide-ranging: read these, and see what you think:  1 Co 9:13-14, Mt 10:10, Lk 10:7, 1 Tm 5:18, Ga 6:8, 1 Th 2:5-8, 5:12, Ph 4:15-19, 2 Th 3:7-8,  and there were many more…).

Rowland Croucher

September 2011