The next subject is about erring elders. First, when an elder is accused of wrongdoing, the minimum number of witnesses against the elder should be two people. If this minimum requirement is not met, then the accusation should not be entertained. On elder see verse 17. Never admit (Good News Translation “Do not listen to”) may also be expressed as “Do not accept for judgment any … unless….” Charge is “accusation” (Good News Translation) in the judicial sense; it may refer to the act of accusing or to the actual content of the accusation. On the evidence of two or three witnesses is literally “except on the basis of (or, upon) two or three witnesses.” The need for two or three witnesses to convict a person of a wrongdoing was already established in Old Testament law (for example, Deut 19.15). The Greek does not make good English sense, and even Revised Standard Version has to do more than just translate literally. Witnesses may include the idea of eyewitnesses, but more importantly it refers to people who can testify against the elder during the arraignment, probably before the whole congregation. Another way of expressing except on the evidence of two or three witnesses is “unless two or more people say that they have seen him doing wrong.”

It is not at all clear whether verse 20 refers to elders or to the whole congregation. Some take those in a more general sense, thus making the subject of the verse all members of the congregation who commit sin. Others, however, take the present verse as related to verse 19, in which case those refers to elders. This second alternative is favored by the fact that the elders have just been described in verse 19. Who persist in sin correctly translates a present tense verb, which means that these people continue to commit sin. A distinction seems to be made between those who err and then mend their ways, and those who continue committing sin despite the fact that they have been judged guilty. It does seem that, in the first trial before the congregation, there is no public rebuke, but if afterward these people continue to commit wrongdoing, it is at that time that they are rebuked publicly. Those who persist in sin may be expressed as “those who do not stop sinning,” or if a translator feels that elders are being referred to, one may translate “those elders who….” Rebuke is to reproach, to reprimand, to censure, and to admonish someone with regard to some wrongdoing. Publicly is literally “before all,” that is, in front of the whole congregation.

The purpose of such public reprimand is so that the rest may stand in fear. The rest refers to the remaining part of a whole. The interpretation of the rest depends a great deal on the identity of the sinners in the first part of the verse. If the sinners are identified as elders, then the rest would be elders as well. If, however, sinners are identified as members of the congregation, then the rest would also be members of the congregation. A third way of looking at this is to identify the sinners as elders, but since the elders are members of the congregation as well, it is then possible to take the rest to refer to the congregation, but not including the erring elders.

To stand in fear is to become so afraid as to be turned away from committing sin and thus not suffer the consequence of being publicly disgraced.

Alternative translation models for verses 19-20 are:
• Do not accept an accusation against a church leader for judging unless two or more people say that they have seen him doing wrong. You must reprimand (or, rebuke) in front of all the believers those people who commit sins, so that the rest of the believers may be afraid.

Or:
• … You must reprimand in front of all the believers those elders (or, church leaders) who commit sins, so that the rest of the believers may be afraid.

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .