<p>5:17- see on Mt. 7:24.</p><p><em>Let the elders that rule well</em>- There were some Ephesian elders that did &quot;rule well&quot;, despite all the problems in the church which we have pointed out. And &quot;the angel of the church at Ephesus&quot; was commended by the Lord for stamping out false teaching and excelling in works. Although it was the loss of <em>agape</em> love which was their downfall in the end. We recall Paul's last meeting with the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, where he glumly warned them that of their own selves, men would arise destroying the flock at Ephesus; and urged attention to God's word in view of this. I see that warning in the same way as I see God's inspired message that in 40 day, Nineveh would be destroyed. But these expressions of future doom of themselves invite repentance and spiritual effort, which God rewards and takes deep notice of, to the extent that the threatened catastrophes either don't happen or are delayed. And the existence of an acceptable church in Ephesus by the time of Rev. 2 is a proof case of this. The command to appoint faithful elders and pass on the baton to them (2 Tim. 2:2) was therefore fulfilled well by Timothy.</p><p><em>Be counted worthy of double honour</em>- If this has some financial reference (:18 &quot;wages&quot;, and see the parallel in 1 Cor. 9:8-10 which is in a financial context), then we should connect it with the preceding comment that the money spent on the fraudulent widows' welfare fund was a 'burden' on the church (:16). Paul states plainly enough that he is not against a paid ministry although he didn't use it himself. But this verse would appear to be saying that Timothy decided what was paid to whom, and there seems the surprising idea of payment according to spiritual integrity. We would rather have expected payment to be simply according to basic living needs, but he does appear here to go beyond that. Presumably his idea was not to offer a financial carrot towards spirituality, but to demonstrate that good service to the Lord was to be recognized and rewarded by the congregation. I am uncomfortable with that conclusion but I find it hard to see any other consistent interpretation.&nbsp;The only alternative I can think of is that the &quot;double honour&quot; may be referent to the money paid to widows- those elders who ruled well were to get double what they were being given. But still the problem remains that it was because of the 'wellness' of their work that they were to be rewarded; and &quot;honour&quot; is not completely relevant to the widows. And see on :18 <em>The labourer is worthy of his wages.</em></p><p><em>Especially those who labour in the word and in teaching</em>- A reference to Bible study and then teaching the results of that study. Teaching is therefore not entertainment, re-casting secular stories or wisdom in spiritual terms accessible to the congregation; it is to be preceded by study of the word itself. The idea may be that the labour of the elders was not in secular life, but their work in study and teaching was equal to that of secular employment. The Lord commends the &quot;Angel&quot; at Ephesus, presumably referring to the eldership, for &quot;labouring&quot; (Rev. 2:3 s.w.).</p>