John Calvin Commentary 1 Timothy 5:19

"Against an elder receive not an accusation, except at [the mouth of] two or three witnesses." — 1 Timothy 5:19 (ASV)

Against an elder receive not an accusation. After having commanded that salaries should be paid to pastors, he also instructs Timothy not to allow them to be assailed by slanders, or burdened with any accusation unless it is supported by sufficient proof. But it may be thought strange that he represents, as unique to elders, a law which is common to all. God lays down, authoritatively, this law as applicable to all cases, that they shall be decided by the mouth of two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6; Matthew 18:16). Why then does the Apostle protect elders alone by this privilege, as if it were unique to them, that their innocence shall be defended against false accusations?

I reply, this is a necessary remedy against human malice, for no one is more liable to slanders and malicious accusations than godly teachers. This vulnerability arises not only from the difficulty of their office—which can cause them sometimes to sink under its weight, or stagger, halt, or blunder, thereby giving wicked people many occasions to find fault. But there is also this additional vexation: even when they perform their duty correctly, committing no error whatever, they never escape a thousand censures.

And this is the craftiness of Satan: to draw away people's hearts from ministers, so that instruction may gradually fall into contempt. Thus, not only is wrong done to innocent individuals by having their reputation unjustly wounded (which is exceedingly vile concerning those who hold such an honorable rank), but the authority of God's sacred doctrine is also diminished.

And this is what Satan, as I have said, chiefly labors to accomplish. For not only is Plato's saying true in this instance, that “the multitude are malicious, and envy those who are above them,” but the more earnestly any pastor strives to advance Christ's kingdom, the more he is loaded with envy, and the fiercer are the assaults made on him.

Furthermore, as soon as any charge against ministers of the Word spreads, it is believed as completely as if they were already convicted. This is not merely due to the higher degree of moral excellence demanded from them, but because almost everyone is tempted by Satan to excessive credulity, so that, without making any inquiry, they eagerly condemn their pastors, whose good name they should instead have defended.

On good grounds, therefore, Paul opposes such heinous iniquity and forbids elders from being subjected to the slanders of wicked people until they have been convicted by sufficient proof. Therefore, we need not wonder if those whose duty it is to reprove the faults of all, to oppose the wicked desires of all, and to restrain by their severity everyone they see going astray, have many enemies. What, then, will be the consequence if we listen indiscriminately to all the slanders spread about them?