A Question of Payment
1 Timothy 5:17-22
Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.…


When addressing a body of working men, Bishop Wilberforce speaking of the nobility of true work, said, "Though I am addressing an audience of working men, I may claim to be a working man myself, for I work as hard as any man here present." A voice called out from the middle of the room, "But how about the pay? "A burst of general laughter followed, which was, with some little difficulty, hushed down by those who thought that the bishop would be offended. But not a cloud passed across his face. His eye twinkled as he joined himself in the general merriment, and then, when silence was restored, without a moment's hesitation, and the smile still playing upon his face, he said, "My friend asks, how about the pay? I will tell him at once. You see I am paid the same whether I work or whether I don't." His audience saw at once the significance of his words: Work done for its own sake, not for greed or necessity. And the rafters of the roof above us rang again and again with their cheers.

(Memoirs of Bp. S. Wilberforce.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

WEB: Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.




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