Yes, clergy deserve a wage

11/30/2024 • View profile

I kept having 1 Timothy 15:18 in my mind. We need to talk about that, and the context, I suppose.

Some people think that clergy shouldn’t make money. I disagree. So does the Bible.

However, this does not mean that I think clergy should be flying around in private jets (I’m hugely critical of the “health and wealth” gospel.

Before we get started, check this out, Coffee and Christianity: Episode 64: We need to talk about the Bible canon, and my previous article; The heavens rejoice over your repentance

Now, why do I think this verse is about clergy?

Same thing I always say when I talk about the Bible, verses need to be read in context.

So, what’s the context?

Well, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain, and “The laborer deserves his wages”. (1 Timothy 5:17-18)

Well, how do we know it’s about clergy? “Preaching and teaching didn’t give it away?

Okay, let’s read some more, “Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses”. (1 Timothy 5:19).

You can figure out it’s about clergy based on the context. Elder here could just as easily be translated to “presbyter”. (I’ve never understood why modern Bibles insist on translating it as “Elder”, 1 Timothy 5:17, 1 Timothy 5:19).

Anyway, so, it’s fine to make money if you’re a clergyman.

What’s not fine, is using that money is dishonest ways. I don’t know if Joel Osteen and the people who work for his church are telling the truth in this, but it seems like, well, that they aren’t. Joel Osteen’s Houston church had $600K inside wall from 2014 robbery, plumber claims

Clergy still have to pay for groceries. Clergy still need gas. Although it’s really common (also inaccurate and annoying), for some Catholics to refer to church buildings as “parishes”, this is not quite right. A church is in a parish, it is not the parish itself.

And some priests have very large parishes, where they have to go very far away for people to even have Mass. From their house to a chapel in a remote area, can be hundreds of miles.

Clergy need to have a wage for very practical reasons.

And, again, I’m not saying people don’t abuse how they use that money. Some people very much do.

But to say those brining the gospel to even the very ends of the earth, don’t deserve to be paid, I think, is absurd.

Adam Charles Hovey is the founder of the Catholicism, news, and whatever community, and the host of the weekly Bible study, Coffee and Christianity

*All verses from the English Standard Version, Catholic Edition.