1 Timothy 5:19

Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.

Against an elder - a presbyter of the church.

But before two or three witnesses. A judicial conviction was not permitted in , except on the testimony of at least two or three witnesses (cf. ; ; ). But Timothy's entertaining an accusation against anyone is a different case, where the object was not judicially to punish, but to admonish (; ). Here he might ordinarily entertain it without the need of more than one witness, as also Moses' law allowed; but not in the case of an elder, since the more earnest an elder was to convince gainsayers (), the more exposed would he be to vexations accusations. How important, then, was it, that Timothy should not, without strong testimony, entertain a charge against presbyters, who should, in order to be efficient, be "blameless!" (; .) "Receive" does not include both citation and conviction, but only the former.