Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning. (1 Timothy 5:19-20)

The details of this story elude me, but I think I have the gist of it. Some church members saw their preacher enter a bar and became upset about it. Those of you who are accustomed to using “everything God created is good” to justify all your activities and associations might not understand this, since you do things like this all the time and can perceive nothing amiss here. But some of us also believe with Paul that “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not” (1 Corinthians 10:23, KJV). Nevertheless, these church members were beyond curious, and assumed that the preacher was up to no good. Later it was discovered that the preacher entered the establishment with a guitar, went on the stage and sang a few gospel songs. His performance so moved the audience that some professed faith in Christ, and some were drawn back to the faith from their apostasy. Jesus taught us to judge not according to the appearance, but to make a righteous judgment (John 7:24). Some people think that they are God’s watchdogs, but they are just busybodies who judge others’ good works by their own evil intentions.

Christians love scandals. They love to find out about them and to talk about them. Rather than being students of the word of God, they enjoy becoming experts on who has said or done what to whom. Of course they lament the scandals, the false doctrines, and the moral failures of others. And how much they enjoy the lament! What an emotional outlet! What a marvelous way to express righteous indignation! What a shortcut to a feeling of sainthood! There must be a profitable market for Christian gossip tabloids. I am out of touch with the talebearers club – maybe they already exist, at least in the form of web sites.

Christians love scandals, because they are bored with the gospel, and because they prefer to achieve a sense of righteousness by looking at the failures of others than to trust in Jesus Christ and to obey his commandments. Some of them publish books and web sites that are almost entirely dedicated to reporting current scandals and to dispensing their opinions about them. And they call that doing apologetics. It does not matter whether the scandals pertain to religion and doctrine, politics, economics, education, history, or science – they love them all. Nothing excites them more than a new heresy, or the downfall of a religious or political figure. They enjoy nothing more than to discuss how another person has blasphemed the Lord, and how another new trend seeks to subvert his influence.

Then, Christians love to forgive those who are involved in scandals, and they love to make a big display of their forgiveness. Their favorite saying is, “He that is without sin, let him cast the first stone.” And by this they mean the same thing as when non-Christians say, “Nobody is perfect.” Wait, do Christians say this more, or non-Christians? Christians preach what non-Christians say so often and with so much conviction that it is hard to tell whether silly slogans like these should be attributed to one or the other. In any case, forgiving a scandal on this basis makes Christians feel very magnanimous, and they can hardly wait until the next scandal breaks out so they can forgive that one also. This is admittedly a generalization. Many Christians who enjoy scandals are happy enough without the forgiveness part.

Of course, we can say that these are bad Christians. And if so, there is a superabundance of very bad Christians. The Bible’s teaching on the subject represents the opposite of these two tendencies. It tells us to hate scandals and to shun gossip. As long as something is mere hearsay, I do not want to hear about it. It is none of my business. I am not interested in it. However, an accusation that is supported by multiple witnesses is another matter. If it is discovered that a church leader is in sin, whether we are referring to heresy, adultery, or some other misconduct, we are not to shrug it off and call that forgiveness. The Bible commands us to publicly expose and rebuke this person, to make an example of him in a way that others may fear the same treatment. We are to demand his repentance, and in many cases, the person should be removed from office.

Verse 19 says, “Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses.” This does not mean that an accusation brought by two or three witnesses is necessarily true. It is possible that the witnesses are dishonest or incompetent. The point is that unless an accusation is brought by at least two witnesses, “do not entertain” it. This is to protect the accused from unjust and frivolous complaints. No person should have his reputation damaged or his work derailed by a baseless accusation. This safeguard is especially important for church leaders, since their work often makes them the target of people’s jealous and malicious attacks. The principle is an application of Deuteronomy 19:15-21. There it is said that “the judges must make a thorough investigation.” So a mere accusation is not sufficient to convict a man, but an accusation that seems to have some basis is sufficient to demand an investigation.

The passage also provides a principle on how to deal with a false witness: “If the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against his brother, then do to him as he intended to do to his brother. You must purge the evil from among you. The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” God looks upon perjury or slander with extreme disapproval, especially a false testimony with the potential to harm another person. As it is said in the Ten Commandments, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” The church must not only take plausible accusations seriously, but it must also share God’s hatred for false testimony.

The prescription is to “do to him as he intended to do to his brother” and to “purge the evil from among you.” In our context, if it is discovered that a church member has offered false testimony against a leader, with the intend to embarrass him, to damage his reputation, undermine his influence, or even remove him from office, then the public rebuke and discipline that would have applied to the leader should now be applied to the false witness. The church should launch an investigation against this witness, and if it is confirmed that he has offered false testimony, the church should denounce him in public, and demand him to repent and to make any appropriate restitution to set things right, including a public apology to the accused and a public statement of clarification to the congregation. If it is ascertained that he has deliberately offered false testimony, he should be removed from any church office that he holds, and stripped of all authority and influence in the church. Unless full repentance and restitution are offered, he is an evil that must be purged from the Christian community – he should be excommunicated.

Now, any church leader who is evil enough to warrant dismissal, and any church member who is evil enough to slander an innocent leader, is probably also evil enough to sue the church for enforcing the biblical instruction to publicly expose the offender. Many church members value their dignity far more than the commandments of God and the welfare of the church. This is because there are too many false believers in our congregations. Indeed, lawsuits arising from church discipline are not unheard of. Therefore, it would be wise for a church to consult with an attorney as to how it can remain protected as it implements biblical policies. Many of these policies should be stated in the church bylaws that officers and members are required to sign before they are accepted into their positions.