---
title: 1 Timothy 5:17
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-timothy-5-17/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-timothy-5-17.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 1 Timothy 5:17
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 1 Timothy 5:17

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Elders who lead effectively are worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

## JW Usage

The Watchtower cites 1 Timothy 5:17 to affirm its body-of-elders structure at the local Kingdom Hall — "the elders who preside in a fine way" maps naturally onto a JW elder body, and the honouring of teaching elders lines up with how circuit overseers and study conductors are treated. The verse also tacitly supports the wider hierarchy: if elders "preside," then (on the Watchtower reading) presiding authority transmits upward to circuit overseers, branch committees, and ultimately the Governing Body as the top "presiding" body over the global congregation.

## Protestant Usage

The word is plural — "elders" — and the next move should be to count elders everywhere Paul sets up leadership: Acts 14:23 (elders "in each congregation"), Titus 1:5 (elders "in city after city"), Acts 20:17-28 (the Ephesian overseers, always plural), 1 Peter 5:1 (Peter calls himself "a fellow elder," not a chief shepherd). In every New Testament church, leadership is a local plurality, not a monarchical or regional office.
The kind, specific question on the doorstep: "I see in 1 Timothy 5:17 that elders — plural — preside in a fine way. Can you show me a New Testament verse that authorises any layer *above* the local body of elders? Circuit overseers, branch committees, a Governing Body — where does the Bible build those layers?" The verse that sets the structure only sets one layer: local elders under the chief shepherd Christ (1 Peter 5:4). Everything stacked above that in the Watchtower structure is human invention, not scripture.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Plural Eldership — The Bible's Distributed Leadership Model](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/plural-eldership.md) — Acts 14:23 / Titus 1:5 / 1 Timothy 5:17 — Elders, never one Elder [Authority]