Financial Support for Retired and Disabled Evangelists

It has been established that men who are engaged in doing the work of an evangelist may be provided with wages in order to do that work. 1 Cor. 9:1-14 clearly makes this point. But what about evangelists who, due to some physical or mental disability or retirement, are no longer able to engage in this work? Does 1 Cor. 9:1-14 authorize the continuance of some sort of financial support under such circumstances?

In attempting to answer these questions there are a couple of things we will make a conscious effort to avoid: (1) Overextending the analogies and examples in 1 Cor. 9:1-14. We are quit aware that there is just so much that an example is intended to teach and that analogies can be stretched beyond their primary, intended use and be misapplied. (2) The use of human and emotional reasoning. It would be very easy to point to specific cases which are emotional in nature and try to argue from them that some sort of support ought to be continued. But the scriptures and the scriptures alone must be our source of authority. Thus, let’s go back to 1 Cor. 9:1-14 and use it as an outline to see what, if anything, we can learn from the text that will help us answer the questions before us.

I-Paul’s rights, vss. 3-6---Basically Paul argues that his receiving wages from churches is something he is entitled to.

II-The bases of Paul’s rights, vss. 7-14

A-The manner of men, vss. 7-8---Soldiers don’t serve at their own charges, vineyard planters eat of the fruit of the vineyard, and those who tend flocks eat of the milk of those flocks. This is what is done “after the manner of men” and are the things these men are entitled to. Since Paul’s point in the context is to establish the right of preachers to be financially supported, and he uses examples from the manner of men to make that point, is it over-extending the analogies to ask what happens when those in the examples are disabled or retired? Do they lose their right to receive some sort of financial support? Is this what is done “after the manner of men”?

B-The law of Moses, vss. 9-13---The law said not to muzzle the ox when he treads the corn. Would it be proper to ask whether it would have been proper to put the muzzle on when the ox ceased to tread the corn? However, it is the second example from the law that is of particular interest because of how Paul ties it directly to the support of evangelists today. Is there anything in the law to indicate what was done for the priests and Levites when they retired or became disabled? We submit five matters for your consideration.

1-Cor. 9:13---The priests and Levites were to eat of the things of the temple and have their portion with the altar. But was this their right only while they were actively engaged in ministering about sacred things and waiting upon the altar? We will answer this beginning with point “3” below.

2-Numbers 18:8-24; 26:2, 51, 62; 2 Chronicles 31:5-10---All these passages were dealt with in a previous article in this series to illustrate that the support of the priests and Levites was to be quite generous: perhaps as much as two and one-half times more than  the average Israelite received.

3-Numbers 8:24-26---"This is what applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall enter to perform service in the work of the tent of meeting. 25 But at the age of fifty years they shall retire from service in the work and not work any more. 26 They may, however, assist their brothers in the tent of meeting, to keep an obligation; but they themselves shall do no work. Thus you shall deal with the Levites concerning their obligations." And what was to be the attitude of the Jew regarding what these men had a right to receive, materially, after retirement? Read on.

4-Deuteronomy 12:19; 14:27---“Be careful that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land” and “Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is in your town, for he has no portion or inheritance among you”. These statements are quite general and seem to make it clear that no Levite was to be forsaken. This would not only include those who had reached the “mandatory retirement age” but those also that perhaps were disabled, the language being broad enough cover all Levites. That none whatsoever were to be excluded is made even clearer in the next verses we want to examine.

5-Numbers 18:10,11,13---10 As the most holy gifts you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you. 11 This also is yours, the offering  of their gift, even all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel; I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual allotment. Everyone of your household who is clean may eat it…13 The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the LORD ,shall be yours; everyone of your household who is clean may eat it. Notice the phrases “every male” and “everyone of your household.” These statements, along with those already noted, seem to remove all doubt: all the Levites, including the retired and disabled ones, were not to be excluded from the benefits that were intended by God to be generously provided to those of this tribe.

 C-The Lord, vs. 14---Can we conclude anything from all of this concerning what the Lord ordains be done today on behalf of evangelists? The words “even so” indicate that some sort of parallel is being made between the way it was done with the priests and Levites and the way God orders that it be done with evangelists today. I believe we are justified to take whatever information we can gather from the Old Testament about the support of the priests and Levites and use that as a general principle in determining things about the support of preachers in our day.

In the previous articles on the financial support of evangelists we used a number of Old Testament passages to illustrate the liberal way in which God intended that the priests and Levites be supported under the Levitical system. The “even so” of 1 Cor. 9:14 justifies our making that general principle something to use today.

In this article we have done precisely the same thing except with another aspect of the same subject. We have used a number of Old Testament passages to illustrate the fact that priests and Levites continued to be provided for after retirement or if disabled. The “even so” of 1 Cor. 9:14 justifies our making that general principle something to use today.

If our reasoning was valid in establishing the liberality of their support, it would seem to be so in establishing the continuance of that support upon retirement or disability for we have used the same procedure in establishing the latter that we used in establishing the former 

Conclusion

Just as we don’t maintain that the wages of evangelists today must be two and one-half times that of the average member of the congregation just because this is roughly what was  true under the Levitical system, we are not trying to suggest any sort of literal over-extension of the analogy when it comes to providing financial support for retired or disabled preachers. We are simply suggesting that 1 Cor. 9:1-14 and related OT passages give us the general authority we need to provide this sort of support under these conditions. Judgment will have to be used and a number of factors taken into consideration when trying to decide if, how long, or how much an evangelists will be supported.

The ideal situation, of course, is for (1) churches to provide the preacher with a wage, based upon the principles discussed in the passages cited in this articles, that is generous enough for him to have adequate insurance and retirement plans, and (2) for preachers to be wise in the use of such wages and make prudent provisions. Unfortunately, however, the ideal situation doesn’t always exist, for one reason or another. In such cases, there seems to this writer general authority to make the kinds of provisions suggested in this article.

David Smitherman