On muzzling oxen

"For the Scripture says, 'You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain," and 'the laborer deserves his wages'" (1 Timothy 5:18).

Paul cites this, rather casually, as his biblical justification for why elders in the church should be paid well. I am all for elders being paid well, with or without this verse from Deuteronomy 25:4 as backup. But what interests me here is something else. It is the way Paul makes short work of the last hundred years of rigorous grammatical-historical analysis by ignoring context and making a direct application from Old Testament rules about the care of animals to New Testament care of pastors.

Now you might say, "Well, Paul is an Apostle, God just short-circuited the usual procedures with him and gave him a new and authoritative interpretation of this verse-which is alright for an Apostle but not for you and me." Or alternatively you may say, "Well, Paul probably did do his exegetical spade work beforehand, and is just cutting to the conclusion."

Maybe one or both of these understandings are right. But just maybe the lesson here is that even Joe Shmoes like us are allowed and invited to read the Old Testament with our average intelligences and be led by the Spirit to understand and apply it to our lives. Maybe the Old Testament shouldn't be so scary to us that many people avoid it.

This would be wonderful, n'est-ce pas? Then the women I know who would like to embrace the verse, "For your Maker is your husband" (Isaiah 54:5) would be able to feel good about it, and not ashamed that they have not learned the rules enough to be justified.

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