Don't receive an accusation against an elder, except at the word of two or three witnesses.
(1) This was the requirement of the Jewish law in all cases, which had thus settled a principle which the apostle seems to have regarded as important, if not obligatory, under the Christian dispensation; see Deuteronomy 17:6; Deuteronomy 19:15; compare notes on John 8:17; 2 Corinthians 13:1.