²²Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.

Laying on of hands, as noted previously, was symbolic of affirming and empowering an individual for ministry. In this case, we infer that Paul has in mind appointing someone to leadership responsibility. This appointment should not be done without proper evaluation and screening. This teaching follows the serious charge about rebuking sinning elders and avoiding partiality. One can imagine Timothy being tempted to quickly appoint someone to be an elder who is either not qualified or has not yet had sufficient time to mature to the required level of spiritual leadership. Youthful exuberance and impatience may play into this being necessary for Timothy to hear, but it may also indicate a relative newness to the role of recognizing others for leadership.

This instruction is somewhat ironic in that Paul, on his first mission tour, appointed elders in new churches where the believers were spiritually not much older than a few months (see Acts 14:23). The qualifications for elders, though, as Paul outlines them in 1 Timothy 3, require some time to develop.

This dichotomy could be explained in a variety of ways. For example, church planting may require a quicker identification of leadership than that of established churches like Ephesus. Also, the infant churches on Paul’s first mission tour would have included converted Jews, not saved out of a pagan background. They would not have been complete novices to God and to biblical principles. However, the principle still stands: one should not appoint someone to leadership without proper vetting and time for spiritual growth.

An elder, Paul states unequivocally, must not be “a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil” (1 Tim. 3:6). Irreparable harm has come to many churches that gave leadership responsibilities to individuals who were ill-prepared or ill-qualified. That is destructive to both the individual and the whole body of Christ.

The responsibility for leadership failure does not only lie with the individual, but must be shared by those who “hastily” appointed that person. They become partakers of the sin. It is better to have too few elders than to add men who are unqualified or unprepared. Nowhere does Paul caution against having too few, but he does warn against having unqualified men. We need to resist the urgency for the expedient, fueled by youthful impatience. Shepherding of the local church is just too important to take this instruction lightly. It is a solemn charge before God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His chosen angels!

Lord, please raise up more godly, mature men to be elders of Your church.