Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.
Against an elder - a presbyter of the church.
But before two or three witnesses. A judicial conviction was not permitted in Deuteronomy 19:15, except on the testimony of at least two or three witnesses (cf. Matthew 18:16; John 8:17; 2 Corinthians 13:1). But Timothy's entertaining an accusation against anyone is a different case, where the object was not judicially to punish, but to admonish (1 Timothy 5:21; 1 Timothy 5:24). Here he might ordinarily entertain it without the need of more than one witness, as also Moses' law allowed; but not in the case of an elder, since the more earnest an elder was to convince gainsayers (Titus 1:9), the more exposed would he be to vexations accusations. How important, then, was it, that Timothy should not, without strong testimony, entertain a charge against presbyters, who should, in order to be efficient, be "blameless!" (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:6.) "Receive" does not include both citation and conviction, but only the former.