Above Reproach: The First Requirement for Christian Leaders

As low-bar as “above reproach” may sound in some ears, with just a little reflection we can discover some of the wisdom in it. This banner qualification is not merely “innocent” or “righteous” or “acquitted,” but “above reproach.” We are looking for men above being reasonably charged with wrong in the first place. The term means, writes commentator George Knight, “not open to attack or criticism” ( The Pastoral Epistles, 155); “he is not objectively chargeable” (156). He’s not one who makes a practice of dancing around the fine line of righteous reproach.

Whether a man is technically innocent (or not) is not the entirety of the issue for church leadership. He might be unnecessarily controversial in a way that betrays immaturity or lack of wisdom. We want a pastor to be not only forensically righteous but also “the kind of man whom no one suspects of wrongdoing or immorality” (Anyabwile, 57).

But how much suspicion? How must controversy is counterproductive? Rather than pronouncing a universal ruling on it, better to leave such a question to the local team of elders to discern. They are best positioned to ask of each potential officer,

• Is he regularly the subject of charges, whether justly so or not, due to his own lack of discretion? It’s one thing to speak the truth and stand your ground. It’s another to use the truth to satisfy your own lust to be controversial.

• Will having him as a pastor-elder prove a regular distraction to the church? If he is frequently called into question, not strictly because of the truth but due to his way of presenting it, or living it, perhaps he needs more time to live faithfully and build a new reputation before encumbering the church with his lapses. A man may be technically righteous and yet of such a reputation that it would be counterproductive to have him in church office.

Note also, it’s one thing to consider a man who is already controversial for eldership. It’s another when a man becomes controversial in the course of his calling while faithfully teaching controversial truths. In the former, wise pluralities may be slow to bring him into office, while in the latter being quick to stand by him.