1 Thessalonians 5:12-13: Honoring Those Who Labor Among You
Short answer: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 says, "But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you," and it goes on to call the church to esteem such workers highly in love because of their work. The passage names three things about spiritual leaders: they labor, they have God-given responsibility over the flock, and they admonish. The congregation's response is not passive admiration but active, knowing regard, joined with a settled peace among themselves.
What 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 actually says
The verses sit at the close of a letter full of instructions for a young church. Paul has just told the Thessalonians to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in everything. Then he turns to their life together and addresses how they treat the people who serve them. The verb rendered to know is not mere acquaintance. It means to recognize, to acknowledge, to give due regard. The church is to look at its laborers and actually see them, not take them for granted. That is the first move of the passage, and everything else follows from it.
Paul then describes these workers with three participles. They labor among you, which speaks of exertion and cost. They are over you in the Lord, which speaks of appointed responsibility, not self-promotion. They admonish you, which speaks of correction and instruction, often unwelcome work. Notice that all three descriptions are things the leaders do, and all three are things that make them easy to resent rather than honor. Labor is tiring, authority is inconvenient, admonition stings. Paul names them anyway and calls the church to respond rightly.
The word for labor is not a ceremonial term. It describes toil, the kind that leaves a person spent. Anyone who has taught a class, visited the sick, prepared a sermon, or sat with a grieving family knows the weight of it. Paul does not romanticize this work or pretend it is effortless. He assumes the church can see it if they look. The command to know is therefore an invitation to attention. Before a church can honor its leaders, it must first notice what they actually do, week in and week out, often unseen.
It is worth pausing on the phrase in the Lord. The responsibility Paul describes is not raw human authority. It is delegated and bounded. These leaders are over the church in the Lord, which means their authority runs only as far as his word and his purposes. That single phrase protects both sides. It protects the church from leaders who would rule by personality or coercion, and it protects leaders from the impossible burden of commanding what God has not commanded. Their standing rests on their commission, not on their charisma.
The labor is real work, not a title
Paul's first description is that these people labor. That word choice matters because titles can outlive work. A man may hold an office and stop doing the thing the office exists for. Paul does not say to know those who hold positions among you. He says to know those who labor. The emphasis falls on the activity. This is consistent with the rest of Scripture. In 1 Timothy 5:17-18, Paul writes, "Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching." Note again the verb: labor, and specifically labor in word and teaching.
The labor Paul has in view is not only public. Much of it is hidden. A teacher studies for hours to prepare a lesson that lasts forty minutes. A shepherd prays through a list of names no one else sees. Someone answers a late-night call and loses sleep. None of this appears on a schedule. A congregation that only knows what happens in a service will miss most of what its leaders actually carry. The command to know is therefore a call to informed gratitude, not vague appreciation.
This also guards the church from a consumer mindset. If leaders are simply providers of religious services, then the congregation is a customer base, and the only question is whether the product satisfies. Paul refuses that frame. He describes a relationship of mutual obligation within one body. The leaders labor; the church knows and esteems. Peter strikes the same balance when he addresses elders directly. In 1 Peter 5:1-4 he exhorts them to shepherd the flock willingly and not for shameful gain, which implies that the temptation to treat ministry as a career is real and must be resisted.
There is a practical dimension here. Churches should ask whether their structures make it possible for leaders to labor in the word and in teaching, or whether they bury them in administration and expectation. A church that wants to honor those who labor must first let them labor at the thing they were called to. When a pastor is consumed by facilities and scheduling, the congregation may still be busy, but the labor Paul commends has been crowded out. Knowing your leaders includes knowing what they are actually spending themselves on.
Being over you in the Lord is a stewardship, not a throne
The second description is that they are over you in the Lord. This language of authority makes modern readers uneasy, and it should be handled carefully rather than softened or exaggerated. The New Testament does speak of leaders who rule, and it also defines that rule in stark contrast to the rulers of the nations. When Peter calls elders to shepherd, he frames the role as oversight exercised willingly, not as domination. Authority in the church is always authority under Christ, exercised for the good of the flock rather than for the status of the leader.
The phrase in the Lord is the hinge. It limits the scope and the manner of the authority. Leaders are over the church in the Lord, which means their leadership has a defined purpose and a defined boundary. They are not over the church in their own name. They cannot command what Christ has not commanded, and they cannot demand obedience in matters where Scripture leaves freedom. A leader who forgets this becomes something the New Testament warns against. A church that forgets this becomes either servile or rebellious, and both are distortions of what Paul describes.
Read alongside Hebrews 13:7, the picture fills out. There the writer says, "Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith." The basis for following leaders is not office alone but the word they speak and the pattern of life they display. That is a sober standard. It means leadership in the church is validated by faithfulness over time, visible in conduct, not merely conferred by a title. The congregation is asked to remember, which is another form of the knowing Paul commands.
Practically, this shapes how a church handles disagreement with its leaders. There will be disagreements, and pretending otherwise helps no one. But the posture Paul describes leaves room for honest conversation without contempt. Knowing those who are over you in the Lord means taking their role seriously enough to speak plainly with them and seriously enough to submit where Scripture is clear. It does not mean treating every leader's preference as divine law. It means recognizing a real stewardship and responding to it as such.
Admonition is a gift the church usually resists
The third description is the hardest to love: they admonish you. To admonish is to warn, to correct, to place truth in front of someone for their good. It is the work most likely to produce resentment. Nobody enjoys being told they are wrong. Yet Paul lists admonition alongside labor and oversight as part of what these leaders do. He treats it as normal, expected, and necessary. A church without admonition is not a healthy church. It is a church where serious problems go unnamed until they become crises.
Scripture consistently treats correction as an expression of love rather than its opposite. A shepherd who never warns is not gentle; he is negligent. The same Paul who commands the church to know its leaders elsewhere instructs those leaders to teach, rebuke, and exhort with patience. That is uncomfortable work, and it is easy for a leader to avoid it. It is equally easy for a congregation to punish the leader who does it. Paul's instruction here assumes the church will receive admonition as part of the leaders' labor, not as an affront to be resented.
This cuts both ways, and honesty requires saying so. Admonition can be done badly. A leader may correct out of irritation rather than love, or major on minor matters, or use Scripture as a club. Paul's description does not license harshness. The goal of all correction in the church is restoration, and it must be carried out with the humility of people who also stand under the word. Where a leader's admonition becomes domineering or trivial, the church can and should address it. Paul's commendation of the role does not exempt any leader from the standard Christ sets for how authority is used.
For the congregation, the practical question is how you receive correction when it comes. Do you hear it as an attack, or as part of the labor you are commanded to know and esteem? A church that cannot receive admonition will eventually only call leaders who never give it, and both the leaders and the church will suffer for it. One of the most concrete ways to honor those who labor among you is to make it safe for them to tell you the truth, and then to thank them when they do.
Esteem them highly in love because of their work
Verse 13 gives the response: esteem them highly in love because of their work. The word for esteem is strong, carrying the sense of regarding someone as exceedingly valuable. Paul does not ask for grudging tolerance. He asks for a settled, affectionate regard. Notice also the reason given: because of their work. The affection is not primarily for their personalities or their friendship. It flows from what they do. That means even a leader you find personally difficult can be rightly esteemed for the labor he carries for the sake of the church.
This is where the wider New Testament fills in the practical shape of honor. 1 Timothy 5:17-18 says that elders who rule well should be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching, and then quotes the principle that a worker deserves his wages. Galatians 6:6 puts it plainly: "But let him who is taught in the word share all good things with him who teaches." Honor in Scripture is not a feeling in a vacuum. It shows up in tangible provision and support, and it shows up in the way a congregation speaks about its leaders when they are not in the room.
1 Corinthians 16:15-16 gives a further example. Paul writes, "Now I beg you, brothers—you know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have set themselves to serve the saints—" and then asks the church to be subject to such people and to everyone who joins in the work. Here the pattern extends beyond formal office. Those who set themselves to serve the saints are to be recognized. The principle behind Paul's command in Thessalonians applies to all who labor, not only to those with a title. Honor follows work, wherever faithful work is found.
So what does this look like in a local church? It means learning names and stories, not just roles. It means asking leaders what they actually carry and then helping to bear it. It means financial support where that is appropriate, and it means verbal gratitude that is specific rather than generic. It means refusing to join casual criticism of leaders in private conversation. And it means praying for them, since the same Paul who tells churches to honor their leaders elsewhere asks churches to pray for his own boldness and deliverance. Esteem in love is concrete, and it is within reach of every member.
The peace that surrounds this command
Verse 13 ends with a short instruction: be at peace among yourselves. The placement is not accidental. It comes immediately after the command to esteem leaders, which suggests that the two are connected. A church that honors its leaders and a church that lives in peace are often the same church. Where leaders are resented and criticized, factions form, and peace erodes. Where leaders are known and esteemed, the congregation is freed to pursue peace rather than jockeying over influence and grievance. The instruction is simple, but it depends on the verses just before it.
Peace in a congregation does not mean the absence of disagreement. It means the absence of warfare. Two believers can see a matter differently and still be at peace, provided they treat each other as family rather than opponents. Paul's concern is the kind of friction that turns a church into camps. Honoring the labor of leaders removes one of the most common fuels for that friction. When the congregation trusts that its leaders are laboring for their good, disagreements can be worked through rather than weaponized, and peace becomes possible without pretending everything is settled.
This also means peace is a shared responsibility. Leaders cannot manufacture it alone, and neither can members. Paul addresses the whole church. Everyone is called to know the laborers, to esteem them, and to pursue peace. A single member who habitually disparages the leaders can do real damage to a congregation, and a single leader who treats the flock harshly can do the same. The command cuts across both roles and binds them together. In 1 Thessalonians, the health of the church is not the private concern of its officers. It is the common project of everyone who belongs to Christ.
Finally, it is worth noticing the tone Paul uses. He begs. He does not issue a bare command from a distant authority. He pleads with brothers he loves. That tone should shape how these instructions are taught and applied. Churches that press this passage as a tool for enforcing leader control have misread it. Paul's aim is a healthy, affectionate, peaceful body in which labor is seen and honored and no one is treated as disposable. That is a picture worth praying toward, and it begins with the simple act of noticing those who labor among you.
Biblical fidelity check
What this passage does establish is a clear pattern: leaders who labor, carry responsibility in the Lord, and admonish are to be known and highly esteemed in love, and the church is to live at peace. What it does not establish is a blanket exemption of leaders from accountability, nor a requirement that every preference or decision of a leader be treated as God's will. The authority it describes is in the Lord, which means it is bounded by his word. Nor does the passage tell us the precise form of church governance. Christians who hold to different structures of leadership can and do obey these verses, and they differ on details the text does not settle.
A common misreading treats esteem as uncritical loyalty. On that view, honoring leaders means never questioning them and never addressing their faults. That is not what Paul says. Hebrews 13:7 grounds imitation in the observable results of a leader's conduct and in the word of God he speaks, which implies that conduct and word can be examined. The passage also does not make honor a substitute for the leaders' own humility. Peter's exhortation to elders in 1 Peter 5:1-4 explicitly warns against lording it over the flock. Where a leader demands the honor Paul describes rather than earning it through labor, the passage is being used backwards.
Other passages that speak to 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13
Several connected passages help fill out the picture. What Does 1 Corinthians 1:10 Mean? Context, Theology, and Application shows why unity is so closely tied to how a church treats its leaders. What Does 1 Corinthians 1:9 Mean? Context, Theology, and Application grounds the church's shared life in God's faithful call. 1 Corinthians 1: Called, United, and Boasting in the Lord traces the themes of calling and humility that shape leadership in the body. And 1 Corinthians 10: Warnings and Freedom reminds us that admonition and self-discipline belong to the church's common life. Read together, these passages keep the command to honor leaders from becoming either servility or suspicion.
Frequently asked questions
Does 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 require blind obedience to church leaders?
No. The verse describes leaders who labor, are over the church in the Lord, and admonish. The phrase in the Lord bounds their authority to what Christ actually commands. Hebrews 13:7 grounds imitation in the leader's conduct and spoken word, which implies these can be examined. Obedience in matters of conscience belongs to God alone. Where a leader teaches contrary to Scripture or demands submission in areas God has left free, the church is not bound. The command is to know and esteem faithful laborers, not to surrender judgment to any person.
How can a church show honor to those who labor among them?
Honor in Scripture is concrete. Learn what your leaders actually carry and ask how you can help bear it. Speak well of them in private and public, refusing to join casual criticism. Provide for them financially where that is fitting; 1 Timothy 5:17-18 and Galatians 6:6 both tie honor to material support. Pray for them specifically. Thank them for particular things rather than in vague terms. And make it safe for them to admonish you, since Paul lists that uncomfortable work as part of what these leaders do. Honor follows work, and it is within every member's reach.
What if a leader is not worthy of honor?
Paul's commands assume faithful labor, not mere position. Where a leader is domineering, negligent, or teaching contrary to Scripture, the church is right to address it, and the New Testament gives processes for doing so, including the testimony of witnesses. 1 Peter 5:1-4 warns elders against lording it over the flock. Honoring the office does not mean ignoring serious sin. The goal in every case is restoration and the health of the body, pursued with honesty, patience, and the humility that recognizes we all stand under the same word.
