1 Timothy 5:21

I charge thee in the sight of God, and Christ Jesus, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality.

The elect angels ... are here represented as witnessing the work of Christians on earth, as in Hebrews 1:14. The word "elect" in this place has the meaning of the faithful angels, the ones not carried away by the rebellion of Satan. "The epithet elect probably has the same force as HOLY in our common phrase, the holy angels."[26]

Without prejudice ... Absolute fairness on the part of any person charged with the solemn duties of hearing complaints and solving difficulties in a church is a basic requirement if there is to be either peace or justice in a church. Hervey pointed out that this word occurs nowhere else in the New Testament and suggests that our English word does not do full justice to the term in the Greek, which also carries with it the meaning of "preference."[27]

Doing nothing by partiality ... An elder, or a minister, must not be partial as regards his activity among the members. Many a ministry has been wrecked on this shoal. There is a kind of partiality that develops a little "clique" of the preacher's special friends, or gives undue attention and publicity to the work of a few, instead of to the many, which is critical of conduct in some which is allowed in others, etc., etc. All such partiality is self-destructive of the minister's effectiveness and unproductive as far as the church is concerned.

[26] A. C. Hervey, op. cit., p. 100.

[27] Ibid.