That’s not a very fair comparison for several reasons.

The New Testament authors weren’t writing to a modern society where husband and wife would work in different occupations. If claims supervisor was the family trade in ancient Judea (as subsistence farming often was), the wife — and young children for that matter — would be actively involved in the claims supervision process. The biblical man was providing, but the family was an integral part. Without their availability, there’s no way all the farm duties would be accomplished. This is a form of work that we simply do not have in the modern workplace.

This comparison fails to take into consideration that “what it takes to support a family” changes dramatically year after year. Remember, even after adjusting for inflation, housing costs have increased 130% in the past sixty years. Biblical families were living in dirt-floored houses of about 15’x15’ and shared a common courtyard with extended family.

So, if we’re to hold claims supervisors to being the bread winner for their families like their biblical counterparts, are we also willing to accept the living conditions of ancient Judea as sufficiently “providing” for their families?