1 Timothy 5.3-Paul Commands Timothy To Continue Making It His Habit Of Honoring Widows Who Really Need Help
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday July 26, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 5:3-Paul Commands Timothy To Continue Making It His Habit Of Honoring Widows Who Really Need Help
Lesson # 97
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 5:3.
In 1 Timothy 5:3-16, the apostle Paul instructs Timothy with regards to handling the problems with widows.
This discussion is the most extensive of any group in the entire epistle.
This indicates that this was a significant problem in the Ephesian Christian community and expresses an urgency for this situation to be dealt with promptly and correctly.
In this pericope, Paul identifies four different types of widows: (1) Real widows who are in need and have no relatives to support them financially and are at least sixty years of age and have lived a godly life (verses 3, 5, 9-10, 16b). (2) Widows who have relatives who can support them financially (verses 4, 8, 16a). (3) Widows who have a self-indulgent lifestyle (verses 6-7). (4) Young widows (verses 11-15).
In 1 Timothy 5:3-16, the apostle Paul instructs Timothy as to which widows should be enrolled to receive benefits from the church and who should not.
This is not an official order of widows because this passage does address the duties of widows but rather simply the qualifications that must be met by widows in order for them to be supported by the church.
This compassionate concern for widows is rooted in the teaching of the Old Testament, which of course reflects the Lord’s concern for them (Exodus 22:22; Deuteronomy 10:18; 14:29; 24:17; Psalm 94:6; Isaiah 1:17; Malachi 3:5) and was adopted by the first century apostolic church (Acts 6:1; James 1:27).
In fact, the office of deacon in the first century apostolic church came into existence to deal with the problem of the caring of widows in the Christian community (Acts 6:1-10).
1 Timothy 5:3-16, Paul is emphasizing the need for discernment in the sense that the church was not responsible to care for every widow but rather only those who had no family or relatives to support them and were thus truly alone.
This passage also harkens back to 1 Timothy 2:9-15 in that it rebukes women who were imitating the lifestyle of the “new” type of woman emerging in certain social circles in Rome and throughout the Empire.
In 1 Timothy 5:3-16, Paul rejects such a lifestyle for a Christian woman and stipulated that it disqualifies Christian widows from receiving assistance from the church.
1 Timothy 5:3 Honor widows who are widows indeed; 4 but if any widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family and to make some return to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God. 5 Now she who is a widow indeed and who has been left alone, has fixed her hope on God and continues in entreaties and prayers night and day. 6 But she who gives herself to wanton pleasure is dead even while she lives. 7 Prescribe these things as well, so that they may be above reproach. 8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 9 A widow is to be put on the list only if she is not less than sixty years old, having been the wife of one man, 10 having a reputation for good works; and if she has brought up children, if she has shown hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has assisted those in distress, and if she has devoted herself to every good work. 11 But refuse to put younger widows on the list, for when they feel sensual desires in disregard of Christ, they want to get married, 12 thus incurring condemnation, because they have set aside their previous pledge. 13 At the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go around from house to house; and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention. 14 Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house, and give the enemy no occasion for reproach; 15 for some have already turned aside to follow Satan. 16 If any woman who is a believer has dependent widows, she must assist them and the church must not be burdened, so that it may assist those who are widows indeed. (NASU)
In 1 Timothy 5:3, Paul commands Timothy to continue making it his habit of honoring widows who are truly widows.
1 Timothy 5:3 Honor widows who are widows indeed. (NASU)
Verse 3 is composed of the accusative feminine plural form of the noun chera (χήρα) (hear-dah), “widows” which is followed by the second person singular present active imperative form of the verb timao (τιμάω) (tee-mah-owe), “honor” and then we have the articular accusative feminine plural form of the noun chera (χήρα) (hear-dah), “widows” as well as the adverb ontos (ὄντως) (on-dose), “indeed.”
Once again, Paul is employing the figure of “asyndeton” in order to emphasize the importance of this command for the Christian community in Ephesus.
The noun chera conveys the idea of being in need and is the feminine form of the adjective cheros, which means “deprived,” thus, the idea of chera is that of a woman “deprived” of her husband.
One of the greatest fears of women in the ancient world according to Stahlin was becoming a widow (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament volume 9, page 442).
Many women preferred to die at their spouse’s grave rather than continue life without their husband.
The reason for this attitude was that losing a husband to death meant that a woman often lost her sole sustainer, provider and protector.
In the Old Testament, widows along with orphans, strangers and the poor helped to compose a group of disadvantaged people in Israel (Exodus 22:21-22; Isaiah 1:23; 10:2; Jeremiah 5:28).
God in His grace made special provisions for the protection of this group (Leviticus 22:13; Deuteronomy 10:18).
For instance, during the harvest, field gleanings were to be left for the widow and the orphan (Deuteronomy 24:19-22).
Also, the levirate marriage was put into effect when a widow was also without a male child (Deuteronomy 25:5-10).
The Lord promised that He would personally uphold and defend the rights of the widow (Deuteronomy 10:18; Proverbs 15:25).
However, despite these provisions for the protection and maintaining the rights of the widow in Israel, the Old Testament reveals that the widow had a difficult time of it.
They were exploited and abused (Isaiah 1:23; Ezekiel 22:7) and thus widowhood was considered by many to be a reproach (Isaiah 4:1).
The Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated great compassion for the widow not only in His dealings with them (Luke 7:11-15) but in His teaching concerning them (Luke 7:11-15; 8:1-8) and His denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees for exploiting them (Luke 20:47; cf. Matthew 23:14; Mark 12:40).
The early first century apostolic church demonstrated great concern for the care of widows according to Acts 6:1-6 (cf. James 1:27).
In 1 Timothy 5:3, the noun chera appears twice and refers to a special category of widows, namely those who are not receiving financial and material support from their children or relatives.
It refers to those who are in need financially because they have no children or relatives to support them financially and are at least sixty years of age and have lived a godly life (verses 3, 5, 9-10, 16b).
This indicated by the adverb ontos, “indeed,” which modifies chera and by the qualifications that are listed in verses 3, 5 and 9-10.
Therefore, in 1 Timothy 5:3, the noun chera refers to a widow who is in legitimate need of financial or material support from the Christian community because of having no children or relatives to provide for her.
The verb timao means “to honor” in the sense of providing for widows financially who have no children or relatives to support them, which is indicated by the verb apodidomi and the noun amoibe that appear in 1 Timothy 5:4.
The former implies payment of an incurred obligation and the latter refers to that which is given as a means of repayment.
Furthermore, that timao involves the idea of providing material and financial assistance is further indicated by the verb eparkeo, “assist” that appears twice in 1 Timothy 5:16 and refers to providing assistance materially and financially.
Also, Acts 6:1-6 reveals the early first century apostolic church understood that to honor a widow was to provide for her needs materially.
Lastly, in Matthew 15:4 and 6, the verb is used of honoring one’s mother and father but the context indicates quite clearly that the word expresses a financial idea of setting a price, even an honorarium.
The Lord made clear that the fifth commandment involved financial support of one’s parents (Matthew 15:5-6; Mark 7:11-12).
The present imperative form of the verb timao is a “customary present imperative” whose force is for Timothy to simply continue making it his habit of honoring those women who are widows and are in need of material and financial aid due to having no children or relatives to support them.
Paul’s statements in 1 Timothy 1:3 and 4:6 imply that Timothy was carrying out everything he wrote in this epistle including this command.
Thus, this command here in 1 Timothy 5:3 is simply a reminder to Timothy to continue doing what they talked about before Paul left for Macedonia.
The adverb ontos means “truly” and is describing those widows that do not have children or relatives to support them financially and materially.
The word contains the idea that these widows are such in the truest sense meaning that they meet the qualifications presented by Paul in this pericope making them eligible for financial aid from the church.
It “does not deny that others are widows in the normal sense of the word but rather to signify those who qualify for the church’s care.” (Knight, George W. III, The Pastoral Epistles: A Commentary on the Greek Text; page 216; William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan/Cambridge, U.K., The Paternoster Press; Bletchley).