1 Timothy 5.11-12-Paul Prohibits Younger Widows Being Put On The List To Receive Financial Support From The Church And Gives The Reason
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday August 11, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 5:11-12-Paul Prohibits Young Widows Being Put On The List To Receive Financial Support From The Church And Gives The Reason Why
Lesson # 106
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 5:9.
In 1 Timothy 5:11-12, the apostle Paul prohibits young widows being put on the list to receive financial aid from the church and then gives his reason for this prohibition.
1 Timothy 5:9 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. (NASB95)
“But refuse to put younger widows on the list” is composed of the accusative feminine plural comparative form of the adjective neos (νέος) (nayoce), “younger” and this is followed by the post-positive conjunction de (δέ) (theh), “but” and then we have the accusative feminine plural form of the noun chera (χήρα) (hear-dah), “widows” and this is followed by the second person singular present middle imperative form of the verb paraiteomai (παραιτέομαι) (pahdah-tay-owe-meh), “refuse”
The conjunction de marks a contrast between those widows who are at least sixty years of age or more and are thus qualified to receive this support and those widows who are not sixty years of age yet and are thus not qualified.
The verb paraiteomai means “to refuse” and is used in the context of putting widows on the list to receive financial support from the church in Ephesus.
The present imperative form of the verb paraiteomai is a “customary present imperative” whose force is for Timothy and the Ephesian church to “continue to refuse to put on the list” younger widows, i.e. those who are not yet sixty years of age.
Paul’s statements in 1 Timothy 1:3 and 1 Timothy 4:6 indicate that Timothy was carrying out everything he wrote in this epistle including this command in 1 Timothy 5:11.
Therefore, the present imperative is simply a reminder to Timothy to continue doing what Paul told him to do before he left for Macedonia.
The middle voice of the verb is an intensive middle focusing attention on the subject Timothy emphasizing his volitional responsibility to refuse to put younger widows on the list to receive financial support from the church.
The noun neos means “younger” and is referring to Christian women who have not yet reached the age of forty or forty-six, which marked an older women.
“For when they feel sensual desires in disregard of Christ, they want to get married” is composed of the temporal adverb hotan (ὅταν) (owe-tahn), “when” and this is followed by the post-positive conjunction gar (γάρ) (gar), “for” and then we have the third person plural aorist active subjunctive form of the verb katasteniao (καταστρηνιάω) (kahtah-streenee-ah-owe), “they feel sensual desires” which is followed by the articular genitive masculine singular form of the proper name Christos (Χριστός) (cree-stoce), “Christ” and then we have the present active infinitive form of the verb gameo (γαμέω) (ha-meh-owe), “to get married” and then we have the third person plural present active indicative form of the verb thelo (θέλω) (theh-low), “they want.”
The conjunction gar is causal meaning that it introducing a statement that presents the reason why Paul wants Timothy to continue making it his habit of refusing to put younger widows on the list to receive financial support from the church at Ephesus.
The statement that the word is introducing states that when younger widows feel sensual desires in disregard of Christ, they want to get married.
Therefore, the word denotes that Timothy is to continue making it his habit of refusing to put younger widows on the list “because” when they feel sensual desires in disregard of Christ they want to get married.
Now, we know that Paul is not condemning these younger widows from remarrying since in verse 14 he expresses his desire that they would get remarried.
He also teaches in 1 Corinthians 7:9 that it is better for women who are young widows or single to marry than burn in sexual desire for one another.
Therefore, the apostle’s main concern here is not remarriage.
Rather, his real concern is that the normal sexual desires of these younger widows would cause them to break their pledge or vow to serve Christ wholeheartedly, which they made when they were entered on the list of widows who were to receive support.
Paul describes this departure as following after Satan in verse 15.
Some like Mounce believe the widows were giving in to their sexual desires and thus turning against Christ and marrying non-Christians.
Thus, they were abandoning the Christian faith, which they were obeying before they remarried.
The problem with this interpretation is that it is introducing unbelieving husbands into the text and is failing to see the self-evident contrast in the text itself.
Others however, take this desire to remarry as in conflict with a vow they took to commit their lives to serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
A vow they took evidently when they were enrolled to receive financial support from the church, which involved an ongoing financial commitment to the widow by the church for the rest of her life.
Though remarriage is not a sin, it becomes sin for these younger widows when they violate the solemn vow they made to the Lord to remain single in order to serve the Lord.
The breaking of vows to the Lord is prohibited (cf. Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 23:21; Ecclesiastes 5:4-5).
Therefore, 1 Timothy 5:11 states that the reason why he wants Timothy to continue making it his habit of refusing to put younger widows on the list to receive financial support is that when they feel normal sexual desires they want to get remarried disregarding the vow they made to serve the Lord exclusively.
The temporal conjunction hotan is employed with the subjunctive mood of the verb katasteniao, “they feel sensual desires” to present the assumption that a young widow will experience sexual desires for a man she considers to be attractive to marry but the exact time of that occurrence cannot be established.
However, Paul’s emphasis is not the particular time when this takes place but rather that this will take place.
The verb katasteniao refers to the normal sexual desire of a woman which causes her to get married.
There is no sinful connotation attached to it since getting married is not a sin but actually a divine institution for the human race and taught by Paul in 1 Timothy 5:14 and 1 Corinthians 7:9.
Paul is not saying that her sexual desires are taking her away from being totally devoted to Christ but rather that they are taking her away from keeping her vow to be totally devoted to Him as a widow.
“Thus incurring condemnation” is composed of the nominative feminine plural present active participle form of the verb echo (ἒχω) (eh-ho), “incurring” and this is followed by the accusative neuter singular form of the noun krima (κρίμα) (kree-mah), “condemnation.”
The verb echo is a marker of causative relation and means “to bring about, to cause” and is used of a widow “causing” herself to be disciplined by the Lord for breaking her vow which she took when she was put on the list of those widows to receive financial support from the church.
The participle form of the verb is a result participle indicating that divine discipline is the “direct result” of a widow remarrying and breaking her vow that she made when she was put on the list to receive financial aid from the church.
The present tense of the verb is a futuristic present speaking of the certainty of a young widow receiving divine discipline from the Lord for breaking her vow, which she made when she was put on the list.
The active voice is causative indicating that a young widow “caused” herself to receive divine discipline from the Lord because of her bad decision to break her vow to the Lord.
The noun krima refers to divine discipline and does not refer to eternal condemnation because the believer escapes eternal condemnation the moment they placed their trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior (John 3:16, 36; Romans 8:1).
“Because they have set aside their previous pledge” is composed of the conjunction hoti (ὅτι) (owe-tee), “because” and this is followed by the accusative feminine singular form of the adjective protos (πρῶτος) (pro-toce), “previous” and it is modifying the articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun pistis (πίστις) (pee-steece), “their pledge” and this is followed by the third person plural aorist active indicative form of the verb atheteo (ἀθετέω) (ahthah-the-owe), “they have set aside.”
The conjunction hoti is employed with the indicative mood of the verb atheteo in order to form a causal clause that expresses the reason why a young widow will receive discipline from the Lord as a result of getting married due to her sexual attraction to the opposite sex.
The verb atheteo is used of a young widow “breaking” her previous pledge, which she made when she was placed on the list.
The noun pistis refers to a young widow’s pledge or promise to remain single and devote herself totally to serving the Lord and His people when she was placed on the list to receive financial support from church which involved a financial commitment by the church to her for the rest of her life.
The adjective protos functions in a temporal sense and means “previous” since it is used of time in a comparison between the past and the present.
It is modifying pistis and together, they refer to “the previous pledge” a young widow made when she was enrolled, which called for her to remain single and serve the Lord exclusively.