1 Timothy 5.14-Paul Wants Younger Widows To Remarry, Raise Children And Manage A Household In Order To Not To Give The Enemy An Opportunity To Slander
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday August 17, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 5:14-Paul Wants Younger Widows To Remarry, Raise Children And Manage A Household In Order To Not Give The Enemy An Opportunity To Slander
Lesson # 109
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 5:14.
The apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 5:14 tells Timothy that he wants younger widows to remarry, raise children and manage a household in order to not give the enemy an opportunity to slander Christianity.
1 Timothy 5:14 Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house, and give the enemy no occasion for reproach. (NASB95)
“Therefore, I want younger widows to get married” is composed of the inferential conjunction oun (οὖν) (oon), “then” and then we have the first person singular present middle indicative form of the verb boulomai (βούλομαι) (vee-low-meh), “I want” and then we have the accusative feminine plural form of the adjective neos (νέος) (nayoce), “younger widows” and then we have the present active infinitive form of the verb gameo (γαμέω) (ha-meh-owe), “to get married.”
The inferential conjunction oun is introducing a statement that is the result of an inference from Paul’s previous statements in verses 11-13, which presents two reasons why younger widows should not be put on the list to receive financial support from the church in Ephesus.
Therefore, in 1 Timothy 5:14, Paul is saying with the inferential conjunction oun that based upon these two reasons I presented you in verses 11-13, I want younger widows to remarry, bear children, keep house in order to not give the enemy an opportunity to slander Christianity.
In 1 Timothy 5:14, boulomai is used in reference to Paul’s “desire” for the younger widows in Ephesus to remarry, bear children and keep house.
There is a sense of urgency that Paul wants to convey to the Ephesians since the testimony of the church in Ephesus before the unsaved is at stake.
If these young widows conduct themselves in an ungodly fashion because of their idleness, then this would bring reproach upon the church from the unsaved in their community.
The verb is expressing an apostolic demand in the language of personal desire.
The adjective neos here in 1 Timothy 5:14 is in the feminine gender and means “younger women” referring to Christian women who are not married and have not yet reached the age of forty or forty-six, which marked an older women.
Paul’s desire that younger widows be married does not mean that he is requiring that each individual younger widow in Ephesus must be married.
Rather, he is simply establishing church policy with regards to younger widows.
The purpose of this policy was to relieve the financial burden on the church.
It was also designed to protect the testimony of the church before the unsaved, which he expresses here in 1 Timothy 5:14.
It would also promote the spiritual growth of these widows.
Another purpose of this policy was so that these younger widows would not be relying upon the church for support and would not put themselves in a position of not keeping a vow to Christ to remain single and serve Him alone.
This policy would also protect these widows from being idle, which would result in them getting involved with gossip and being busybodies, which in turn would result in their being disciplined by the Lord.
It would also result in these widows being a productive part of the Christian community rather than a detriment to it.
This policy is also a rebuke to the Judaizers and those pastors in Ephesus who forbid marriage, which Paul mentions in 1 Timothy 4:3 as a heretical doctrine.
It also served as a refutation of the attitude of the “new woman” that was emerging in the Roman Empire who rejected the traditional and divinely sanctioned role of women, both believers and unbelievers.
Paul’s desire that younger widows remarry does not contradict the qualification that a widow be a one-man woman, which Paul lists in 1 Timothy 5:9 since this qualification pertains to being faithful in marriage and is not in any way a prohibition of remarriage.
The apostle’s instruction here in 1 Timothy 5:14 that younger widows remarry does not contradict in any way his teaching in 1 Timothy 5:11-12 since in these verses he is presenting the reason why he does not want them put on the list to receive financial support from the church.
Their natural desire to be with a man will cause them to break their vow to Christ to not remarry and be devoted solely to His service.
Thus, Paul wants them to remarry so as to not put themselves in a situation where they will break this vow to Christ.
If they can’t keep the vow, it is better that they remarry.
There is also no conflict with Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 7 that single Christians do not marry and remain single as he was.
However, this chapter simply stated that remaining single was preferable for a Christian because they could be devoted exclusively to the Lord.
He also taught in this chapter that if the sexual drive of the person was such that it did not make this possible, then they were to remarry and were not sinning by doing so.
Thus, Paul’s teaching in 1 Timothy 5:14 does not contradict in any way his teaching in 1 Corinthians 7 since in both passages he is encouraging women to marry rather than fighting their natural sexual inclinations.
1 Timothy 5:14 Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house, and give the enemy no occasion for reproach. (NASB95)
“Bear children” is the present active infinitive form of the verb teknogoneo (τεκνογονέω) (teknoe-noe-eh-owe), which is an affirmation that childbearing is a unique function of womanhood.
“Keep house” is the present active infinitive form of the verb oikodespoteo (οἰκοδεσποτέω) (eekoe-despoe-tehowe), which speaks of a younger widow managing the affairs of her husband once she has remarried.
It expresses the idea that the wife in the Christian home in the first century exercised the oversight of slaves, children and the business interests of the household.
Proverbs 31:10-31 describes a godly woman who manages the affairs of a household.
“And give the enemy no occasion for reproach” is composed of the accusative feminine singular form of the adjective medeis (μηδείς) (mee-theese), “no” which is followed by the accusative feminine singular form of the noun aphorme (ἀφορμή) (ahfor-deh-mee), “occasion” and then we have the present active infinitive form of the verb didomi (δίδωμι) (thee-though-me), “give” and this is followed by the articular dative masculine singular present middle participle form of the verb antikeimai (ἀντίκειμαι) (ahn-dee-kee-meh), “the enemy” and then we have the genitive feminine singular form of the noun loidoria (λοιδορία) (lee-thoe-reeah), “reproach” and this is followed by the preposition charin (χάριν) (harin), “for.”
The verb didomi means “to give, provide” in the sense of permitting or allowing something to take place or making something available to someone.
Thus, the word teaches that Paul’s purpose for wanting younger widows remarry, bear children and manage a household was in order that they would never permit or allow the enemy an opportunity to slander Christianity.
The verb antikeimai means “the enemy” referring to Satan since the articular singular form of the verb suggests a specific well known enemy of the church.
Also, in 1 Timothy 5:15 Paul continues his thought from 1 Timothy 5:14 by teaching that some young widows were already following Satan by being idle and becoming gossips and busybodies.
Furthermore, in 1 Timothy 3:6-7 Paul teaches that Satan is actively attempting to discredit the church with respect to the overseers.
Then, in 1 Timothy 4:1-2, he teaches that the kingdom of darkness led by Satan is the ultimate agency behind the false teaching in Ephesus and the Judaizers were the intermediate agency that they were using to propagate false doctrine in that city.
Satan is pictured here in 1 Timothy 5:14 as being the enemy of the church but 1 Timothy 4:1-2 teaches that the Judaizers are the intermediate agency that he uses to oppose the church in Ephesus.
The noun aphorme means “opportunity” and depicts Satan being provided a base of operations or favorable circumstances in which to oppose the church and discredit her among the unsaved as a result of younger widows being idle and gossiping and being busybodies.
The adjective medeis emphatically rejects such an idea taking place.
The noun loidoria means “slander” and is used of Satan attacking the Christian community in Ephesus by highly insulting verbal abuse that is designed to injure its reputation.
This slander would take place in heaven (Zechariah 3:1-7; Revelation 12:10; 1 John 2:1-2) and Satan would use human instrumentalities on earth to attack the church’s reputation.
He would use the Judaizers in the case of the Ephesians since 1 Timothy 4:1-2 teaches that Satan used them to draw many pastors in Ephesus away from teaching the gospel in order to become teachers of the Law (cf. 1 Timothy 1:3-4, 7)
The noun loidoria is the object of the improper preposition charin, which is a marker of purpose expressing the purpose for Satan’s base of operations indicating that ungodly conduct on the part of young Christian widows provides Satan a base of operations “for the purpose of” slander.
This preposition indicates that the goal of Satan in establishing a base of operations through the ungodly conduct of young widows is to slander the church whether in heaven or on earth through human agencies like the Judaizers.