Widows In God’s House (5:1-16)
Neal Pollard
Paul draws out the analogy of the church of a household by speaking of the different demographics that make up this spiritual family. Like a typical home, the church has “fathers,” “mothers,” “brothers,” and “sisters.” Timothy is urged to treat older men, older women, younger men, and younger women appropriately, “with all purity” (2). Out of this household, Paul focuses on a special group of people. He writes, “Honor widows who are truly widows” (3). His instructions center around how to do that.
The physical family leads the way (4,8,16). Paul appeals to the loyalty that ought naturally to exist in the widow’s children and grandchildren. He calls it making “some return to their parents” and further deems it “pleasing in the sight of God” (4). Negatively, the failure of a widow’s family to take care of outstanding needs she has is summarized as having “denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (8). He concludes the whole discussion saying her relatives are charged with caring for her (16). Occasionally, I have seen a family shirk its duties to its widowed mom and grandmother, wanting the church to do this. Paul highlights the immorality of such neglect.
The “true widow” has qualifications to meet (5-6,9-10). The bulk of the instruction is for the church to properly conduct itself in determining women who meet this need. As with other groups earlier in the letter–elders, deacons, women, and preachers–she must be qualified to attain the “title” of “widow indeed.”
First, look at her relationship with God as best as it can be seen (5-6). Does she set her hope on God (5)? Is she faithful in prayer (5). Does she reject self-indulgence and worldly pleasure (6)?
Second, look at her relationship with people (10). Does she have a reputation for good works? Did she provide for the needs of her children (cf. Prov. 22:6)? Was she hospitable, showing compassion? In short, has she “devoted herself to every good work”?
Third, look at her personal circumstances (9). Is she at least 60 years old? Was she a one-man woman (or, did she have only one husband)? This qualification is a bit difficult to decipher, as it can be translated either way. Consider these thoughts. “Does this mean that she is married only once (TEV, compare JB ‘who has had only one husband’) or that, regardless of the times she had gotten remarried, she has always been faithful to whatever husband she had? In other words, is the focus here on the number of husbands (one) or faithfulness in the marriage relationship?” (Arichea and Hatton, UBS Hdbk, 118). “Does this mean that a woman was unqualified for church-supported ministry if she had been married twice? This seems unlikely or Paul’s encouragement to younger widow to remarry would have disqualified them for this special service in their older years. Instead, being a ‘one-man woman’ speaks of faithfulness and loyalty” (Larson, Holman NT Comm, Vol 9, 223). Any marriage she was in had to have been one approved by God (Mat. 19:9-12). Was she faithful and devoted to her husband(s)? If so, she would be qualified.
The “younger widow” is not to be “enrolled” (11-15). Considering the life expectancy in the first century (see note below), a woman might be left without her husband at a young age. Paul excludes her from church support. She will likely get remarried (11) and her relative immaturity might cause a black eye to the local church before a watching world. Being financially supported, though young and healthy, could produce idleness, gossip, and even full-fledged apostasy. Instead, Paul urges such women to remarry, have children, and generally concentrate on serving the Lord rather than turning aside, by default, to Satan.
The church has an obligation to care for widows. For the widow who “qualifies,” the church is to “be burdened” (16). However, these safeguards are given to keep the church from being taken advantage of either by the widow or her family. While our culture and country may have produced some means like retirement and social security that keep widows from destitution, the church, led by her elders (17ff), will know the circumstances of all the sheep to the degree that they will find and help any who otherwise face destitution. This is part of “pure religion” (Jas. 1:27).
NOTE: There is little firm information about the collective lives of those who lived in the first centuries BC and the first centuries AD, but the conjecture is that the average life span was about 35 years. The 35-40 average life span of people in the Western world held true through the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance until the 19th and 20th centuries when modern medicine and its life-preserving discoveries began in earnest (for more: click here).
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