Let us read verses 11-16
11 But the younger widows refuse: for when they have
begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;
12 Having damnation, because they have cast off
their first faith.
13 And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about
from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers
also and busybodies, speaking things which they
ought not.
14 I will therefore that the younger women marry,
bear children, guide the house, give none occasion
to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
15 For some are already turned aside after Satan.
16 If any man or woman that believeth have widows,
let them relieve them, and let not the church be
charged; that it may relieve them that are widows
indeed.
Here is the Barclay commentary...
THE PERILS OF IDLENESS
1 Timothy 5:11–16
Refuse to enroll the younger women as widows, for
when they grow impatient with the restrictions of
Christian widowhood, they wish to marry, and so
deserve condemnation, because they have broken the
pledge of their first faith; and, at the same time,
they learn to be and bear children, and run a house
and home, and give our opponents no chance of abuse.
For, even as things are, some of them have turned
aside from the way to follow Satan. If any believing
person has widowed relations, let such a person help
them, and let not the Church be burdened with the
responsibility, so that it may care for those who
are genuinely in the position of widows.
A PASSAGE like this reflects the situation in
society in which the early Church found itself.
It is not that younger widows are condemned for
marrying again. What is condemned is this. A young
husband dies; and the widow, in the first bitterness
of sorrow and on the impulse of the moment, decides
to remain a widow all her life and to dedicate her
life to the Church, but later she changes her mind
and remarries. That woman is regarded as having
taken Christ as her bridegroom. So, by marrying
again, she is regarded as breaking her marriage vow
to Christ. She would have been better never to have
taken the vow.
What complicated this matter very much was the
social background of the times. It was next to
impossible for a single or a widowed woman to earn
her living honestly. There was practically no trade
or profession open to her. The result was
inevitable; she was almost driven to prostitution in
order to live. The Christian woman, therefore, had
either to marry or to dedicate her life completely
to the service of the Church; there was no half-way
house.
In any event, the perils of idleness remain the same
in any age. There was the danger of becoming
restless: because a woman did not have enough to do,
she might become one of those individuals who drift
from house to house in an empty social round. It was
almost inevitable that such a woman would become a
gossip: because she had nothing important to talk
about, she would tend to talk scandal, repeating
tales idle and to run from house to house. Yes, they
can become more than idle; they can become gossips
and busybodies, saying things which should not be
repeated. It is my wish that the younger widows
should marry, from house to house, each time with a
little more embellishment and a little more malice.
Such a woman ran the risk of becoming a busybody:
because she had nothing of her own to hold her
attention, she would be very apt to be over
interested and over-interfering in the affairs of
others.
It was true then, as it is true now, that, as the
hymn-writer Isaac Watts had it, ‘Satan finds some
mischief still for idle hands to do.’ The full life
is always the safe life, and the empty life is
always the life in peril.
So, the advice is that these younger women should
marry and engage upon the greatest task of all,
rearing a family and making a home. Here we have
another example of one of the main thoughts of the
Pastoral Epistles. They are always concerned with
how Christians appear to the outside world. Do they
give any opportunity to criticize the Church or
reason to admire it? It is always true that ‘the
greatest handicap the Church has is the
unsatisfactory lives of professing Christians’ and
equally true that the greatest argument for
Christianity is a genuinely Christian life.
~The Barclay Commentary
Now to the other commentaries.
The verse can be broken down into various parts but
unlike some we have discussed, the breakdown differs
among the commentaries I went to. Therefore, we will
take this verse one commentary at a time.
First, the Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary:
Every one brought into any office in the church,
should be free from just censure; and many are
proper objects of charity, yet ought not to be
employed in public services. Those who would find
mercy when they are in distress, must show mercy
when they are in prosperity; and those who show most
readiness for every good work, are most likely to be
faithful in whatever is trusted to them. Those who
are idle, very seldom are only idle, they make
mischief among neighbours, and sow discord among
brethren. All believers are required to relieve
those belonging to their families who are destitute,
that the church may not be prevented from relieving
such as are entirely destitute and friendless.
~Matthew Henry's Concise
Commentary
Now from Barnes Notes:
I will therefore - I
give it as my opinion; or this is my counsel;
compare notes, 1 Corinthians 7:6, 1 Corinthians
7:40.
Quoted verses:
1 Corinthians 7:6
But I speak this by permission, and not of
commandment.
1 Corinthians 7:40
But she is happier if she so abide, after my
judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of
God.
That the younger women marry
- The word “women” is not expressed or necessarily
implied in the original - neooteras - - and it is
evident that the apostle here had particular
reference to “widows,” and that the injunction
should be understood as relating to them. We are not
to suppose that he gives this as an absolute and
universal command, for it might not always be at the
option of the widow to marry again, and it cannot be
doubted that there may be cases where it would be
unadvisable. But he speaks of this as a general
rule. It is better for such persons to have domestic
concerns that require their attention, than it is to
be exposed to the evils of an idle life. We may
learn from this:
(1) that second marriages are not improper or
unlawful, but that in some circumstances they may be
preferable to widowhood;
(2) that marriage itself is in a high degree
honorable. How different are the views of the
inspired apostle Paul about marriage from those of
the Papists!
Bear children, guide the house
- These words signify, says Bloomfield, to “exercise
and occupy themselves in the duties of a wife.” It
is better to be employed in the duties growing out
of the cares of a family, than to lead a life of
celibacy.
Give none occasion to the
adversary - The enemy of religion - the pagan
or the infidel.
To speak reproachfully
- Margin, “for their railing.” That is, on account
of a life which would do no honor to religion. In
the performance of domestic duties, when fully
employed, they would avoid the evils specified in 1
Timothy 5:13. Every one who professes religion
should so live as to give no occasion to an infidel
or a man of the world to speak reproachfully of the
cause of the Redeemer.
~Barnes Notes
Quoted verse:
1 Timothy 5:13 [see
lesson]
And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about
from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers
also and busybodies, speaking things which they
ought not.
Let us go now to the Adam Clark:
I will therefore that the
younger women marry - As the preceding
discourse has been about the younger widows, and
this is an inference from it; it is most evident
that by the younger women the apostle means the
young widows. These he considers unfit for the
office of the female diaconate, and therefore wills
them to marry, educate children, and give themselves
wholly up to domestic affairs. Here the apostle, so
far from forbidding second marriages, positively
enjoins or at least recommends them. And what man of
sense could have done otherwise in the cases he
mentions? It is no sin in any case to marry, bear
children, and take care of a family; but it is a sin
in every case to be idle persons, gadders about,
tattlers, busybodies, sifting out and detailing
family secrets, etc., etc. We should [remain]
busy; For Satan finds some mischief, still, For idle
hands to do.” Dr. Watts.
The adversary - Any
person, whether Jew or Gentile, who might be
watching for an occasion to reproach, through the
misconduct of its professors, the cause of
Christianity. ~Adam Clark
Now from the John Gill:
I will therefore that the
younger women marry - Or "the younger" widows
rather; and so some copies read; for this is not the
apostle's advice to young women in general, though
it will suit with them, but with younger widows in
particular, of whom he is speaking:
bear children - and
bring them forth, and feed, and nourish them, and
bring them up in a religious way:
guide the house -
manage domestic affairs, direct, order, or do what
is proper to be done for the good of the family;
which is much more commendable than to throw
themselves upon the church, and live an idle and
wanton life, and after that marry: and so give none
occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully -
that is, either that Satan, the grand adversary of
the saints, might have no opportunity to reproach
them, and cast in their teeth their unbecoming walk,
or accuse them before the throne; or that any enemy
of the Christian religion might have no room nor
reason to speak evilly of Christ, his Gospel,
truths, and ordinances, on account of the disorderly
conversation of any that profess his name; or that
the great opposer of Christ, the man of sin, and son
of perdition, even antichrist, 2 Thessalonians 2:4,
might have no handle from hence to speak
reproachfully of marriage, and forbid it, under a
pretence of sanctity, as 1 Timothy 4:3.
~John Gill
Quoted verses:
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
3 Let no man deceive you by any
means: for that day shall not come, except there
come a falling away first, and that man of sin be
revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that
is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as
God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself
that he is God.
1 Timothy 4:3 [see
lesson]
Forbidding to marry, and
commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath
created to be received with thanksgiving of them
which believe and know the truth.
Now the Matthew Henry commentary does its
presentation in a way different from the others. It
is more of a running dialog across a number of
verses. Let's take a look at it.
He cautions them to take heed of admitting into the
number those who are likely to be no credit to them
(1
Timothy 5:11): The younger widows refuse: they
will be weary of their employments in the church,
and of living by rule, as they must do; so they will
marry, and cast off their first faith. You read of a
first love (Revelation 2:4 -Ephesians
losing first love), and here of a first
faith, that is, the engagements they gave to the
church to behave well, and as became the trust
reposed in them: it does not appear that by their
first faith is meant their vow not to marry, for the
scripture is very silent on that head; besides the
apostle here advises the younger widows to marry (1
Timothy 5:14), which he would not if hereby they
must have broken their vows. Dr. Whitby well
observes, “If this faith referred to a promise made
to the church not to marry, it could not be called
their first faith.” Withal they learn to be idle,
and not only idle, but tattlers, etc.,
1 Timothy 5:13. Observe, It is seldom that those
who are idle are idle only, they learn to be
tattlers and busy-bodies, and to make mischief among
neighbours, and sow discord among brethren. Those
who had not attained to such a gravity of mind as
was fit for the deaconesses (or
the widows who were taken among the church's poor),
let them marry, bear children, etc.. Observe, If
housekeepers do not mind their business, but are
tattlers, they give occasion to the adversaries of
Christianity to reproach the Christian name, which,
it seems, there were some instances of, 1 Timothy
5:15 ["some are already
turned aside after Satan"].
~Matthew Henry
Now from the Jamieson, Fausset, Brown:
younger women — rather,
as ellipsis ought to be supplied, “the younger
widows,” namely younger widows in general, as
distinguished from the older widows taken on the
roll of presbyteresses (1
Timothy 5:9). The “therefore” means seeing that
young widows are exposed to such temptations, “I
will,” or “desire,” etc. (1 Timothy 5:11-13 - see
lessons on
11 -
12 -13).
The precept here that they should marry again is not
inconsistent with 1 Corinthians 7:40; for the
circumstances of the two cases were distinct
(compare 1 Corinthians 7:26). Here remarriage is
recommended as an antidote to sexual passion,
idleness, and the other evils noted in 1 Timothy
5:11-13. Of course, where there was no tendency to
these evils, marriage again would not be so
requisite; Paul speaks of what is generally
desirable, and supposing there should be danger of
such evils, as was likely. “He does not impose a
law, but points out a remedy, to younger widows” [Chrysostom].
Quoted verses:
1 Corinthians 7:40
But she is happier if she so abide, after my
judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of
God.
1 Corinthians 7:26
I suppose therefore that this is good for the
present distress, I say, that it is good for a man
so to be.
bear children — (1
Timothy 2:15 - "some turned
aside after Satan."); thus gaining one of
the qualifications (1
Timothy 5:10 - good
works of the widow listed) for being
afterwards a presbyteress widow, should Providence
so ordain it.
guide — Greek, “rule
the house” in the woman’s due place; not usurping
authority over the man (1
Timothy 2:12 - "not to
usurp authority over the man.").
give none occasion —
literally, “starting-point”: handle of reproach
through the loose conduct of nominal Christians.
the adversary — of
Christianity, Jew or Gentile. Philippians 1:28;
Titus 2:8, “He that is of the contrary part.” Not
Satan, who is introduced in a different relation
(1Timothy 5:15 - turning to
Satan).
Quoted verses:
Philippians 1:28
And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which
is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you
of salvation, and that of God.
Titus 2:8
Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that
is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no
evil thing to say of you.
to speak reproachfully
— literally, “for the sake of reproach” (1
Timothy 3:7; 1 Timothy 6:1; Titus 2:5, Titus
2:10). If the handle were given, the adversary would
use it for the sake of reproach. The adversary is
eager to exaggerate the faults of a few, and to lay
the blame on the whole Church and its doctrines [Bengel].
~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
Quoted verses:
1 Timothy 6:1
Let as many servants as are under the yoke count
their own masters worthy of all honour, that the
name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.
Titus 2:5
To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good,
obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God
be not blasphemed.
Titus 2:10
Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that
they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in
all things.
Now from the People's New Testament:
The younger widows refuse
- Do not take them into this number for the reason
that they in part will wish to marry again.
Having damnation - Not
because they marry, but because after entering a
class consecrated entirely to church work, they
forsake its duties in order to marry.
Withal, they learn to be idle
- They have not that gravity which is required for
this work of visitation and ministration laid upon
the "widows indeed," but wander from house to house
to gossip.
I will, therefore, that the
younger women marry. - None are to enter upon
this consecrated life but the aged; there are to be
no young nuns. The apostle distinctly forbids the
conventual system which now exists in the Romish
church. ~People's New
Testament
Recap of this lesson:
1] Do not allow idleness.
2] Do not learn thing you ought not.
Especially true concerning false information and
doctrine.
3] Think actions out to their logical or predictable
conclusions.
4] Do not give our enemies an opportunity to scoff
or attack church members, our church, our doctrines,
our Work, Jesus Christ and/or God the Father.
5] Do not take even one step toward a negative
process or idea. |