Survey of the Letters of Paul:  1 Timothy 5:06

 But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.

Editor's note:  In the audio of this Bible study, two videos are played.  I was not able to play these in the open as the audience would receive feedback.  When you hear on the audio of this lesson the introduction of each tape, pause the audio and play the links provided below.  After the first video, run the audio up 40 seconds and resume.  After the second video, run the audio up 2 minutes and 15 second and resume.

Let us read the first 8 verses of the chapter:

1 Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren;
2 The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.
3 Honour widows that are widows indeed.
4 But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.
5 Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.
6 But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.
7 And these things give in charge, that they may be blameless.
8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

CHURCH AND FAMILY DUTY

Honour widows who are genuinely in a widow’s destitute position. But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let such children learn to begin by discharging the duties of religion in their own homes; and let them learn to give a return for all that their parents have done for them; for this is the kind of conduct that meets with God’s approval. Now she who is genuinely in the position of a widow, and who is left all alone, has set her hope on God, and night and day she devotes herself to petitions and prayers. But she who lives with voluptuous wantonness is dead even though she is still alive. Pass on these instructions that they may be irreproachable. If anyone fails to provide for his own people, and especially for the members of his own family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

THE Christian Church inherited a fine tradition of charity to those in need. No nation has ever cared more for the needy and the elderly than the Jews. Advice is now given for the care of widows. There may well have been two classes of women here. There were certainly widows who had become widows in the normal way by the death of their husbands. But it was not uncommon in the Gentile world, in certain places, for a man to have more than one wife. When a man became a Christian, he could not go on being a polygamist, and therefore he had to choose which wife he was going to live with. That meant that some wives had to be sent away, and they were clearly in a very unfortunate position. It may be that such women as these were also considered to be widows and were given the support of the Church. Jewish law laid it down that at the time of his marriage a man ought to make provision for his wife, should she become a widow. The very first office-bearers whom the Christian Church appointed had this duty of caring fairly for the widows (Acts 6:1). Ignatius lays it down: ‘Let not widows be neglected. After the Lord be thou their guardian.’ The Apostolic Constitutions direct the bishop: ‘O bishop, be mindful of the needy, both reaching out thy helping hand and making provision for them as the steward of God, distributing the offerings seasonably to every one of them, to the widows, the orphans, the friendless, and those tried with affliction.’ The same book has an interesting and kindly instruction: ‘If anyone receives any service to carry to a widow or poor woman . . . let him give it the same day.’ As the proverb has it, ‘He gives twice who gives quickly’ – and the Church was concerned that those in poverty should not have to remain in need while one of its servants delayed.

It is to be noted that the Church did not propose to assume responsibility for older people whose children were alive and well able to support them. The ancient world was very definite that it was the duty of children to support elderly parents; and, as E. K. Simpson has pointed out in his commentary, ‘A religious profession which falls below the standard of duty recognized by the world is a wretched fraud.’ The Church would never have agreed that its charity should become an excuse for children to evade their responsibility.

The New Testament ethical writers were certain that support of parents was an essential part of Christian duty. It is something to be remembered. We live in a time when even the most sacred duties are pushed on to the state and when we expect, in so many cases, public charity to do what private piety ought to do. As the Pastorals see it, help given to a parent is two things. First, it is an honouring of the recipient. It is the only way in which children can demonstrate the esteem that they feel. Second, it is an admission of the claims of love. It is repaying love received in time of need with love given in time of need; and only with love can love be repaid.

There remains one thing left to say, and to leave it unsaid would be unfair. This passage goes on to lay down certain of the qualities of the people whom the Church is called upon to support. What is true of the Church is true within the family.  If a person is to be supported, that person must be supportable. If a parent is taken into the home of a son or daughter and then by inconsiderate conduct causes nothing but trouble, another situation arises. There is a double duty here – the duty of the child to support the parent, and the duty of the parent to behave in such a way that that support is possible within the structure of the home. ~this text from the Barclay Commentary

Now to the commentaries...

1 Timothy 5:6
But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.

Most commentaries break this verse into two parts:

1] But she that liveth in pleasure.
2] Is dead while she liveth.

Let us find the meaning here. Let us also see if there are messages here for all firstfruits.

1] But she that liveth in pleasure.

But she that liveth in pleasure - Margin, “delicately.” The Greek word (spatalaō) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, except in James 5:5, “Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth.” It properly means to live in luxury, voluptuously; to indulge freely in eating and drinking; to yield to the indulgence of the appetites. It does not indicate grossly criminal pleasures; but the kind of pleasure connected with luxurious living, and with pampering the appetites. It is probable that in the time of the apostle, there were professedly Christian widows who lived in this manner - as there are such professing Christians of all kinds in every age of the world. ~Barnes Notes

Quoted verse:
Let me read from the beginning of the chapter:

James 5:1-5
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

Let us look at the commentary for this quoted verse 5:
 
Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth - One of the things to which the rich are peculiarly addicted. Their wealth is supposed to be of value, because it furnishes them the means of doing it. Compare Luke 12:19; Luke 16:19. The word translated “lived in pleasure, (truphaō) occurs only here in the New Testament. It means, to live delicately, luxuriously, at ease. There is not in the word essentially the idea or vicious indulgence, but that which characterizes those who live for enjoyment. They lived in ease and affluence on the avails of the labors of others; they indulged in what gratified the taste, and pleased the ear and the eye, while those who contributed the means of this were groaning under oppression. A life of mere indolence [habitual laziness, sloth] and ease, of delicacy [refinement] and luxury, is nowhere countenanced [supported or approved] in the Bible; and even where unconnected with oppression and wrong to others, such a mode of living is regarded as inconsistent with the purpose for which God made man, and placed him on the earth. Every man has high and solemn duties to perform, and there is enough to be done on earth to give employment to every human being, and to fill up every hour in a profitable and useful way. ~Barnes Notes

Quoted verses:
Luke 12:19
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

Luke 16:19 --Lazarus and the Rich Man
There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

And been wanton - This word now probably conveys to most minds a sense which is not in the original. Our English word is now commonly used in the sense of “lewd, lustful, lascivious.” It was, however, formerly used in the sense of “sportive, joyous, gay,” and was applied to anything that was variable or fickle. The Greek word used here (spatalaō) means, to live luxuriously or voluptuously [devoted to or indulging in sensual pleasures]. Compare the notes at 1 Timothy 5:6, where the word is explained. It does not refer necessarily to gross criminal pleasures, though the kind of living here referred to often leads to such indulgences. There is a close connection between what the apostle says here, and what he refers to in the previous verses - the oppression of others, and the withholding of what is due to those who labor. Such acts of oppression and wrong are commonly resorted to in order to obtain the means of luxurious living, and the gratification of sensual pleasures. In all countries where slavery exists, the things here referred to are found in close connection. The fraud and wrong by which the reward of hard toil is withheld from the slave is connected with indolence and sensual indulgence on the part of the master. ~Barnes Notes

Quoted verse:
1 Timothy 5:6 ...the verse of this lesson.

Videos:
I want to play for you a couple of videos.  Both capture this idea of excess desire and greed in the world and what we see in this widow of verse 6 of 1 Timothy 5  The first is from the movie, "Wall Street" and the now famous, "Greed is good" speech as delivered by actor, Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko.   Click here to play this 45-second video.

The second video is from a Phil Donahue interview of Milton Friedman, an American economist, statistician and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades.  It runs for 2:24.  Click here to play this video.   Note:  If you are listening to the audio of this lesson, click the Pause button, play the video and then resume the audio, first running it up 40 seconds for the first video and 2 minutes 20 seconds for the second.

Ye have nourished your hearts - Or, yourselves - the word hearts here being equivalent to themselves. The meaning is, that they appeared to have been fattening themselves, like stall-fed beasts, for the day of slaughter. As cattle are carefully fed, and are fattened with a view to their being slaughtered, so they seemed to have been fattoned for the slaughter that was to come on them - the day of vengeance. Thus many now live. They do no work; they contribute nothing to the good of society; they are mere consumers - and, like stall-fed cattle, they seem to live only with reference to the day of slaughter. ~Barnes Notes with slight editing by us.

As in a day of slaughter - There has been much variety in the interpretation of this expression. Robinson (lex.) renders it, “like beasts in the day of slaughter, without care or forethought.” Rosenmuller (Morgenland) supposes that it means, as in a festival; referring, as he thinks, to the custom among the ancients of having a feast when a part of the animal was consumed in sacrifice, and the rest was eaten by the worshippers. So Benson. On such occasions, indulgence was given to appetite almost without limit; and the idea then would be, that they had given themselves up to a life of pampered luxury. But probably the more correct idea is, that they had fattened themselves as for the day of destruction; that is, as animals are fattened for slaughter. They lived only to eat and drink, and to enjoy life. But, by such a course, they were as certainly preparing for perdition, as cattle were prepared to be killed by being stall-fed. ~Barnes Notes

Now back to the commentaries on this first part of the verse, "But she that liveth in pleasure."

But she that liveth in pleasure - She that liveth delicately - voluptuously indulging herself with dainties; it does not indicate grossly criminal pleasures; but simply means one who indulges herself in good eating and drinking, pampering her body at the expense of her mind. The word is used in reference to what we term petted and spoiled children; and a remarkable passage, is produced by Kypke, from an epistle of Theanus to Eubulus, found in Opusc. Myth. Galaei, page 741, where he says: “What can be done with that boy, who, if he have not food when and as he pleases, bursts out into weeping; and, if he eats, must have dainties and sweetmeats? If the weather be hot he complains of fatigue; if it be cold, he trembles; if he be reproved, he scolds; if every thing be not provided for him according to his wish, he is enraged. If he eats not, he breaks out into fits of anger. He basely indulges himself in pleasure; and in every respect acts voluptuously and effeminately. Knowing then, O friend, that boys living thus voluptuously, when they grow up are wont to become slaves; take away, therefore, such pleasures from them.” I have introduced this long quotation, the better to fix the meaning of the apostle, and to show that the life of pleasure mentioned here does not mean prostitution or uncleanness of any kind, though such a life may naturally lead to dissolute manners. ~Adam Clarke

Now to the second part of this verse:

2] Is dead while she liveth.

Is dead while she liveth - To all the proper purposes of life she is as if she were dead. There is great emphasis in this expression, and nothing could convey more forcibly the idea that true happiness is not to be found in the pleasure of sense. There is nothing in them that answers the purposes of life. They are not the objects for which life was given, and as to the great and proper designs of existence, such persons might as well be dead. ~Barnes Notes

Is dead while she liveth - No purpose of life is answered by the existence of such a person. Seneca, in Epist. 60, says of pleasure-takers, and those who live a voluptuous life: “We rank such persons with brutes, not with men; and some of them not even with brutes, but with dead carcasses. They anticipate their own death.” Such persons are, as the apostle says elsewhere, dead in trespasses, and dead in sins. ~Adam Clarke

Let us finish with some quotes on riotous living:

Proverbs 23:20
Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:

Proverbs 28:7
Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father.

Luke 15:13
And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

“The proximity of a desirable thing tempts one to overindulgence. On that path lies danger.”

Clogged with yesterday's excess, the body drags the mind down with it.

“Everything in excess is opposed to nature.”

Luke 12:15
And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

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