Survey
of the Letters of Paul: 1 Timothy 5:15
For some are already turned aside after Satan.
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.
We will begin with the Matthew Henry Concise Commentary which covers verses
9-16:
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 Concise commentary
For some are already turned aside after Satan - That is, some young widows. The
meaning is, that in the respects above mentioned 1Timothy 5:13, they had
followed the great Tempter, rather than the Lord Jesus. This is stated as a
reason why they should not be admitted into
the number of the widows who were to be maintained at the expense of the church,
and to whom the care of the younger female members was to be committed.
~Barnes Notes
Quoted verse:
1 Timothy 5:13
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.
For some are already turned aside - Some of these young widows, for he appears
to be still treating of them, are turned aside to idolatry, to follow Satan
instead of Christ. Slight deviations, in the first instance, from a right line,
may lead at last to an infinite distance from Christ. ~Adam Clarke
For some are already turned aside after Satan - Meaning some of those younger
widows, whom the apostle knew, and had observed to have departed from the faith
they first professed, and turned their backs on Christ, and gave themselves up
to carnal lusts and pleasures, and an idle and impure life and conversation,
walked according to the course of this world, and the prince of it, by whom they
were led captive at his will; for so everyone that apostatizes from a profession
of Christ, and follows either false teachers, and their doctrines, as the
Gnostics, that condemned marriage, or any sinful and impure way of life, may be
said to turn aside after Satan; and as that apostle knew this to be fact, from
his own observation, he therefore gives the above advice. ~ John Gill
Now some commentary from the Matthew Henry, which is more of a running dialog of
this general area of scripture.
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, 1Timothy 5:15. We learn hence, 1. In the
primitive church there was care taken of poor widows, and provision made for
them; and the churches of Christ in these days should follow so good an example,
as far as they are able. 2. In the distribution of the church's charity, or
alms, great care is to be taken that those share in the public bounty who most
want it and best deserve it. A widow was not to be taken into the primitive
church that had relations who were able to maintain her, or who was not well
reported of for good works, but lived in pleasure: But the younger widows
refuse, for, when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry.
3. The credit of religion, and the reputation of Christian churches, are very
much concerned in the character and behaviour of those that are taken into any
employment in the church, though of a lower nature (such as the business of
deaconesses), or that receive alms of the church; if they do not behave well,
but are tatlers and busy-bodies, they will give occasion to the adversary to
speak reproachfully. 4. Christianity obliges its professors to relieve their
indigent friends, particularly poor widows, that the church may not be charged
with them, that it may relieve those that are widows indeed: rich people should
be ashamed to burden the church with their poor relations, when it is with
difficulty that those are supplied who have no children or nephews, that is,
grand-children, who are in a capacity to relieve them. ~Matthew Henry Volume
commentary
For some are already turned aside — For in the case of some this result has
already ensued; “Some (widows) are already turned aside after Satan,” the
seducer (not by falling away from the faith in general, but) by such errors as
are stigmatized in 1 Timothy 5:11-13, sexual passion, idleness, etc., and so
have given occasion of reproach (1 Timothy 5:14). “Satan finds some mischief
still for the idle hands to do.” ~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
For some are already turned aside - Widows. Have turned aside after Satan - Who
has drawn them from Christ. ~Wesley Explanatory Notes
Now from the Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge we have instances of individuals
turning after Satan.
Philippians 3:18-19
18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in
their shame, who mind earthly things.)
2 Timothy 1:15
This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of
whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.
2 Timothy 2:18
Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past
already; and overthrow the faith of some.
2 Timothy 4:10
For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed
unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
2 Peter 2:2
And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth
shall be evil spoken of.
2 Peter 2:20-22
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the
knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled
therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness,
than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto
them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned
to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the
mire.
1 John 2:19
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be
made manifest that they were not all of us.
Jude1:4-5
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained
to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into
lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that
the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed
them that believed not.
Revelation 12:9
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and
Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his
angels were cast out with him.
The Treasury adds to the scriptures I just read 2 Peter 3:16 which I will read
now in context beginning in verse 9. Notice as I read the concept of some
falling from the faith.
2 Peter 3:9-18 ...a passage which speaks to the return of the Lord and
the Day of the Lord and Christ's return to be generally denied.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but
is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons
ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye
may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our
beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written
unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are
some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable
wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye
also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own
stedfastness.
18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
Let us look at some commentaries for the phrases in verse 16
2 Peter 3:16
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some
things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest,
as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
As also in all his epistles - Not only in those which he addressed to the
churches in Asia Minor, but in his epistles generally. It is to be presumed that
they might have had an acquaintance with some of the other epistles of Paul, as
well as those sent to the churches in their immediate vicinity. ~Barnes Notes
Speaking in them of these things - The things which Peter had dwelt upon in his
two epistles. The great doctrines of the cross; of the depravity of man; of the
divine purposes; of the new birth; of the consummation of all things; of the
return of the Saviour to judge the world, and to receive his people to himself;
the duty of a serious, devout and prayerful life, and of being prepared for the
heavenly world. These things are constantly dwelt upon by Paul, and to his
authority in these respects Peter might appeal with the utmost confidence.
~Barnes Notes
In which - He refers not to the difficulty of understanding what Paul meant, but
to the difficulty of comprehending the great truths which he taught. This is,
generally, the greatest difficulty in regard to the statements of Paul. The
difficulty is not that the meaning of the writer is not plain, but it is either:
(a) that the mind is overpowered by the grandeur of the thought, and the
incomprehensible nature of the theme, or
(b) that the truth is so unpalatable, and the mind is so prejudiced against it,
that we are unwilling to receive it.
Many a man knows well enough what Paul means, and would receive his doctrines
without hesitation if the heart was not opposed to it; and in this state of mind
Paul is charged with obscurity, when the real difficulty lies only in the heart
of him who makes the complaint. If this be the true interpretation of this
passage, then it should not be adduced to prove that Paul is an obscure writer,
whatever may be true on that point. There are, undoubtedly, obscure things in
his writings, as there are in all other ancient compositions, but this passage
should not be adduced to prove that he had not the faculty of making himself
understood. An honest heart, a willingness to receive the truth, is one of the
best qualifications for understanding the writings of Paul; and when this
exists, no one will fail to find truth that may be comprehended, and that will
be eminently adapted to sanctify and save the soul. ~John Gill
Though there be some things hard to be understood - there are enough besides,
plain, easy, and sufficient for perfecting the man of God. “There is scarce
anything drawn from the obscure places, but the same in other places may be
found most plain” [Augustine]. It is our own prejudice, foolish
expectations, and carnal fancies, that make Scripture difficult [Jeremy
Taylor]. ~John Gill
which they that are unlearned; untaught of God - who have never learned of the
Father, nor have learned Christ, nor have that anointing which teacheth all
things; who, though they may have been in the schools of men, were never in the
school of Christ; and though they have been ever learning, yet will never come
to the knowledge of the truth; for men may have a large share of human
literature, and yet be unlearned men in the sense of the apostle; and very often
it is, that such wrest and pervert the Scriptures to the ruin of themselves, and
others: ~John Gill
and unstable; unsettled in their principles - who are like children tossed to
and fro with every wind of doctrine; the root of the matter is not in them; nor
are they rooted and built up in Christ, and so are not established in the faith;
they are not upon the foundation Christ, nor do they build upon, and abide by
the sure word of God, or form their notions according to it, but according to
their own carnal reasonings, and fleshly lusts. ~John Gill
wrest the word of God - distort it from its true sense and meaning, and make it
speak that which it never designed; dealing with it as innocent persons are
sometimes used, put upon a rack, and tortured, and so forced to speak what is
contrary to their knowledge and consciences; and so were the words of the
Apostle Paul wrested by ill designing men, as about the doctrines of grace and
works, so concerning the coming of Christ; see Romans 3:8. ~John Gill
Quoted verse:
Romans 3:8
And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as
some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is
just.
as they do also the other Scriptures - the writings of Moses, and the prophets
of the Old Testament, the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the other
epistles of the apostles of the New Testament: and which is eventually. ~John
Gill
unto their own destruction- for by so doing they either add unto, or detract
from the Scriptures, and so bring the curse of God upon them; and they give into
doctrines of devils, and into heresies, which are damnable, and bring upon
themselves swift destruction, which lingers not, and slumbers not. Now from
hence it does not follow, that the Scriptures are not to be read by the common
people; for not all the parts of Scripture, and all things in it, are hard to be
understood, there are many things very plain and easy, even everything
respecting eternal salvation; there is milk for babes, as well as meat for
strong men: besides, not the Scriptures in general, but Paul's epistles only,
are here spoken of, and not all of them, or anyone whole epistle among them,
only some things in them, and these not impossible, only difficult to be
understood; and which is no reason why they should be laid aside, but rather why
they should be read with greater application and diligence, and be followed with
fervent prayer, and frequent meditation; and though unlearned and unstable men
may wrest them to their perdition, those that are taught of God, though
otherwise illiterate, may read them to great profit and advantage. ~John Gill
Let us close with three scriptures on avoiding Satan and sin.
John 14:15
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Galatians 5:16
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the
flesh.
2 Corinthians 7:1
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
And this is the lesson of verse 15.