Bible Question:
CDJB, Greetings brother. Could you add a little insight on 1 Timothy 5:8. Does this refer to ones immediate family, or spiritual family as well? It's a subject I'm currently wrestling with and am trying to understand better. In Him, lionheart |
Bible Answer: Greetings Lionheart, Next Paul offered instruction on how Timothy must deal with the widows in the congregation. Throughout the Old and New Testaments widows, along with aliens and orphans, are viewed as special objects of God’s mercy. As such they are to be taken under the wing of the congregation (cf. Deut. 10:18; 14:29; 24:17-21; Acts 6:1-7; James 1:27). As early as Acts 6 the church had established a charitable outreach to widows. Now about 30 years later the ministry to widows, of whom there were no doubt many, showed signs of being a major burden to the congregation. Paul was therefore eager in this passage to identify those who did not truly need help in order to leave enough for those who did. 5:3-4. Timothy was instructed to give proper recognition to (lit., “honor”) those who were truly widows—that is, widows who were really in need. These Paul contrasted with widows who had lost their husbands but who had children or grandchildren still living. Since in God’s economy the first responsibility for caring for the needy falls on the family (not the church and surely not the state), these family members should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own. In so doing, these family members would repay their “forebears” (prognosis; cf. 2 Tim. 1:3) part of the debt owed them. Such reciprocity is pleasing to God. It is “welfare” as God intended it. 5:5. The widow who is really in need and left all alone has nowhere to look for help but to God and His people. Thus one of the marks of a needy widow is that she puts her hope in God and therefore continues in petition and prayer night and day. Such a godly person, dedicated after the death of her husband to the service of the Lord, was deeply respected (cf. the description of the widow-prophetess Anna, Luke 2:37), and was viewed as worthy of the church’s support. 5:6. Not all women who became widows gave themselves to such godly service, of course. Some widows used their widowhood to seek after sensual pleasure (lives for pleasure); spatalo, (used elsewhere in the NT only in James 5:5). Some commentators suggest even the hint of prostitution here. In any case Paul stated that a life devoted to wanton pleasure, in stark contrast to the godly life described in 1 Timothy 5:5, produces a woman who is dead even while she lives (cf. Rom. 8:6; Rev. 3:1). One need only witness the spiritual emptiness produced within those who choose such a profligate lifestyle to understand Paul’s point. Such women must not be placed on the widows’ list. 5:7-8. In 4:11 Paul instructed Timothy to “command… these things” (parangelle tauta). Now, having added the intervening instructions, Paul repeated the exact words: “Command these things too.” Paul wanted Timothy to pass along these instructions about the list of widows in order that no one may be open to blame. The reference is somewhat ambiguous, but probably refers to the widows in the church. If the wrong women are included on the list their sensual lifestyles (cf. 5:6) will bring reproach on the entire group. But it may also refer to the remaining families of the widows. Failure to provide (pronoei means “to think ahead, to provide by seeing needs in advance”) for these family members gives the lie to any claim to know God (cf. Titus 1:16) and becomes de facto a denial of the faith. Indeed, such a failure renders the defaulting family member worse than an unbeliever, since even many non-Christians understand and fulfill their familial responsibilities. This is from, (Bible Knowledge Commentary) x CDBJ |
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