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1Ti_5:12. Ἔχουσαι κρίμα , ὅτι ] Almost all expositors take ὅτι as introducing the object, so that what follows describes the κρίμα which the widows have to suffer. There is variance only in the more precise definition of κρίμα , whether it is to be understood as the judgment of God (Wiesinger, van Oosterzee), or the judgment of men (Wegscheider: “they draw blame on themselves;” Plitt: “they meet with reproof”), or the judgment of their own conscience (so in this commentary; comp. 1Ti_4:2 : κεκαυτηριασένοι τὴν ἰδίαν συνείδησιν ). Hofmann takes ὅτι as “because,” as there is no article with κρίμα : “they are liable to condemnation;” but this makes the meaning of κρίμα ἔχειν too vague. Since the use of the article in the N. T. is so wavering, it is difficult to come to a definite conclusion. Plitt’s explanation may be taken as the most natural.
ὅτι τὴν πρώτην πίστιν ἠθέτησαν ] τὴν πίστιν ἀθετεῖν in Polybius (who often uses ἀθετεῖν by itself) is “fidem fallere, break a pledge.” This meaning has rightly been maintained here by most. So Chrysostom: παρέβησαν τὰς συνθήκας ; Augustine on Ps. lxxv.: primam fidem irritam fecerunt; voverunt et non reddiderunt. We cannot infer from this expression that any formal oath not to marry again was demanded when they were received into the number of church-widows; but it certainly does follow that the reception pledged the widows to devote their lives only to the service of the Lord. To this pledge they were unfaithful so soon as they began the behaviour described in 1Ti_5:11. It is out of place here to appeal to such passages in the Fathers as testify that in later times the deaconesses had to vow that they would not marry. Πρώτην does not stand for πρότεραν , but is used by the apostle because the vow (tacit or expressed) to serve the Lord was taken at the beginning of their new position in life. Calvin wrongly takes the πρώτη πίστις as the fides in baptismo data, referring the unfaithfulness to the desire to marry, which is defined more precisely by ὅταν καταστρηνιάσωσι τ . Χρ .