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1Ti_5:16. According to Heydenreich, Leo, de Wette, Wiesinger, van Oosterzee, and other expositors, this verse is in substance a repetition of what was already said in 1Ti_5:4; 1Ti_5:8; but if a right view of those verses be taken, there is not so much repetition.
Hofmann wishes to separate 1Ti_5:16 from what precedes it, as he separates 1Ti_5:8 from the preceding words: “If in 1Ti_5:16 the apostle comes to speak of the case in which the support of a widow is not to fall a burden on the church, this has no reference to the honouring of widows.” There is as little ground for the one separation as for the other; for it is not to be supposed that καταλέγεσθαι in 1Ti_5:9 does not refer to the church’s support.
εἴ τις πιστὸς ἢ πιστὴ ἔχει χήρας ] so runs the Rec. (Tisch. 7). But the weightiest MSS. have the reading: εἴ τις πιστὴ ἔχει χήρας (Tisch. 8), which is decidedly to be preferred. The other is only a pointless correction, arising from the idea that the husband should be named along with the wife, and without considering that ἤ is by no means suitable to the mention of both together, and that τὶς πιστή must in any case be a Christian spouse. The reason why the wife and not the husband is named is, that on her was laid the duty of caring for the widows belonging to the house. The ἔχειν expresses the close connection of the widows with the particular family, a connection which may most naturally be supposed to be one of kin.[186] Erasmus translates it: si qua mater habet filiam viduam; and de Wette, too, supposes that by widow here we are to understand the daughter, niece, etc., not the mother, aunt, etc. This limitation, however, is not contained in the expression itself. Had Paul thought of the relationship in this definite way, he would have expressed himself accordingly.
καὶ μὴ βαρείσθω ἡ ἐκκλησία ] let not a charge or burden be laid on the church by undertaking the support of such widows. (The verb belongs to later Greek for the common βαρύνειν ; only the form βεβάρημαι is Attic; comp. Butmann, Ausf. Gr. II. p. 88.)
The next words give the reason: ἵνα ταῖς ὄντως χήραις κ . τ . λ .
On the train of thought in this section dealing with widows, Matthies rightly says: “Complaints are made from the most various quarters regarding difficulties and inequalities, regarding want of order and clearness, regarding repetition and confusion in this section; but all this is, for the most part, founded on presuppositions which have no basis in fact.” We cannot but see that the train of thought is simple and natural, so soon as we observe that the chief point in the apostle’s mind in this section is the injunction regarding the καταλέγεσθαι of the widows, and that in 1Ti_5:4 he is not speaking as in 1Ti_5:16 of widows to be cared for, but of those who have to care for the children or grandchildren belonging to them.
[186] Hofmann thinks that “here the case is supposed of a Christian woman having widows in her house who, for a long or short period, are serviceable, helpful to her.” But, as a matter of course, such widows receive hire from those in whose service they work, and their support can therefore not be laid as a burden on the church.