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1Ti_5:9 ff. From this point the apostle takes up a special class of widows, viz. those who had been placed by the church on a formal list, and who accordingly possessed a certain position of honour in the church. From 1Ti_5:16 it is to be inferred that it was the duty of the church to care for them so long as they lived, while from 1Ti_5:10 it appears that they had to perform for the church certain labours of love suited to them. The various views regarding them have already been given in the Introduction, § 5; each has its special difficulties. Still Mosheim’s view is the most probable,[176] only what the apostle says of these widows does not justify us in transplanting into the apostolic age the ecclesiastical institution of the χῆραι ( πρεσβύτεραι , πρεσβύτιδες ) in the same form as it had at a later date. We have here only the tendencies from which the institution was gradually developed. Though the apostle takes it for granted that the church takes care of these widows, we cannot conclude that, as the older expositors assume,[177] he means by the ΚΑΤΑΛΕΓΈΣΘΩ their reception into the number of the widows to be supported by the church. Poor widows, like poor persons generally, would surely be supported by the church without being placed in the special class of the ΧῆΡΑΙ here meant.—1Ti_5:9-10. ΧΉΡΑ ΚΑΤΑΛΕΓΈΣΘΩ ] ΚΑΤΑΛΈΓΕΙΝ ( ἍΠ . ΛΕΓ . in N. T.), properly “select,” then “place upon a list,” used especially of the citizens chosen for service in war; comp. Aristophanes, Acharn. 1629, Lysist. 14. 6. χήρα is not the subject, but the predicate; Winer, p. 549 [E. T. p. 738]: “as widow let her be registered (enrolled) who is not under sixty” (so, too, Wiesinger, Hofmann). The common translation is: “let a widow be chosen” (so de Wette, van Oosterzee, Plitt.).
μὴ ἔλαττον ἐτῶν ἑξήκοντα γεγονυῖα ] Leo and some others connect ΓΕΓΟΝΥῖΑ with what follows (Vulgate: quae fuerit unius viri uxor; so Luther). A comparison with 1Ti_3:2 shows that this is incorrect; besides, the construction itself demands the connection with what precedes. The genitive does not depend on ΓΕΓΟΝΥῖΑ (as Luk_2:42 : ὍΤΙ ἘΓΈΝΕΤΟ ἘΤῶΝ ΔΏΔΕΚΑ ), but on ἜΛΑΤΤΟΝ , and is equivalent to Ἢ ἜΤΗ ἙΞΉΚΟΝΤΑ (comp. Demosthenes, in Timocrat. p. 481: γέγονα οὐκ ἔλαττον ἢ τριάκοντα ἔτη ).
ἙΝῸς ἈΝΔΡῸς ΓΥΝΉ , after the explanation given at 1Ti_3:2 of the corresponding expression: ΜΙᾶς ΓΥΝΑΙΚῸς ἈΝΉΡ , denotes the widow who has lived in sexual intercourse with no one but her lawfully wedded husband.
ἘΝ ἜΡΓΟΙς ΚΑΛΟῖς ΜΑΡΤΥΡΟΥΜΈΝΗ ] ΜΑΡΤΥΡΕῖΝ in the N. T. has often the meaning: give one a good testimony; hence the passive is: possess a good testimony ( μαρτυρίαν καλὴν ἔχειν , 1Ti_3:7). ἘΝ here (as elsewhere in connection with verbs of similar meaning, see Wahl, s.v. ἐν Η . α .) gives the ground (of the good testimony); comp. Heb_11:2, for which in Heb_11:39 we have ΔΙΆ .
The ἜΡΓΑ ΚΑΛΆ (comp. 1Ti_5:25; 1Ti_6:18, and other passages in the Pastoral Epistles) are not only works of benevolence, although to these chief attention is directed, but generally “good works”.
εἰ ἐτεκνοτρόφησεν ] εἰ cannot be joined immediately with ΚΑΤΑΛΕΓΈΣΘΩ , since the sense forbids us to consider this and the following clauses as co-ordinate with what precedes. It is rather attached to the ἘΝ ἜΡΓ . ΚΑΛ . ΜΑΡΤΥΡΟΥΜΈΝΗ , not, however, in such a way (as Heydenreich thinks) as to stand for ὍΤΕ (which is also not the case in Act_26:22-23), but in such a way as to distribute the preceding idea into its single parts, and connect them with it in free fashion, “if namely.” Luther: “and who has a testimony of good works, as she has brought up children.”
On ἐτεκνοτρόφησεν ( ἅπ . λεγ .) Theodoret remarks: Οὐ ΘΡΈΨΑΙ ΜΌΝΟΝ ἈΠΑΙΤΕῖ , ἈΛΛᾺ ΚΑῚ ΤῸ ΕὐΣΕΒῶς ΘΡΈΨΑΙ . Wrong; the verb, not “rear” (van Oosterzee), but “nurse” (Luther), refers to the attention of love, as do the verbs that follow; compare Act_22:3 : ἈΝΑΤΕΘΡΑΜΜΈΝΟς distinguished from ΠΕΠΑΙΔΕΥΜΈΝΟς . There is no reason for thinking here of strange children, since it may rightly be called a ΚΑΛῸΝ ἜΡΓΟΝ , if a mother does not entrust the rearing of her children to others, but takes care of them herself (in opposition to Leo and Wiesinger); the apostle is not thinking of the distinction between strange children and one’s own. Heydenreich, de Wette, and others think that Paul bases this exhortation on the ground that the ΤΕΚΝΟΤΡΟΦΊΑ was part of the official duties of a ΧΉΡΑ , and that she must have practised them before; but they are wrong, because in that case we could not but consider the ΞΕΝΟΔΟΧΕῖΝ Κ . Τ . Λ . as also the special duties of such widows.
ΕἸ ἘΞΕΝΟΔΌΧΗΣΕΝ ] comp. 1Ti_3:2; Tit_1:8 ( ΦΙΛΌΞΕΝΟς ); Rom_12:13; Heb_13:2. The word ΞΕΝΟΔΟΧΕῖΝ (Euripides, Alc. 555) is in the N. T. ἅπαξ ΛΕΓ .
ΕἸ ἉΓΊΩΝ ΠΌΔΑς ἜΝΙΨΕΝ ] comp. Joh_13:5 ff.; also Luk_7:44. Wahl: pedum lotio (apud Judaeos) opus erat servile eademque apud eos in primis humanitatis officiis hospiti praestandis ponebatur. The feet-washing is meant literally, and not merely as “a symbolic expression for the manifestations of self-denying love” (first ed.); although Paul might at the same time be thinking of other services of lowly love. Theophylact: ΕἸ ΤᾺς ἘΣΧΆΤΑς ὙΠΗΡΕΣΊΑς ΤΟῖς ἉΓΊΟΙς ἈΝΕΠΑΙΣΧΎΝΤΩς ἘΞΕΤΈΛΕΣΕ .
The ἍΓΙΟΙ are not merely the ΞΈΝΟΙ (in opposition to Wiesinger), but the Christians in general who came into the house as guests.
ΕἸ ΘΛΙΒΟΜΈΝΟΙς ἘΠΉΡΚΕΣΕΝ ] Bengel arbitrarily limits the meaning of ΘΛΙΒΌΜΕΝΟΙ , wishing to interpret it only of the poor; it is to be taken more generally as equivalent to “those in distress.” Ἐπαρκεῖν in the N. T. only here and at 1Ti_5:16.
After naming several works of love in detail, the apostle adds more generally, in order to exhaust the ἘΝ ἘΡΓ . ΚΑΛ . ΜΑΡΤΥΡΕῖΣΘΑΙ : ΕἸ ΠΑΝΤῚ ἜΡΓῼ ἈΓΑΘῷ ἘΠΗΚΟΛΟΎΘΗΣΕ .[178] Hence we must not here think of works of benevolence only, but take πᾶν ἔργον in its entire meaning.
ἘΠΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΕῖΝ (in the N. T. only here at 1Ti_5:24, at Mar_16:20, where it is absolute, and at 1Pe_2:21, where it is joined with ΤΟῖς ἼΧΝΕΣΙ ) is mostly referred to persons; but we cannot therefore, with Schleiermacher, supply here ΑὐΤΟῖς , i.e. θλιβομένοις .[179] It stands here in the same sense as ΔΙΏΚΕΙΝ , 1Ti_6:11; 1Th_5:15; Heb_12:14. Luther: “who has followed every good work.”[180]
[176] With his view de Wette and Wiesinger agree; also Hofmann in substance. Even van Oosterzee refers us to Mosheim; but he wrongly identifies the widows here mentioned with the deaconesses, whereas Mosheim clearly distinguishes between them.
[177] Chrysostom in his commentary explains this passage as meaning, receiving in order to care for. In his Hom. 31, in div. N. T. loc., however, he interprets it of receiving into an ecclesiastical office, saying: καθάπερ εἰσὶ παρθένων χοροὶ , οὕτω καὶ χηρῶν τὸ παλαιὸν ἦσαν χοροὶ , καὶ οὐκ ἐξῆν αὐταῖς ἁπλῶς εἰς τὰς χήρας ἐγγράφεσθαι .
[178] This Hofmann wrongly disputes, wishing to lay the emphasis not on παντὶ ἔργ . ἀγαθ ., but on ἐπηκολούθησε : “if there was any good to be done, she was to follow after it with all diligence, she was to make it her business.”
[179] Bengel gives a peculiar reference to the word, which cannot be justified, saying: antistitum et virorum est bonis operibus praeire Tit_3:8; Tit_3:14, mulierum, subsequi, adjuvando pro sua parte.
[180] Hofmann is indeed not wrong in contending against the view that ver. 15 points to the services which the widows here mentioned are to perform for the church. He says that this verse only tells that “she must have fulfilled the duties of a mother and a Christian housewife.” But the enumeration of all these duties indicates that as a church-widow she must be practised in the exercise of many services of love.