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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The Pastoral Care of the Aged, the Young, the Widows.
v. 1. Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father, and the younger men as brethren,
v. 2. the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity.
v. 3. Honor widows that are widows indeed.
v. 4. But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home, and to requite their parents; for that is good and acceptable before God.
v. 5. Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.
v. 6. But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.
v. 7. And these things give in charge, that they may be blameless.
v. 8. But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
Having given his young assistant various rules of conduct concerning his own person, the apostle now delivers certain precepts to him regarding his conduct toward the members of the various stations in the congregation. He instructs Timothy first of all about the manner in which he should administer certain exhortations: An older man do not scold, but admonish him like a father, the younger men like brothers, the older women like mothers, the younger like sisters, with all purity. Although the tendency toward certain sins varies with the age, it remains true that transgressions of God's holy will occur in every station of life, and that the number of years which a person has lived have little influence upon the activity of the evil nature, certain sins even having a tendency to become ruling sins in later life, if a Christian has not always battled against them with might and main. It becomes the duty of the faithful pastor, therefore, occasionally to administer reproofs from the Word of God. Much depends, in that case, upon the manner in which this unpleasant, but necessary duty is carried out. If it is an older man whose transgression comes into consideration, the reproof should pot take the form of harsh censure, of severe objurgation, of violent scolding, in spite of the fact that many sins are peculiarly offensive if committed by the aged. There is no conflict of duties here. As teacher of the congregation the minister is obliged to apply the necessary reproof on the basis of the Word of God. But since, according to the Fourth Commandment, the honoring of older persons is demanded, the admonition must be made with respect and reverence. The aged man that has sinned should rather be exhorted, as a loving son would speak to his father whom he perceives to have fallen into some offense. If younger men are in need of reproof, this should not be administered in a spirit of superiority and lordliness, but with the fine tact that makes use of brotherly well-wishing, not, however, with a patronizing, condescending air. Toward older women that stood in need of correction Timothy was to assume the same attitude of respect as toward older men. While showing all due respect for their hoary heads, he must carry out the work of his office with all earnestness. The most difficult cases might be those of younger women, where there is always danger of misunderstanding. Toward these Timothy should therefore assume the role of brother, applying the Word of God with all earnestness and avoiding even the faintest suspicion of an interest which is not compatible with the purity demanded by the Sixth Commandment.
The apostle now inserts a special paragraph concerning the station of widows, whose treatment in the congregations had offered some difficulties from the very beginning: Honor widows that really are widows. The word which the apostle here uses is not to be confined to the care for the bodily maintenance, but includes the entire respectful treatment which the Lord demands toward older persons in the Fourth Commandment. This respect will, as a matter of course, be shown also in actual deeds of kindness, in providing for their livelihood whenever that seems necessary. At the same time the apostle is careful to define the term which he uses by stating that he has reference to such women as are really widows, as belong into the class of such persons for whom the Fourth Commandment demands respect, Psa_68:5; Job_1:16; Pro_15:25.
That Paul here has special reference to widows that are absolutely alone in the world, and thus have no one to give them the honor and the care which they ought to have, is shown by his explanation: But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to show piety at home and to return full compensation to the parents; for this is acceptable before God. In case a woman that is a widow still has children or offspring in the wider sense, including nephews and grandchildren, living, these relatives have a duty to perform in her behalf, a duty which devolves upon them through the Fourth Commandment, that of providing for the maintenance of their aged relative with all respect. This duty they should learn first, rather than expect the congregation to make provision for such as are forsaken by their own flesh and blood. In this way the children show piety, they practice religion in the proper manner, and they return, at least in some measure, some compensation which they owe the mother or grandmother. Such behavior is in accordance with the will of God, it is acceptable to Him, it finds favor in His sight.
Having shown what widows do not properly come under the heading "widows indeed," which ones are not included among those for whom the congregation must provide, he now describes one that is bereft of all human assistance: But the really forlorn widow has her hope set on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. Here is a brief, but very fitting description of a Christian widow as she should be. That she is without a provider among men, that she is utterly forsaken and alone, this fact commends her to the care of the congregation as a matter of course. Such cases are met with, also in our days, where some poor widow has lost both husband and children, and is gradually forsaken also by such as were formerly her friends. It is then that the power of the Christian religion, of her faith in God, exerts itself. She has set her hope and trust in God, her confidence in the Lord of her salvation is unshaken. To Him she therefore turns in continual trusting prayer and supplication; she casts her cares upon Him who is the Father of the fatherless and the God of the widows, who provides for all their wants in His own manner. A widow whom this description fits, who has the example of Anna in the Temple before her continually, is herewith commended to the loving, honoring care of the congregation.
A widow of the opposite kind is also sketched by the apostle: She, however, that indulges in voluptuousness is dead while she lives. here is a widow that has cast faith and a good conscience overboard and yields to the temptation to lead a life of sin and shame. The apostle describes her conduct as an indulging in dissipation, voluptuousness, whereby all chastity, decency, and shame is trodden under foot; for such a woman deliberately uses the charms of her sex to allure men, her object being to gain the means for a life of ease and pleasure. The apostle's verdict upon such a one is that she is dead while she is living. This temporal life she is indeed still possessing,—that she is enjoying to the limit,—but she has lost the one true life, the life in and with God; she is lying in spiritual death, whose end is eternal damnation.
No wonder that St. Paul adds the remark, for the sake of these widows as well as for the relatives of such as were in need: These things set up as a rule that they may be irreproachable. The children and relatives should at all times remember their duty toward one whom the Lord has entrusted to their care; and the widows should guard against the temptation to indulge in a life of sin and shame, of prodigality and wastefulness. It is an admonition which must be made a rule, which must be held before those for whom it is intended time and again, lest they yield to an attack of Satan and fall into some snare prepared by him. It is the Lord's will that all Christians, and therefore also those to whom these special admonitions are directed, should be without blame, should conduct themselves so as to be free from just censure.
The apostle, moreover, draws a general conclusion from the discussion, makes a general rule: But if any one does not provide for his own people, and especially for those of his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. The Lord has distinctly stated that the support of forsaken widows rests, first of all, upon the relatives as a sacred duty. Speaking in a wider sense, His apostle now makes it the duty of every one, man or woman, young or old, to discharge the debt which relationship imposes. If anyone neglects his near relatives and, above all, the members of his own family, that are connected with him by the bonds of the closest blood relationship, he clearly shows that he has no love for them. But this, in turn, is evidence of the fact that true faith no longer dwells in his heart, that he has repudiated the faith that ever did have its home there. Even an unbeliever, an infidel, a heathen, that has not yet felt the power of the Holy Ghost in the Word, would be ashamed to become guilty of such behavior, of abandoning his nearest relatives to a miserable fate. Worse than such an infidel, therefore, is a person that bears the name of Christian, and yet refuses to perform one of the chief duties demanded of him.