1 Timothy 5:2

The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity. WITH ALL PURITY. Respectful treatment of the other sex promotes "purity....

2_The younger as sisters, with all chastity _The phrase, with all chastity, relates to younger women; for at that age they ought always to dread every kind of suspicion. Yet Paul does not forbid Timothy to have any criminal or immodest conduct towards young women, (for there was no need of such a prohibition,) but only enjoins him to beware of giving to wicked men any handle for laughter. For this purpose, he demands a chaste gravity, which shall shine throughout all their intercourse and conversation; so that he may more freely converse with young persons, without any unfavorable reports....

1,2 Respect must be paid to the dignity of years and place. The younger, if faulty, must be rebuked, not as desirous to find fault with them, but as willing to make the best of them. There is need of much meekness and care in reproving those who deserve reproof....

Verse 1 Timothy 5:2. _THE ELDER WOMEN AS MOTHERS_] Treating them with the respect due to their age. _THE YOUNGER AS SISTERS_] Feel for every member of the Church, old and young, male and female; consider them as fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters; treat them all with gentleness; and labour to keep them in, not to expel them from, the Church. _WITH ALL PURITY._] εν παση αγνεια. With all chastity. See note on 1 Timothy 4:12. There are some who seem to take a barbarous pleasure in expelling members from, the Church. They should be continued in as long as possible; while they are _in the Church_-under its ordinances and discipline, there is some hope that their errors may be corrected; but when once driven out a

THE ELDER WOMEN AS MOTHERS - Showing still the same respect for age, and for the proprieties of life. No son who had proper feelings would rebuke his own mother with severity. Let the minister of religion evince the same feelings if he is called to address a “mother in Israel” who has erred. THE YOUNGER AS SISTERS - With the feelings which you have toward a sister. The tender love which one has for a beloved sister would always keep him from using harsh and severe language. The same mildness, gentleness, and affection should be used toward a sister in the church. WITH ALL PURITY - Nothing could be more characteristic of Paul’s manner than this injunction; nothing could show a deeper acquaintance with human nature. He knew the danger which would beset a youthful minister of the gospel when it was his duty to admonish and entreat a youthful female; he knew, too,

EXPOSITION 1 TIMOTHY 5:1 _Exhort _for _intreat_,_ _A.V.; _and _omitted. REBUKE NOT (μὴ ἐπιπλήξης); only here in the New Testament for the more usual ἐπιτιμάω (2 Timothy 4:2, and frequently in the Gospels) or ἐλέγχω, as Titus 1:13; Titus 2:15; Revelation 3:19, and elsewhere. In classical Greek it expresses a sharp castigation with words. Compare the "patruae verbera linguae" (Hor., 'Od.,' 3.

THE ELDER WOMEN AS MOTHERS,.... When they offend in any point, they are to be reasoned, and argued, and pleaded with, as children should with their mothers; see Hosea 2:2 and are to be considered as mothers in Israel, and to be treated with great tenderness and respect. THE YOUNGER AS SISTERS; using the freedom as a brother may with a sister; and considering them as sisters in Christ, and in a way becoming the relation, tell them their faults freely and privately, but WITH ALL PURITY: in such manner as to preserve chastity in looks, in words, and actions....

V. INSTRUCTIONS AND EXHORTATIONS CHAPTER 5 _ 1. Concerning widows (1 Timothy 5:1)_ 2. Concerning elders (1 Timothy 5:17) 3. Responsibility and personal instructions (1 Timothy 5:22) 1 Timothy 5:1 It is not necessary to follow all these instructions in detail and explain their meaning. An elder was not to be rebuked sharply, but to be entreated as a father, and younger men as brethren. Then he speaks of widows. Those who are widows indeed are to be held in honor. Piety was to be shown at home, if they had children. “She that is a widow indeed, and desolate (left alone) trusteth in

(_b_) 1 Timothy 5:1 to 1 Timothy 6:2_ A_. TIMOTHY'S ATTITUDE TO PARTICULAR CLASSES OF CHURCH MEMBERS. 1 Timothy 5:1 f. Old and Young. Older members must be treated with reverence, younger as equals in the Christian family. 1 TIMOTHY 5:1. ELDER: rather, an older man. For a second-century parallel see Deissmann, _Light from the Ancient East,_ p. 313....

If you have occasion to reprimand an older man, do not do so sharply, but appeal to him as you would to a father. Treat the younger men like brothers; the older women as mothers; the younger women as sisters, in complete purity. It is always difficult to reprimand anyone with graciousness; and to Timothy there would sometimes fall a duty that was doubly difficult--that of reprimanding a man older than himself. Chrysostom writes: "Rebuke is in its own nature offensive particularly when it is addressed to an old man; and when it proceeds from a young man too, there is a threefold show of forwardness. By the manner and mildness of it, therefore, he would soften it. For it is possible to reprove without offence, if one will only make a point of this; it requires great discretion, but it may be done." Rebuke is always a problem. We may so dislike the task of speaking a warning word that we m...