1 Timothy 5:9

Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, 'As a widow (i:e., of the ecclesiastical order of widowhood: a female presbytery), let none be enrolled (in the catalogue) who is less than sixty years old. These were not deaconesses, who were chosen at a younger age (forty was fixed at the council of Chalcedon), and who had virgins (in a later age called widows) as well as widows among them, but a band of widows set apart, though not yet formally and finally, to the service of the church. Traces of such a class appear in . So Dorcas herself. As it was expedient (note, ; ) that the presbyter or bishop should have been but once married, so also she. There is a transition to a new subject...

9_Let a widow be chosen. _He again points out what kind of widows should be taken under the care of the Church; (91) and more clearly than he had formerly done. _Not under sixty years of age _First, he describes the age, _sixty years; _for, being supported at the public expense, it was proper that they should have already reached old age. Besides, there was another and stronger reason; for they consecrated themselves to the ministry of the Church, which would have been altogether intolerable, if there were still a likelihood of their being married. They were received on the condition that the Church should relieve their poverty, and that, on their part, they should be employed in ministering to the poor, as far as the state of their health allowed. Thus there was a mutual obligation between them and the Church. It was unreasonable that those who were under that age, and who were still in...

9-16 Every one brought into any office in the church, should be free from just censure; and many are proper objects of charity, yet ought not to be employed in public services. Those who would find mercy when they are in distress, must show mercy when they are in prosperity; and those who show most readiness for every good work, are most likely to be faithful in whatever is trusted to them. Those who are idle, very seldom are only idle, they make mischief among neighbours, and sow discord among brethren. All believers are required to relieve those belonging to their families who are destitute, that the church may not be prevented from relieving such as are entirely destitute and friendless....

Verse 9. _TAKEN INTO THE NUMBER_] Let her not be taken into the list of those for which the Church must provide. But some think that the apostle means the list of those who were _deaconesses_ in the Church; and that no widow was to be admitted into that rank who did not answer to the following character. See note on 1 Timothy 5:10. _UNDER THREESCORE YEARS_] As it might be supposed that, previously to this age, they might be able to do something towards their own support. See note on 1 Timothy 5:10. _HAVING BEEN THE WIFE OF ONE MAN_] Having lived in conjugal fidelity with her husband; or having had but one husband at a time; or, according to others, having never been but once married. But the former is the opinion of some of t

LET NOT A WIDOW BE TAKEN INTO THE NUMBER - Margin, “chosen.” The margin expresses the sense of the Greek more accurately, but the meaning is not materially different. Paul does not here specify into what “number” the widow is to be “taken,” or for what purpose she is to be “chosen,” but he speaks of this as a thing that was well understood. There can be no doubt, however, what he means. In the Acts of the Apostles 1 Timothy 6:1 we have this account: “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a complaining of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.” “It appears that from the first formation of the Christian church, provision was made out of the public funds of the society for the indigent widows who belonged to it;” see Patey’s Horae Paulinae on 1 Tim. No. 11. To this,

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.

LET NOT A WIDOW BE TAKEN INTO THE NUMBER,.... That is, of widows, to be maintained by the church; though some choose to understand these words of the number of such who were made deaconesses, and had the care of the poor widows of the church committed to them; and so the Arabic version renders it, "if a widow be chosen a deaconess"; but the former sense is best, for it appears from 1 Timothy 5:1 that the apostle is still speaking of widows to be relieved: now such were not to be taken under the church's care for relief, under threescore years old: for under this age it might be supposed they would marry, and so not be desolate, but would have husbands to provide for them; or they might be capable of labour, and so of taking care of themselves. The age of sixty years was by the Jews x reckoned זקנה, "old age", but not under. HAVING BEEN THE WIFE OF ONE MAN; th

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

WIDOWS. The space devoted to widows indicates the existence of a special difficulty in Asia. Paul gives Timothy definite instructions. (_a)_ Deserving widows really left alone should be maintained from Church funds (1 Timothy 5:3). (_b)_ The funds, however, must not be burdened by widows with descendants or friends capable of assisting. Descendants must make it their first charge to fulfil the family obligation involved. Otherwise they disown the Christian way of life, and acknowledge a standard lower than that of unbelievers (1 Timothy 5:4; 1 Timothy 5:8; 1 Timothy 5:16). (_c_) The mark of a true widow is that, avoiding

THE DUTY TO REPRIMAND (1 Timothy 5:1-2)...