1 Timothy 5:11

καταστρηνιάσωσιν. So (rightly) the text. rec. with אCD2KL; καταστρηνιάσουσιν is found in AGP. The indicative with ὅταν would, no doubt, be possible; but the weight of MS. evidence is against it here.

11. νεωτέρας δὲ κ.τ.λ., but younger widows refuse, sc. to put on the roll of χῆραι. νεωτέρας is used generally, as in 1 Timothy 5:2, and not merely of set reference to the age limit of 60: for the force of παραιτοῦ see on 1 Timothy 4:7. These young widows are not, of course, ineligible for relief; but they are to be refused admission to the ordo viduarum, and that for two reasons: (a) from the risk to which they are exposed of unfaithfulness to religious engagements (1 Timothy 5:11-12), and (b) because of the danger for them in the duties of the ecclesiastical χήρα (1 Timothy 5:13).

ὅταν γὰρ καταστρηνιάσωσιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ κ.τ.λ., for when they have come to wax wanton against Christ, they desire to marry. ὅταν with the aor. subj. (see crit. note and 1 Corinthians 15:24; 1 Corinthians 15:27; Titus 3:12 &c.) has reference to a particular, but undetermined, point of time. καταστρηνιᾷν is not found elsewhere; it may have been formed by St Paul on the analogy of κατακαυχᾶσθαί τινος (Romans 11:18) to direct attention to the yoke which imposes the restraint. The simple verb στρηνιᾷν ‘to wax wanton’ occurs in Revelation 18:7; Revelation 18:9; the metaphor is that of a young animal trying to free itself from the yoke, and becoming restive through its fulness of life.

τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Christ is the Heavenly Bridegroom, against whom the desire of remarriage (lawful in ordinary cases in the absence of religious engagements, 1 Corinthians 7:39) is an unfaithfulness; even the wish to marry another is to be false to the συνθήκη with Christ, which they made when they undertook the widow’s office as ἑνὸς�.