1 Timothy 5:10

ἐν ἔργοις καλοῖς μαρτυρουμένη : ἐν with μαρτυρεῖσθαι means in respect of. See reff. and Moulton and Milligan, Expositor, vii., vii., 562.

It is characteristic of the sanity of apostolic Christianity that as typical examples of “good works,” St. Paul instances the discharge of commonplace duties, “the daily round, the common task”. For ἔργα καλά see on chap. 1 Timothy 3:1.

εἰ ἐτεκνοτρόφησεν : As has been just explained, the εἰ is not so much dependent on καταλεγέσθω as explanatory of ἐν ἔργοις καλ. μαρτ. The rendering of the Vulg., [276], [277], [278], Amb., filios educavit, is better than that of [279] 141, nutrivit, or Ambrst. enutrivit. It is not child-birth so much as the “Christianly and virtuously bringing up of children,” her own or those entrusted to her charge, that St. Paul has in his mind. Tert. de Virg. vel. 9, alluding to this passage, says, “Non tantum univirae, id est nuptae, aliquando eliguntur, sed et matres et quidem educatrices filiorum, scilicet ut experimentis omnium affectuum structae facile norint ceteras et consilio et solatio iuvare, etrut nihilominus ea decucurrerint, per quae femina probari potest”. The later Church widows, among other duties, had the care of the Church orphans (cf. Hermas Mand. viii.; Lucian, de morte Peregrini, 12).

[276] The Latin text of Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[277] The Latin version of Codex Augiensis (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., at Trinity College, Cambridge, edited by Scrivener in 1859. Its presents the Vulgate text with some modifications.

[278] The Latin text of Codex Boernerianus (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., at Dresden, edited by Matthæi in 1791. Written by an Irish scribe, it once formed part of the same volume as Codex Sangallensis (δ) of the Gospels.

[279] Speculum

ἐξενοδόχησεν : Hospitality is a virtue especially demanded in a condition of society in which there is much going to and fro, and no satisfactory hotel accommodation. The episcopus must be φιλόξενος (1 Timothy 3:2, where see note).

εἰ ἁγίων πόδας ἔνιψεν : If the strangers were also “saints,” members of the Christian Society, they would naturally receive special attention. The mistress of the house would act as servant of the servants of God (cf. Genesis 18:6; 1 Samuel 25:41). Unless we assume the unhistorical character of St. John's Gospel, it is natural to suppose that the story told in John 13:5-14, and the Master's command to do as He had done, was known to St. Paul and Timothy. The absence of an article before πόδας “is due to assimilation to ἁγίων ” (Blass, Grammar, p. 151, note 2).

εἰ παντὶ ἐπηκολούθησεν cuts short any further enumeration of details, if in short, she has devoted herself to good works of every kind. There is an exact parallel to this use of ἐπακολουθέω in Joshua 14:14, διὰ τὸ αὐτὸν [Caleb] ἐπακολουθῆσαι τῷ προστάγμαλι Κυρίου θεοῦ Ἰσραήλ. The word also means to “check” or “verify” an account. In Mark 16:20, “the signs ‘endorse' the word” (Moulton and Milligan, Expositor, vii., vii. 376). So here it may connote sympathy with, and interest in, good works, without actual personal labour in them.