1 Timothy 5:14

1 Timothy 5:14. Younger women. Better, ‘younger widows;' for it is of these as a class, and not of women in general, that St. Paul is speaking, though, as above suggested, the word may not necessarily have implied actual widowhood.

Bear children. The special word is as deliberately chosen as the more general one in 1 Timothy 5:10.

The adversary. Standing by itself, the word might suggest the thought of a reference to the great spiritual adversary; but St. Paul's use of the word elsewhere (1 Corinthians 16:9; Philippians 1:28; 2 Thessalonians 2:4), turns the scale in favour of the more general meaning the Jewish or heathen enemy of the Gospel.

To speak reproachfully. Literally, ‘for the sake of, with a view to reproach.' The general interpretation connects it with the ‘occasion,' as one supplying materials for reproach.