1 Timothy 5:4

1 Timothy 5:4. The first group thus excluded from those that answer to the name of ‘widow,' are such as have ‘children or nephews' (i.e. grandchildren) who are able to support them.

Let them learn. On simply grammatical grounds, the words may refer either to the widows or the children, and each view has found supporters. There can, however, be little or no doubt that the latter is the true reference. ‘Let them show their piety' not ‘at home,' but ‘to their own house or family.' As with the Romans and the Jews, so in some measure even with the Greeks, duty to parents came under the head of piety rather than of legal obligation.

Parents. Strictly speaking, ‘progenitors' or ‘ancestors,' the word being chosen in order to include the grandchildren.