Directions with Regard to Young Widows
T. Croskery 1 Timothy 5:11-15 But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;… I. THE YOUNGER WIDOWS WERE NOT TO BE ENROLLED ON THE LIST OF THE CHURCH'S PENSIONERS. "Younger widows decline." This did not imply that destitute widows, however young, would be excluded from occasional help from the Church's funds, but they were not to be made a permanent charge upon the resources of the Church. They were young enough to labor for their own living, or, as the apostle advised, they might marry a second time, and thus obtain a provision for themselves. II. THE REASON FOR DECLINING- SUCH WIDOWS. "For when they shall wax wanton against Christ, they desire to marry." 1. This language does not imply that they had, to speak, taken Christ for their Bridegroom, and then proved shamelessly unfaithful to their vows. This thought belongs to the ascetic ideas of a later period, as if the widows in question had taken the irrevocable engagement of nuns or of other ecclesiastical persons. They might, indeed, have remarried not only without blame, but by the direct counsel of the apostle himself. 2. Neither does it imply that they had been untrue to the memory of their first husbands. 3. The case supposed is that of some young widows, who had taken their place among others of their world-renouncing class in the list of the Church's widows, and had drawn back into a luxurious, pleasure-loving habit of life. There is no breach of the promise of widowhood either expressed or implied in the passage, and such a breach could not be interpreted by itself as equivalent to a renunciation of the Christian faith. The case supposed is that of a departure from the proprieties of widowed life, in connection with a Christian profession, which only too surely indicated a virtual repudiation of the faith. 4. The judgment that attached to their conduct implied this virtual renunciation of faith. "Having condemnation because they set at naught their first faith." (1) Not their faith to their first husbands; (2) not their vow or promise to remain in widowhood, which might be called their former faith, but not their first faith; but (3) their simple faith in Christ, when they were baptized into his Name and devoted themselves to his service. They set it at nougat by not walking according to it, their conversation not becoming their profession of it. Their condemnation, or, rather, their judgment, is not to be regarded as eternal, because it might be removed by a timely repentance. III. THE INJURIOUS AND SCANDALOUS EFFECTS OF SUCH A LIFE. "And withal they learn also to be idle, going about from house to house; and not only idle, but talkers and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not." These young widows, being under no necessity to labor for their living - for they were supported by the funds of the Church - used their leisure badly. 1. They were idle. (1) This habit of life is forbidden; for Christians are to be "not slothful in business." (2) It leads to misdirected activity; for such widows "wander from house to house," because they have no resources within themselves. 2. They become loose talkers, babbling out whatever comes into their minds. "From leisure springs that curiosity which is the mother of garrulity" (Calvin). 3. They become busybodies, with a perverted activity in the concerns of others which implies a neglect of their own. This meddling spirit leads to misunderstandings and mischiefs of many kinds. 4. They become talkers of scandal, "speaking things which they ought not" - things which may be false, or, if true, are not to be repeated from house to house. - T.C. Parallel Verses KJV: But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry; WEB: But refuse younger widows, for when they have grown wanton against Christ, they desire to marry;