Let a widow be put upon the list, being of not less than sixty years, [having been] wife of one man,
Paul moves from the general duty of caring for widows to one practical step: the assembly kept a list. This verse gives the conditions for that list — an age, a marriage history — and raises the question of what the list was for.
The point is not who may receive help. It is who goes on the assembly's own record as its ongoing responsibility.
We understand from this that only those who match the description given here were to be formally linked with the assembly. That is, they had a recognised right to regular support. Of course, the saints might help others privately, or the Church might help them from time to time. But only these were to go on the list of those with undeniable claims on the funds of the assembly. If God's wisdom, as expressed here, had guided the Church in this matter, it would have saved much confusion.
The number is not arbitrary. It marks the age when a woman could no longer earn her own living. Older translations read "enrolled" here as "taken into the number".
To be "taken into the number" would mean becoming a regular dependent of the assembly. This was not to happen if she were under sixty years of age, for she could support herself by working. Of course, this is not a rigid law. There would be exceptions where disease or accident had left her permanently unable to work. On the other hand, a younger widow may be clearly in need. The assembly may sometimes have to relieve her, even though it ought not to support her regularly.
The phrase points to faithfulness in marriage. Commentators are careful about which cases it rules out.
Fidelity is of course the point in view in her having been the wife of one man. If, after her first husband's death, she had remarried and been widowed a second time, this would not disqualify her (1 Cor. 7:39), but cases of bigamy, or of divorce and remarriage, are evidently in view here.
Chapter 3 lays a similar requirement on overseers and deacons. One writer holds that the wording differs and that the two verses answer different situations.
1 Timothy 3:2, 12 is not, in my opinion, parallel with 1 Timothy 5:9. Remember that in those days nothing was more common among the Gentiles than for a man to have more than one wife. Many of the early converts were doubtless in that position… 1 Timothy 5:9 is not a question of the married but of widows. So the phrase is quite different: "having been the wife of one man" (compare verse 11).
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Everything named here — her age, her marriage, the good works Paul goes on to list — belongs to a life already lived.
The apostle seems to be thinking only of the widows the assembly must put on its list of care and generosity. So he speaks of her past life and ways, not of future duties great or small.
The chapter does not treat every widow alike, and this verse marks the narrowest circle of the three.
So the widows described fall into three levels: first, widows in general; second, widows who are truly widows; third, widows on the list of the assembly's special recognition. But no trace appears of an organised class of widows, still less an ordained one, such as we know existed later.
What is absent from the qualifications is as telling as what is present.
This Scripture shows in a blessed way how much a godly woman can do that pleases God and helps the Lord's people. But what it leaves out is as striking as the good works it lists. It says nothing about teaching or preaching, or indeed anything that would bring the woman into public prominence, contrary to the order of God's house.
The list has a limit. It is for those with no family to fall back on.
There may, however, be needy people in the Christian circle who have no relatives to provide for them. Such should be put on the list of those who can rightly be cared for by the assembly. Even so, we must take care not to use the house of God as if it were merely an institution for supporting needy people. Grace may indeed at times help the most abandoned. Here it is a question of who is suitable for a list of those who receive regular help from the Lord's people.
- Enrolled — a written list of women who receive regular support from the assembly. It never limits private or occasional kindness to anyone in need.
- Sixty — the age when she could no longer support herself by working. Sickness or accident can make exceptions.
- One husband — the point is faithfulness. Remarriage after a husband's death does not disqualify her. Commentators read this phrase differently from the wording about overseers in chapter 3.
- Backward-looking — every qualification describes a life already lived. The list gives care, not a job. There is no ordained order of widows and nothing public in view.
- Family first — relatives carry the duty before the assembly does. That frees the church to help those who have no one, without becoming a relief institution.
borne witness to in good works, if she have brought up children, if she have exercised hospitality, if she have washed saints' feet, if she have imparted relief to the distressed, if she have diligently followed every good work.
Paul tells Timothy which widows the church should put on its list for regular support. His test is not need alone, but a life already proved by good works.
The list is a register of widows the church takes on as its own responsibility. The limit on it is deliberate.
So the apostle commands that no widow under sixty years old should be taken onto the list (vv. 9, 10). We understand from this that only those who matched to the description given here were to be formally linked with the assembly — that is, recognised as entitled to regular support. The saints might of course help others privately, and the church might help them from time to time. But only these were put down on the list of those who had undeniable claims upon the funds of the assembly.
The boundary is not a wall. Commentators note room for exceptions where circumstances demand them.
On the other hand, the assembly may sometimes need to relieve a younger widow who is clearly in need, even though it ought not to support her regularly.
Age alone does not qualify anyone. Her own life has to prove she is fit for the church's help.
Grace may indeed, on occasion, help the most abandoned. Here the question is who is suitable for a list of those who receive regular help from the Lord's people. Such women must, by their lives, have proved they are fit for that help. If her health is normal, the one suited for the list must be old enough that she could no longer work for her living. She must have been the wife of one husband, and people must speak well of her because of her good works.
The good report has to cover home life as well as service.
Age, in and by itself, does not give the needed qualification. She must not have been married twice, and she must have a good name both for her home duties and for her activities in the Lord's service.
One writer walks through the list. The children she raised need not be her own, and hospitality on its own is not yet a Christian mark.
The apostle then insists on her general character in good works. He does not forget the raising of children (not necessarily her own), or the showing of hospitality to strangers. Even this by itself would not carry the Christian stamp. So the apostle adds that lowly act which our Lord Himself gave a deeper meaning in John 13 — washing the saints' feet. That blessed example was sure to give this act a great impulse, though sadly it has been turned into vanity or into the badge of a party in days of decline. Then comes relief for people in distress of any kind, and steady diligence in whatever called for active kindness.
This clause is not about fault-finding. Writers tie it to the upper room in John 13, and read it as bringing relief to tired believers.
Feet-washing is essentially His own service, yet He often carries it out through others. So we are put under the duty, and given the privilege, of washing one another's feet. It is a blessed service. We do not carry it out by trying to correct one another (however necessary that is at times), still less by finding fault with one another. We carry it out by ministering Christ to one another, for only a ministry of Christ will bring refreshment to a weary soul. Years after the scene in the upper room, the Apostle Paul tells us that one of the qualifications of a godly widow is that she has washed the feet of the saints. This surely does not mean she was merely someone who rebuked evil or corrected faults. It means she refreshed the drooping spirits of the saints by coming from Christ with a ministry of Christ.
Nothing in the passage installs these women in a role or an order. The apostle looks backwards, not forwards.
There is a total absence in the context of any such functions, whatever scholars may argue from ancient writers, Greek or Latin, in order to support the idea that female superintendents are in question. The apostle appears to have in view only those widows the assembly must put on the list of its care and generosity. So he speaks of her past life and ways, not of future duties, great or small.
These works are within reach of every believer.
Not all are qualified to be teachers or to hold church office, but all are qualified to minister to the Lord in ministering to one another. There may be those whose ministry will be in showing hospitality and contributing to the needs of the saints.
- Register. The list meant ongoing support from the church. The saints could still help other widows privately or now and then.
- Reputation. The qualification is a life already proved by works, not age or need on its own.
- Range. The works counted are plain ones: raising children (not always her own), hospitality, refreshing the saints, and relieving the afflicted.
- Refreshment. Washing the saints' feet points back to John 13. It means bringing Christ to weary believers, not correcting or finding fault.
- Record. Paul describes her past ways, not a future office. He sets up no order of women officials.