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.
But younger widows decline; for when they grow wanton against Christ, they desire to marry,
Paul has just described the widow the assembly could put on its support list: sixty years old, with a life of good works behind her. Now he turns to the younger widows and tells Timothy to decline them. His reason is not money. It is what happens to a heart that drifts from Christ.
These chapters do not deal with the inner life of the soul. They deal with what is fitting in public view.
The subject here is always what outwardly fits an upright walk, what is proper, whether about the position of people or about the world. The apostle speaks of elders, of widows, of what is fitting for younger widows... Nothing here is inward, nothing about the soul's relationship with God. Everything points to the public testimony that suited the position of men in this world before God.
The refusal is about a list. The younger widow was not counted in the group the assembly supported.
The younger widows, on the other hand, were to be refused. That is, they did not count as belonging to the class of widows proper. They might have taken the place for themselves as a place of honour, but without faithfulness equal to the path it implied.
Note also who is in view. "Younger" here is not young women in general, and the older English versions blurred it:
It seems strange that the English versions since Tyndale added "women" after "younger", for only widows are meant... The Greek form makes it unnecessary to add "females", and the context is decisive: the apostle speaks of none but those who had lost their husbands.
Notice what settles the question in the apostle's mind.
It is of deep value to see what weighs in the apostle's mind: Christ, not moral or practical or personal considerations... He judges the young widows by their relationship to Christ. You would expect them, of all people, after their own experience of sorrow, to feel that the time is short and that the fashion of this world is passing away. But they lose sight of Christ and His dealings with them, and look out for themselves.
Where the ESV says their passions draw them away from Christ, older translations read "grow wanton against Christ". The desire to marry is not the sin. The problem is the spirit behind it.
Supporting younger widows out of the assembly's funds is likely to harm the state of their own souls. It may not always be the case, but it is the general tendency. To grow wanton against Christ is the exact opposite of the submissive, quiet spirit that should mark a widow. It is bold, brazen, self-willed. Wanting to marry in that state is certainly dangerous — not that wanting to marry is wrong in itself, for Paul recommends it almost at once (v. 14).
The phrase points back to what their grief once produced.
Their "first faith" probably means this. When they lost their husbands, the Lord used their grief to draw them near to Himself, and they gave themselves entirely to Him and His service. But they lose heart for Christ, and so they wish to marry. In that state of soul they cannot lean on Christ for all the support they need. So they turn with longing to the help of human affections and a human arm. An unsatisfied heart is the source of much sin.
This gives the verse a reach far beyond widows:
It is possible not only to lose our first love, but to cast off our first faith, which at the start of our Christian life made Christ the great Object.
This warning lands hardest on those who are most sure of themselves.
Failure in faith brings serious consequences on those who bear the Lord's name... Those who profess Christ, when they take a true position and then turn away from it, fall lower than others. None fall so far as those who pride themselves on being faithful. Faith alone keeps up lowly dependence on the Lord. The people the apostle is writing about have cast off the freshness of faith, and they slip lower and lower... How often does great evil follow from what seems a little departure?
- Refuse — the word withholds a place on the assembly's support list. The younger widow was not counted among the "widows proper".
- Younger — the Greek limits this to widows, not to young women in general. Translations that added "women" widened what Paul had narrowed.
- Wanton — the fault is the bold, self-willed spirit. Marrying again is not the fault; Paul urges it four verses later.
- First faith — the wholehearted devotion that sorrow had drawn out of them. When the heart loses Christ as its Object, it reaches for a human arm instead.
- Drift — an unsatisfied heart is the source of much sin. Those who cast off the freshness of faith slip lower and lower. A small departure rarely stays small.
being guilty, because they have cast off their first faith.
Paul has just told Timothy which widows the church should support, and here he gives his reason for turning the younger ones away. Two phrases carry the weight — the "condemnation" they incur, and the "former faith" they abandon.
Older English Bibles rendered this word "damnation." One writer lists this verse among the many places where that English word simply meant judgment:
The English New Testament often uses "damnation" to mean judgment, as in Matthew 23:14; Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47; Romans 3:8; and 1 Timothy 5:12. That is also the sense in 1 Corinthians 11:29, where it stands in contrast with being condemned along with the world. Even if this "judgment" were everlasting condemnation, the word still means judgment.
Another writer applies the same point to these widows:
The church was not to support the younger widows at its own expense. With no settled work to do, they might drift in heart from Christ and come under judgment — not "damnation," which is too strong a word.
Commentators differ on what this earlier faith was. One ties it to the devotion born in fresh grief:
Their "first faith" probably means this. When their husbands died, the Lord drew them through their grief close to Himself, and they gave themselves wholly to Him and His service. But then they lose heart for Christ. They want to marry, because in that state of soul they cannot lean on Christ for all the support they need. So they turn with longing to human affection and human strength.
Another links it to the warning about losing our first love, and widens it to every Christian:
It is thus possible not only to lose our first love, but to cast off our first faith which, at the start of our Christian life, made Christ the great Object.
Paul does not weigh these women by social convention or by what looks sensible. One writer renders the verse "having as accusation that they slighted their first faith," and points out whose name the whole standard hangs on — while ruling out the idea that some formal vow was broken:
It is of deep value to see that Christ, and not moral, sensible, or personal reasons, weighs most in the apostle's mind... The young widows are judged by their relationship to Christ. But they lose sight of Christ and His dealings with them, and look out for themselves. Instead of seeking to please Him, they grow bold and self-willed against Him, and cannot rest until they return to the married life that had just closed for them. Nothing about vows or office appears here — only what suits a younger widow who is looking for Christ, as all believers are called to wait for Him.
Verse 13 follows directly from verse 12, and the same writer shows the chain: faith goes first, then behaviour follows it downhill — with a warning that Christians who fall from a professed position fall further than others do:
But professing Christians who take a true position and then turn from it fall lower than others do. None fall further than those who pride themselves on their faithfulness. Faith alone keeps up lowly dependence on the Lord. Those of whom the apostle treats, having cast off their freshness of faith, slip lower and lower... How often does great evil follow from what seems a little departure? To believe the word of God is to be warned and kept by grace.
Marriage itself is not the offence — Paul recommends it two verses later. The danger is the state of heart, and one writer draws the surprising practical lesson that kindness can get in God's way:
Wanting to marry while in such a state is dangerous. Wanting to marry is not wrong in itself, for Paul recommends it two verses later (v. 14). But a widow with no healthy work to support herself may drift into casting off her first faith. She gives up her earlier confidence in the God who had blessed her with a husband, and who in wisdom had taken her husband away again. Faith stays steady only when God teaches it through the wise government of His hand. Well-meant efforts by others to relieve her material needs may defeat this work of God.
- First faith. Grief once drove these women to Christ and made Him their one object. The verse names their giving up of that early confidence.
- Not damnation. The word here means judgment, or guilt. Writers agree that the old translation "damnation" says far too much.
- Christ is the measure. These women are judged by how they stand toward Christ. No vow or office is in view — only what suits a widow waiting for Him.
- Downward drift. Cast-off faith does not stand still. Those who slip keep slipping, because faith alone keeps up lowly dependence on the Lord.
- Kind help can harm. Help given too easily can remove the very pressure God uses to teach faith. So Paul points the younger widows to marriage instead of the support list.