1 Timothy 5:10

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.