Widows

In the Roman world, widows were incredibly vulnerable. They had no means of earning an income to support themselves. Unless they remarried or a family member took them in, they could become destitute or fall into prostitution.

Jesus modelled abnormal respect and care for widows. In , he happened upon a widow burying her only son. Out of compassion for her, he raised the son from the dead. In , a persistent widow heroically prevails upon an unjust judge to grant her justice. In , a desperately poor widow shames the rich and powerful by giving her last pennies into the collection. Jesus noted her generous faith.

Perhaps in response to Jesus’s known concern for widows, apostles saw it as the church’s responsibility to provide essentials for widows. In , a dispute arises because one group feels that their widows are being skimped. What we must not miss is that the church was providing for the daily bread of its widows.

This practice seems to have continued beyond the Jerusalem church. Just over thirty years later, the church in Ephesus has a list of widows it has undertaken to support. It seems that the widows on the list had vowed not to remarry and to dedicate themselves to prayer, but some had reneged on that pledge while others had become known as gossipers and busybodies. Both actions brought shame on the church and undermined its witness.

Timothy needed to address the practical problem. Paul wrote some instructions to guide his actions. Essentially, Paul tells him that the church should support some widows, but not others.

A. The church should support some widows

1 Timothy 5:3 NIV

Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need.

1. The church should support destitute widows

1 Timothy 5:4 NIV

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.

1 Timothy 5:8 NIV

Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

2. The church should support devout widows

1 Timothy 5:5 NIV

The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.

3. The church should support elderly widows

(Since I was alliterating in “d,” the only synonym for “elderly” I could find that started with “d” was “decrepit,” but that is not the point.)

1 Timothy 5:9 NIV

No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband,

Jews considered 60 the start of old age. The specific age might seem arbitrary, but it was probably not intended to be applied legalistically. The ancients only had an approximate idea of their age. We should also bear in mind that people did not live as long then, so life prospects beyond sixty were bleak. The purpose of the age requirement is to ensure that those chosen are old enough to harbour no aspirations to remarrying.

1 Timothy 5:9 NIV

No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband,

4. The church should support exemplary widows.

1 Timothy 5:9–10 NIV

No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.

In other words, the church should only undertake long-term support of widows who lived exemplary lives. I have a slight emotional disease with this.

B. The church should not support other widows

There are some categories of widows that the church should not support.

1. The church should not support widows who have other means’ of support.

This theme recurs three times in the passage.

1 Timothy 5:4 NIV

1 Timothy 5:8 NIV

Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

1 Timothy 5:16 NIV

If any woman who is a believer has widows in her care, she should continue to help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really in need.

The message is clear. The responsibility to care for widows lies first and foremost with their families. Even unbelievers accepted this. Therefore, if a believer does not care for their widowed relatives, they behave worse than an unbeliever, bring shame on the gospel, and deny their own faith in Christ.

The church must care for some of the destitute, but it is not called to care for all.

2. The church should not support widows without proven character.

This idea rears its head twice in the passage.

1 Timothy 5:5 NIV

The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.

1 Timothy 5:6 NIV

But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.

1 Timothy 5:5:6

1 Timothy 5:5–6 NIV

The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.

The contrast is between living in prayer and living for pleasure. The allusion to living for pleasure may refer to promiscuity, but it need not do so. The point is that the church should only undertake long-term support for those widows who have demonstrated long-term, whole-hearted devotion to Jesus Christ.

1 Timothy 5:11–13 NIV

1 Timothy 5:12–13 NIV

Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge. Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also busybodies who talk nonsense, saying things they ought not to.

1 Timothy 5:1

This passage is probably the reason Paul is addressing the issue. The dominant negative stereotype of women in the ancient world was that of gossips and busybodies. Here it seems that the Ephesian church had unwisely undertaken to support some younger widows, who had brought shame on the church.

The

Some had abandoned their commitment, deciding to remarry. Paul says, “Thus they bring judgement on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge.” He is not talking about God’s judgement. The idea is that they reneged on a public commitment, which brought society’s judgement down on them and embarrassed the church.

Others were bored and idle. Being “younger,” instead of devoting themselves night and day to prayer, they were going from house to house spreading gossip and meddling in others’ affairs. This too shamed the witness of the church.

3. The church should not support widows who are able to remarry.

1 Timothy 5:14–15 NIV

So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.

At the time, both Roman and Jewish cultures advocated the rapid remarriage of widows. Paul support the idea. Instead of being idle, which gives birth to the sins of gossip and meddling, he want them to be occupied with good work that has eternal value. They should marry, have children, and manage homes. Far from being demeaning tasks, these are noble tasks with eternal value.

1 Timothy 5:6 NIV

But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.

1 Tim

If you have read , you may find Paul’s counsel here contradictory to his counsel there. There he advocates for unmarried Christians not to marry, but here he counsels them to marry. The answer is simple. If followers of Christ are so sold out to him that they want to spend all their time and energy on mission and ministry, they should remain unmarried. This is the point of . However, to marry and raise a family are the normal, godly role. These are good works and come with the added benefit of keeping believers away from temptation.

1 Timothy 5:11–15 NIV

As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry. Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge. Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also busybodies who talk nonsense, saying things they ought not to. So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.

There are three important sub-themes in this this text.

The family is responsibility to care for its members.

The church is not responsible to care for everyone.

The church must care for those widows who are truly alone.

The vulnerable

In the Bible, widows are one of the stand-out groups of vulnerable people. There are five of them:

There are five of them:

The widow

The orphan (fatherless)

The foreigner

The poor

The weak

These groups are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. We may define exploitation as taking [financial] advantage of weak or vulnerable groups in society, often financially.

There are many illustrative verses, but we will content ourselves with a few for the sake of illustration.

Zechariah 7:10 NIV

Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’

Psalm 94:6 NIV

They slay the widow and the foreigner; they murder the fatherless.

Psalm 82:3 NIV

Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.

God’s promises to the vulnerable

God makes two promises to the groups that are vulnerable to exploitation.

1. God promises to protect them

Deut

Deuteronomy 10:18 NIV

He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.

Psalm 12:5 NIV

“Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord. “I will protect them from those who malign them.”

2. God promises to provide for them

Exodus 23:10 NIV

“For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops,

Deuteronomy 14:28–29 NIV

At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

Psalm 22:26 NIV

The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him— may your hearts live forever!

Psalm 132:15 NIV

I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor I will satisfy with food.

God makes three demands of believers with respect to those vulnerable to exploitation.

1. We must fight for them

Psalm 82:3 NIV

Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.

2. We must care for them

James 1:27 NIV

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

3. We must give to them

Proverbs 22:9 NIV

The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.