1 Timothy 5.4-A Widow's Own Children Are Obligated Financially To Take Care Of Her And Repay Her For This Pleases God
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday July 27, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 5:4-A Widow’s Own Children Or Grandchildren Are Obligated Financially To Take Care Of Her And Repay Her For This Pleases God
Lesson # 98
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 5:3.
The apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 5:4 teaches a spiritual principle that the children and grandchildren of a widow must first learn to fulfill their financial obligations to her, which is pleasing in the sight of God.
1 Timothy 5:3 Honor widows who are widows indeed; 4 but if any widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family and to make some return to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God. (NASU)
“But if any widow has children or grandchildren” is composed of the conjunction de (δέ) (theh), “but” and the conditional particle ei (εἰ) (ee), “if” and the nominative feminine singular form of the indefinite pronoun tis (τις) (teece), “any” followed by the nominative feminine singular form of the noun chera (χήρα) (hear-dah), “widow” and then we have the accusative neuter plural form of the noun teknon (τέκνον) (tek-known), “children” and the particle of separation e (ἡ) (ee), “or” and the accusative neuter plural form of the adjective ekgonos (ἔκγονον) (ekkoe-noce), “grandchildren” and the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb echo (ἒχω) (eh-ho), “has.”
The conjunction de is contrasting the Christian community in Ephesus providing for widows who do not have children or relatives to support them and not having to do so for those who do possess children or grandchildren.
The conditional particle ei introduces a protasis of a first class condition that indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument.
The idea behind the first class condition is not “since” but rather, “if-and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that, then...”
This would encourage Paul’s audience to respond and come to the conclusion of the apodosis since they already agreed with him on the protasis.
Therefore, Paul is employing the first class condition as a tool of persuasion with his audience.
Here the protasis is “if and let assume that it is true for the sake argument that any widow has children or grandchildren.”
The audience would respond that there were Christian widows who did have children and grandchildren.
The apodasis is “(then) these children and grandchildren must first learn to exercise godliness in their own family.”
In other words, they are obligated to repay their mother or grandmother.
The indefinite pronoun tis speaks of no particular Christian widow who is hypothetical.
The noun teknon means “children” and is used in a literal sense speaking of the offspring or children of no particular Christian widow or a hypothetical Christian widow.
The term ekgonos refers to the “grandchildren” of Christian widows.
“They must first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family” is composed of the third person plural present active imperative form of the verb manthano (μανθάνω) (mahn-thano), “must learn” and this is followed by the adverb protos (πρῶτος) (pro-toce), “first” and then the articular accusative masculine singular form of the articular genitive masculine plural form of the adjective idios (ἴδιος) (ee-thee-oce), “their own” followed by the accusative masculine singular form of the noun oikos (οἶκος) (ee-koce), “family” and the present active infinitive form of the verb eusebeo (εὐσεβέω) (ef-sev-vayowe), “to practice piety in regard to.”
The verb manthano means “to learn” and refers to acquiring information as the result of instruction, in the local assembly.
This indicates that Paul is commanding that the children and grandchildren of widows must be taught as to their responsibilities with respect to their mothers and grandmothers.
It refers to the act of carefully communicating and instructing the children and grandchildren of widows in a face to face manner with regard to their responsibilities to their mothers and grandmothers.
This would involve teaching the implications of the commandment in Exodus 20:12 to honor one’s father and mother.
The present imperative form of the verb manthano indicates that as a general precept, Christian children and grandchildren must receive biblical instruction with regards to their responsibility to support financially their mother and grandmother.
The customary present does not express the idea that this was not taking place or was already taking place.
In fact, the word is used in the apodasis of a first class condition that indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument and is used to teach the Ephesian Christian community a spiritual principle.
The adjective protos means “first” and emphasizes that instruction must first take place before children can exercise godliness in their own family or in other words, it must first take place before they can repay their mother and grandmother and thus please God.
The verb eusebeo means “to exercise godliness” and its subject are the children and grandchildren of Christian widows.
Paul is saying that they must learn through instruction their responsibilities with regards to their mothers and grandmothers in order “to exercise godliness” in their own family as demonstrated through providing for them financially.
This verb denotes that by providing for their widowed mothers and grandmothers, Christian children would be honoring God because doing so is according to His will and is in obedience to His command to honor one’s mother.
This conduct expresses not only one’s reverence for one’s mother or grandmother but also expresses one’s reverence for God and is thus an act of worshipping Him.
So the verb eusebeo is the act of worshipping God by obeying His command to honor one’s mother and is produced by the power of the Holy Spirit and is based upon an accurate knowledge of His character, will, and ways.
Eusebeo refers to proper Christian conduct that is produced by the Holy Spirit as a result of exercising faith in the Word of God resulting in obedience to the Word of God.
The verb functions as an infinitive of purpose indicating that Christian children and grandchildren exercising godliness in their own families by providing for the financial needs of their mother or grandmother is the purpose of Christian children and grandchildren receiving instruction to do so.
“And to make some return to their parents” is composed of the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” and the accusative feminine plural form of the noun amoibe (ἀμοιβή) (ahmee-vee), “some return” followed by the present active infinitive form of the verb apodidomi (ἀποδίδωμι) (ahpoe-thee-thoe-mee), “to make” and then we have the articular dative masculine plural form of the noun progonos (πρόγονος) (pro-gehnoce), “to their parents.”
The conjunction kai is epexegetical meaning that it is introducing a clause that “explains in greater detail” what Paul means by his previous statement that children and grandchildren of widows are to exercise godliness with their own families.
The verb apodidomi means “to fulfill” and is used with the plural form of the noun amoibe, which means “obligations.”
Thus, these two words refer to the children and grandchildren of widows “fulfilling” their “(financial) obligations” to their parents and grandparents, which would be an exercise of godliness towards one’s own family.
Like, eusebeo, which it parallels, the verb apodidomi functions as an infinitive of purpose indicating that children and grandchildren exercising godliness in their own families by fulfilling their financial obligations to their parents and grandparents is the purpose of their receiving instruction to do so.
The adjective progonos means “parents” and not only refers to Christian parents who are widows but also Christian grandparents as indicated by the protasis of this first class conditional statement where Paul uses teknon, “children” and ekgonos, “grandchildren.”
“For this is acceptable in the sight of God” is composed of conjunction gar (γάρ) (gar), “for” and then we have the nominative neuter singular form of the demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος) (oo-toce), “this” and then we have the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί) (ee-mee), “is” followed by the nominative neuter singular form of the adjective the preposition enopion (ἐνώπιον) (ennopee-own), “in the sight of” and the articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός) (thay-oce), “of God.”
The conjunction gar is causal meaning that it is introducing a relative pronoun clause that presents the reason why Paul wants the children and grandchildren of widows to fulfill their financial obligations to their parents and grandparents.
The immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos refers to the previous epexegetical clause that teaches that the children and grandchildren of widows must learn through instruction in order to fulfill their financial obligations to their parents and grandparents who are widows.
The adjective apodektos indicates that fulfilling one’s financial obligations to one’s parents and grandparents is “pleasing in view of its being acceptable” to the Father since this is according to His will.
The improper preposition enopion pertains to value judgment indicating that fulfilling one’s financial obligations to one’s parents and grandparents is pleasingly acceptable “in the opinion” or “judgment of” the Father.
The noun theos means “God” and refers to the Father, which is indicated by the fact that the articular construction of this noun in the New Testament commonly signifies the first member of the Trinity.
Also, Paul is speaking in the context of children and grandchildren performing the will of the Father by fulfilling their financial obligations to their parents and grandparents since it fulfills the fifth commandment to honor one’s parents.