1 Timothy 5

Chap. V. Ver. 1—25. Timothy advised in his conduct to be but here, as opposed to younger men, it must be taken literally, with respect to age.

Ver. 5. Widows indeed—That is, says Macknight, “desolate”—unable to maintain themselves, and having no relations to maintain them.—Nephews.—Doddridge and Macknight, “Grand-children.”

Ver. 5. Night and day—i.e. continually. See (Luke 11:87).

Ver. 6. Liveth in pleasure.—Doddridge, “luxuriously.” Whitby says, the original term has a particular reference to the drinking of strong and costly wine.

Ver. 9. The wife of one man—That is, having confined herself with strict fidelity to her lawful husband, and was not divorced to marry another. So Doddridge and Macknight.

It appears, however, that the Pagan custom paid particular respect to those who refused to act as and on system to females. As to those who lived in pleasure, we do not understand this of pleasures [criminal] and licentious, but rather of a life of ease and indulgence, which unfitted them for devotion or benevolent exertions: they were, therefore, so far dead while they lived, being useful neither to the church nor to the world. As to the other sex, if any man refused to provide for his aged and distressed relatives, and especially those of his own household, such a one thereby denied the faith, and was worse than an infidel; that is, worse than if he had never professed Christianity; because it is a practical renunciation of its first and fundamental principle of love.

As to the younger widows, it became the elders to be cautious how they received them as pensioners on the church, lest, after a while, they should not bear the restraints of Christianity, but marry Pagan husbands, and be enticed to desert the Christian faith, and thereby bring condemnation on themselves, and disgrace upon the cause. The account here given of idle, gossiping females, may suit others besides the women of the apostolical age; and should be a warning to the sex against incurring such a severe reproof. In general we may remark, that great talkers on religion, as well as on other subjects, are seldom persons of much sense or piety. It is the shallow brook that rattles over the pebbles; the full stream flows in silent majesty.

The duty of children to provide for their necessitous and infirm parents, is here strongly inculcated; as is that also of churches to provide a liberal and honourable support for their [widows].

The two last verses mark the opposite characters of mankind, in respect to their natural dispositions. Some are so naturally frank and open, that whether they incline to good or evil, their characters are easily discerned. If they are vicious and profane, they are openly so, and they proclaim their own shame and condemnation; while the sins of others are more secret and reserved, and are only manifest in the event. So, on the other hand, some men’s good works are equally open to public observation, and cast a kind of glory round their characters; while those of a more modest and reserved turn, “Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.”

They cannot, however, eventually be concealed; what they now do in secret, shall in the last day be openly acknowledged and rewarded.