WHAT ABOUT THE YOUNGER WIDOWS?
(I Tim. 5:11-14)
Overview of I Tim. 4:1-5:16
4:1-2 How False Teaching Enters the Church
4:3-5 Common Grace
4:6 Word of God in Life of the Believer
4:7a Godliness – Divine / Human Role
4:7b Train Yourself to be Godly
4:7c Spiritual Disciplines (The Word of God)
4:7d Spiritual Disciplines (Devotions, Worship)
4.7e Spiritual Disciplines (Church Attendance, Journaling, Practicing Presence of God)
4:8-9 Why Godliness Has Great Value
4:10 Putting Our Hope in the Living God
4:12 Setting an Example for Believers
4:13 What a Christian Worship Service Looked Like in the First Century
4:14 Neglecting the Spiritual Gift God has Given Us
4:15-16 Getting Home Before Dark
5:1-2 So, How Should We Describe the Church?
5:3-16 God’s Tilt Towards the Disenfranchised
5:3-16 Sorting Out those Worthy of Relief – A Biblical Approach to Social Welfare
5:3-16 The Biblical Rationale for Providing for Relatives
5:5-16 The Tale of Two Widows – A Biblical Approach to Pleasure
5:9-10 The Good Works of a New Testament Woman
5:11-14a What About the Younger Widows? (Part A)
3Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. 4But 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. 5The 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. 6But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. 7Give the people these instructions, too, so that no one may be open to blame. 8If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
9No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, 10and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.
11 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. 12Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge. 13Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to. 14So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. 15Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.
16If any woman who is a believer has widows in her family, she should help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really in need.
INTRODUCTION:
A. Topics for Discussion in I Tim. 5:3-16
1. God Tilts Towards the Disenfranchised
2. Sorting Out Those Worthy of Relief – A Biblical
Approach to Social Welfare
3. The Biblical Rationale for Providing for Our Relatives
4. The Tale of Two Widows – The Biblical Approach to Pleasure
5. The Good Works of a New Testament Woman
6. What About the “Younger Widows?”
7. Gossips, Busybodies and False Teachers
8. Ministry to Widows in the Early Church
9. Satan’s Is Alive and Well.
B. The Breakdown of the Passage
1. Different classes of widows in I Tim. 5:3-16
The widow who is really in need (3, 5, 16)
The widow who has children, grandchildren, relatives (4,7-8)
The widow who lives for pleasure (6)
The widow who qualifies for official service (9-10)
The widow who should remarry (11-15)
2. Two main sections are:
a. Widows served by the church – Destitute (3-8, 16)
b. Widows who serve the church – Deserving (9-15)
C. Definition of the word “widow”
“The English word widow describes a woman whose husband is dead. The Greek word chera includes that meaning, but is not limited to it. It is an adjective used as a noun, and means “bereft,” “robbed,” “having suffered loss,” or “left alone.” The word does not speak of how a woman was left alone, it merely describes the situation. The Greek meaning of the word “widow” is broad enough to encompass those who lost their husbands through death, desertion, divorce, or imprisonment. It could even encompass those cases where a polygamist came to Christ and sent away his extra wives (William Barclay, The Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975], 105.
In our society the single mother or any single woman deserted by her husband or divorced or left alone because her husband is imprisoned would be in the same category as a widow.
D. “The List of Widows” (9)
These were “serving widows” or “widows who served the church.”
There is no indication that all the widows on the list were eligible for church support. This is more a list of those eligible for ministry although some of them certainly may have received support from the church while others had their own means of support.
I. WHY NOT PUT YOUNGER WIDOWS ON THE LIST?
The younger widows were becoming a liability to the church!
“… give the enemy no opportunity to slander” (14).
“… that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered” (6:1).
“God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you” (Rom. 2:24).
“Then they can train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God” (Titus 2:4-5).
The population density in the urban areas of the ancient world meant that there were no secrets. Phoenix’s population density is 2700 per square mile. Ancient Antioch had a population of 150,000 and was in size, only two square miles or 75,000 people per square mile. (Whole population of Gilbert into 2 square miles)
Roman law required that streets be 9’6” wide but most were only foot paths so a person could lean out the window, and without raising a voice talk to a person across the street. The most famous of all Roman roads, the Via Appia was no wider than 21 feet. ]
READ: “The Rise of Christianity” page 150-151.
All this means is that everyone knew everything … in Indonesia we lived in an area somewhat similar …. You raise your voice in your house, the whole neighborhood knows, you argue with your wife, spank your child, cut your finger etc, everyone knows. There are no secrets! THUS ANY INCONSISTENCY IN YOUR LIFE AS A CHRISTIAN COULD GENERATE SLANDER.
The flip side … every act of mercy / kindness also noted.
II. THE YOUNGER WIDOWS WERE BEING MANIPULATED BY FALSE TEACHERS
“ ….. the probable reason for this concern about the younger widows lies with their relationship to the false teachers. If we are correct in identifying them with the “weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and swayed by all kinds of evil desires” of II Tim. 3:6-7, then the unusual emphases on this section makes good sense, not to mention its inordinate length compare with anything else in the letter” (Gordon Fee, Pg. 115).
6They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth (II Timothy 3:6-7).
Gordon Fee believes that false teachers in Ephesus were influencing women, specifically young widows, and these young women were “going about from house to house” communicating false teaching. The word “busybodies” can also be translated as ‘pryers into magic’ or ‘dabblers in the occult.’ The related word in Acts 19:19 refers to magic arts:
“A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly” (Acts. 19:19). “practice sorcery” is from the Greek periergos, the same word translated “busybodies” in I Tim. 5:13.
III. THE YOUNGER WIDOWS WERE BREAKING THEIR CELIBACY VOWS.
For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry. 12Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge.
“sensual desires” = physical desires, youthful vigor, passion, affections, to feel the impulse of sexual desire.
“An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world – how she can please her husband” (I Cor. 7:34).
“It is not that younger widows are condemned for marrying again. What is condemned is this. A young husband dies; and the widow, in the first bitterness of sorrow and on the impulse of the moment, decides to remain a widow all her life & dedicate her life to Christ; but later she changes her mind and remarries. That woman is re-garded as having taken Christ as her bridegroom. So that by marry-ing again she is regarded as breaking her marriage vow to Christ. She would have been better never to have taken the vow. (Barclay, 114)
They had made a decision to put their desire for sexual fulfillment second to their dedication for Christ. As young widows it is hard for them to keep their sexual desires in check.
QUESTION: What makes us take a vow (pledge) so seriously? Why is it serious business to make a vow to God?
Is it a promise? If a person can’t count on your promise how can you have a relationship? How can society function? God is a person too. Would breaking a promise with God be a sin? Would it cause a broken relationship with God? Would God be hurt? Genesis 6:5 says that our sins fill God’s heart with pain.
“Pledge” in our text is from the Greek word pistis which is also used for “faith.” It means here a “faith commitment” similar to a “faith promise.” Vow and Pledge are good translations.
What the Bible has to say about “vows.”
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” (Gen. 28:20-23) ….. “I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. ….’ “(Gen. 31:13)
2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of separation to the LORD as a Nazirite … (Numbers 5:2).
2 When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said (Numbers 30:2).
21 If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the LORD your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin (Deut. 23:21).
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow (Ecclesiastes 5:4).
18Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because of a vow he had taken (Acts 18:18).
QUESTION: In our society what vows/pledges are punished if they are broken?
Marriage vows (unfaithfulness); Pledge of Allegiance (treason); Pledge to truthfulness in a trial (perjury)
We are not a nation of people that keep promises so how can we expected to keep promises to God?
ILLUSTRATION: Retreat in Tretes with Merv Rosell when he asked everyone to stand who promised to witness to one person every day. I was sitting in the front row but could not stand for felt I could not keep that promise.
The Greek term for “judgment” here is “krima.” Is this were we get the word “criminal?”
IV. REMARRIAGE – A PRACTICAL SOLUTION
14So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander.
“This common-sense advice is in striking contrast to the penchant for celibacy which developed in the later history of the church” (Guthrie, 116).
Paul is aware of the power of sexual drive and desires and he deals with it realistically:
9But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion (I Cor. 7:9).
12For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it” (Mt. 19:12).
“To argue that the Bible permits divorce but not remarriage raises some difficult questions. What will these women do, if they are barred from their God-designed roles as wives and mothers? Certainly all of them would not have the gift of singleness. How could the church possibly care for all of them? That would be a burden God never intended the church to bear. How could they fulfill the requirements for being included on the list? How could they prove to be one-man women if they had no husband? Younger widows, then are to get married.” (MacArthur, 213)
Paul would not have encouraged Maria in “The Sound of Music” to go into a cloister and become a nun or sister. He would have encouraged her to get married.
“True, the apostle Paul expressed a personal preference for singleness (I Cor. 7:7a,8,40). At the same time, he acknowledged that each person has his or her own grace-gift from God, whether to marry or not to marry, that it is necessary to be realistic about sexual desires …. When the younger widows have re-married, they will of course have their hands full ….” (Stott, 134).
SO WHAT????
1. Why didn’t Paul unload some great Scriptural promises on these young widows that were breaking their vows?
I can do everything through him who gives me strength (Phil. 4:13).
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you (John 15:7).
Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God (I Cor. 3:5).
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (I Cor. 12:10).
2. Sometimes spiritual problems can be handled with practical solutions:
14So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander.
3. Our tendency is to lean on practical solutions without fully trusting in God’s promises; Or trust in God’s promises and not use common sense. We need to be balanced. What is the balance? Use our heads 100% of the time and trust the Lord with our whole hearts 100% of the time.
4. Vow making and vow breaking are serious because or families and society must be built on trust …. And also our relationship with God. If we have broken a vow, that is something I need to bring back to the Lord and deal with.