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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Timothy 5:3-16

Directions are here given concerning the taking of widows into the number of those who were employed by the church and had maintenance from the church: Honour widows that are widows indeed. Honour them, that is, maintain them, admit them into office. There was in those times an office in the church in which widows were employed, and that was to tend the sick and the aged, to look to them by the direction of the deacons. We read of the care taken of widows immediately upon the first forming of... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Timothy 5:11-16

5:11-16 Refuse to enrol the younger women as widows, for when they grow impatient with the restrictions of Christian widowhood, they wish to marry, and so deserve condemnation, because they have broken the pledge of their first faith; and, at the same time, they learn to be idle and to run from house to house. Yes, they can become more than idle; they can become gossips and busybodies, saying things which should not be repeated. It is my wish that the younger widows should marry, and bear... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Timothy 5:15

For some are already turned aside after Satan. Meaning some of those younger widows, whom the apostle knew, and had observed to have departed from the faith they first professed, and turned their backs on Christ, and gave themselves up to carnal lusts and pleasures, and an idle and impure life and conversation, walked according to the course of this world, and the prince of it, by whom they were led captive at his will; for so everyone that apostatizes from a profession of Christ, and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Timothy 5:15

For some are already turned aside - Some of these young widows, for he appears to be still treating of them, are turned aside to idolatry, to follow Satan instead of Christ. Slight deviations, in the first instance, from a right line, may lead at last to an infinite distance from Christ. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Timothy 5:15

Verse 15 15For some have already turned aside It is certain, that there is no ordinance so holy that some evil may not arise out of it through the wickedness of men. Yet those things which are necessary ought to remain unmoved, whatever may happen to them, although the sky should fall. But when we are at liberty to choose either way, and when this or that has been found by experience to be advantageous, it is a matter of prudence to lay aside what was formerly approved, as in the present case.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Timothy 5:1-16

I. BEHAVIOR OF TIMOTHY TOWARD THE ELDER AND YOUNGER CHURCH MEMBERS OF BOTH SEXES . "Rebuke not an eider, but exhort him as a father; the younger men as brethren: the eider women as mothers; the younger as sisters, in all purity." A minister has to deal with people differing in age and sex. If he is a young minister like Timothy, he has a difficult part to act. It may happen that one who is very much his cider is guilty of an offence. How is he to conduct himself... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Timothy 5:1-25

I. THE CONDUCT OF TIMOTHY TOWARD ELDERLY MEN . "Reprimand not an elderly person, but exhort him as a brother." The allusion is not to an official elder of the Church, but to any elderly member of it. 1. Such persons might possibly be guilty of serious shortcomings , warranting private admonition, if not the exercise of discipline. Their conduct would have a worse effect than that of more youthful offenders. 2. Timothy must not use sharpness or severity in dealing... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Timothy 5:15

Already some are for some are already , A.V. Some . This is generally understood of some widows who had already given occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully, by turning aside from the path of Christian virtue which they had begun to walk in, and following Satan who had beguiled them into the path of vice and folly. But the words are capable of another meaning, equally arising kern the preceding verse, viz. that some have already followed the example of Satan, "the accuser... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Timothy 5:15

For some are already turned aside after Satan - That is, some young widows. The meaning is, that in the respects above mentioned 1 Timothy 5:13, they had followed the great Tempter, rather than the Lord Jesus. This is stated as a reason why they should not be admitted into the number of the widows who were to be maintained at the expense of the church, and to whom the care of the younger female members was to be committed. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 Timothy 5:14-16

1 Timothy 5:14-16. I will therefore that the younger women Or widows rather, (concerning whom only the apostle is here speaking,) marry Instead of thinking to intrude themselves into a situation for which they are generally so unfit. From this command it is evident, that under the gospel second marriages are lawful both to men and women, and that abstaining from them is no mark of superior piety. It is true the apostle, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, advised all who had the... read more

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