1 Timothy 5:3-6:2 NIV

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 5:3-8

5:3-8 Honour widows who are genuinely in a widow's destitute position. But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let such children learn to begin by discharging the duties of religion in their own homes; and let them learn to give a return for all that their parents have done for them; for this is the kind of conduct that meets with God's approval. Now she who is genuinely in the position of a widow, and who is left all alone, has set her hope on God, and night and day she devotes... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Timothy 5:3

Honour widows that are widows indeed. Who those are, see in 1 Timothy 1:5 . The honour to be given them is not a putting of them into the office of a deaconess, in the church; which office, some think, is referred to in Acts 6:1 , and did obtain in some of the primitive churches; and it might be that some of these widows, the apostle here and hereafter speaks of, might be preferred to the rest, and be set over them, and have the care of such, who were more infirm; but then this could... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Timothy 5:3

Honor widows that are widows indeed - One meaning of the word τιμαω , to honor, is to support, sustain, etc., Matthew 15:4 , Matthew 15:5 ; and here it is most obviously to be taken in this sense. Provide for those widows especially which are widows indeed - persons truly destitute, being aged and helpless, and having neither children nor friends to take care of them, and who behave as becometh their destitute state. But see the note on 1 Timothy 5:10 . read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Timothy 5:3

Verse 3 3Honor widows that are really widows. By the word honor he does not mean any expression of respect, but that special care of them which bishops (85) took in the ancient Church; for widows were taken under the protection of the Church, that they might be supported out of the common funds. The meaning of this mode of expression is as if he had said, “For selecting widows that are to be taken under your care and that of the deacons, you ought to consider who they are that are really widows... 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 5:3

Honor ( τίμα ). The use of the verb τιμάω in the comment on the fourth commandment in Matthew 15:4-6 , where the withholding of the honor due consists in saying, "It is corban, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me," and so withholding the honor due, shows clearly that in the notion of honoring is included that material support which their condition as widows required. So again in Matthew 15:17 of this chapter, the " double honor" due to elders who labor in the Word... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Timothy 5:3

Honour widows - The particular attention and respect which are enjoined here, seem to refer to the class of widows who were supported by the church, and who were entrusted with the performance of certain duties toward the other female members, see 1 Timothy 5:9. It is to be remembered that the contact of the sexes was much more circumscribed in Oriental countries than it is among us; that access to the female members of the church would be much less free than it is now, and that consequently... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 Timothy 5:3-4

1 Timothy 5:3-4. Honour And endeavour honourably to support from the public stock; widows Whose destitute circumstances recommend them as the certain objects of charity. According to the Greek commentators, the widows of whom the apostle speaks in this passage were aged women appointed by the church to instruct the young of their own sex in the principles of the Christian faith, and who, for that service, were maintained out of the funds of the church. This opinion is rendered probable by... read more

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

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Timothy 5:3-8

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Timothy 5:3

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Timothy 5:3

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Timothy 5:3

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Timothy 5:1-16

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Timothy 5:1-25

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Timothy 5:3

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Timothy 5:3

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 Timothy 5:3-4

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