1 Timothy 5:14

I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household, give no occasion to the adversary for reviling:

The proper life-style for young widows is that of remarriage, to a Christian husband, of course, and the rearing of a family, not that of a paid retainer of the church.

The younger widows ... "We do not attribute to Paul the statement that all widows up to the age of sixty should marry. `Younger' here refers to the youthful widows."[15]

Rule the household ... "The Bible does not contradict itself; and it teaches that the husband is to have the rulership over his wife and household."[16] The meaning, therefore, is that she shall rule her household subject to the authority of her husband.

Give no occasion to the adversary for reviling ... Spence's comment on this is:

The adversary here is not the devil, but the sneering worldly man, jealous of a faith he will not receive, envious of a life he will not share, and always on the lookout for flaws of followers of a religion which he hates.[17]

The particular slander Paul was guarding against was discerned by Lenski in this:

The charge, or danger, was not that those young widows would become strumpets. But many of them were ready to enter into a pagan marriage without Christ, without their first faith; they became pagans again in order to suit a pagan husband. Plenty of such cases occur to this day.[18]

[15] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 672.

[16] E. M. Zerr, Bible Commentary, Vol. VI (Marion, Indiana: Cogdill Foundation, 1954), p. 181.

[17] H. D. M. Spence, op. cit., p. 205.

[18] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 674.