Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Timothy 5:11

"But younger widows refuse: for when they have waxed wanton against Christ, they desire to marry;" — 1 Timothy 5:11 (ASV)

But the younger widows refuse. This means, regarding the matter under discussion, do not admit them into the class of widows previously mentioned. It cannot mean that he was to reject them as members of the church, or not to treat them with respect and kindness.

For when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ. A thought is likely conveyed by these words to most minds that is not at all in the original, and which does injustice both to the apostle and to the "younger widows" mentioned. In the Greek, there is no idea of wantonness in the sense of lasciviousness or lewdness. Nor was this, though now a common idea attached to the word, at all essential to it when our translation was made.

The word wanton then meant wandering or roving in gayety or sport; moving or flying loosely; playing in the wind; then, wandering from moral rectitude, licentious, dissolute, libidinous—Webster.

The Greek word used here, katastrhniazw, occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. The word strhniaw, however, is used twice, and is in both cases translated lived deliciously (Revelation 18:7, 9).

The word is derived from strhnov—strenos—(from which we get strenuous), properly meaning rudeness, insolence, pride, and therefore revel, riot, luxury; or from strhnhv, strenes the adjective—strong, stiff, hard, rough. The verb then means "to live strenuously, rudely," as in English, "to live hard;" also to live wild, or without restraint; to run riot, to live luxuriously.

The essential idea is that of strength, and then of strength that is not subordinate to law—that is wild and riotous. (See Passow and Robinson, Lexicon.) The sense here is that they would not be subordinate to the restraints implied in that situation; they would become impatient and would marry again.

The idea is not that of wantonness or lewdness, but it is that of a mind not subdued by age and by trials, and that would be impatient under the necessary restraints of the contemplated condition. They could not be depended on with certainty, but they might be expected to enter into the married relation again.

They will marry. It is clear from this that the apostle did not contemplate any vows that would prevent their marrying again; nor does he say that it would be absolutely wrong for them to marry, even if they were admitted into that rank, as if there were any vows to restrain them from doing so. This passage, therefore, can never be cited in favor of the practice of taking the veil in nunneries and of a vow of perpetual seclusion from the world.

Regarding the terms used: "refuse" can be understood as "reject." The phrase "wanton against Christ" can be interpreted as "to grow weary of the restraint of Christ."