Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Timothy 5:3

"Honor widows that are widows indeed." — 1 Timothy 5:3 (ASV)

Honour widows that are widows indeed.—The mention of a pastor's relationships with the female members of the flock suggests another train of thought. Christianity, during the first thirty years of its history, had developed an entirely new existence for women who professed the faith of Jesus of Nazareth. In the Master’s new and strange command (new and strange to the civilised world of that day)—that the poor, the needy, and the sick should be aided, that the helpless should be helped, and the comfortless comforted—a blessed calling was, so to speak, invented for Christian women.

Their secluded and, in many respects, degraded life in the old world was, to a great extent, due to the fact that until Christ taught the universal duty of charity, women had no recognised public occupation in the world. The instruction from the Founder of the new religion provided an endless variety of blessed, happiness-giving work for women of all ages and ranks.

However, the new prominence of women in such great centres as Ephesus not only necessitated an organisation to administer alms and generally oversee and direct the self-sacrificing labours of the women in the community, but it also required special vigilance from the chief pastor and his assistant presbyters and deacons to prevent the Church's charities from being misused.

The widow—the desolate and destitute, the mourning widow indeed, she who is in every sense a widow and has no one to whom she can look for aid—she always has a claim on the Church. Not only is she to be honoured by a simple display of respect, but she is also to be assisted and supported out of the alms of the faithful.