Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Timothy 5:2

"the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, in all purity." — 1 Timothy 5:2 (ASV)

“Exhort” (GK 4151) also means “encourage”; this verb carries through to the end of v.2. The young man Timothy should treat the older men with gentleness and kindness, as he would a father; he must treat the “younger men” as brothers and the “older women” as mothers. Fortunate is the young pastor who has godly “mothers in Israel” in the congregation. In relation to “younger women,” a needed caution is added. They are to be treated as sisters—because the Christians are all one family in the Lord—but “with absolute purity.” The pastor who does not heed this warning will soon be in trouble.