John Calvin Commentary 1 Timothy 5:10

"well reported of for good works; if she hath brought up children, if she hath used hospitality to strangers, if she hath washed the saints` feet, if she hath relieved the afflicted, if she hath diligently followed every good work." — 1 Timothy 5:10 (ASV)

For good works Those qualifications which are next listed relate partly to honor, and partly to labor. There can be no doubt that the assemblies of widows were honorable and highly respectable; and therefore, Paul does not wish that any should be admitted into them but those who had excellent testimonies of their entire past life.

Besides, they were not appointed for lazy and idle inactivity, but to minister to the poor and the sick, until, being completely worn out, they should be allowed honorably to retire. Accordingly, so that they may be better prepared for the fulfillment of their duties, he wishes them to have had long practice and experience in all the duties which belong to it: such as — labor and diligence in bringing up children, hospitality, ministering to the poor, and other charitable works.

If it is now asked, "Should all who are barren be rejected because they have never had children?" we must reply that Paul does not here condemn barrenness, but the fastidiousness of mothers, who, by refusing to endure the weariness of bringing up their children, sufficiently show that they will be very unkind to strangers. At the same time, he holds this out as an honorable reward to godly matrons who have not spared themselves, that they, in their turn, will be received into the bosom of the Church in their old age.

By a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole, he means by the washing of the feet all the services which are commonly rendered to the saints; for at that time it was customary to “wash the feet.” An employment of this nature might have the appearance of being lowly and almost servile; and therefore he uses this mark for describing females who were industrious, and far from being fastidious or overly delicate. What follows next relates to liberality; and, lastly, he expresses the same thing in general terms when he says, if she hath been diligent in every good work; for here he speaks of acts of kindness.