John Gill Commentary 1 Timothy 5

Ver. 1. Rebuke not an elder
By whom is meant, not an elder 1 Timothy 5:2

The elder women as mothers
When they offend in any point, they are to be reasoned, and argued, and pleaded with, as children should with their mothers; see (Hosea 2:2) and are to be considered as mothers in Israel, and to be treated with great tenderness and respect.

The younger as sisters ;
using the freedom as a brother may with a sister; and considering them as sisters in Christ, and in a way becoming the relation, tell them their faults freely and privately, but with all purity :

in such manner as to preserve chastity in looks, in words, and actions.

Honour widows that are widows indeed .
Who those are, see in (1 Timothy 1:5 1 Timothy 1:9 1 Timothy 1:10) . The honour to be given them is not a putting of them into the office of a deaconess, in the church; which office, some think, is referred to in (Acts 6:1) (1 Timothy 3:11) (5:9) , and did obtain in some of the primitive churches; and it might be that some of these widows, the apostle here and hereafter speaks of, might be preferred to the rest, and be set over them, and have the care of such, who were more infirm; but then this could only be the case of some, whereas the honour here spoken of is what is to be given to all that are really widows; and therefore rather regards some external honour and respect to be shown them, by words and actions; and especially it designs an honourable provision for them, and maintenance of them; in which sense the word is used in (1 Timothy 5:17) (Matthew 15:4–6) .

So, with the Jews, giving gifts to persons, and making presents to them, is called honour. When Manoah asked the angel's name, that he might do him honour, when his saying came to pass, (Judges 13:17) the sense, according to them, is ^F17 , ``that I may inquire in what place I may find you, when your prophecy is fulfilled, and give you (Nwrwd) , "a gift"; for there is no honour but what signifies a gift, as it is said, (Numbers 22:17) , "honouring I will honour you".''

So giving gifts to the poor, or providing for their maintenance, is doing them honour; and that this is the sense here, appears by what follows in the context.

FOOTNOTES:

• F17: Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 10. fol. 199. 4.

But if any widow has children or nephews
Such are not widows indeed; they are not desolate, or alone, or without persons to take care of them; their children or nephews should, and not suffer the church to be burdened with them.

Wherefore it follows, let them learn first to show piety at home ;
which some understand of the widows, who, instead of casting themselves upon the church for a maintenance, or taking upon them the office of a deaconess, to take care of others, should continue in their own families, and bring up their children and nephews in like manner as they have been brought up by their parents, which will be more pleasing and acceptable unto God; but it is better to interpret it of their children; and so the Ethiopic version expresses it, "let the children first learn to do well to their own house", or family.

It is the duty of children to take care of their parents in old age, and provide for them, when they cannot for themselves: this is a lesson they ought to learn in the first place, and a duty which they ought principally to observe; they should not suffer them to come to a church for relief, but first take care of them themselves, as long as they are in any capacity to do it; and these should be their first care before any others; so to do is an act of piety, a religious action, a pious one; it is doing according to the will and law of God, and is well pleasing to him: and to requite their parents ;

for all the sorrow, pain, trouble, care, and expenses they have been at in bearing and bringing them forth into the world, in taking care of them in their infancy, in bringing them up, giving them an education, providing food and raiment for them, and settling them in the world; wherefore to neglect them in old age, when incapable of providing for themselves, would be base ingratitude; whereas to take care of them is but a requital of them, or a repaying them for former benefits had of them:

for that is good and acceptable before God ;
it is good in itself, and grateful, and well pleasing in his sight; it is part of the good, and perfect, and acceptable will of God; and which, as other actions done in faith, is acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Now she that is a widow indeed
A real widow, whom the Jews ^F18 call (hrwmg) , "a perfect one", in opposition to one that is divorced, or a brother's widow, that has had the shoe plucked off for her: and such an one as the apostle means, is one that is

desolate ,
or "alone": who has neither husband to take care of her, nor children or nephews to show kindness to her, nor any worldly substance to subsist upon:

but trusts in God :
not in man, nor in an arm of flesh, but in the living God, the giver of all good things, the Judge of widows; who vindicates their cause, avenges the injuries done them, protects and defends them, and relieves their wants, and gives all encouragement to them, to trust in him; see (Jeremiah 49:11) .

and continues in supplications and prayers night and day ;
as the widow Anna did, (Luke 2:36Luke 2:37) . A Widow indeed is one that has no outward dependence, betakes herself to the Lord, puts her confidence in him, and cries to him continually for a daily supply; and such an one, amidst all her poverty and meanness, is a living believer, one that lives by faith on the Lord; and is profitable, and useful to the church by her prayers and supplications made for them, as well as for herself; whereas she that is in the next verse described is just the reverse.

FOOTNOTES:

• F18: Jarchi in Exek. xliv. 22.

But she that lives in pleasure
Voluptuously, and deliciously; lives a wanton, loose, and licentious life, serving divers lusts andpleasures:

is dead while she lives ;
is dead in trespasses and sins, while she lives in them; is dead morally or spiritually, while she lives anatural or corporeal life. There is a likeness between a moral and a corporeal death. In a corporeal death,the soul is separated from the body; and in a moral death, souls are separated from God, and are alienatedfrom the life of God; and are without Christ, who is the author and giver of spiritual life; and have not theSpirit, which is the Spirit of life:

death defaces and deforms the man, and a moral death lies in thedefacing of the image of God, first stamped on man, and in a loss of original righteousness; for as deathstrips a man naked of all, as he was when he came into the world, so sin, which brings on this moral death,has stripped man of his moral righteousness, whereby he is become dead in law, as well as in sin:

and as indeath there is a privation of all sense, so such who are dead, morally or spiritually, have no true sense ofsin, and of their state and condition; are not concerned about sin, nor troubled for it, but rejoice in it,boast of it, plead for it, and declare it:

between such persons and dead men there is a great similitude; asdead men are helpless to themselves, so are they; they can do nothing of, nor for themselves, in matters of aspiritual nature; and as dead men are unprofitable unto others, so are they to God, and man; and as dead menare hurtful and infectious to others, so they by their evil communications corrupt good manners; and as deadbodies are nauseous and disagreeable, so are such persons, especially to a pure and holy Being; and as deadmen are deprived of their senses, so are these: they are blind, and cannot see and discern the things of theSpirit of God; they have not ears to hear the joyful sound of the Gospel, so as to understand it, approve ofit, and delight in it; they have no feeling, nor are they burdened with the weight of sin; nor have they anytaste and savour of the things of God, but only of the things of men; so that in a spiritual sense they aredead, while they are alive.

It is a common, saying to be met with in Jewish writers, (Mytm Nyywrq Nhyyxb) (Myevr) , "the wicked while alive are saidto be dead" ^F19 . And they say ^F20 also, that men are called (Mytm) , "dead", from the time they sin; and that he that sins is accounted (tmk) , "as a dead man" ^F21 .

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 18. 2. & Hieros. Beracot, fol. 4. 4. Midrash Kohelet,fol. 78. 2. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 58. 3. Caphtor, fol. 79. 1, 2. & 84. 1. Jarchi in Gen. xi. 32. & BaalHatturim in Deut. xvii. 6.
• F20: Tzeror Hammer, fol. 5. 9.
• F21: lb. fol. 6. 2. & 127. 2.