In a highly socialized country like Canada and a highly serviced city like Toronto, we may not have a lot of that kind of widow. Thus true widows, the ones who are worthy of the church’s support, are those who have a genuine financial need and who show genuine Christian character. She’s not the kind of woman who is self-indulgent, who sees widowhood as her chance to throw off all responsibility and to pursue a life of depravity or luxury. “She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.” The true widow is alone, with no one else to provide for her, and she is godly, the kind of woman who is committed to prayer. He doesn’t say “Honor every widow,” but “Honor widows who are truly widows.” This raises the obvious question: What is a true widow? Paul answers by providing two criteria, both described in verse 5 and expanded upon elsewhere: a true widow has a genuine financial need and she has genuine Christian character. Paul calls the church to provide for widows, but also places a condition on it. The church is not a provider of social services to the community, but a family that cares for its own members. Paul has just said to treat older women as mothers, so now he is telling the church to act out that kind of family relationship. Thus, the church is not just to welcome widows, but to go even farther and to provide for their needs. Honor, then, extends from basic respect all the way to financial provision. Meanwhile, in the book of Matthew, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for failing to honor their parents, and their shocking dishonor took the form of a sneaky means of holding back financial support from their parents. We can see this contextually, since in the very next section of his letter, Paul tells the church to show honor to preachers and teachers by paying them so they can make a full-time commitment to their work. Wrapped up in it is the idea of providing for needs, including material and financial needs. Honor Widowsįirst he commands, “Honor widows who are truly widows.” To honor is to respect, or to give recognition to, or to attach importance to. In the opening verses of 1 Timothy 5, Paul affirms that responsibility, and also defines it. Since church is a family, we are to care for widows like children care for their widowed mother. And his work here includes caring for widows by showing them honor. We, his body, are charged with carrying out his work here. God is spiritually present in this world through his Spirit, but he’s physically present through his church. Today, God still provides for his needy people, and does so particularly through his church. In the Old Testament, God embedded care for the widow into the laws of his land. In Ezekiel he warns that his judgment has fallen upon Israel because “Father and mother are treated with contempt in you the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you” (22:7). Meanwhile, God gave terrible warnings about what would happen if they failed to obey. So in Deuteronomy 27 we read that the Levites were to say to the people, “Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.” And all the people were to answer, “Amen.” This shows that in God’s nation, run according to God’s law, there were meant to be rights and protections for widows and other vulnerable or destitute people.
#Take care of the widows and orphans full#
Psalm 68 calls God “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows.” The Old Testament is full of calls for God’s people to care for the widow, the orphan, the sojourner, the vulnerable. God hates and is opposed to any person or any system that either sinfully ignores or takes advantage of those who are unprotected or susceptible to harm. They were alone, often reduced to poverty, and were easily taken advantage of. Widows were an especially vulnerable group, who often had no means of support and no one to protect them or advocate for them. Why would the church need to care for widows? In short, because God cares about widows.
#Take care of the widows and orphans how to#
Only then does Paul begin his instructions on how to care for widows.
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Why? Because in a spiritual sense, these people really are his family and deserve to be treated as such. He should treat older men with all the respect of a father, younger men with all the affection of a brother, older women with all the devotion of a mother, and younger women with all the purity of a sister. Timothy is to take family as his starting point and to relate to the members of his church accordingly.
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Sponsor Show Your Support Become a Patronīut before he does that, he lays an important foundation by reminding his young friend that church is family.