1 Timothy 5: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Paul tells Timothy how to speak to different groups in the church: older and younger men, older and younger women. He then gives detailed rules about which widows the church should support, including an age requirement and a record of good deeds, and says families must care for their own relatives first. He closes with instructions on paying and disciplining elders, on not laying hands on anyone too quickly, on Timothy's health, and on how sins and good deeds come to light.

Claim by Claim

1. 5:1
   • Timothy is told not to rebuke an older man harshly.
   • He is to appeal to an older man as he would to a father.
   • He is to treat younger men as brothers.
2. 5:2
   • He is to treat older women as mothers.
   • He is to treat younger women as sisters.
   • He is to do this with complete purity.
3. 5:3
   • Widows who are truly widows are to be honored.
4. 5:4
   • The case is stated of a widow who has children or grandchildren.
   • In that case the children or grandchildren are to learn first to show godliness toward their own household.
   • They are to repay their parents and forebears.
   • This is good and acceptable in the sight of God.
5. 5:5
   • The woman who is truly a widow is left all alone.
   • She has set her hope on God.
   • She continues in petitions and prayers night and day.
6. 5:6
   • The woman who lives in self-indulgent pleasure is dead while she is still living.
7. 5:7
   • Timothy is to command these things.
   • The purpose is that they may be without reproach.
8. 5:8
   • The case is stated of anyone who does not provide for his own, and especially for his own household.
   • Such a person has denied the faith.
   • Such a person is worse than an unbeliever.
9. 5:9
   • A widow is to be enrolled on the list only if she is not less than sixty years old.
   • She must have been the wife of one man.
10. 5:10
    • She must be well attested for good works.
    • The test includes whether she brought up children.
    • The test includes whether she showed hospitality to strangers.
    • The test includes whether she washed the feet of the saints.
    • The test includes whether she gave relief to the afflicted.
    • The test includes whether she devoted herself to every good work.
11. 5:11
    • Younger widows are to be refused enrollment.
    • When their sensual desires draw them away from Christ, they want to marry.
12. 5:12
    • They incur condemnation.
    • The reason is that they have set aside their first pledge of faith.
13. 5:13
    • At the same time they learn to be idle, going around from house to house.
    • They are not only idle but also gossips and busybodies.
    • They speak things they ought not to speak.
14. 5:14
    • Paul wants the younger women to marry.
    • He wants them to bear children.
    • He wants them to manage their households.
    • He wants them to give the adversary no occasion for reproach.
15. 5:15
    • Some have already turned aside to follow Satan.
16. 5:16
    • The case is stated of any believing man or woman who has widows.
    • Such a person is to relieve them.
    • The church is not to be burdened.
    • The purpose is that the church may relieve those who are widows indeed.
17. 5:17
    • Elders who lead well are to be counted worthy of double honor.
    • This applies especially to those who labor in the word and in teaching.
18. 5:18
    • The scripture says not to muzzle the ox while it treads out the grain.
    • The scripture also says the laborer is worthy of his wages.
19. 5:19
    • An accusation against an elder is not to be received.
    • The exception is when it comes on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
20. 5:20
    • Those who sin are to be rebuked in front of everyone.
    • The purpose is that the rest also may have fear.
21. 5:21
    • Paul charges Timothy before God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels.
    • Timothy is to observe these things without prejudging anyone.
    • Timothy is to do nothing out of partiality.
22. 5:22
    • Timothy is to lay hands on no one hastily.
    • Timothy is not to share in the sins of others.
    • Timothy is to keep himself pure.
23. 5:23
    • Timothy is to stop drinking only water.
    • He is to use a little wine.
    • The reason is his stomach and his frequent illnesses.
24. 5:24
    • The sins of some people are obvious in advance, going ahead of them to judgment.
    • The sins of some other people follow after them.
25. 5:25
    • In the same way good works are obvious in advance.
    • Good works that are not obvious cannot remain hidden.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

5:1

The Greek word behind "elder" here means simply an older man, and that is its sense in verses 1 and 2, where it is paired with "the younger men" and "the elder women." From verse 17 on, the same word carries its other sense: an elder, a recognized officer of the congregation. English "elder" happens to hold both meanings, just as the Greek does. "Intreat" in 1611 means to appeal to or urge, not to beg.

5:2

"Purity" means treating them in a clean and right way. No sneaky feelings and no wrong touching.

5:3

"Honour" here is not only a matter of respect. It covers material support as well, which is why the rest of the chapter goes on to talk about who pays for whom, and why the elders of verse 17 are "worthy of double honour" alongside a quotation about wages. "Widows indeed" means widows who really are widows in the sense that matters here: women with no family left to provide for them.

5:4

"Nephews" in 1611 English meant grandchildren or descendants generally, from the Latin nepos. It did not mean a brother's or sister's son, the only sense the word now has. "Requite" means repay. The point is that support flows back down the family line to the parents and grandparents who raised them.

5:5

"Desolate" in 1611 means left alone, without family or resources, not sad. "Supplications" are requests for help; the pairing with "prayers" is a stock phrase for persistent petitioning rather than two distinct activities.

5:6

The Greek word behind "liveth in pleasure" describes soft, self-indulgent luxury, the life of someone who spends on comfort. It is set against the widow of verse 5 who has nothing and prays.

5:7

"Give in charge" is old English for give orders. Timothy was to pass these instructions on as commands.

5:8

"Infidel" in 1611 simply meant someone who does not hold the faith, an unbeliever. It carried none of the hostile or specifically anti-Muslim edge the word picked up later. "His own" and "those of his own house" distinguish the wider kin from the household proper, which in the ancient world included dependents and slaves as well as blood relatives.

5:9

"Threescore" is sixty; a score is twenty. "Taken into the number" means enrolled on an official register: the congregation kept a list of widows it supported financially, and probably one that carried duties in return, which is why age and track record are screened. "Having been the wife of one man" translates a phrase that literally reads "a one-man woman." It is genuinely disputed whether it means she never remarried after being widowed, or that she was faithful to her husband while he lived. The Greek does not settle it.

5:10

Washing feet was the ordinary courtesy owed to a guest who had walked dusty roads in sandals, and it was work normally done by a servant or the lowest member of a household. "Saints" in the New Testament does not mean specially holy individuals singled out for the title; it is the standard word for the members of the congregation, all of them. "Lodged strangers" means taking travelers into her home, in a world with few inns and dangerous ones.

5:11

"Wax wanton" means to grow restless under physical desire; "wax" is an old verb meaning to grow or become. The objection is not to marriage in itself, which verse 14 recommends, but to enrolling on the supported list a woman likely to leave it.

5:12

"Damnation" in 1611 meant a verdict of condemnation or a judgment passed, without the specifically eternal, hellish sense the word now carries. "Their first faith" most likely refers to a pledge given when a widow was enrolled, a commitment the writer treats as broken if she then marries, though the Greek phrase is compressed and the exact undertaking is not spelled out.

5:13

"Tattlers" means gossips and "busybodies" means people who involve themselves in affairs that are not theirs. The house-to-house detail matters: enrolled widows moved among the congregation's homes, so idle talk could travel fast and far.

5:14

"Guide the house" translates a verb meaning to run a household as its manager, a substantial job in an ancient home with dependents, stores and servants, not a euphemism for staying out of the way. "The adversary" is ambiguous in the Greek: it can mean a human opponent or critic of the congregation, or Satan, who is named outright in the next verse. "Reproachfully" means in a way that brings disgrace.

5:15

Satan is God's enemy. His name means the one who blames and accuses people.

5:16

The Greek manuscripts differ here. The earliest read "if any believing woman has widows"; later ones, which the King James translators followed, add "man." "Have widows" means has widowed relatives dependent on her. "Charged" means burdened with the expense, not accused.

5:17

"Rule" here translates a verb meaning to preside over or lead. "Double honour" is deliberately open: it may mean honor plus payment, or simply generous honor, and the quotations about the ox and the worker's wages in the next verse pull it toward money. "Labour in the word and doctrine" means working hard at preaching and teaching; "doctrine" in 1611 means teaching, the activity as much as its content.

5:18

"Corn" in 1611 English means grain of any kind, not maize. Grain was threshed by driving oxen over the cut stalks on a hard floor to break the kernels loose; muzzling the ox stopped it snatching mouthfuls as it worked. The first quotation is Deuteronomy 25:4. The second matches a saying of Jesus recorded at Luke 10:7, and calling it "scripture" is notable because it puts that saying alongside the law of Moses.

5:19

This applies the old rule of Deuteronomy 19:15, that a charge stands only on the testimony of two or three witnesses, to accusations against a congregation's elders. "Receive not an accusation" means do not entertain the charge or let the hearing proceed.

5:21

"I charge thee before" is the language of a solemn oath, calling named witnesses to the undertaking. "The elect angels" means the chosen angels; the phrase appears nowhere else in the New Testament and is not explained. "Without preferring one before another" translates a word meaning prejudgment, deciding the case before hearing it, and "partiality" means leaning toward one side.

5:22

"Lay hands on" is not violence. Placing hands on someone's head was the formal gesture of appointing a person to an office or commissioning them, so the instruction is against appointing anyone hastily; "suddenly" in 1611 means quickly or without due delay. Some read it instead as restoring a disciplined member to fellowship, which used the same gesture. "Partaker of other men's sins" means sharing responsibility for what the person you appointed goes on to do.

5:23

This is medical advice, not a general rule about drink. Drinking water in the ancient Mediterranean was often risky, and wine, normally diluted, was the standard remedy for stomach trouble. "Infirmities" means bodily ailments or weaknesses, not moral failings. The Greek says to stop drinking water only, not to stop drinking water.

5:24

The image is of a court: some people's offenses go on ahead of them, arriving at the bench before the defendant does, so the verdict is settled in advance; other people's trail behind and only catch up at the hearing.