Teks -- 1 Timothy 5:9 (NET)

5:9 No widow should be put on the list unless she is at least sixty years old, was the wife of one husband,

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Robertson: 1Ti 5:9 - Let none be enrolled as a widow

Let none be enrolled as a widow ( chēra katalegesthō ).

Present passive imperative of katalegō , old verb, to set down in an official list, only here in N.T. "Let a widow be enrolled,"the negative coming later, "having become of no less than sixty years"(mē elatton etōn hexēkonta gegonuia ). Second perfect active participle of ginomai . For the case of etōn , see note on Luk 2:42. This list of genuine widows (1Ti 5:3, 1Ti 5:5) apparently had some kind of church work to do (care for the sick, the orphans, etc.).

Robertson: 1Ti 5:9 - The wife of one man

The wife of one man ( henos andros gunē ).

Widows on this list must not be married a second time. This interpretation is not so clear for 1Ti 3:2, 1Ti 3:12; Tit 1:6.

Vincent: 1Ti 5:9 - Be taken into the number

Be taken into the number ( καταλεγέσθω )

Better, enrolled (as a widow). N.T.o . Very, rare in lxx. Common in Class. Originally, to pick out , as soldiers. Hence, to enroll , enlist . Here, to be enrolled in the body of widows who are to receive church support. See on 1Ti 5:3.

Wesley: 1Ti 5:9 - Let not a widow be chosen

Into the number of deaconesses, who attended sick women or travelling preachers.

Wesley: 1Ti 5:9 - Under threescore

Afterwards they were admitted at forty, if they were eminent for holiness.

Wesley: 1Ti 5:9 - Having been the wife of one husband

That is, having lived in lawful marriage, whether with one or more persons successively.

JFB: 1Ti 5:9

Translate, "As a widow (that is, of the ecclesiastical order of widowhood; a kind of female presbytery), let none be enrolled (in the catalogue) who is less than sixty years old." These were not deaconesses, who were chosen at a younger age (forty was the age fixed at the Council of Chalcedon), and who had virgins (in a later age called widows) as well as widows among them, but a band of widows set apart, though not yet formally and finally, to the service of God and the Church. Traces of such a class appear in Act 9:41. Dorcas herself was such a one. As it was expedient (see on 1Ti 3:2; Tit 1:6) that the presbyter or bishop should have been but once married, so also in her case. There is a transition here to a new subject. The reference here cannot be, as in 1Ti 5:3, to providing Church sustenance for them. For the restriction to widows above sixty would then be needless and harsh, since many widows might be in need of help at a much earlier age; as also the rule that the widow must not have been twice married, especially since he himself, below (1Ti 5:14) enjoins the younger widows to marry again; as also that she must have brought up children. Moreover, 1Ti 5:10 presupposes some competence, at least in past times, and so poor widows would be excluded, the very class requiring charity. Also, 1Ti 5:11 would then be senseless, for then their remarrying would be a benefit, not an injury, to the Church, as relieving it of the burden of their sustenance. TERTULLIAN [On the Veiling of Virgins, 9], HERMAS [Shepherd, 1.2], and CHRYSOSTOM [Homily, 31], mention such an order of ecclesiastical widowhood, each one not less than sixty years old, and resembling the presbyters in the respect paid to them, and in some of their duties; they ministered with sympathizing counsel to other widows and to orphans, a ministry to which their own experimental knowledge of the feelings and sufferings of the bereaved adapted them, and had a general supervision of their sex. Age was doubtless a requisite in presbyters, as it is here stated to have been in presbyteresses, with a view to their influence on the younger persons of their sex They were supported by the Church, but not the only widows so supported (1Ti 5:3-4).

JFB: 1Ti 5:9 - wife of one man

In order not to throw a stumbling-block in the way of Jews and heathen, who regarded with disfavor second marriages (see on 1Ti 3:2; Tit 1:6). This is the force of "blameless," giving no offense, even in matters indifferent.

Clarke: 1Ti 5:9 - Taken into the number

Taken into the number - Let her not be taken into the list of those for which the Church must provide. But some think that the apostle means the list of those who were deaconesses in the Church; and that no widow was to be admitted into that rank who did not answer to the following character. See on 1Ti 5:10 (note)

Clarke: 1Ti 5:9 - Under threescore years

Under threescore years - As it might be supposed that, previously to this age, they might be able to do something towards their own support. See on 1Ti 5:10 (note)

Clarke: 1Ti 5:9 - Having been the wife of one man

Having been the wife of one man - Having lived in conjugal fidelity with her husband; or having had but one husband at a time; or, according to others, having never been but once married. But the former is the opinion of some of the most eminent of the Greek fathers, and appears to be that most consistent with the scope of the place, and with truth.

Calvin: 1Ti 5:9 - Let a widow be chosen // Not under sixty years of age // Who hath been the wife of one man

9.Let a widow be chosen He again points out what kind of widows should be taken under the care of the Church; ⁹¹ and more clearly than he had formerly done.

Not under sixty years of age First, he describes the age, sixty years; for, being supported at the public expense, it was proper that they should have already reached old age. Besides, there was another and stronger reason; for they consecrated themselves to the ministry of the Church, which would have been altogether intolerable, if there were still a likelihood of their being married. They were received on the condition that the Church should relieve their poverty, and that, on their part, they should be employed in ministering to the poor, as far as the state of their health allowed. Thus there was a mutual obligation between them and the Church. It was unreasonable that those who were under that age, and who were still in the vigor of life, should be a burden to others. Besides, there was reason to fear that they would change their mind and think of being married again. These are two reasons why he does not wish any to be admitted “under sixty years of age.”

Who hath been the wife of one man As to the desire of marrying, that danger had been sufficiently guarded against, when a woman was more than sixty years old; especially if, during her whole life, she had not been married to more than one husband. It may be regarded as a sort of pledge of continence and chastity, when a woman has arrived at that age, satisfied with having had but one husband. Not that he disapproves of a second marriage, or affixes a mark of ignominy to those who have been twice married; (for, on the contrary, he advises younger widows to marry;) but because he wished carefully to guard against laying any females under a necessity of remaining unmarried, who felt it to be necessary to have husbands. On this subject we shall afterwards speak more fully.

TSK: 1Ti 5:9 - a widow // taken // under // having

a widow : 1Ti 5:3, 1Ti 5:4

taken : or, chosen

under : 1Ti 5:11, 1Ti 5:14; Luk 2:36, Luk 2:37

having : 1Ti 3:2, 1Ti 3:12; 1Co 7:10,1Co 7:11, 1Co 7:39, 1Co 7:40

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: 1Ti 5:9 - Let not a widow be taken, into the number under threescore years old // Having been the wife of one man

Let not a widow be taken, into the number under threescore years old what number he meaneth is very doubtful, whether he means the number of deaconesses, or the number of such as should receive alms from the church. Those who translate katalegesyw here chosen seem to favour the former. They say, that in the primitive church there being a want of hospials and public places for the reception of people deceased in their estates, &c., they chose some old widows to take care of the poorer sort of women when they were sick, and these also were themselves maintained by the church, and served the church in that charitable employment. Whether this number, or the more general number of widows relieved by the church, be meant, the caution of their age was very prudent:

1. Because younger widows could work for their living, and needed not to burden the church.

2. Because under those years they probably might marry again, and so become useless to the church.

3. Because after those years there could be no great fear of scandal from their wantonness and incontinency.

Having been the wife of one man: this condition seems harder to be understood; for though in former times, amongst the Jews and pagans, men were allowed more wives than one at the same time, yet no laws ever allowed the woman liberty of more husbands.

2. To understand it of women that had not been twice married, their first husbands being dead, seems hard, no law of God forbidding the second marriages of men and women successively.

3. Some therefore rather understand it of such widows as were become wives to second husbands, the first not being dead, but parted from them legally, either through their own fault, or through their voluntary desertion.

This the apostle seems to forbid, to avoid reproach and scandal to the church.

Haydock: 1Ti 5:9 - Not under threescore years of age // Who hath been the wife of one husband

Not under threescore years of age. Some think he speaks only of such a widow as was placed over all the rest: but the common exposition is of all such widows as were maintained in that manner, who made a vow of chastity, who assisted the ministers of the Church in looking to the poor, and in the administering baptism to women. ---

Who hath been the wife of one husband; i.e. hath never been married but once. (Witham)

Gill: 1Ti 5:9 - Let not a widow be taken into the number // Having been the wife of one man

Let not a widow be taken into the number,.... That is, of widows, to be maintained by the church; though some choose to understand these words of the number of such who were made deaconesses, and had the care of the poor widows of the church committed to them; and so the Arabic version renders it, "if a widow be chosen a deaconess"; but the former sense is best, for it appears from 1Ti 5:1 that the apostle is still speaking of widows to be relieved: now such were not to be taken under the church's care for relief, under threescore years old: for under this age it might be supposed they would marry, and so not be desolate, but would have husbands to provide for them; or they might be capable of labour, and so of taking care of themselves. The age of sixty years was by the Jews ^x reckoned זקנה, "old age", but not under.

Having been the wife of one man; that is, at one time; for second marriages are not hereby condemned, for this would be to condemn what the apostle elsewhere allows, Rom 7:2. Nor is the sense only, that she should be one who never had more husbands than one at once; for this was not usual for women to have more husbands than one, even where polygamy obtained, or where men had more wives than one: this rather therefore is to be understood of one who had never put away her husband, and married another, which was sometimes done among the Jews; see Mar 10:12, and this being a scandalous practice, the apostle was willing to put a mark of infamy upon it, and exclude such persons who had been guilty of it from the number of widows relieved by the church.