1 Timothy 5:9

Context

First Timothy has traditionally been received as a letter written by Paul to Timothy in Ephesus to instruct him in the oversight of the church. Since the modern period, many biblical scholars have held that it was written later by a disciple who carried on Paul's legacy.

First Timothy 5:3–16 addresses how widows are to be cared for. Widows who have family are to be supported first by their relatives (5:4, 5:8, 5:16), while the church is to honor "widows indeed" who have no one to depend on. Verse 9 sets out the conditions for such a widow to be "taken into the number": "Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man" (KJV). Verse 10 adds that she must be "well reported of for good works," such as having brought up children and lodged strangers. The original term rendered "taken into the number" means to enter a name on a list.

Interpretation

• As a relief roll: This reading takes the list to be a register of those who received regular material support from the church. Sixty was an age at which remarriage or self-support was considered difficult in that society, and the conditions are understood to have been intended to direct limited resources to those who truly needed them.
• As an order of service: This reading takes the list to be the roster of an "order of widows," a recognized group entrusted with prayer and service. Proponents cite the phrase "they have cast off their first faith" in 5:12, which they read as referring to the breaking of a kind of vow. Some church writings of the second and third centuries are reported to treat widows as a distinct recognized group.
• As combining both: This reading holds that the list comprised those who both received support and filled a defined role within the church.

There are two interpretations of "the wife of one man." One takes it to mean that she had married only once in her life. The other takes it as a statement about conduct, meaning that she had been faithful to her husband. Because the expression parallels "the husband of one wife," given as a qualification for bishops and deacons (3:2, 3:12), the two are usually interpreted together.

Debates and Issues

• Remarriage and church office: Reading the phrase as "married only once" creates tension with verse 14 of the same chapter, which counsels younger widows to marry. Those who read it as referring to faithfulness cite this tension in support of their view. Together with the qualifications for office in chapter 3, the verse is cited in discussions of divorce and remarriage that consider whether a person who has remarried may hold church office.
• Women in ministry: Some who regard the list of widows as an office point to it as an example of women's ministry in the early church and connect it to the debate over the ordination of women. Those who regard it as a relief roll hold that the verse has little to do with a system of church offices.
• Present-day application: It is widely held that the age requirement of sixty was a regulation suited to the social conditions of the time. Accordingly, the verse is often taken to teach the principle that family members bear the first responsibility for support and that the church should apply discerning standards in its charitable relief.

Related Passages

• 1 Timothy 3:2
• 1 Timothy 3:12
• 1 Timothy 5:14
• Acts 6:1
• Titus 1:5–9