Paul's Exhortations & Instructions to Brother Timothy 1st Letter Volume 49

Paul Instructs Timothy on how Members of Christ Body should be Treated in Christ Church Part 5

1 Timothy 5:9 Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,  KJV

Paul now instructs Brother Timothy on the cutoff age of widows that should be admitted into the paid or compensated service positions in the Church of our Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ as he declares with these words, "Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man," (1 Timothy 5:9) (KJV). The idea here was that every Churches official list of widows in their Church was not to have listed on it any widowed woman under 60 years of age. Perhaps Paul felt like the widowed women that were 60 years old or older were less likely to want to re-marry verses the widows who were younger, just as Paul himself had given counsel to the Church @ Corinth when he wrote these words in his first letter to them, "A wife is bound to her husband by law as long as he lives. If the husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she will, only [provided that he too is] in the Lord. But in my opinion [a widow] is happier (more blessed and to be envied) if she does not remarry. And also I think I have the Spirit of God." (1 Corinthians 7:39-40) (Amplified Bible).

The older women were also looked upon by the Apostle Paul as mentors and counselors or teachers to the younger women of the Church so that the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ would be sound, solid, and sure even as he instructed Brother Titus to instruct this to the older women in the Church with these words, "Bid the older women similarly to be reverent {and} devout in their deportment as becomes those engaged in sacred service, not slanderers or slaves to drink. They are to give good counsel {and} be teachers of what is right {and} noble, So that they will wisely train the young women to be sane and sober of mind (temperate, disciplined) and to love their husbands and their children, To be self-controlled, chaste, homemakers, good-natured (kindhearted), adapting {and} subordinating themselves to their husbands, that the word of God may not be exposed to reproach (blasphemed or discredited)." (Titus 2:3-5) (Amplified Bible). The little English phrase 'be taken into the number' is translated by one Greek word katalegō (used this one time only in the entire New Testament) meaning  (figuratively) to enroll, that is, to register formally as a participant or member: - take into the number.

Here is what Dr. John Gill had to say concerning widows being listed into the official order at age 60 years or older, "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 1 Timothy 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 labor, and so of taking care of themselves. The age of sixty years was by the Jews reckoned, 'old age', but not under." When the Apostle Paul writes here, 'having been the wife of one man', he means that she was married to one man who died, not that she was married only one time, however, other commentators believe that Paul means the qualified widow must have been married only one time in her life and most use the case of the Prophetess Anna as this was spoken concerning her, "And there was also a Prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old, having lived with her husband seven years from her maidenhood, And as a widow even for eighty-four years. She did not go out from the temple enclosure, but was worshiping night and day with fasting and prayer." (Luke 2:36-37) (Amplified Bible).

Anna's case in my opinion was a personal one and it is not recorded here or anywhere else in the Scripture that this was the mandatory practice in that day of all widows, but what is recorded is the Lord's heart for and care for widows in that day and all the way up to today as described by the Psalmist with these words, "The Lord protects {and} preserves the strangers {and} temporary residents, He upholds the fatherless and the widow {and} sets them upright, but the way of the wicked He makes crooked (turns upside down and brings to ruin)." (Psalm 146:9) (Amplified Bible). So, we see then that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself will establish and take care of the upright widow whether He takes her to another husband or whether He takes care of her some other way. Again here is what Dr. John Gill had to say concerning widows having been the wife of one husband, "That is, at one time; for second marriages are not hereby condemned, for this would be to condemn what the Apostle elsewhere allows, Romans 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 Mark 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."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.
Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…