God is concerned about orphans and widows. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble…. Notice that Paul mentions in verse 4 that children and grandchildren should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family.
Taking care of widows and orphans how to#
That is why Paul makes a point of explaining how to care for widows in need.Īnd this is why what comes next is hard for us to accept because in our society we are so used to taking all we can get from the government. A widow who no longer had a husband to provide for her and had no living children to look after her was truly a widow in need. There wasn’t this type of safety net in the society in which Timothy was living.
We live in a society where the government has taken the responsibility for providing for our older citizens. Just yesterday congressional leaders came to a tentative agreement over new prescription drug benefits for senior citizens in the U.S., which is reported to be the largest expansion in Medicare’s history. I think it is rather interesting in our current political climate that there is always much discussion about government subsidized health coverage for the elderly and needy and social security is always a hot topic. Note that a widow with children or grandchildren, should be cared for by her family. Let’s look again at verse 4, to see a case where a widow would not qualify as being in need. So giving gifts to the poor, or providing for their maintenance, is doing them honour and that this is the sense here, appears by what follows in the context.” “…honour, here, is what is to be given to all that are really widows and therefore rather regards some external honour and respect to be shown them, by words and actions and especially it designs an honourable provision for them, and maintenance of them …
He qualifies the widows that are to be supported by saying that honor is to be given to those who are really in need. Paul is addressing the financial support of widows. What is Paul talking about when he says honor widows who are really widows in verse 3? See also: Instruction for the Care Of Widows, Part 2 Let’s take a look at 1 Timothy 5:3-10.Ĥ But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents for this is good and acceptable before God.ĥ Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.Ħ But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.ħ And these things command, that they may be blameless.Ĩ But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.ĩ Do not let a widow under sixty years old be taken into the number, and not unless she has been the wife of one man,ġ0 well reported for good works: if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work. All through the Old and New Testaments widows are viewed as especially worthy of God’s mercy. Today we will be considering the instruction to Timothy concerning the care of a very specific group of women - widows. We examined how Paul instructed Timothy in the treatment of older and younger men and women.
Last week we considered how we ought to treat one another in the church.
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