The Grace Notes devotions in 2025 are based on verses from 1 Timothy. Each devotion includes Greek, pastoral ministry notes, and prayer.
In chapter 5, Paul gives Timothy counsel about how to serve various groups of people in the church. In verses three through sixteen the people group under consideration is widows. How to care for widows was a significant issue in the early Christian church. While the care of widows is not a top issue in most of our churches today, Paul’s guidance does help pastors today as they equip God’s people to honor their parents and grandparents.
3 Χήρας τίμα τὰς ὄντως χήρας. 4 εἰ δέ τις χήρα τέκνα ἢ ἔκγονα ἔχει, μανθανέτωσαν πρῶτον τὸν ἴδιον οἶκον εὐσεβεῖν καὶ ἀμοιβὰς ἀποδιδόναι τοῖς προγόνοις, τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ἀπόδεκτον ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ. 5 ἡ δὲ ὄντως χήρα καὶ μεμονωμένη ἤλπικεν ἐπὶ θεὸν καὶ προσμένει ταῖς δεήσεσιν καὶ ταῖς προσευχαῖς νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας· 6 ἡ δὲ σπαταλῶσα ζῶσα τέθνηκεν. 7 καὶ ταῦτα παράγγελλε, ἵνα ἀνεπίλημπτοι ὦσιν· 8 εἰ δέ τις τῶν ἰδίων καὶ μάλιστα οἰκείων οὐ προνοεῖ, τὴν πίστιν ἤρνηται καὶ ἔστιν ἀπίστου χείρων.
The second singular imperative τίμα reminds us of the 4th commandment. Widows are to be honored and supported in the church, by Timothy and by everyone in the church. But not all women who have lost their husband should receive the church’s support. Paul cites two examples: younger widows who should remarry and older widows who can be supported by their children and grandchildren.
The older widows (at least sixty years old) who do not have family (children and grandchildren) to support them are the “true widows” (ὄντως χήρας) the church rightly supports.
The children and grandchildren of older widows are to learn (μανθανέτωσαν) how to act with piety (εὐσεβεῖν) towards the members of their own family. They owe such support to the woman who earlier in life served them as mother or grandmother. This is their chance to “pay her back” (ἀμοιβὰς ἀποδιδόναι) for what she did for them many years earlier. If that debt of love weren’t enough, Paul says that such support is pleasing before God (ἀπόδεκτον ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ).
Believers pray that the words in their mouths and the thoughts in their heads will be acceptable in God’s sight (Ps 19). How much more their actions which are even more evident! The old Adam complains that taking care of mom or grandma is “a dreadful drain on our budget.” Guided by God’s word, believers see an opportunity to “love her back” and to walk with joy into the good works that the Lord has put in their path (Eph 2:10).
If there are no family members who can do this for a widow, then it is the privilege and joy of the church to do it. In verse five, Paul’s description of the believing widow brings to mind the 84-year-old widow Anna who prophesied about the baby Jesus in the temple. Such widows might not have had the ability or opportunity to support themselves financially, but they provided much for the church with their faithful example (ἤλπικεν ἐπὶ θεὸν) and with their requests and prayers to God, night and day.
The church was not obligated, however, to care for widows who were living luxuriously or indulgently for this world. Such a widow was alive physically but not spiritually.
These were the things (vv. 3-6) that Timothy needed to keep prescribing to his people so that they (widows, the children and grandchildren of widows, and the church) might be above reproach, doing what was in line with the will of God.
Paul ends with a strong and shocking comment: If family members did not want to honor and support their own mother or grandmother, if they thought, rather, that it was the responsibility of the church to support her, they were denying the faith (τὴν πίστιν ἤρνηται) and were worse than an unbeliever (ἀπίστου χείρων). The natural law written on the hearts of unbelievers leads them to take care of mom or grandma. Why should “Christians” expect or ask the church to take this responsibility off of their hands?
This section of God’s word speaks to us as individuals. Given the chance to honor and support the elderly in our own family, let us do so willingly and gladly. This section speaks to us as pastors. We have a sinful nature that wants to love money and to use people or neglect them. Our members have a sinful nature too. We need to preach the 4th commandment and the Savior who kept the 4th commandment perfectly for us as our substitute and whose blood atones for our sinful attitudes, words, and actions against the 4th commandment. As lawbreakers preaching to lawbreakers, let’s proclaim the glory and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, I am inclined to think and do what is selfish and wrong, even in my relationships with my elders in my own family. Forgive me for the sake of Jesus who carried my sins against the 4th commandment to the cross and made atonement for them with his holy precious blood. As I speak to your people about the honor and support of family members, help me to faithfully preach law and gospel, so that, motivated by the love of Christ, they may live blameless lives as your holy people. Through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
P.S. For further reading, I recommend Pres. emeritus David Valleskey’s recent book, The Splendid Task of the Ministry: A Pastoral Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles (NPH, 2023). In this section, he tells a memorable story about something he learned at age ten.