Stoned-Campbell Disciple

The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy in Ephesus the following oft quoted words,

“Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim 5.8, NIV).

I was asked to provide my understanding of this verse, so I am happy to do so.

One of the massive disservices that is done to modern readers by translations of the Bible like the King James Version, the New King James Version and the New American Standard is the printing of individual verses as an independent paragraph. It appears as if this verse (as the rest) is something of an aphorism or a generalized truth. It is neither. Always think paragraphs in narratives and epistles. Never think verse. Always think Paragraphs. Always.

I frequently say, like a broken record at PV and Eastside that there are two rules for reading the Bible: context and context. First Timothy 5. 8 is in a paragraph. The words in the sentence and the sentence as a whole have meaning in that paragraph and the subject matter under consideration by Paul.

Verse 8 (quoted above) is part of a paragraph that begins in v.3 and the section goes down to v.16. Verse 8 is in the middle of this discussion. Here Paul is addressing the entire church, “give proper attention/recognition to WIDOWS who are really in need.” In fact Paul is addressing Timothy and the gathered church through him as the letter is read to the whole congregation. Neither this verse nor any verse in First Timothy (nor any epistle in the NT) is addressed to non-Christians/unbelievers/the world. It is the widows of the church that are in need.

In the historical context of Ephesus these widows need not be in their 80s or 90s. In fact we know they are not. They are more likely in their 20s and 30s (a person in their 40s was a senior citizen).

Paul is concerned about two things simultaneously:

1) the care of the poor – in this case widows (a massive theme in Scripture, I mean massive; Deut 10.12-22; Ps 72; James 1.27; etc):

2) the resources of the local church to be used for those in genuine need. Most of the members themselves will be on the lower economic spectrum, a number likely slaves themselves. So Paul counsels younger widows to get remarried (v.14).

Here Paul is concerned about those who cannot get remarried or those who have no one to take care of them (there was no social security in the first century Roman Empire). Those widows who have either children or grandchildren (i.e. family), it is those children or grandchildren should take in the widow. That is v.4. The “anyone” of verse 8 is not a generalized statement but is the Christian family of the widow that is identified in v.4.

This verse, like the entire paragraph, I stress again is directed to the church, that is Christians. Notice how Paul says, “these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.” This for Paul is nothing more and nothing less than obedience to the Ten Commandments, he cites it directly to the church in Ephesians (1 Timothy is written to the Ephesians as well) 6.2, “Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise.” This is why Paul tells these Christians they have an obligation – because of their faith – to take care of the widow. They are honoring her.

Failing to care for the poor, the powerless, (widows/orphans/aliens) places these so called Believers in the same category as the Pagans. The Pagans frequently abandoned their elderly, they “exposed” their unwanted children who either starved to death or became enslaved in brothels and other unsavory places. God’s Family is NOT like that. Paul is not going to let that happen. So the believing family is the safety net for the widow.

In verses 5 and 6 Paul uses a trope to talk about two kinds of widows (who are like two ordinary people). One trusts in God and one lives for him/herself. The destitute widow who “trusts in God” will be cared for by God’s family. The church is now her family of the widow who either has no physical believing family or is abandoned by her family. That is if she has no believing family to care for her.

The line in v.6 is related to the wider problem in 1 Timothy of women influenced by the Goddess Artemis (whose massive temple was in Ephesus). Women, including younger widows” are “busybodies” going from “house to house” who are “saying/TEACHING” things they ought not as the apostle says in vv.13 but read from 11 to 15 (and this is directly related to what Paul says in that grossly taken out of context passage in chapter 2 of 1 Timothy). To read v.8 properly we need to read all of chapter 5.3-16 where he tells the younger widows to remarry (v.14).

Verse 8 is aimed directly at those Christian’s (identified in v.4) who have widows in their family but are refusing to take care of them. They are the one’s who are not putting their faith in practice. If we love our neighbor as ourselves, our first neighbor is our physical family. Again Paul says in Eph 6.2, they are to honor not just widows but mothers and fathers as the Ten Commandments say. Those Christians in Ephesus who are not taking care of their family – the widow – are worse than the pagans (unbelievers). They have denied the faith they claim to have embraced.

This text is not a general statement about unbelievers. It is directed to the church. A non-believer can never “deny the faith.” And be a nonbeliever cannot be “worse than an unbeliever!” They are in fact already a nonbeliever. So verse 8, like all of First Timothy is directed to people who have claimed to believe that Jesus is the King (Messiah).

The context is about how to take care of widows. To summarize:

1) younger widows (and these are Christian widows throughout) should get remarried. They can and should do this.

2) Older widows should have family that takes care of them. The family that does not take care of their family are in fact no better than the pagans in Ephesus because that is what the pagans do – abandon the weak and poor.

3) Those widows who have no one – that is believing family – to care for them – are to be dedicated to God. They ought to be learners as Paul says in chapter 2. They have trusted in God and will not be abandoned. Those who gather with the Ephesian church who refuse to care for their own family have denied the faith. The church, the “household of God” (i.e. family of God) will be the sons, daughters, brothers and sisters of the widow when her family (which is no real family) abandons her.

Read all of 1 Timothy 5.3-16. It is about the same thing (carrying for poor widows) and is a unit. Verse 8 is smack in the middle of this teaching on how to properly care for widows.

That is what 1 Timothy 5.8 is all about. If we love God then we will love our neighbor. In this case our neighbor is a widow in our family. And the church is that family for the widow who has no family.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2025 at 2:15 pm and is filed under 1 Timothy, Church, Contemporary Ethics, Discipleship, Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.