The Meaning of 1 Timothy 5:3 Explained

1 Timothy 5:3

KJV: Honour widows that are widows indeed.

YLT: honour widows who are really widows;

Darby: Honour widows who are really widows;

ASV: Honor widows that are widows indeed.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Honour  widows  that are widows  indeed. 

What does 1 Timothy 5:3 Mean?

Context Summary

1 Timothy 5:1-8 - Wise Treatment Of Young And Old
That minister of Jesus is happiest who introduces the tone and manner of family life into the church, 1 Timothy 5:1-2. The attitude of son or brother to other men is peculiarly fitting. But he must always keep up the spiritual tone. It is so easy to descend to frivolity and familiarity. Remember that all intercourse with others must be governed by the words-in all purity.
The special references to widows evidence the early practice of the Church. Provision was made for godly women who had lost husbands by death, and who in return for the weekly gift from church funds, gave themselves to Christian service. The Apostle indicates the age and characteristics of those who might be eligible. It was his clear judgment, however, that, wherever possible, it was becoming for children to make such provision as would place an aged mother or other relative beyond the reach of want or any need of claiming maintenance from church funds. Our nurses and deaconesses are the modern counterparts of the order of widows in the early Church; yet the standard of Christian living here emphasized may well be pondered and prayed over by all Christian women, who should, as far as possible without fee or reward, consider church service only second to the claims of home. [source]

Chapter Summary: 1 Timothy 5

1  Rules to be observed in reproving
3  Of widows
17  Of elders
23  A precept for Timothy's health
24  Some men's sins go before unto judgment, and some men's follow after

Greek Commentary for 1 Timothy 5:3

That are widows indeed [τας οντως χηρας]
For οντως — ontōs (actually, really), see Luke 23:47; 1 Corinthians 14:25; and 1 Timothy 5:5. For widows (χηρα — chēra) see note on Mark 12:40; note on Mark 12:42; note on Acts 6:1; and note on 1 Corinthians 7:8. Parry notes that in 1 Timothy 5:3-8 Paul discusses widows who are in distress and 1 Timothy 5:9 those who are in the employment of the local church for certain work. Evidently, as in Acts 6:1-6, so here in Ephesus there had arisen some trouble over the widows in the church. Both for individual cases of need and as a class Timothy is to show proper respect (τιμα — timā keep on honouring) the widows. [source]
Honor [τίμα]
Not only by respectful treatment but by financial support. Comp. τιμήσει , Matthew 15:5, and πολλαῖς τιμαῖς ἐτίμησαν , Acts 28:10; and διπλῆς τιμῆς 1 Timothy 5:17. Comp. Ephesians href="/desk/?q=eph+6:2&sr=1">Ephesians 6:2, citation), and only here in Pastorals. [source]
Widows [χήρας]
Paul alludes to widows in 1 Corinthians 7:8only, where he advises them against remarrying. They are mentioned as a class in Acts 6:1, in connection with the appointment of the seven. Also Acts 9:39, Acts 9:41. In the Pastorals they receive special notice, indicating their advance from the position of mere beneficiaries to a quasi-official position in the church. from the very first, the church recognised its obligation to care for their support. A widow, in the East, was peculiarly desolate and helpless. In return for their maintenance certain duties were required of them, such as the care of orphans, sick and prisoners, and they were enrolled in an order, which, however, did not include all of their number who received alms of the church. In Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians, they are styled “the altar of God.” To such an order the references in the Pastorals point. The Fathers, from the end of the second century to the fourth, recognised a class known as πρεσβύτιδες agedwomen (Titus 2:3), who had oversight of the female church-members and a separate seat in the congregation. The council of Laodicaea abolished this institution, or so modified it that widows no longer held an official relation to the church. [source]
Who are widows indeed [τὰς ὄντως χήρας]
Comp. 1 Timothy 5:5, 1 Timothy 5:16. Ὄντως verilytruly, twice in Paul, 1 Corinthians 14:25; Galatians 3:21. See on 2 Peter 2:18. Wherever ὄντως is used by Paul or by any other N.T. writer, it is used purely as an adverb (see Luke 23:47; Luke 24:34): but in all the four instances in the Pastorals, it is preceded by the article and converted into an adjective. The meaning is, who are absolutely bereaved, without children or relations (comp. 1 Timothy 5:4), and have been but once married. There is probably also an implied contrast with those described in 1 Timothy 5:6, 1 Timothy 5:11-13. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 1 Timothy 5:3

Romans 16:1 Servant [διάκονον]
The word may be either masculine or feminine. Commonly explained as deaconess. The term διακόνισσα deaconessis found only in ecclesiastical Greek. The “Apostolical Constitutions” distinguish deaconesses from widows and virgins, prescribe their duties, and a form for their ordination. Pliny the younger, about a.d. 104, appears to refer to them in his letter to Trajan, in which he speaks of the torture of two maids who were called minestrae (female ministers). The office seems to have been confined mainly to widows, though virgins were not absolutely excluded. Their duties were to take care of the sick and poor, to minister to martyrs and confessors in prison, to instruct catechumens, to assist at the baptism of women, and to exercise a general supervision over the female church-members. Tryphaena, Tryphosa, and Persis (Romans 16:12) may have belonged to this class. See on 1 Timothy 5:3-16. Conybeare (“Life and Epistles of St. Paul”) assumes that Phoebe was a widow, on the ground that she could not, according to Greek manners, have been mentioned as acting in the independent manner described, either if her husband had been living or she had been unmarried. Renan says: “Phoebe carried under the folds of her robe the whole future of Christian theology.” [source]
1 Timothy 6:19 Eternal life [τῆς ὄντως ζωῆς]
More correctly, the life which is life indeed, or that which is truly life. See on 1 Timothy 5:3. [source]
1 Timothy 5:9 Be taken into the number [καταλεγέσθω]
Better, enrolled (as a widow). N.T.oVery, rare in lxx. Common in Class. Originally, to pick out, as soldiers. Hence, to enroll, enlist. Here, to be enrolled in the body of widows who are to receive church support. See on 1 Timothy 5:3. [source]
1 Timothy 5:3 That are widows indeed [τας οντως χηρας]
For οντως — ontōs (actually, really), see Luke 23:47; 1 Corinthians 14:25; and 1 Timothy 5:5. For widows (χηρα — chēra) see note on Mark 12:40; note on Mark 12:42; note on Acts 6:1; and note on 1 Corinthians 7:8. Parry notes that in 1 Timothy 5:3-8 Paul discusses widows who are in distress and 1 Timothy 5:9 those who are in the employment of the local church for certain work. Evidently, as in Acts 6:1-6, so here in Ephesus there had arisen some trouble over the widows in the church. Both for individual cases of need and as a class Timothy is to show proper respect (τιμα — timā keep on honouring) the widows. [source]
1 Timothy 5:9 Let none be enrolled as a widow [χηρα καταλεγεστω]
Present passive imperative of καταλεγω — katalegō old verb, to set down in an official list, only here in N.T. “Let a widow be enrolled,” the negative coming later, “having become of no less than sixty years” Second perfect active participle of γινομαι — ginomai For the case of ετων — etōn see note on Luke 2:42. This list of genuine widows (1 Timothy 5:3, 1 Timothy 5:5) apparently had some kind of church work to do (care for the sick, the orphans, etc.). [source]
1 Timothy 5:16 Hath widows [εχει χηρας]
The “any believing woman” is one of the household-rulers of 1 Timothy 5:14. The “widows” here are the widows dependent on her and who are considered as candidates to be enrolled in the list. Let her relieve them (επαρκειτω αυταις — eparkeitō autais). For this verb (imperative present active) see 1 Timothy 5:10. Let not be burdened Present passive imperative (in prohibition μη — mē) of βαρεω — bareō old verb That are widows indeed (ταις οντως χηραις — tais ontōs chērais). Dative case with επαρκεσηι — eparkesēi (first aorist active subjunctive with ινα — hina final clause). See 1 Timothy 5:3 for this use of οντως — ontōs with χηραις — chērais “the qualified and enrolled widows.” Cf. 1 Timothy 5:9. [source]
1 Timothy 5:16 Let not be burdened [μη βαρειστω]
Present passive imperative (in prohibition μη — mē) of βαρεω — bareō old verb That are widows indeed (ταις οντως χηραις — tais ontōs chērais). Dative case with επαρκεσηι — eparkesēi (first aorist active subjunctive with ινα — hina final clause). See 1 Timothy 5:3 for this use of οντως — ontōs with χηραις — chērais “the qualified and enrolled widows.” Cf. 1 Timothy 5:9. [source]
1 Timothy 5:16 That are widows indeed [ταις οντως χηραις]
Dative case with επαρκεσηι — eparkesēi (first aorist active subjunctive with ινα — hina final clause). See 1 Timothy 5:3 for this use of οντως — ontōs with χηραις — chērais “the qualified and enrolled widows.” Cf. 1 Timothy 5:9. [source]
1 Timothy 6:19 Which is life indeed [της οντως ζωης]
See note on 1 Timothy 5:3 for οντως — ontōs This life is merely the shadow of the eternal reality to come. [source]
Titus 2:3 Behavior [καταστήματι]
N.T.oSee on καταστολή apparel 1 Timothy 2:9. It means, primarily, condition or state. Once in lxx, 1Timothy href="/desk/?q=1ti+5:3&sr=1">1 Timothy 5:3, and comp. 1 Timothy 2:10; Ephesians 5:3. [source]

What do the individual words in 1 Timothy 5:3 mean?

Widows honor who [are] truly
Χήρας τίμα τὰς ὄντως

Χήρας  Widows 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Plural
Root: χήρα  
Sense: a widow.
τίμα  honor 
Parse: Verb, Present Imperative Active, 2nd Person Singular
Root: τιμάω  
Sense: to estimate, fix the value.
τὰς  who  [are] 
Parse: Article, Accusative Feminine Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ὄντως  truly 
Parse: Adverb
Root: ὀλίγως 
Sense: truly, in reality, in point of fact, as opp.