1 Timothy 5: 3 "Honor widows who are
widows indeed;"
Seldom does the Apostle give such
large sections of his writings to discussing
groups in the church that are in need of
being ministered to. Yet in this passage,
Paul takes fourteen verses to discuss the
"ministry to widows" who are older, and
then he gives a message to younger widows
(vv.3-16). Apparently, for various reasons,
there were many widows in the
churches. Women normally outlive men, as
men are called upon to fight in wars and
often their activities are more risky due to
their jobs. And as the church was rapidly
growing, many of the men were either
arrested or martyred. Whatever the reason
for the number of widows, which was not
explained, it was incumbent upon the church
to rise to the occasion and minister to
them.
Earlier in the book of Acts (chapter
6) there was friction in the church over how
to minister to widows. This gave rise to
the selecting of what we later would
identify as deacons. The effectiveness of
this new ministry to widows would be an
identifying distinction of the church from
the world. Older widows were greatly
neglected and often mistreated in the
ancient world because they did not have
someone to advocate or intercede for
them. The Church's responsiveness and
compassion to widows and their needs may
have caused many unbelieving widows in the
community to come to faith in Christ. It
was necessary for families to take
responsibility and care for their own widows
so that an effective ministry to other
widows could be provided, thus not burdening
the church excessively
(v. 4). Consequently, those who did not
have the blessing of strong family ties were
to be folded into the life and ministry of
the church. This does not sound like an
exciting ministry for obvious reasons, but
when the church was willing to be
responsible and willing to do this work,
there was a blessing on the church that
could not be explained, other than by God's
approval. James observed that pure and
undefiled religion in the sight of God was
to visit orphans and widows in their
distress (James 1: 27).
There is a good reason that Paul gave
attention to this ministry, and for that
reason we should as well. Any ministry in
the church that is effective and is
impactful in the world will require personal
responsibility, organization, persistence,
and sacrifice.
In Christ,
Tommy Middleton
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