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Bible Notes - Tabernacle Commentaries
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1 Timothy 5:16
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‘If any man or woman that believeth have widows...’ This is a new point. This isn't the children of the widows now. That has already been dealt with: that the children should care for the widowed parent. This is something else. Who are these people? If we have already dealt with the children and the grandchildren of widows, who is this new category? It is probably people who had servants who died leaving their widows, or the widows of friends who had died. This is a very precious verse. ‘If any man or woman’ – not actually in that bloodline, in that family – ‘that believeth have’, is connected with, ‘widows,’ and presumably can afford to do so, ‘let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.’ They are entirely destitute and forsaken. Now, that is very interesting.
Application
In the ancient church, under the law of God, it was not only that people were responsible for those within their family, but the members of the church cared even for many who were outside their families if they could afford to do so. You get an insight into the closeness of relationships that existed and the extensiveness of the care. That is what the Lord desires. A church of people, brothers and sisters in the Lord, who are so close that they will even extend kindness and help and support and comfort outside the family circle if the Lord has enabled them to do so.
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