1 Timothy 5:5-8 - Worse than an unbeliever

5:5,6

Widowhood was much more common in those days than it is now. While families should look after the widow whenever possible, there would be cases where there was no one to look after the widow. Society was very different than today, and it would be extremely difficult for a widow to provide for herself. So the widow would pray to God for help. Now notice that Paul recognises that not all widows would be of a good spirit. There would be some who would “live for pleasure”. The church is very poor at dealing with poverty. It tends to take the line that the poor are more deserving than everyone else, and the poor are always good. This is simply not true, and is not Biblical. We are absolutely right to be concerned for the poor, and anyone and any church that is not so concerned is not being faithful to Christ. However, we need to do this and face up to the reality of human sin at the same time. When we comment on political matters we need to do so recognising that governments need to deal with very difficult situations, seeking to balance the proper concern to provide for those in genuine need, and the equal reality that people, including the poor, can be absolute scoundrels. If we only look at one side of this dilemma we have got it wrong.

5:7,8

So what is the basis for how Paul seeks to address this problem? Note that it is not in drawing up masses of complicated rules. Instead he issues a direct instruction that people should provide for their relatives, and if we do not do so then we are worse than an unbeliever! This is a serious matter. Society is not the church, so does this have any relevance for society as a whole? Well it does mean that societies where the state takes responsibility for too much, undermining the place of the family, is heading for trouble, and we see the outworking of this in much of the West. A society that has strong families is a strong society, and it is far better able to deal with the inevitable failings of governments.