Vv.
y Acts vi. 3, γυνή, 10. 7 ἐν * ἔργοις * καλοῖς ” μαρτυρουμένη, εἰ * ἐτεκνοτρόφησεν,
ΣΧ, 22, ΧΧΊΙ. 12, Heb. Xi. 2, 30. zSee1 Tim. iii. 1, a Here only, not LXX. iii. 4, 2 Thess. i. 6, 7, Heb. xi. 37.
Church members to their widowed rela- tives to specific rules about the admis- sion of widows to the roll of Church widows (see Acts vi. 1). The χήρα of this ver. is ἡ ὄντως χήρα of vv. 3 and 5, who was to receive consideration and official recognition. These widows had no doubt a ministry to fulfil—a ministry of love, prayer, intercession, and giving of thanks (Polycarp, 4) ; but it is difficult to suppose that St. Paul, or any other practically minded administrator, would contemplate a presbyteral order of wi- dows, the members of which would enter on their duties at the age of 60, an age relatively more advanced in the East and in the first century than in the West and in our own time. We may add that the general topic of widows’ maintenance is resumed and concluded in ver. 16.
In the references to widows in the earliest Christian literature outside the N.T. (with the exception of Ignatius Smyyn. 13) they are mentioned as objects of charity along with orphans, etc. (Ig- natius, Smyrn. 6, Polyc. 4; Polycarp, 4; Hermas, Vis. ii. 4, Mand. viii., Sim. 1. V. 3, 1x. 26, 27; Justin, Aol. i. 67). None of these places hints at an order of widows. ‘The subject cannot be further discussed here; but the evidence seems to point to the conclusion that the later institution of widows as an order with official duties was suggested by this pas- sage. The history of Christianity affords other examples of supposed revivals of apostolic institutions.
Ell., who follows Grotius in seeing in this verse regulations respecting an ecclesiastical or presbyteral widow, ob- jects to the view taken above that it is ‘“‘highly improbable that when criteria had been given, ver. 4 sq., fresh should be added, and those of so very exclusive a nature: would the Church thus limit her alms δ᾽"
But ver. 4 sq. does not give the criteria, or qualifications of an official widow; but only describes the dominant charac- teristic of the life of the ‘‘ widow indeed,” viz., devotion; and again, the Church of every age, the apostolic not less than any other, has financial problems to deal with. Charity may be indiscriminating, but there are only a limited number of
b Here only, not LXX. di Macc. (2), νετ. 16 only.
εἰ ἢ ἐξενοδόχησεν, εἰ ἁγίων πόδας ἔνιψεν, εἰ "θλιβομένοις ἃ ἐπήρκεσεν,
c 2 Cor. i. 6, iv. 8, vii. 5,1 Thess.
widows for whose whole support the Church can make itself responsible; and this is why the limit of age is here so high. At a much younger age than 60 a woman would cease to have any tempt- ation to marry again.
Lightfoot has important notes on the subject in his commentary on Ignatius, Smyrn. §§ 6, 13 (Apost. Fathers, part ii. vol. ii. pp. 304, 322). See also, on the deaconess widow, Harnack, Mission and Expansion of Christianity, trans. vol. i. p. 122. The opinion of Schleiermacher that deaconesses are referred to here is refuted (1) by the provision of age, and (2) by the fact that they have been dealt with before, iii. 11.
According to Bengel, the gen. ἐτῶν depends on χήρα, μὴ ἔλαττον being an adverb, “οὗ 60 years, not less’’.
γεγονυῖα: It is best to connect this with the preceding words, as in Luke ii. 42, καὶ ὅτε ἐγένετο ἐτῶν δώδεκα. In favour of this connexion is the conside-
‘ration that in the parallel, 111. 2, μιᾶς
γυναικὸς ἄνδρα stands alone, and that it γεγονυῖα were to be joined with what follows, it would most naturally follow γυνή. As a matter of fact, this trans- position is found in P.; and this con- nexion is suggested in D, two cursives, d, f, g, m™!, Vulg. (quae fuerit (g fuerat) unius viri uxor) go, boh, syrr, Theodore Mops., Theodoret, and Origen.