ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς γυνή: The Church widows must conform to the same ideal of the married life as the episcopi. See Tert. ad uxorem, i. 7, ‘“‘Quantum fidei de- trahant, quantum obstrepant sanctitati nuptiae secundae, disciplina ecclesiae et praescriptio apostoli declarat, cum diga- mos non sinit praesidere, cum viduam allegi in ordinem [al. ordinationem], nisi univiram, non concedit.”’
Ver. το. ἐν ἔργοις καλοῖς μαρτυρουμένη: ἐν with μαρτυρεῖσθαι means in respect of. See reff. and Moulton and Milligan, Exposttor, vVii., Vil., 562.
It is characteristic of the sanity of apostolic Christianity that as typical ex- amples of ‘‘ good works,” St. Paul in- stances the discharge of commonplace duties, “‘the daily round, the common task”. For ἔργα καλά see on chap. ili. 1.
el ἐτεκνοτρόφησεν: As has been just
rIo—IlI.
εἰ παντὶ " ἔργῳ " ἀγαθῷ * ἐπηκολούθησεν. καταστρηνιάσωσιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, γαμεῖν f Josh. xiv. 14.
~ h ξ παραιτοῦ - ὅταν γὰρ
ΠΡΟΣ ΤΙΜΟΘΕΟΝ ἃ
131
II. νεωτέρας δὲ χήρας eSee1 Tim:
11. 10.
g See1 Tim.
iv. 7. h Here only, not LXX.
1 So ΝΟΡΓΚΙ,; καταστρηνιάσουσιν AFGP, 31.
explained, the εἰ is not so much depen- dent on καταλεγέσθω as explanatory of ἐν ἔργοις Kah. µαρτ. The rendering of the Vulg., d, f, g, Amb., filios educavit, is better than that of m14!, nutrivit, or Ambrst. enutrivit. It is not child-birth so much as the “ Christianly and virtu- ously bringing up of children,” her own or those entrusted to her charge, that St. Paul has in his mind. Tert. de Virg. vel. g, alluding to this passage, says, ‘‘ Non tantum univirae, id est nuptae, aliquando eliguntur, sed et matres et. quidem edu- catrices filiorum, scilicet ut experimentis omnium affectuum structae facile norint ceteras et consilio et solatio iuvare, etut nihilominus ea decucurrerint, per quae femina probari potest”. The later Church widows, among other duties, had the care of the Church orphans (cf, Hermas Mand. viii.; Lucian, de morte Peregrint, 12). ἐξενοδόχησεν : Hospitality is a virtue especially demanded in a condition of society in which there is much going to and fro, and no satisfactory hotel ac- commodation. The episcopus must be φιλόξενος (111. 2, where see note).
εἰ ἁγίων πόδας ἔνιψεν: If the strangers were also ‘‘saints,’’ members of the Christian Society, they would naturally receive special attention. The mistress ΟΕ the house would act as servant of the servants of God (cf. Gen. xviii. 6: 1 Sam. xxv. 41). Unless we assume the un- historical character of St. John’s Gospel, it is natural to suppose that the story told in John xiii. 5-14, and the Master’s command to do as He had done, was known to St. Paul and Timothy. The absence of an article before πόδας ‘‘is due to assimilation to aylwv”’ (Blass, Grammar, p. 151, note 2).
εἰ παντὶ---ἐπηκολούθησεν cuts short any further enumeration of details, if in short, she has devoted herself to good works of every kind. There is an exact parallel to this use of ἐπακολουθέω in Josh. xiv. 14, διὰ τὸ αὐτὸν [Caleb] ἐπακολου- θῆσαι τῷ προστάγματι Κυρίου θεοῦ Ἴσ- ραήλ. The word also means to “ check” or ‘‘ verify’ anaccount. In Mark xvi. 20, ‘“‘the signs ‘endorse’ the word” (Moul- ton and Milligan, Expositor, vii., vii. 376).
So here it may connote sympathy with, and interest in, good works, without actual personal labour in them.
Ver. 11. There are two main factors in the interpretation of this verse: (1) a general Church regulation—not laid down by St. Paul but found in existence by him—that a widow in receipt of relief should be ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς γυνή; and (2) his determination to make provision that no scandal should arise from broken vows. The notion was that there was a Marriage tie between Christ and the Church widow. This would be her first faith, her earliest and still valid plighted troth. -Cf. Rev. ii. 4, τὴν ἀγάπην σου τὴν πρώτην ἀφῆκες (Of the Church at Ephesus).
vewtépas may be rendered positively, young.