1 Timothy 5:4 But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home, and to requite their parents… We are reminded here — I. THAT HOME RESPONSIBILITIES ARE TO BE ACCEPTED AS THE APPOINTMENT OF GOD. The sacredness of family relationship is constantly insisted upon both in the Old Testament and the New. All transgressions against it were severely punished under the Mosaic economy, and were condemned still more solemnly by our Lord. A word of exposition on the first clause in the fourth verse is desirable, "If any widows have children or nephews, let them (i.e., not the widows, but the children or nephews) learn first to show piety (filial love) at home." The word "nephews" is used by our translators in its old English sense, and is rendered in the Revised Version by its nearest modern equivalent, "grand children," for in the writings of Chaucer, Sir Thomas More, and John Locke, "nephews" is used to denote grandchildren. And similarly, when it is said they are to requite their "parents," more is included than fathers or mothers, for the apostle's word is equivalent to the Scotch "forbears," for which the English language has no exact synonym. The idea is that we owe a debt of gratitude to those from whom we have derived existence, and to whom we owe the support, care, and education we have received. We are bound to see that to the utmost of our ability their wants in old age are met. II. THAT AMONG OUR GOD-GIVEN RESPONSIBILITIES IS THE DUTY OF LABOURING FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE WEAK. Among the blessings of our human relationships is this: that honest work is necessitated. We have seen instances in which a young fellow who has spent all his salary on cigars, dress, and amusements, has after his marriage buckled to work, and displayed an energy and ability for which none had given him credit before. Many a brave young wife and self-sacrificing mother has been ennobled through her home duties, having completely abandoned the foolish and trivial pursuits to which she was once addicted. And what numberless instances there are of men, whose diligence and self-abnegation are beyond praise, who have become what they are by first feeling the responsibility of caring and working for a widowed mother! III. Paul emphatically declares that THOSE WHO FAIL IN THESE RESPONSIBILITIES HAVE DENIED THE FAITH AND ARE WORSE THAN INFIDELS. Stern as the words are, they are true! Even the heathen, certainly the better class of them, were wont to acknowledge filial duties, and would have condemned cynical disregard of parents and refusal to fulfil natural duties towards them. This is an offence against humanity, and therefore, in the deepest sense, an offence against Christ. But a Christian professes to have higher motives in duty than others. Let us never for get that the test of character is to be found in family relationships rather than in those which are ecclesiastical; and that it is in the home first and chiefest of all that Christ's disciples are to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour. (A. Rowland, LL. B.) Parallel Verses KJV: But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God. |
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