1 Timothy 5.15-Paul Acknowledges That Some Younger Widows Have Already Turned Aside To Follow Satan
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday August 18, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 5:15-Paul Acknowledges That Some Younger Widows Have Already Turned Aside To Follow Satan
Lesson # 110
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 5:14.
In 1 Timothy 5:15, the apostle Paul acknowledges that some younger widows have already turned aside to follow Satan.
1 Timothy 5:14 Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house, and give the enemy no occasion for reproach; 15 for some have already turned aside to follow Satan. (NASB95)
1 Timothy 5:15 is composed of the adverb of time ede (ἤδη) (ee-thee), “already” which is followed by the post-positive conjunction gar (γάρ) (gar), “for” and nominative feminine plural form of the indefinite pronoun tis (τις) (teece), “some” and then we have the third person plural aorist passive indicative form of the verb ektrepo (ἐκτρέπω) (ek-trep-oh), “have turned aside” and this is followed by the preposition opiso (ὀπίσω) (owe-peesoe), “to follow” and then we have the articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun Satanas (Σατανᾶς) (sa-ta-noss), “Satan.”
The conjunction gar is causal meaning that it is introducing a statement that presents the reason for the previous command in 1 Timothy 5:14 for the younger widows to be married, bear children and manage a household.
Here in 1 Timothy 5:15 gar introduces a statement that acknowledges that some younger widows in the Ephesian Christian community were already at the time Paul wrote 1 Timothy following after Satan.
This means that they were involved the sins of the tongue mentioned in 1 Timothy 5:13.
Thus, they were following after Satan by being idle and going from house to house to gossip about others and to meddle in other people’s business and were talking about things that were improper for a Christian woman to speak of.
Therefore, the conjunction gar in 1 Timothy 5:15 indicates that Paul wants the younger widows to be married, raise children and manage a household “because” some younger widows were already following after Satan by being idle and gossiping and being busybodies.
This indicates that Paul is performing damage control here in 1 Timothy 5:15 since he acknowledges that some young widows were idle and being gossips and busybodies which constitutes following after Satan, who is the author of slander.
The word ede functions as an adverb of time modifying the verb ektrepo, “have turned aside” and means “already” since it refers to what was already going on in Ephesus prior to the time Paul wrote First Timothy.
It speaks of a point preceding a point of time.
This means that Paul’s command in 1 Timothy 5:14 was preceded by some younger widows in Ephesus following after Satan by being idle and gossiping and being busybodies.
The indefinite pronoun tis refers to certain unidentified younger Christian widows in Ephesus.
In 1 Timothy 5:15, the verb ektrepo means “to turn aside” from obeying the gospel or in other words, the Christian faith, i.e. that body of doctrine that the church believes and is to live by.
The word expresses the concept of apostasy.
These younger widows had “deviated from” or “turned aside” from the gospel, i.e. the Word of God with its commands and prohibitions, which can be summed up in the commands to love God with one’s entire being and strength and one’s neighbor as oneself.
By gossiping about others and meddling in the affairs of others, these younger widows were violating these commands (cf. 1 Timothy 5:13).
They were not treating their neighbor as they would want to be treated.
Thus, they were not loving God because they were not obeying (cf. John 14:15).
These younger widows also manifested the fact that they were following after Satan by breaking their vow to remain single to serve the Lord exclusively (cf. 1 Timothy 5:11-12).
They also manifested their apostasy by engaging in a self-indulgent lifestyle (cf. 1 Timothy 5:6).
Undoubtedly, these young widows were exposed to the false doctrine of the Judaizers and in particular the false doctrine that prohibited marriage (cf. 1 Timothy 4:1-5).
Thus, some of these younger widows listened to this teaching to not remarry and were staying on the list of widows who were receiving financial support from the church.
This in turn led them into a self-indulgent lifestyle.
So the verb means that these unidentified younger Christian widows in Ephesus “deviated from” or “turned away” from the gospel or in other words the Christian faith, i.e. that body of doctrine that the church believes and is to live by.
The word implies that at one time they were following the right path in the sense of learning the Word of God and exercising faith in it, which results in obedience but then “turned away” from this faith and obedience by exercising unbelief resulting in disobedience, which manifested itself in their being idle resulting in going from house to house to gossip and meddle in the affairs of others.
In 1 Timothy 5:15, the improper preposition opiso is a marker of position behind an entity that precedes and means “after.” (BDAG, page 716).
The entity in our context is Satan and certain younger widows in the Ephesian Christian community were following Satan by living a self-indulgent life, and gossiping and meddling in the affairs of others because they were idle.
The proper noun Satanas, “Satan” refers to the greatest enemy of God and the church who is an angel.
The believer has three great enemies according to the Scriptures: (1) Satan, our chief adversary, the devil: (1 Pet. 5:8-9; Eph. 6:12; John 16:11; Col. 2:15; but note 1 John 2:13-14). (2) The world, a system and arrangement of the affairs of men and government under the control of the evil one and opposed to God and His purposes for man: (John 16:33; 1 John 5:4; Eph. 2:2). (3) Indwelling Adamic sin nature or the flesh and all its corrupting power and life-dominating patterns: (Rom. 7:15; 8:4-8, 13; Gal. 5:16-26).
Satan is a person.
The Scripture state that he possesses the traits of personality.
He shows intelligence (2 Cor. 11:3).
He exhibits emotions (Rev. 12:17, anger; Luke 22:31, desire).
He demonstrates that he has a will (Isa. 14:12-14; 2 Tim. 2:26).
Satan is referred to as a person in both Old and New Testaments (Job 1; Matt. 4:1-12).
This verse would serve as a warning to those younger widows who were not in apostasy to not follow in the footsteps of those widows who had gone into apostasy.
It would also serve to rebuke those younger widows already in apostasy and would call them back to the confession of their sins and obedience to God.
Also, this verse would instruct the church at Ephesus to not support these younger widows who were in apostasy.