1 Timothy 5:3

Ver. 3. Honour widows that are widows indeed. It is questioned whether the honouring here enjoined is to be understood in the general sense of showing deference and respect to one, or in the more specific sense of ministering support, relieving and raising one's condition: a very needless question, as appears to me. The general, and what is also the usual import of the expression, is perfectly sufficient. The widows who are such in reality, those, namely, who are in a truly widowed and forlorn condition, and have a state of mind and behaviour suited to their circumstances, are the proper subjects of respectful and considerate treatment; but the particular direction this should take, the substantial acts in which it should manifest itself, will naturally be determined by the circumstances in which the individuals are placed: if destitute in a pecuniary respect, then of course chiefly in furnishing them with the means of material comfort; but if otherwise, with suitable manifestations of sympathy and regard. Ministrations of the former kind are afterwards specifically noticed (1 Timothy 5:8); but it by no means follows from this (as is supposed by De Wette, Wiesinger, Alford, Ellicott, etc.), that such alone were here in the eye of the apostle: for neither might these be always the chief, nor in any case, indeed, could they be the only marks of honourable treatment which a Christian community should give to persons in that state of bereavement. It seems best, therefore, to take the brief exhortation at the outset as indicating generally the kind of behaviour that should be exhibited toward them; and to see in the directions which follow detailed instructions as to the proper mode of applying it to particular cases.