টীকা বর্তমানে শুধুমাত্র ইংরেজিতে উপলব্ধ। বাংলা অনুবাদ চলছে।
1 Timothy 5 — Treat the Flock as Family
Timothy is to treat older men as fathers, younger as brothers, older women as mothers, younger as sisters, with all purity. Widows who are truly alone are to be honoured and supported; families must care for their own. Elders who rule well are worthy of double honour, and accusations against them require multiple witnesses. Timothy is to keep himself pure and not be hasty in laying on hands.
“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”
— 1 Timothy 5:8
- v.1-2 Treat all as family
- v.3-16 The care of widows
- v.17-25 Honour for elders; personal charges
Double honour — both respect and material support. Elders who lead well, especially those who labour in preaching and teaching, deserve to be honored and provided for. The next verse grounds this: the labourer is worthy of his reward.
Faithful spiritual leadership is real labor and deserves real support. The church is not to take its teachers for granted or leave them in want. Those who give themselves to the Word merit both honor and provision.
Lay hands suddenly on no man — do not be hasty in ordaining or commissioning leaders. A premature endorsement makes the one who gives it share in the failures of the one endorsed.
Keep thyself pure. Timothy must guard his own integrity, including in whom he associates with and approves. Discernment in recognizing leaders protects the whole church; haste imports trouble.
Faith proves itself first at home. Paul says neglecting your own family contradicts the faith more grievously than unbelief does. Before you measure your devotion by church attendance or Bible knowledge, ask how you are caring for the people under your own roof and the aging parents who raised you. Practical provision for your own is not beneath spirituality — it is one of its truest tests.
The chapter's vision of the church is a family — fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters — to be treated with honor, purity, and care. This reflects the household of God that Christ has formed, where believers are made one family through Him. The care of widows, the honoring of elders, the provision for one's own all flow from the love Christ commands among His people. The church treats its members as family because Christ has made them family.
A startlingly strong statement. To fail to provide for one's own family is to deny the faith and be worse than an infidel (an unbeliever). Even unbelievers usually care for their families; a believer who does not has fallen below them.
Faith is not merely inward; it shows in the most basic duties. The man who is pious at church but neglects his aging parents or his household has contradicted his profession. Practical love for one's own is a test of real faith.