Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
1 Timothy 5:11
There are 20 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 111, footnote 24 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Ignatius (HTML)
Epistle to the Antiochians (HTML)
Chapter XI.—Inculcation of various moral duties. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1257 (In-Text, Margin)
Let no one addicted to idleness eat, lest he become a wanderer about, and a whoremonger. Let drunkenness, anger, envy, reviling, clamour, and blasphemy “be not so much as named among you.” Let not the widows live a life of pleasure, lest they wax wanton against the word.[1 Timothy 5:11] Be subject to Cæsar in everything in which subjection implies no [spiritual] danger. Provoke not those that rule over you to wrath, that you may give no occasion against yourselves to those that seek for it. But as to the practice of magic, or the impure love of boys, or murder, it is superfluous to write to you, since such vices are forbidden to be committed ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 552, footnote 9 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
In the first Epistle of Paul to Timothy: “Honour widows which are truly widows. But the widow that is wanton, is dead while she liveth.” And again: “But the younger widows pass by: for when they shall be wanton in Christ, they wish to marry; having judgment, because they have cast off their first faith.”[1 Timothy 5:11-12]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 426, footnote 2 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Sec. I.—Concerning Widows (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2870 (In-Text, Margin)
I. Choose your “widows not under sixty years of age,” that in some measure the suspicion of a second marriage may be prevented by their age. But if you admit one younger into the order of widows, and she cannot bear her widowhood in her youth, and marries, she will procure indecent reflections on the glory of the order of the widows, and shall give an account to God; not because she married a second time, but because she has “waxed wanton against Christ,”[1 Timothy 5:11] and not kept her promise, because she did not come and keep her promise with faith and the fear of God. Wherefore such a promise ought not to be rashly made, but with great caution: “for it is better for her not to vow, than to vow and not to pay.” ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 429, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Of Holy Virginity. (HTML)
Section 34 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2117 (In-Text, Margin)
34. Paul the Apostle censures evil unmarried women, curious and prating, and says that this fault comes of idleness. “But at the same time,” saith he, “being idle they learn to go about to houses: but not only idle, but curious also and prating, speaking what they ought not.”[1 Timothy 5:11-13] Of these he had said above, “But younger widows avoid; for when they have past their time in delights, they wish to wed in Christ; having condemnation, in that they have made void their first faith:” that is, have not continued in that, which they had vowed at the first. And yet he saith not, they marry, but “they wish to marry.” For many of them are recalled ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 445, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Good of Widowhood. (HTML)
Section 11 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2248 (In-Text, Margin)
... is, to fall away from that excellent purpose of virginal or widowed chastity, by looking back to things that are behind, and perish. Wherefore, such as contain not themselves, let them marry before they make profession of continence, before they vow unto God, what, if they pay not, they are justly condemned. Forsooth in another place he saith of such, “For when they have lived in delights in Christ, they wish to marry: having condemnation, in that they have made of none effect their first faith;”[1 Timothy 5:11-12] that is, they have turned aside their will from the purpose of continence unto marriage. Forsooth they have made of none effect the faith, whereby they formerly vowed what they were unwilling by perseverance to fulfill. Therefore the good of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 445, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Good of Widowhood. (HTML)
Section 12 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2251 (In-Text, Margin)
... withdrawn from Christ. Forsooth in the marriage bond if chastity be preserved, condemnation is not feared; but in widowed and virginal continence, the excellence of a greater gift is sought for: and, when this has been sought, and chosen, and by debt of vow offered, from this time not only to enter upon marriage, but, although one be not married, to wish to marry is matter of condemnation. For, in order to show this, the Apostle saith not, “When they shall have lived in delights, in Christ” they marry;[1 Timothy 5:11-12] but “they wish to marry; having,” saith he, “condemnation, in that they have made of none effect their first faith,” although not by marrying, yet by wishing; not that the marriages even of such are judged matter of condemnation; but there is ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 122, footnote 3 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Letter to a Young Widow. (HTML)
Letter to a Young Widow. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 339 (In-Text, Margin)
... this point, and to prove to you that this name of widow is not a title of calamity but of honour, aye the greatest honour. For do not quote the erroneous opinion of the world as a testimony, but the admonition of the blessed Paul, or rather of Christ. For in his utterances Christ was speaking through him as he himself said “If ye seek a proof of Christ who is speaking in me?” What then does he say? “Let not a widow be enrolled under threescore years of age” and again “but the younger widows refuse”[1 Timothy 5:11] intending by both these sayings to indicate to us the importance of the matter. And when he is making regulations about bishops he nowhere prescribes a standard of age, but in this case he is very particular on the point, and, pray, why so? not ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 122, footnote 6 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Letter to a Young Widow. (HTML)
Letter to a Young Widow. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 342 (In-Text, Margin)
... have lodged strangers if she have washed the saints feet if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.” Heavens! what testing and scrutiny! how much virtue does he demand from the widow, and how precisely does he define it! which he would not have done, had he not intended to entrust to her a position of honour and dignity. And “the younger widows” he says “refuse;” and then he adds the reason: “for when they have waxed wanton against Christ they will marry.”[1 Timothy 5:11] By this expression he gives us to understand that they who have lost their husbands are wedded to Christ in their stead. Observe how he asserts this by way of indicating the mild and easy nature of this union; I refer to the passage “when they have ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 12, page 110, footnote 1 (Image)
Chrysostom: Homilies on First and Second Corinthians
Homilies on First Corinthians. (HTML)
Homily XIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 91 (In-Text, Margin)
“But if and thou marry, thou hast not sinned.” He is not speaking about her who hath made choice of virginity, for if it comes to that, she hath sinned. Since if the widows[1 Timothy 5:11-12] are condemned for having to do with second marriages after they have once chosen widowhood, much more the virgins.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 35, footnote 4 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Eustochium. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 569 (In-Text, Margin)
... but their lowest appetites. They will often urge you, saying, “My dear creature, make the best of your advantages, and live while life is yours,” and “Surely you are not laying up money for your children.” Given to wine and wantonness, they instill all manner of mischief into people’s minds, and induce even the most austere to indulge in enervating pleasures. And “when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ they will marry, having condemnation because they have rejected their first faith.”[1 Timothy 5:11-12]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 70, footnote 8 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Pammachius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1097 (In-Text, Margin)
... highway if we aspire to virginity yet refrain from condemning marriage. Can any one, moreover, be so unfair in his criticism of my poor treatise as to allege that I condemn first marriages, when he reads my opinion on second ones as follows: “The apostle, it is true, allows second marriages, but only to such women as are bent upon them, to such as cannot contain, lest ‘when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ they marry, having condemnation because they have rejected their first faith,’[1 Timothy 5:11-12] and he makes this concession because many ‘are turned aside after Satan.’ But they will be happier if they abide as widows. To this he immediately adds his apostolical authority, ‘after my judgment.’ Moreover, lest any should consider that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 107, footnote 6 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Furia. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1601 (In-Text, Margin)
15. Young widows, of whom some “are already turned aside after Satan, when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ ”[1 Timothy 5:11] and wish to marry, generally make such excuses as these. “My little patrimony is daily decreasing, the property which I have inherited is being squandered, a servant has spoken insultingly to me, a maid has neglected my orders. Who will appear for me before the authorities? Who will be responsible for the rents of my estates? Who will see to the education of my children, and to the bringing up of my slaves?” Thus, shameful to say, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 168, footnote 8 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Salvina. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2474 (In-Text, Margin)
... Moses, had said when maddened by the stings of lust: “these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt,” she received statutes that were not good and commandments that were altogether evil whereby she should not live but should be punished through them. Is it surprising then that when the apostle had said in another place of young widows: “when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ they will marry, having damnation because they have cast off their first faith,”[1 Timothy 5:11-12] he granted to such as should wax wanton statutes of digamy that were not good and commandments that were altogether evil? For the reason which he gives for allowing a second husband would justify a woman in marrying a third or even, if she liked, a ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 230, footnote 10 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Ageruchia. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3227 (In-Text, Margin)
... works, who had relieved the afflicted with her substance, whose trust had been in God, and who had continued in prayer day and night. With her he contrasted her opposite, saying: “She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.” And that he might warn his disciple Timothy with all needful admonition, he immediately added these words: “the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ they will marry; having damnation because they have cast off their first faith.”[1 Timothy 5:11-12] It is then for these who have outraged Christ their Spouse by committing fornication against Him (for this is the sense of the Greek word καταστρηνιάσωσι)—it is for these that the apostle wishes a second ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 236, footnote 1 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Ageruchia. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3311 (In-Text, Margin)
15. Do not associate with young women or cleave to them, for it is on account of such that the apostle makes his concession of second marriage, and so you may be shipwrecked in what appears to be calm water. If Paul can say to Timothy, “the younger widows refuse,”[1 Timothy 5:11] and again “love the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity,” what plea can you urge for refusing to hear my admonitions? Avoid all persons to whom a suspicion of evil living may attach itself, and do not content yourself with the trite answer, ‘my own conscience is enough for me; I do not care what people say of me.’ That was not the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 358, footnote 5 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4341 (In-Text, Margin)
... he compares monogamy with digamy, and as he had subordinated marriage to virginity, so he makes second marriages inferior to first, and says, “A wife is bound for so long time as her husband liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is free to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord. But she is happier if she abide as she is, after my judgement: and I think that I also have the Spirit of God.” He allows second marriages, but to such persons as wish for them and are not able to contain; lest,[1 Timothy 5:11] having “waxed wanton against Christ,” they desire to marry, “having condemnation, because they have rejected their first faith;” and he makes the concession because many had already turned aside after Satan. “But,” says he, “they will be happier if ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 237, footnote 2 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To Amphilochius, concerning the Canons. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2696 (In-Text, Margin)
... more numerous, it is my judgment that careful heed should be given both to the act as it appears upon consideration, and to the mind of Scripture, which may be discovered from the context. Widowhood is inferior to virginity; consequently the sin of the widows comes far behind that of the virgins. Let us see what Paul writes to Timothy. “The young widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry; having damnation because they have cast off their first faith.”[1 Timothy 5:11-12] If, therefore, a widow lies under a very heavy charge, as setting at naught her faith in Christ, what must we think of the virgin, who is the bride of Christ, and a chosen vessel dedicated to the Lord? It is a grave fault even on the part of a slave ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 238, footnote 3 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To Amphilochius, concerning the Canons. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2705 (In-Text, Margin)
XXIV. A widow whose name is in the list of widows, that is, who is supported by the Church, is ordered by the Apostle to be supported no longer when she marries.[1 Timothy 5:11-12]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 210, footnote 6 (Image)
Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus
Title Page (HTML)
De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
Book XI (HTML)
... exhortations to Timothy, the disciple instructed from a babe in the Holy Scriptures by the glorious faith of his grandmother and mother: Understand what I say, for the Lord shall give thee understanding in all things. The exhortation to understand is prompted by the difficulty of understanding. But God’s gift of understanding is the reward of faith, for through faith the infirmity of sense is recompensed with the gift of revelation. Timothy, that ‘man of God’ as the Apostle witnesses of him[1 Timothy 5:11], Paul’s true child in the faith, is exhorted to understand because the Lord will give him understanding in all things: let us, therefore, knowing that the Lord will grant us understanding in all things, remember that the Apostle exhorts us also to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 393, footnote 2 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Concerning Widows. (HTML)
Chapter II. The precepts of the Apostle concerning a widow indeed are laid down, such as, that she bring up children, attend to her parents, desire to please God, show herself irreproachable, set forth a ripeness of merits, have been the wife of one man. St. Ambrose notes, however, that a second marriage was not condemned by St. Paul, and adds that widows must have a good report for virtue with all. The reasons why younger widows are to be avoided, and what is meant by its being better to marry than to burn. St. Ambrose then goes on to speak of the dignity of widows, shown by the fact that any injury done to them is visited by the anger of God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3316 (In-Text, Margin)
12. And he, therefore, that the younger should be avoided,[1 Timothy 5:11] because they are not able to fulfil the requirements of so high a degree of virtue. For youth is prone to fall because the heat of various desires is inflamed by the warmth of glowing youth, and it is the part of a good doctor to keep off the materials of sin. For the first exercise in training the soul is to turn away sin, the second to implant virtue. Yet, since the Apostle knew that Anna, the widow of fourscore years, from her youth was a herald of the works of ...