5:11a
But refuse to enroll younger widows: The order of the words in the Greek text indicate that Paul was now focusing on the younger widows as his topic. The New International Version (2011 Revision) shows this by saying, “As for younger widows,” but you should use a natural way in your language to show this focus.
But refuse to enroll: That is, they should not be put on the list mentioned in 5:9a.
younger widows: This Greek phrase refers to widows who were younger than sixty.
5:11b
For: This introduces the first reason that Paul gives for excluding younger widows from the list.
when their passions draw them away from Christ: The Berean Standard Bible phrase their passions draw them away translates a single Greek word. This word only occurs here in the New Testament. It implies that Paul did not expect these young women to be able to discipline or restrain their physical (sexual) desires. He expected these desires to grow and to become stronger than the women’s desire to serve Christ.
Christ: Notice that in this verse Paul refers to Jesus only using the name Christ. It is recommended that you do the same thing.
The word Christ is used two ways in the New Testament. In the Gospels, Christ is a title for Jesus. It means “the anointed one.” But later, by the time that Paul and others wrote letters to individuals and churches, the word Christ was used as another name for Jesus. It was no longer used as a title. So here and in other New Testament letters you should spell Christ according to the rules of your language.
5:11c
they will want to marry: It seems that these younger widows promised in some way that they would serve Christ as widows for the rest of their lives without remarrying. However later on, they change their mind. Paul was saying that it was not realistic for young widows to promise this because most young widows would want to remarry.
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.