5:12a

and thus: In this context the Berean Standard Bible has used the connector thus to mean “by doing this.” It introduces a sentence that explains what will happen to those widows who break their promise to Christ by remarrying.

will incur judgment: The Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates as will incur judgment literally means “having judgment.” Scholars interpret this in two main ways:

(1) God had reasons to judge (Louw and Nida give the following for the meaning of krima (“to judge”): “(1) a legal decision (56.20); (2) the authority to judge (56.22); (3) a verdict, as the legal decision rendered by a judge, whether for or against the accused – ‘verdict, sentence, judgment’ (56.24); (4) condemnation, as to judge a person to be guilty and liable to punishment – ‘to judge as guilty, to condemn, condemnation’ (56.30); (5) a lawsuit (56.2); or (6) a judgment, as the content of the process of judging – ‘judgment, decision, evaluation’ (30.11). BAG says that the word means “‘a judicial verdict’ mostly in an unfavorable sense, of the ‘sentence of condemnation,’ also of the ‘condemnation’ and the subsequent ‘punishment’ itself.”) these widows; that is, he would punish them in some way for not keeping their promise.

(2) Other people had reasons to judge these women, that is, they would think badly about the widows because they had not kept their promise. The New Jerusalem Bible followed this interpretation clearly:

people condemn them for…

Most English versions are ambiguous, though they seem to imply interpretation (1). It is recommended that you also follow interpretation (1). Paul was saying that in some way God would punish a widow who promised not to remarry and then broke that promise.

5:12b

their first faith: Paul did not specify to whom this first faith had been promised. There are two main possibilities:

(1) The widow promised the first faith to the other believers when they put her name on the list. She was then promising to serve Christ without remarrying for the rest of her life. If she remarried, she would be promising her faith to her new husband and this would break her first faith. For example, the Good News Translation says:

…Christ, 12and so become guilty of breaking their earlier promise to him.

(Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version)

(2) The widow promised the first faith to her first husband, which she breaks by remarrying.

Many English versions are ambiguous and do not specify to whom the first faith was promised. It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). Paul elsewhere recommends remarriage and does not consider it to be breaking a promise to the first husband.

© 2003 by SIL International®

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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.