Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
if any widow have children—not "a widow indeed," as having children who ought to support her.
nephews—rather, as Greek, "descendants," or "grandchildren" [HESYCHIUS]. "Nephews" in old English meant "grandchildren" [HOOKER, Ecclesiastical Polity, 5.20].
let them—the children and descendants.
learn first—ere it falls to the Church to support them.
to show piety at home—filial piety towards their widowed mother or grandmother, by giving her sustenance. Literally, "to show piety towards their own house." "Piety is applied to the reverential discharge of filial duties; as the parental relation is the earthly representation of God our heavenly Father's relation to us. "Their own" stands in opposition to the Church, in relation to which the widow is comparatively a stranger. She has a claim on her own children, prior to her claim on the Church; let them fulfil this prior claim which she has on them, by sustaining her and not burdening the Church.
parents—Greek, (living) "progenitors," that is, their mother or grandmother, as the case may be. "Let them learn," implies that abuses of this kind had crept into the Church, widows claiming Church support though they had children or grandchildren able to support them.
good and—The oldest manuscripts omit. The words are probably inserted by a transcriber from I Timothy 2:3.
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing 1 Timothy 5:4:
1 Timothy 5:3
1 Timothy 5:5
1 Timothy 5:8
1 Timothy 5:9
1 Timothy 5:16
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