Key Verse Spotlight
1 Timothy 5:1 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: World English Bible — Catholic Edition
" Don’t rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father; the younger men as brothers; "
1 Timothy 5:1
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
1 Don’t rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father; the younger men as brothers;
2 the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, in all purity.
3 Honor widows who are widows indeed.
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Here Paul gives Timothy, and through him other ministers, guidance for giving correction. Ministers are appointed to reprove people, and this is part of their work, though it is not the pleasant part. They are to preach the word, correct error, and rebuke sin (2 Timothy 4:2). But they must make a careful difference in how they reprove people, depending on age, standing, and other circumstances.
An older man, whether older in years or in church office, should be treated like a father. He should not be rebuked harshly or in a bossy way. Timothy, even though he was an evangelist, was to appeal to such men with respect, because that would be the best way to reach them and help them listen. Younger men were to be corrected as brothers, with love and gentleness. The goal was not to hunt for faults or start quarrels, but to deal fairly and kindly.
Older women were to be corrected, when needed, as mothers. Scripture says, “Plead with your mother, plead” (Hosea 2:2). Younger women were to be corrected as sisters, with complete purity. If Timothy, a man already trained to resist the world and its sinful desires, needed this warning, then we need it even more.
From This Chapter
1 Timothy 5:2
"the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, in all purity."
1 Timothy 5:3
"Honor widows who are widows indeed."
1 Timothy 5:4
"But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to show piety toward their own family and to repay their parents, for this is acceptable in the sight of God."
1 Timothy 5:5
"Now she who is a widow indeed and desolate, has her hope set on God and continues in petitions and prayers night and day."
1 Timothy 5:6
"But she who gives herself to pleasure is dead while she lives."
1 Timothy 5:7
"Also command these things, that they may be without reproach."
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