”Therefore I am wanting youngers to be marrying, to be bearing children, to be ruling a household, to be giving not one occasion to the [one] opposing for the sake of insulting... For already some were turned after satan.”
-Get married. There were no other career options for women in Paul’s day. He is not disrespecting their abilities one iota - just the opposite, in fact. The career path for women in Paul’s day lay almost solely in running an enterprise known as an oikos, a household. It required (still does!) leadership skills, financial acumen, managerial expertise as well as HR, not to mention skills in areas such as education, medicine, event planning, construction and repair, not to mention culinary arts - the list goes on. It was - and is - a huge, demanding responsibility. And all the more so because children are in the mix. Bearing and raising (bearing with?) children - that’s a giant task all by itself, what with the future of society depending on the outcome and all. So, to be sure, we’re talking about a team effort here, but the word Paul uses here makes it clear that even in his day, women - including these younger widows - had a tremendous opportunity, an extremely high calling in life. They were literally to be the oikos-despot, which would be someone who holds absolute power, all authority in the land, or in this case the house. Ruling the roost, so to speak. And again, we’re talking a team effort - it's going to require a lot of both mom and dad however they decide to team up and work it out, and yes, the husband is still the buckstopper, but Paul is certainly describing tremendous authority, responsibility, and opportunity!
-There is uncertainty as to how some of these young women were in fact following satan, but what a sad summary of affairs, this. Some had already turned after satan. It could be that some younger widows were among those who were paying attention to the doctrines of demons (1Timothy 4.1). Perhaps some of them were more like those mentioned in 2Timothy 3.6, weak-willed and weighed down with sins, giving in to various impulses. But there is a better way, and it’s not rocket science. Well, it could be - for some. Typically, able-bodied sound-minded people - men and women - need something to do, we all need something to cultivate, something productive to do (and our Maker is more than ready to provide that - He has something in mind for each one of us - Ephesians 2.10 - just as He did for the first couple - cf Genesis 1.26-28, 2.15). It keeps the mind from wandering and the soul from getting soft and flabby. Cuz all this lazy indulgent living uglifies the name of Jesus. It gives those on the outside - whether just a spiritual critic or the accuser himself - the occasion to besmirch the church, to slander the good name of the Lord our God. But make no mistake: hard work, excellent work, beautiful work makes the Lord look good and pleases Him (1Corinthians 10.31). “When I run, I feel His pleasure...” - Eric Liddell. Are you and I acquainted with this feeling? A job well done? Doesn’t that feel good? I think it makes the Lord feel good, too...!
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