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unfair fighting

1 Timothy 5:1-8

1 Timothy 5:1 Don’t lash out¹ at an older man, but seek his help like a father, younger men like brothers,

1 Timothy 5:2 older women like mothers, and the younger women like sisters with all purity.

1 Timothy 5:3 Support widows who are really widows.

1 Timothy 5:4 But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them be discipled in practicing godliness toward their own family first and to repay their parents, because this pleases God.

1 Timothy 5:5 The real widow who is left all alone has put her hope in God and continues night and day in her petitions and prayers;

1 Timothy 5:6 but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she is still living.

1 Timothy 5:7 Direct them about these things also, so that they will be blameless.

1 Timothy 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, especially for his own household members, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

unfair fighting

Paul had instructed his protégé Timothy to keep on fighting the good fight of faith. But some in the congregations Timothy was supervising would be tempted to fight unfairly — to take advantage of others in their weakness. Paul urges Timothy to stay away from that temptation.

The elderly are to be treated with respect. Women are to be dealt with in all purity. Those widows who want to be supported by the church must be true widows. Family members should take care of their own, and not saddle the church with a responsibility which is theirs.

The world is watching. We should fight fairly.

LORD, keep us from seeking victory at the price of our own integrity.

1 ἐπιπλήσσω = lash out.