Limits to Charity

“But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry; Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith.” (1Ti 5:11-12 AV)

Paul is instructing his young preacher boy on the proper principles of charity.  In particular, he is giving guidelines as to the care of widows.  This is a carry over from Acts chapter six when there was a dispute between the Jewish and Gentile widows as to the proper care shown by the church.  Charity was the first responsibility of the newly ordained deacons.  In this chapter, Paul expounds on the obligations of the widow and the duty of the church.  There were three criteria which would determine the true need of a widow.  Or, as Paul would label them, widows indeed.  First, the widow was to be without immediate family who could care for her.  The example was a son or nephew.  Second, she was to be older than sixty.  Paul gives an example of a widow who, being younger, cared for the needs of others and more than likely, was compensated.  Third, she had to be beyond the age of remarrying.  This is where we pick up our passage above.  The damnation here is not eternal damnation.  It is judgment from others.  Judgment of “gaming the system”, so to speak.  Taking advantage of her situation to expect support from the church.  Their first faith is what Jesus talked about.  The first faith is to love one another.  By using the church and their heart for charity, a widow who was not a widow indeed would not love the brethren.

One of the unintended consequences of indiscriminate charity is there lacks a means test to determine genuine need.  Our hearts go out to our fellow man.  The Bible commands us to be generous with that which the LORD has blessed.  We are to help the poor.  We are to pick up the down trodden.  However, even in the Old Testament, there were limits.  For those still able, a portion of a farmer’s field was left un-gleaned so those who had no employment could harvest the handfuls of purpose.  Those who were able bodied were still asked to attempt some type of self-sufficiency before the charity of the nation was shared.  Even the beggars showed up to ask for alms rather than sit at home, waiting for the compassion of the people to meet their needs.  We live in an age when more and more expect others to ‘do for them’.  Even now, we have candidates for higher office promising more and more free stuff.  We are conditioning society to be cared for and tended after by others who have limited resources.

 Sometimes, having a need is a good thing.  In our text, if we looked just a few verses earlier, we would see why Paul gave the advice he did.  For a younger widow so suffer no need meant she would be free to dolt about the church body with no specific purpose in mind.  He calls this person a busybody.  She could become the source of trouble.  Suffering a need for material wants, she would be forced to remarry and keep house, protecting her from temptations of idleness.  Giving charity too quickly and generously may cause a person to stumble and fall.  There should be limits to charity and a determination as to the true nature of the need.