Kay

Mark wrote: Can you explain more for me what you mean by this question. Cheryl asked the same thing but i dont understand what you are meaning.
“Does this mean you are willing to contend that the church was instructed to demand celibacy in exchange for food?”

Mark,
So why is it a dishonor for widows who have been supported by the church to remarry? It can only be a dishonor if there is a vow that they have taken for ministry.
1 Tim. 5:11-12 “But refuse to put younger widows on the list, for when they feel sensual desires in disregard of Christ, they want to get married, **thus incurring condemnation, because they have set aside their previous pledge**.”

The Greek word for “pledge” means “a solemn promise to be faithful and loyal, assurance, oath, troth” (BDAG lexicon)

Younger widows generally want to remarry and this required them to break their promise to Christ to serve him and the church as widows.

The place of these widows is that of Christian service, not just that of being cared for financially.

5:11–16 Younger widows presented a different problem because of the possibility of remarriage. This excluded them from the list mentioned in v 9.

Any younger widow who was poverty-stricken would qualify for help/food. Agreed?

You asked: Also if you do believe it is about the office of eldership how do reconcile that only a widow over 60 can fulfill this role?

I’d say each elder serves uniquely as led by the Holy Spirit and these widows were serving in a way that we are unfamiliar with in our congregations today. Timothy, the person Paul wrote the letter to, undoubtedly knew what they did, so Paul would have no need to write down what that service was.

The daily duties of any elder is not listed in Scripture. We have our modern day notions of what an elder is expected to do, but that is not outlined in Scripture either.

While we do not know what the widows pledge was precisely, it would not be reasonable to say that these widows made a pledge to Christ in order to be fed and clothed by the Church.

It’s Sunday here – a busy day, so, I don’t have time for more today.