Providentia For The Widows Of 1 Timothy 5:3-16 -- By: Bruce W. Winter

Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 39:1 (NA 1988)
Article: Providentia For The Widows Of 1 Timothy 5:3-16
Author: Bruce W. Winter


Providentia For The Widows Of 1 Timothy 5:3-16

B. W. Winter

It was not only in Acts 6:1–5 that providing for the widows caused problems for the newly established Christian ἐκκλησία. Similar problems were encountered in another congregation where they were ‘a disruptive force’, to cite the observation of S. Humphries on 1 Timothy 5:3–16.1 Sorting out widows was not only a pastoral headache in the early church, it has also proved to be an exegetical one for modern commentators.2 Discussion of this passage has not been directed towards the important issue of the legal stipulations and social conventions surrounding widows and their support in the Graeco-Roman world.3 This article seeks to clarify certain puzzling aspects of I Timothy 5:3–16 within that legal and social context.4

1. Legal Providentia

The dowry which always accompanied a woman to her marriage constituted an important legal aspect of marriage. Greek marriage contracts specified the nature and value of the dowry and continued to do so in the Roman period. ‘The only legal obligation that the groom acquired toward the wife upon

receipt of the dowry was her maintenance’.5 In the event of her husband’s death the laws governing that dowry were clearly defined.6 A widow was cared for by the person in charge of that dowry. Two options were open to her. If she had children, she could remain in her deceased husband’s home. There she would be maintained by the new κύριος of the household, possibly her son. She could also return to her parents taking her dowry back to her family.7 The returning of that dowry meant the legal severance from her late husband’s household.8 The rules which governed the repayment of the dowry were enforced by δίκη προικός and those dealing with the interest rate to be charged on the value of the dowry from the time of the husband’s death until its return were covered by δίκη σίτου.9 The dowry’s �...

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