“And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.”
King James Version (KJV)
5:11 Refuse - Do not choose. For when they are waxed wanton against Christ - To whose more immediate service they had addicted themselves. They want to marry - And not with a single eye to the glory of God; and so withdraw themselves from that entire service of the church to which they were before engaged.
5:12 They have rejected their first faith - Have deserted their trust in God, and have acted contrary to the first conviction, namely, that wholly to devote themselves to his service was the most excellent way. When we first receive power to believe, does not the Spirit of God generally point out what are the most excellent things; and at the same time, give us an holy resolution to walk in the highest degree of Christian severity? And how unwise are we ever to sink into anything below it!
5:14 I counsel therefore the younger women - Widows or virgins, such as are not disposed to live single. To marry, to bear children, to guide the family - Then will they have sufficient employment of their own. And give no occasion of reproach to the adversary - Whether Jew or heathen.
5:15 Some - Widows. Have turned aside after Satan - Who has drawn them from Christ.
1Ti 5:13 They learn to be idle. They have not that gravity which is required for this work of visitation and ministration laid upon the "widows indeed" (1Ti 5:3), but wander from house to house to gossip.