What Does 1 Timothy 5:14 Mean?
So I desire the younger women to marry, to bear children, to keep the house, giving the one standing against no foothold to speak reproach.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.THE KEY
The adversary’s reproach is pictured as needing a launch point: an occasion supplied by what can be seen.
THE MEANING
Marriage, childbearing, and household governance are placed alongside the voice of opposition: life at home has consequences beyond its walls. The adversary’s reproach is not presented as inevitable; it needs an occasion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that household life has no bearing on what an opponent can say in public.
THE ROOT
ἀφορμή
aphormē
GROWS FROM
ὁρμ-
horm-
A point of movement, impulse, or launch; with ἀπό (apo), a starting point or opportunity.
“giving the one standing against no foothold” in this verse is aphormē. “Occasion” carries the sense of a point from which something can set out. The reproach is described as needing such a starting place, so “give none occasion” means leaving no launch point for the accusation.
ALSO GROWS
hormē: Impulse, rush, or point of departure.
ὁρμή
This root sense gives “occasion” the feel of a beginning from which an action proceeds.
hormaō: Rush, set out, or move toward.
ὁρμάω
The related verb makes the image of an accusation launching from an opening more vivid.
οἰκοδεσποτεῖν
oikodespotein
GROWS FROM
οἶκος + δεσπότης (oikos + despotēs)
House + master or household head; to manage or govern a household.
“keep the house” in this verse is oikodespotein. The Greek word has the force of managing a household, while “guide” can sound like merely pointing the way. The household appears as a place of active governance, not a background detail.
ALSO GROWS
oikodespotēs: Householder or head of a household.
οἰκοδεσπότης
The related noun makes explicit the household authority contained in the verb.
despotēs: Master or owner.
δεσπότης
This element shows the strength of the governance implied by “guide the house.”
ἀντικείμενος
antikeimenos
GROWS FROM
κεῖμαι
keimai
To lie or be situated; with ἀντί (anti), to be set opposite or in opposition.
“the one standing against” in this verse is antikeimenos. The word presents the adversary as one positioned against the person. The reproach comes from opposition, and the verse connects that oppositional speech to whether it has an occasion from which to proceed.
ALSO GROWS
keimai: Lie, be placed, or be situated.
κεῖμαι
This root supplies the image of a position or stance.
antikeimai: Stand or be set in opposition; oppose.
ἀντίκειμαι
The compound names the adversary by the opposing position they take.
THE PATTERN
A life’s visible conduct can supply or remove the ground on which accusation stands.
She watches the walk of her house, and does not eat the bread of idleness.Then the princes and the governors sought to find a charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no charge or slip, for he was steady, and neither slip nor rot was found in him.Keep your walk beautiful among the nations, so that, though they speak against you as doers of badness, they may watch your beautiful works and give weight to God in the day of watching over.THE THREAD
But falling short, seizing a foothold through the commandment, worked in me every kind of craving. For apart from the instruction, falling short was dead.This verse uses the same Greek word, ἀφορμή (aphormē), meaning “occasion” or “starting point,” for what sin seizes through the commandment. The shared word makes the image of a reproach launching from an opening audible in both passages.
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