Hi, I'm David Bercot, and tonight we're going to be talking about the Ministry of Widows and Virgins in the early Church. During the last 30 years, I've visited and been in contact with all sorts of churches and fellowships that claim to be doing everything just the way it was in the New Testament. But you know, I have yet to find any fellowship anywhere that obeys 1 Timothy 5 verses 5 through 13. If you want to look that up in your Bible, let's read that together.
1 Timothy 5, and we'll read verse 5 and then verses 9 through 13, where it says, " Now she who is really a widow and left alone trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. Do not let a widow under 60 years old be taken into the number and not unless she has been the wife of one man. " Well reported for good works.
If she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints ' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work. But refuse the younger widows, for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they desire to marry, having condemnation because they have cast off their first faith. And besides, they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not.
Now let me ask you, how many churches do you know of that have such a list of widows? I know, I don't know of any. Now growing up, I had always thought that this passage in 1 Timothy was simply referring to a list of whom the church would extend aid to in the way of food and clothing and shelter. Now common sense should have told me that such an interpretation couldn't have been accurate.
Surely the New Testament church didn't let a woman starve if she was a widow who was only 58 years old instead of 60 or who didn't meet the other qualifications. No, I think we need to go over this passage a little bit more carefully to see what Paul is really saying. He mentions there in verse 9, he says, " Do not let a widow under 60 years old be taken into the number. " Okay, so he mentions a number, a list, as some translations have it.
And he says that only those who are 60 years or older can be added to that list or included in the number. Also, she has to be the wife of one man. Now that qualification very much parallels 1 Timothy 3:2, where Paul, in giving the qualifications for an elder or bishop to Timothy, says, " A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife. " Now I know today there's all kinds of different interpretations put upon that requirement. What does it mean the husband of one wife?
Some say, oh, well, they practiced polygamy, and this meant someone who was married to only one woman. But that's not really accurate because in the days of the New Testament, polygamy was not a common practice in the Roman world. That would not have been normally an issue that a Gentile congregation would have been facing, the kind that Timothy was helping to pastor. Some say, " Oh, that means he wasn't somebody who was divorced and remarried.
" But Jesus says that a man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. Such a person was put out of the church. So that could hardly be a qualification to be a bishop that you're not divorced and remarried to somebody else because you wouldn't even be in the congregation in the first place. Now the early Christians understood this to be saying that you had been married only one time. The scriptures allow a person to remarry when his or her spouse dies, but it wasn't God's original plan.
God's original plan was one man, one woman for everybody. And so even though it is not a sin to remarry, it does disqualify you from being a bishop, or in this case, from being on the list of widows if you had been married more than once. Now again, what I'm explaining is the early Christian understanding of this passage. So please don't send me letters saying, " David, I don't agree with your interpretation of that verse. " It's not my interpretation.
I'm telling you how this was historically understood by the early generations of Christians. And I'm saying, hey, it makes a lot of sense, even though it's very different from what any of us have ever heard. I think we can safely rule out polygamy. As I said, it wasn't common in the Roman Empire, but it uses the same expression towards widows that she has to be the wife of one husband or one man.
Now, there was nowhere in the Roman Empire or in the world of Paul and Timothy where women had more than one husband at a time. So being the spouse of one other person obviously isn't referring to polygamy. I think we can safely cross that out. So then the other choice is, oh, it's talking about someone divorced and remarried, which then you're basically saying, " Okay, you could be a Christian, you could be part of the congregation if you were divorced and remarried.
" If you're not going to accept that, then what's left? I think the early Christian position makes a lot of sense after all. Then Paul goes on to say, " But refuse the younger widows, for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they desire to marry, having condemnation because they have cast off their first faith. " Now, the word " faith " there is probably not a very good translation here, at least not in today's English.
It has a sense not of faith as we usually think of it like faith in Christ, but rather of fidelity. I noticed Vine's dictionary finds the Greek word here, which is, as meaning a promise of fidelity.
So this is somebody that he's talking about who has made a promise of fidelity, who has made a commitment that they're not going to remarry, that they're going to serve as a permanent widow, but then they change their mind and they decide they're going to marry after all, having violated something they've made a commitment to. Any other interpretation makes no sense, because again, as we said, we know it's not a sin to remarry after someone's spouse dies.
In fact, Paul himself is the one who said that in 1 Corinthians 7, 8, and 9. He says, " I say to the unmarried and to the widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am. " So not remarrying is what he recommends. It's what is good. And as we see in Timothy, it even becomes a qualification for certain special ministries. But he goes on to say there in 1 Corinthians 7, " But if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. It is better to marry than to burn.
" So they're not wanton against Christ because they decide to remarry, but because they had made a commitment not to, and now they've gone and done contrary to their commitment. And then finally says, talking about the younger widows, why they should not be included in this list. He says, " They learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not.
" So the church was supporting these women, and the church expected them to be doing something in return, not to be idle, not to be spending their time wandering from house to house and gossiping and interfering in other people's business. Now, what was this work that they were supposed to be doing, this ministry? Well, verse 5 that we originally read sheds light on that. It says, " Now she who is really a widow and left alone, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
" So a real widow, someone who would be put in this list, who would be included in the order or number of widows, was someone who spent her night and day in prayer. That's not necessarily the ordinary widow or the ordinary Christian. Now, centuries ago, the church decided to simply ignore this commandment, and this list or this order of widows has completely disappeared today. So it comes as a surprise to most of us that there ever was such a thing.
But the fact is, is that this order of godly widows was very much around in the second and third centuries. There are many, many references to them. Each church had a list of women who met the qualifications that Paul laid out there in 1 Timothy, and who served the church in full-time ministry. They were actually supported by the church, so they didn't have to try to find outside work to support themselves. Now, their ministry was primarily one of intercessory prayer.
Since they had no other responsibilities, no husband, no minor children to look after, no job, they were expected to spend hours every day in prayer. And because of their godliness, these weren't just any Christian sister who would be selected, but they had to meet those special qualifications. Their intercessory prayers were considered to be very efficacious. Because James had written in James 5:16, " The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
" The word man there meaning the old sense of a person. So these godly women certainly were very effective in their prayers. Their prayers counted for much. Now I realize that for many Christians, the thought of spending hours every day in prayer perhaps doesn't sound very appealing. And no doubt that's why these widows had to be particularly godly women to start with. Women who delighted in praying and interceding for others.
The women who were on this list of widows also visited the sick and the ones who were in prison. Another one of their duties was to assist the men, that is the elders and the deacons when they were ministering to women. For example, say a elder or bishop had to visit the wife of an unbeliever. Well, that could look very suspicious to all of the neighbors. And so he would perhaps send one of these widows in his place, or would at least, at a minimum, have one of these widows accompany him.
And even in his ministry to sisters who were married to believers, there were a lot of situations where it just would be imprudent for a man to be there alone with someone else's wife or with an unmarried woman. So again, he could take along one of these widows with him in his ministry or in other situations he could send them in his place. Likewise, in visiting and caring for the sick and for those in prison, there were certain situations that would be just immodest for a man to be there.
And then again, the widows played an important role in being able to minister to women in that situation. So they indeed had an important ministry in the early church, and they were held in deep respect by everyone. I mean, imagine having four or five godly women, or maybe more, in every congregation who prayed for hours on end, every day, for each person in that congregation. Do you think that would make a difference? I'm sure it did.
I'm sure that was one of the reasons why the early church was so strong and so vibrant. In fact, in the third century, when you start having more of a clergy laity distinction and the elders and the deacons would sit in a separate place in the church, they also had a separate place for the widows to sit apart from the other women. On the other hand, these widows didn't violate what the Scriptures teach about women being silent in church. They didn't preach. They didn't teach in the church.
They didn't baptize others or celebrate communion. I mean, because after all, right there in the same letter where Paul sets forth the qualification for these order of widows, he also said, " Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. " So they didn't violate his other instructions in order to fulfill the ministry that God had given to them.
Now I would like to read some passages from the writings of the early Christians that make mention of this order of widows. Polycarp, writing about the year 135, said this, " Teach the widows to be discreet as respects the faith of the Lord, praying continually for all, knowing that they are the altar of God. " That expression the altar of God appears in other early Christian writings in referring to the widows, meaning that they had this special ministry of prayer opening access to God.
Now that quotation can be found on Volume 1, page 34 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers. Okay, this next quote is from Clement of Alexandria writing about the year 195. He says, " Innumerable commands such as these are written in the Holy Scriptures, pertaining to chosen persons, some to presbyters, some to bishops, some to deacons, others to widows. " So again, recognizing that there was a special class of ministry of widows that went alongside the deacons, bishops, presbyters.
Tertullian, writing about the year 205, said this: " Follow the examples of those sisters of ours, whose names are with the Lord, who when their husbands have died before them, have given neither beauty nor age precedence over holiness. They prefer to be wedded to God. To God they give their beauty. To God they give their youth. With Him they live. With Him they converse. They handle Him by day and by night. To the Lord they assign their prayers as dowries.
From Him, as often as they desire it, they receive His approval as dowry gifts. Thus they have laid hold for themselves of an eternal gift of the Lord. And while on earth, by abstaining from marriage, they are already counted as belonging to the angelic family. So here's another reference to this group of sisters who had this special ministry, and he refers to them as being wedded to God.
And perhaps this is the thought that Paul had when he talked about younger widows casting off their first faith or their first commitment that they had made a commitment to be wedded to Jesus Christ as His bride. That quote from Tertullian can be found in Volume 4, page 41 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers. The previous one from Clement of Alexandria is in Volume 2, page 294. Now you may have noticed something about Tertullian's quote. He talks about, " To God they give their beauty, to God they give their youth.
" So where he was, which would have been in Carthage, North Africa, it appears that this order of widows included widows who were younger than the age 60. These sound like perhaps fairly young women, maybe in their 20s or 30s, who are widowed and who join this Order of Widows. In fact, as we're going to see as we continue in this message, the Order of Widows became combined with sort of an order of virgins of young men and young women who never married at all. They weren't widows or widowers.
They never married, but they made that same commitment of living their lives fully for Jesus Christ to be wedded to him. Cyprian writing about the year 250, this is also from Carthage, North Africa, mentions all widows who are approved are to be held in honor. That's in volume 5, page 552. So here in the middle of the third centuries, this order of widows is still something very strong. These women are held in very high esteem.
Methodius, who wrote about the year 290, said this, " The bronze altar in the tabernacle can be compared to the company and circuit of widows, for they are a living altar of God. " Somewhat reminiscent of Polycarp's words way back in the year 135. So again, as late as the year 290, there's still this company or circuit of widows who are there who have this ministry of continual intercessory prayer. They form a spiritual altar of God. And that quote is found in volume 6, page 328 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers.
Now, these final quotes are all from a work called The Apostolic Constitutions. Now, it was compiled in its present form about the year 390, but it's a mixture of things that would date back all the way, say, to the year 100. A lot of things from the work called the Didascalia, which is from the middle of the third century. And then sometimes a few things that are as late as, say, the year 350 or that period after the time of Constantine.
But these quotes are very important because they show that as late as the year 390, this is after Constantine, you still have this order of widows and that they still have an important ministry in the church. Anyway, this writing gives this set of directions. Choose your widows not under 60 years of age. That in some measure, the suspicion of a second marriage may be prevented by their age.
For if you admit a younger woman into the Order of Widows and she marries, she will bring indecent reflections on the glory of the Order of the Widows. And she will have to give an account to God, not because she married a second time, but because she has grown wanton against Christ and has not kept her promise. Therefore, such a promise should not be rationally made, but with great caution.
And again, let every widow be meek, quiet, gentle, sincere, free from anger and not talkative, and let the widow attend to nothing, but to pray for the whole church and for those who give. And when she is asked anything by anyone, let her not easily answer, referring to the leaders those who desire to be instructed in the doctrines of godliness.
And again, let the widow therefore acknowledge herself to be the altar of God, and let her sit in her house and not enter into the houses of the faithful to receive anything for any reason. For the altar of God never runs about. Rather, it is fixed in one place. Therefore, let the virgin and the widow be ones who do not run about or gad about the houses of those who are alien from the faith. They should be content with their subsistence from the church, having moderate desires.
However, some widows run from one of their neighbors ' houses to another and disturb them. They heap up to themselves plenty of money, and they even lend at bitter usury. Those quotes can be found in volume 7 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, pages 426 through 428. So at the end of the 4th century, the year 390, the order of widows seems to still be going strong. Now obviously some churches were admitting younger widows into this order, which the writer of the Apostolic Constitution warns against.
We already saw that this was the case in Carthage around the year 200, Tertullian spoke about widows giving up their youth and their beauty to be wedded to Christ. Now, in light of the great esteem with which the Christian church held these widows, it's not surprising to find that some abuses did creep into the order of widows. For example, the writer of the apostolic constitutions finds it necessary to repeat Paul's directive that these widows not be gadding about from house to house.
Now, apparently the problems associated with this going from house to house wasn't limited to just gossiping. No, evidently, these widows would procure donations by calling at the homes of various ones in the church and maybe praying for them. In fact, the writer says that some of these widows were actually stockpiling money that had been donated to them and then were lending it out on interest to others. I doubt that was a widespread thing, but obviously had happened enough for it to be made mention of.
The fact that the writer cautions the widows to refer questions to the elders would indicate that some of them made use of their position as widows to usurp the teaching roles of the elders in the church. Okay, so what happened to this order of widows? It was obviously still alive and strong around the year 390. Well, I'm guessing that some of you have probably figured out what became of the Order of Widows. But in case you haven't, I'm not going to tell you quite yet.
Instead, I want to first talk about a parallel women's ministry, the Order of Virgins. Now this ministry wasn't limited to women because there were also groups of celibate men. Now, the order of widows that we've been talking about, or the list of widows, is something actually established in Scripture. The Scriptures specifically tell us that we're supposed to have such a list and who qualifies to be included in this group of spiritual widows. Now as to virgins, the directive isn't quite as specific.
Yet there is definitely a scriptural basis for having an order or a group, however you'd want to call it, of celibate men and celibate women. So let's look at some of these scriptures. The first one is Matthew 19:12, where Jesus Himself said, " There are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He who is able to accept it let him accept it.
" So his reference to eunuchs, not meaning literal eunuchs, but rather persons who chose to be unmarried, who chose to remain celibate for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, that this was supposed to be part of the kingdom. If we're practicing kingdom Christianity, then we should have such celibate men and women in our church who've made themselves spiritual eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. We see an evident example of this in Acts 21:9, where it says this about Philip the evangelist.
It says, " Now this man, talking about Philip, had four virgin daughters who prophesied. The fact that he had four daughters who were all virgins would indicate that they probably, with his blessing, had chosen to remain as virgins to be celibate, and they obviously had some sort of spiritual ministry. In their case, they were prophetesses. Paul encourages the celibate life. 1 Corinthians 7:38, he says, " There is a difference between a wife and a virgin.
The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. So then he who gives his virgin in marriage does well, but he who does not give her in marriage does better.
So nowhere do the Scriptures condemn marriage, but Paul specifically says that for a woman to remain unmarried, this would be on purpose in order to devote her life to the Lord, that this is better than her being given in marriage. He said he who gives her in marriage, the father who would give his bride in marriage, his daughter, that is, does well. So there's nothing wrong with that. No sin involved. Nothing to be spoken against like there was something wrong with marriage.
But it says it's better for a person to remain celibate that she may be both holy in body and spirit for the Lord. All right, now I want to read you another passage that takes things a little further. This is from Revelation, and John says, " Then I looked and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000. These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. " It's verse 1 and verse 4 of Revelation 14.
Now all of my life, I had been told that, oh, that talks about people who are spiritually virgin. That is, they lead clean and godly lives. But I find that strange coming from people who claim to take the Scripture so literally, because he doesn't just say that they're ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. Yes, these are godly persons. But he says specifically that they're virgins, that they had not defiled themselves with women.
So the expression virgin isn't limited to women because these he refers to more in the sense of men, although it's not necessarily excluding women from this 144,000 either. But the early Christians certainly understood this to be literal, that these were ones who were virgins for the cause of Jesus Christ, that they devoted their lives to following Him rather than pursuing a life of marriage. And there was some extra blessing in store for them because they are set apart from the great crowd, these 144,000.
Okay, so those are the scriptures that the early Christians based their views upon. Now let me read you some of their quotations that demonstrate that there was this order of virgins right from the very beginning. Ignatius, who wrote his letters about the year 105, said this, " I salute the virgins who are called widows. " You can find that quote in volume one, page 92 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers. Now this is very important coming from Ignatius because Ignatius was a personal disciple of the apostle John.
And like I say, he wrote so very early about the year 105, where the book of Revelation was only written, say, about the year 95. So just 10 years later, you see that this is an ongoing thing that the churches had virgins who were grouped with this special order of widows that Paul had set up way back in like the year AD50. Polycarp, who was again discipled by the apostle John, in his letter, written about the year 135, says, " The virgins also must walk in blameless and pure conscience.
" You can find that in volume 1, page 34. Again, speaking of the virgins as a specific group or class that would parallel the deacons and elders, not with the same responsibilities, but as people who were set aside to a special ministry to the Lord. Actually, Paul himself may have made reference to such a group of virgins in the same letter of 1 Timothy that we've been reading from, where he's giving the qualifications of bishops or overseers and deacons.
He says this in chapter 11, excuse me, chapter 3 of 1 Timothy verse 11. He's just given the qualifications for deacons, and he says this, I'm reading from the New King James translation. It says, " Likewise their wives must be reverent, not slanderous, temperate, faithful in all things. " Now, the Greek word there that is translated " wife " is the same Greek word for " woman. " In other words, the translators had to make a judgment call. Should that be translated wives here or women?
Because it's exactly the same Greek word. If it's not talking about wives, if it's talking about women, then evidently he's talking about women who would be used in some special ministry and what their qualifications had to be. Or in fact, it would indicate that as early as when this letter was written, that there were already these virgins or other women who were being used in some special capacity.
Paul may have been referring to Virgin Sisters in Christ in his closing chapter of the book of Romans, where he says, " I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the Church in Cenchrea, that you may receive her in the Lord, in a manner worthy of the saints, and a sister in whatever business she has need of you, for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also.
" We don't know that Phoebe was a virgin, but more than likely she was either a virgin or she was a widow, since no mention is made of her husband, and he asked the church to assist her in whatever way that she would need. He also in verse 6 of Romans 16, he says, " Greet Mary who labored much for us. " Again, no mention is made of a husband, so more than likely Mary is an unmarried woman as well. So I think it's very likely that Paul is talking about such unmarried women in his directive to Timothy.
They're in 1 Timothy 3, where he talks about the women, they should also be this or that. Now, of course, it's possible that he's talking about the wives of the deacons. Why I think it's likely that he's not is that he says nothing about the wives of the elders. It would be strange that to qualify as a deacon, your wife has to be such and such a type of person. But to be qualified as an elder, no mention is made of what kind of wife you would have.
Well, regardless of whether or not Paul was referring to such an order of virgins or other ministering women there in 1 Timothy 3, we do know for a fact that there were women who accompanied him and assisted him in his ministry. And we know that there were women who assisted Jesus in His ministry as well. And so it's no surprise when we read the early Christian writings to find that, again, there are women who are involved in ministry, but it's a different ministry than the role that was given to men.
Tertullian mentions in one of his early writings, he says, " How many voluntary eunuchs are there? How many virgins espoused to Christ? " It's in volume 3, page 593. So it wasn't just one or two people who chose to be eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. There were quite a lot of them. There are so many references made to them in the early Christian writings. These are just a few of the ones I'm going to be reading.
In fact, there's more references to these voluntary eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven than there are even to the widows, and we know that indeed there was an order of widows. Again, Tertullian writes, this other writing was written about the year 207. In volume four, you can find it, page 33. He says, " So many male virgins, so many voluntary eunuchs carry their glory in secret, carrying no token to make them illustrious. " Now, this is from his work entitled " The Veiling of Virgins.
" It talks about the head covering that Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 11. And the issue was whether Paul was giving instructions only to married women or to all women in general. As I've mentioned, the Greek word for " woman " is the same Greek word that was commonly used for wife. And so you don't know, except by the context whether any passage in the New Testament is talking about a woman or women in general or about a wife or wives in general.
In fact, the same was typically true of men as well, that the same word was used for man or for husband. It's where we get the old form of the marriage ceremony where the minister would say, " I now pronounce you man and wife. " Well, it could be husband and wife because in Greek and in Latin, they use that word interchangeably.
Anyway, Tertullian's point in this writing called The Veiling of Virgins was that Paul was talking to all women, not just married women, when he gave the instructions about the head covering. But in some churches, virgins were saying, well, those instructions apply only to married women, and so they would appear unveiled.
And so therefore, their status as virgins was marked by the way that they dressed, whereas Tertullian says, " Well, there's many voluntary eunuchs among the men as well, and they don't dress differently because they're a man. So why should you have a special privilege because you're a woman? " In that same writing, he goes on to say, " Sometimes virgins are motivated by that god, their stomachs. For the Brotherhood readily undertakes the maintenance of virgins.
They are brought forth into the midst of the church and elevated by the public approval of their status. They are laden by the brothers with every honor and charitable gift, so long as they do not fall. So just as the widows were honored, so also this Order of Virgins was honored. And by honor, he's talking about material support as well. He gives this advice to these virgins in this same writing. He says, " Do not belie yourself in appearing as a bride. For you are wedded to Christ.
To him you have surrendered your flesh. To him you have espoused your maturity. Walk in accordance with the will of your espoused. So that is how these eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven viewed themselves. They were espoused, betrothed to Jesus Christ as their husband to be. And again, this was a view of both the men and the women who had made a commitment to live celibate lives for the kingdom of God, walking very literally in the footsteps of Jesus who himself did not marry.
In another writing, Tertullian wrote, " In the Revelation of John, it is said, " These are the ones who have not defiled their clothes with women, " indicating, of course, virgins and those who have become eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. Therefore, they will be clothed in white garments. That is the bright beauty of the unmarried flesh. Now some people would say, well, the early church went too far in that regard in celebrating celibacy and holding it up as an honor.
Well, certainly some groups of the early Christians did. The Montanists elevated celibacy so high that marriage was seen almost as a lesser state, as something wrong with being married. And that certainly was swinging too far the other way. But the point is it was Jesus himself who talked about ones who would make themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. It was Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit who said it is better to remain in a celibate state rather than to be married.
And it's the Book of Revelation that honors these 144,000 saying that they are virgins, that they have not defiled themselves with women. So I don't know that the early church went any further than the New Testament church. I think the problem is that we have swung so far the other way because of abuses that came in this, that we're going to talk about later, that we've closed our eyes and ears to the very plain language of Scripture. Let me read to you from some other early Christian writers.
This next one is from Cyprian, who wrote about the year 250. He was also in the Church of Carthage. Being a bishop there, this was after Tertullian had passed away. You can find this quote in volume 5, page 357, where he says, " We should faithfully care for the life of each one and not allow virgins to dwell with men. " I'm not speaking of just sleeping together, but of living together. For both their weak sex and their age should be bridled in all things and ruled by us, he means by the bishops.
Otherwise, an occasion may be given to the devil who ensnares us. If they have faithfully dedicated themselves to Christ, let them persevere in modesty and chastity without incurring any evil report. Thereby, in courage and steadiness, they can await the reward of virginity. However, if they are unwilling or unable to persevere, it is better for them to marry than by their crimes they should fall into the fire.
So again, the Order of Virgins is very common in Cyprian's Day, about the year 250, and he's encouraging the other bishops and presbyters that they should exercise more careful control over these groups of celibate women. Because evidently, in some places, the celibate men and the celibate women were living together in the same buildings, not sharing the same beds or even the same bedrooms, but together in the same building. And he was saying, " Hey, that opens up the possibility of sin.
" And it also brings about an evil report, even if nothing wrong is going on. Certainly in the eyes of the world, it's going to appear that their relationship isn't one that is purely holy and steadfast in the Lord. Now, something interesting is that in the year 250, these persons were not taking a vow that they would never marry, because he says it is better for them to marry than by their crimes that they should fall into the fire. He says if they are unwilling or unable to persevere.
So evidently, they had made a commitment, but not a solemn vow. And so if they found they weren't able to live up to this commitment, it was far better, he says, for them to go ahead and marry than to live in fornication or other uncleanness, and it ended up costing them their eternal lives. Another reference he makes to them in a different letter. This is in volume 5, page 431. This is still Cyprian. He writes, " My address is now to virgins, whose glory, as it is more eminent, excites the greater interest.
This is the flower of the ecclesiastical seed, the grace and ornament of spiritual endowment. This is the more illustrious portion of Christ's flock. These have dedicated themselves to Christ. They have departed from carnal immorality and have given themselves to God in both the flesh and the Spirit. In order to complete their work, which is destined to a great reward, they should no longer explore how to be adorned or how to please anybody by their appearance, except their Lord.
For it is from Him that they expect to receive the reward for virginity. As he himself says, all men cannot receive this word, but those to whom it is given. There are eunuchs that have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. Again, also by this word of the angel, the gift of chastity is set forth, and virginity is preached. Now quoting from Revelation, he reads, " These are those who have not defiled themselves with women, for they have remained virgins.
These are those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. " Now again, I think our natural reaction is to think, well, the early church is going too far. Now they're just really setting these people up on too high of a plane. And perhaps by the year 250, things were beginning to swing too far the other way. But again, I have to point out, it was Jesus Himself who made reference of these people who would become eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven.
And it's the book of Revelation that indicates that these people do receive a special reward in heaven. Now again, we could say, well, we shouldn't take revelation literally when it talks about these people being virgins. And perhaps so. I'm certainly not a person who argues for the literal interpretation of Revelation, at least not after the letters to the seven congregations.
But again, we can hardly criticize them for taking it literal, because indeed this passage may be talking about literal virgins, and it may be saying that they do receive a greater reward. Now, at the year 280, we have a reference to the virgins in a writing of Victorinus, who also wrote a commentary on Revelation. And with that thought in mind, he says, " They will enter upon an eternal kingdom with an immortal king. For they are virgins in more than in body.
They have equally protected themselves from wickedness in tongue and in thought. " So it wasn't enough just to be a virgin. It was to be a virgin and also follow the Lamb wherever he goes, to lead a chaste and holy life totally committed to Jesus Christ. Otherwise, it was certainly far better to marry. Methodius writing about the year 290. You can find this quote in volume 6, page 327. He says, " I will now endeavor to explain to you, oh virgins, the rest of the things that are prescribed.
For this is attached to your duties. " And now quoting from Numbers, he says, " When either a man or woman will separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord, he will separate himself from wine and strong drink. " Now, Methodius continues, " This means that he who has devoted and offered himself to the Lord will not partake of the fruits of the plant of evil, for its natural tendency is to produce intoxication and distraction of mind.
" Moreover, it is forbidden to virgins not only to in any way touch those things that are made from the vine, but even to avoid such things as resemble them. Now again, this was by no means a law handed down by the church in general. This is counsel given by one Christian leader, Methodius.
But he feels that these ones who have chosen this special ministry of remaining virgins and devoting their entire lives to serving Jesus Christ and ministering in whatever scriptural way possible, that they should think about the Nazarites of old as an example, who were commanded to abstain from any kind of intoxicating beverage, and that these virgins likewise should not drink wine or anything like that. Now these last references are from the apostolic constitutions that I've spoken about previously.
They had a lot to say about the widows, and they also mentioned the virgins. This is from Volume 7, page 436 and later 493, the two quotes. It says, " She that vow celibacy should do works that are suitable to her vow. This shows that her vow is real and made for the purpose of having time for piety. It was not made to cast a reproach on marriage. " And again, he says, " A virgin is not ordained, for we have no such commandment from the Lord.
Rather virginity is a state of voluntary discipline, not for the reproach of marriage, but to have more time for godly service. " So the virgins were not elevated to a position like they had an ordained ministry, whether they were men or women. No, it was a voluntary discipline that they underwent. Yet they were honored and respected by the church for the decision that they made. Now he talks about it being a vow, and I don't know if the word there often Greek is not precise the way English is.
And so I'm not sure if the word there would mean a vow as we would think of it, a solemn commitment made to the Lord that is unbreakable, or if it means just a commitment or promise. But still as late as the year 390, we have the counsel that is stated now twice, it was not made to cast a reproach on marriage, that there's nothing wrong with marriage. But it is honorable and desirable for persons to set aside their life for Christ if they have the gift to be able to do so.
Now let's talk a minute about the ministry of these virgins. To a large degree, the ministry of the virgins paralleled that of the widows. In fact, the Ministry of the Virgins was the very thing that Jesus said would count the most on Judgment Day. Let me read to you what I'm talking about, Matthew 25. We're going to start with verse 34 of Matthew 25. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, " Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him saying, " Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?
" And the king will answer and say to them, " Assuredly, I say to you, ' In as much as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. " So the widows and their ministry were basically free from all of the theological disputes of the age. They weren't weighed down with administrative responsibilities for the congregation. They were free to spend their life doing this very ministry that Jesus said was closest to His heart. The very thing He would look for on Judgment Day.
Did we visit the sick? Did we visit those in prison? Did we feed the hungry? And again, the widows and the virgins were both heavily involved in those specific ministries, the greatest ministries that we could have. Now before closing, I want to return briefly to the Ministry of the Widows. Earlier in this message, I promised you that I would tell you what became of the Ministry of the Widows, since we no longer see it in operation?
Well, the answer is that during the last days of the Roman Empire, both the Order of Widows and that of the Virgins were eclipsed by the monastic movement that had started in the late 3rd century. Now the monastic movement was similar to these earlier orders of widows and virgins, but they differed in several respects. For one thing, in the early years of the monastic movement, it was primarily men who started the monastic communities and who first began going out into the deserts and living as monks.
Now later it came to embrace women as well. Also, the focus of the monastic movement was on complete seclusion from the world by retiring to the desert or to some remote mountain to live a life of prayer and contemplation. Monasticism also had a heavy emphasis on asceticism that is living with as little as possible and even purposely living a hard life. And also it emphasized spiritual disciplines.
Now in the fourth century, once the church became wedded to the state and the church became wealthy and powerful, thousands and thousands of spiritually minded Christians sought a life of seclusion from all of the worldliness and materialism in the church. Now they didn't leave the church. Some did. Groups like the Donatists and the Novatianists actually had separate movements away from the Church. But not all of the godly people went into those movements.
Many of them stayed within the established church, but they wanted to get away from all the worldly power and wealth. And again, I'm not implying that all real Christians either left the church or became monks or nuns. But I am saying that a very large percentage of the really spiritually minded Christians followed those different paths.
Because Constantine ended state persecution of the Christians, at least the Christians within the established church, martyrdom was no longer a common thing within the established church. And so to a large degree, the monk or the nun fulfilled the place that martyrs had once held during the early centuries of Christianity.
And sometime in the 5th century in the 400s, the Order of Widows and the earlier Order of Virgins were both absorbed into this larger monastic movement, and they disappeared as separate movements on their own. You may remember that quotation from Tertullian I read earlier, where he stated that the godly widows were " wedded to God. " Well, that became the expression for the women who joined the monastic movement, that their husband was Christ. They were wedding themselves to Jesus Christ.
So the order of widows and virgins never disappeared completely. It was simply transformed into something else, into the order of nuns. And in general, the monastic movement was a good thing. Almost all of the enduring spiritual literature from this fifth century until the time of the Reformation came from persons within the monastic movement, or at least some type of spiritual community. I'm speaking of works like The Imitation of Christ.
Nearly all of the figures we look at the great men and women of Christianity from the fall of Rome up until the time of the Reformation. The vast majority of these were monks or nuns. Furthermore, after the time of Constantine, nearly all of the evangelism was done by monks. There were monks who won over the Germanic, the Celtic, the Slavic lands, all of those countries in northern, western, and Eastern Europe. However, there was a dark side to the monastic movement.
I mentioned that most of the evangelism of Celtic Europe and Germanic Europe was done by monks. And frequently, once they converted the king of some little kingdom, in his gratitude, he would set aside a large block of land to the monks to establish one or more monasteries. And this happened in place after place. Eventually, a huge percentage of the land in Europe was owned by monastic orders.
So even though the individual monk was poor, the monastic orders were actually quite rich, at least in land value that they held. And in some places, at certain times throughout medieval history, monks actually live better than the poor around them, than the medieval serfs. And so what you would have happen is a lot of people would join the monasteries as a place to have guaranteed food and a place to live.
Poor families would send one or more of their sons or daughters to monasteries to join the monastery because they could no longer afford to feed them. So you had a flood of ungodly people joining these orders for reasons that were not spiritual. And this led to abuses. On top of that, you did have people who were genuinely joining them because they wanted to live a single life devoted solely to Jesus Christ.
But after they made these vows, they found that they really didn't have a gift for singleness, and the church wouldn't release them from their vows. So then they would end up having affairs on the side. Monks would have concubines, nuns would have lovers, and it became quite a scandal of nuns who would become pregnant. And then to hide the fact that they were pregnant, they'd either have an abortion or they would kill the baby once it was born and bury it.
So just like in recent years here in the United States, there's been quite a scandal about priests who have been molesting boys. And even though this was a minority of the priests, it was not representative of the average Roman Catholic priest. It tainted the entire priesthood. And the same thing happened with monasteries. Medieval reformers often called for the abolition of all monastic orders, for example, John Wycliffe did.
Another problem with the monastic life was that a lot of Catholics thought that they could somehow earn their way to heaven by becoming a monk or nun and living this ascetic life and saying prayers throughout the day that somehow this would build up merit that would open the doors of heaven to them, instead of working on having an obedient love faith relationship with Jesus Christ. So one of the first things that all of the Reformers did was to abolish religious orders.
And in that one sweep, they corrected a lot of abuses that needed addressing. On the other hand, they also threw out the baby with the bathwater, because Jesus clearly spoke about eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. And Paul definitely recommended the celibate life over married life for a Christian, unless one just did not have room for that, unless they burned with passion. But what happened was that in non-Catholic circles, the celibate life was almost never recommended.
In fact, it was usually seen as something bad, something Roman Catholic, something no one would intentionally follow because that was monkish as the word was used. And so the scriptural directives about having a list of godly widows was completely ignored. In conclusion, the truth is, I have no idea how to call the so-called Bible-believing church back to what the New Testament teaches about virgins and widows. It certainly is not within my power to restore those biblical teachings.
If you're a pastor or minister or someone else in church leadership, I would certainly encourage you to take a look at this and see if perhaps your fellowship needs to be addressing these things that are taught in Scripture. But it's going to take the Holy Spirit working in the hearts of a lot of spiritual leaders and a lot of Christians for this biblical established order of widows to ever come back again.
Because there is one thing of which I am certain: eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven and a list of godly widows who meet the requirements in 1 Timothy are something that God did intend for His church. And we are not being obedient to Scripture so long as we continue to shut out or hide those clear teachings of Scripture.