But refuse younger widows, for when they have grown wanton against Christ, they desire to marry;
Paul evidently assumed that this commitment to the Lord characterized those on the list (cf. 1 Timothy 5:5). If the church leaders placed younger widows on the list and they wanted to remarry, they would have to set aside this pledge of devotion to and service of Christ alone. [Note: Knight, pp. 226-27.] They would thereby incur some form of temporal condemnation. Perhaps this punishment came from their consciences, their church family, or elsewhere. It certainly was not eternal condemnation.