Besides, they also learn to be idle, going about from house to house. Not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not.
In view of these possibilities Paul encouraged younger widows to remarry. In the ancient world most people expected that a widow would remarry. [Note: Bruce W. Winter, "Providentia for the Widows of 1 Timothy 5:3-16," Tyndale Bulletin 39 (1988):85; W. K. Lacey, The Family in Classical Greece, p. 117.] The apostle urged the younger widows to use their strength to bear children and to care for their families, the primary duties of a typical Christian wife (cf. Titus 2:5). The Greek word oikodespotein, translated "keep house" in the NASB, means "rule the house(hold)." Since the husband is ultimately responsible to God for what happens in his home (1 Timothy 3:4; Genesis 3:16), Paul must have meant that the wife is to rule over the household under his authority.