I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household, and give no occasion to the adversary for reviling.
give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully; that is, either that Satan, the grand adversary of the saints, might have no opportunity to reproach them, and cast in their teeth their unbecoming walk, or accuse them before the throne; or that any enemy of the Christian religion might have no room nor reason to speak evilly of Christ, his Gospel, truths, and ordinances, on account of the disorderly conversation of any that profess his name; or that the ο αντικειμενος, the great opposer of Christ, the man of sin, and son of perdition, even antichrist, 2 Thessalonians 2:4, might have no handle from hence to speak reproachfully of marriage, and forbid it, under a pretence of sanctity, as 1 Timothy 4:3.