1Tim 5:8 Worse than an Unbeliever

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Worse than an Unbeliever

1Tim 5:8 If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Here is a sterner warning than that previously mentioned in verse 4. For what is it to deny the faith and be worse than an unbeliever but to be not only unsaved but worthy of the punishment of an apostate. For, "whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?" 1John 3:17

It's kind of along the lines of the parable of the unforgiving servant of Matthew 18:23-25 who received his master's grace but with the wrong attitude and ended up condemned. For to neglect the needs of one's family, God having graciously provided for one's own need, is to devalue God's graciousness to such a point as to deny it altogether.

Of such it is written, "It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."" 2Peter 2:21,2

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