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In John 19:26-27, we learn Jesus' mother Mary may have been considered a Widow to Jesus (who asks the apostle John to care for her like a son). - Since Mary's only husband Joseph was supposedly deceased & Mary's biological son James would be preoccupied serving the church in Jerusalem.

Yet Paul's (heavenly) inspired doctrine in [1 Timothy 5:3-9] provided a new definition of a ὄντως χήρας "real widow".

The command given by Paul from heaven is to : "Honor widows who are really widows." (5:3 Χήρας τίμα τὰς ὄντως χήρας)

Paul's conditional definition of a "real widow" starts in [1 Timothy 5:5] : "Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day." (5:5 ἡ δὲ ὄντως χήρα καὶ μεμονωμένη ἤλπικεν ἐπὶ τόν θεὸν καὶ προσμένει ταῖς δεήσεσιν καὶ ταῖς προσευχαῖς νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας)

  • Mary was not "left alone" μονόω - since Jesus made John her son (John 19:26-27) & James was still her living biological son.

"Do not let a widow under sixty years old be taken into the number, and not unless she has been the wife of one man" (5:9 Χήρα καταλεγέσθω μὴ ἔλαττον ἐτῶν ἑξήκοντα γεγονυῖα ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς γυνή)

  • Although Mary was at least 60 years old, during Paul's inspired Widow Policy in [1 Timothy 5:9], If the 64 CE publication of [1 Timothy] accurately dated the epistle (31 years after Jesus' death on the cross), Mary was close to being a young widow on the day following Jesus' crucifixion (with only 1 deceased husband : Joseph & an adopted son :John & a living biological son : James & being younger than age 60).

[Question] : Would Paul's early church doctrine in [1 Timothy 5] have considered Mary to be a real widow, immediately after Jesus' crucifixion?

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  • "Mary's biological son James" laughs in early church Oct 25, 2021 at 14:37
  • @SolaGratia - Do you feel James can only be validated as Jesus' "biological" brother [Mark 6:3, Galatians 1:19], but not Mary's biological son? | Surely James would still have helped the apostle John care for Mary. Considering her other supportive children, would Mary be considered a real widow to Paul? Oct 25, 2021 at 14:55
  • For one thing, "brother" in Semitic language including Semitic Greek can simply mean blood relative. Second, half-brothers would also be called "brothers" according to the same convention (Joseph's children). Third, there are more explicit statements in the New Testament about the state of Mary, personally, and her virginity, which 'trump' the less explicit term 'brother.' Such as when Mary says, "How shall [I concieve this son] since I know not man?"—even though married to Joseph and thus having the very obvious answer—unless she somehow intended to remain in that state, hence the question. Oct 25, 2021 at 15:06

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1 Timothy 5:

3 Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. 4But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. 5The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.

Paul required that the widow was all by herself with no one to take care of her.

Before Jesus died, he appointed Apostle John to take care of Mary, John 19:

26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,”

Was Jesus' mother Mary considered a widow in need immediately after Jesus' crucifixion based on Paul's Widow doctrine in 1 Timothy 5?

No.

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This question depends upon how persons of faith see the Crucifixion and accept the CROSS. If one sees the Cross as a blessing rather than a curse, one can see the CROSS as the Light of the World...the living breathing Golden Lamp-stand. Simon finally accepts this CROSS and from this CROSS we hear Jesus say FATHER into thy hands I commend my spirit. In Mark 15:21 scripture reveals that Simon is the FATHER of RUFUS and Alexander. In Romans 16:13 Paul reveals RUFUS as the CHOSEN ONE OF THE LORD and the Mother of him... and me. Paul is RUFUS the one Crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:22) the Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6) the RED HAIRED BRIDE of CHRIST (John 3:29) and she is the Mother of Jesus the SON OF GOD the Father, Christ the Everlasting FATHER. The NAME SIMON has 9 connections that many people think are all separate and insist that there are 9 Simons. Connect them and the mystery that Paul reveals starts to come clear (1 Corinthians 2: 1-8). Simon is the ROCK...the CEPHAS and Apollo in the ancient world was thought to be the incarnation of ALEXANDER (Apollo born in Alexander's body interpreted by early editors as the city of Alexander...hence Alexandria)Acts 18:24. So what has this got to do with Mary being a WIDOW? The Woman Jesus called Mary in John 20:15 is RUFUS the RED HAIRED ONE and she represents the WIDOW ZION looking for her LORD so that she can cling to him as his Everlasting BRIDE...not her/his SON the RABBI who says to her...do not cling to me. She is a widow and therefore is cursed because of the Levirate custom and is the BRANCH of prophecy... She is the "NAZARETH, NAZARENE - Place name meaning, 'branch.'" (Holman's Bible Dictionary, 1994.)
"Generally supposed to be the Greek form of the Hebrew netser, a "shoot" or "sprout."(Easton's Bible Dictionary 1897). Now think of Barn abbas...as Jo's Cephas...and you will likely concur with the people of Derbe and Lystra (Acts 14:1-28) They believed that Barnabas was the incarnation of Zeus...Jupiter the Father of the Greek Gods including Apollo and his twin sister Artemis. But you say these people insisted Paul was the incarnation of HERMES...because Paul was the chief spokesperson. And that is weird or queer because HERMES was publicly depicted as male...and Paul was the Beautiful GATE...that John and Peter aka Apollo and Cephas stood in front of in Acts 3 (1-9) because Paul is the I AM of John's Gospel. Paul is SUM MARIA ...which in Latin means I am Maria. Ah but what about the Gospel of Matthew and the years of tradition that say Mary was a mere gal of 17 years when she became engaged to Jo's Cephas. Do your addition... add up every number from 1 through 17...and what do you get? 153...the number of the FISH Cephas caught. Tradition says the FISH was JESUS. And mathematics says the 153 was the Vesica Piscis the WOMB the Mother of LIFE. And Greek tradition says Paul who was crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:22)was the MOTHER of the Gospel.

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  • Welcome to BHSE! Could you edit your answer to break up the "wall of text" into paragraphs? Additionally, you could use italics or bold to emphasize words instead of capital letters. For more editing tips, please see the Editing Help page.
    – agarza
    Oct 26, 2021 at 16:47

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