Loving One Another Financially, Part III: A Note on Widows and Orphans in Their Troubles

James 1:27 states, Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their adversity and to keep oneself unstained by the world. 

This verse is often understood as being two different groups of people, i.e., one group of orphans and one group of widows.

We read it this way because our culture tends to associate the word "orphan" with someone who has no parents. That, however, is not the biblical idea. Of course, one who has no parents is an orphan, but orphans are actually anyone who has no father.

In fact, the word ὀρφανός "orphan" actually means "fatherless," not "parentless." This is because it refers to children who have lost the financial support of a father.

The OT often mentions widows and orphans together (Exod 22:22; Deut 10:18; 14:29;  16:11; Ps 68:5, etc.). 

This likely means, then, that James is talking about a family that has lost its father. There is no income, and so the family's very existence is threatened. James argues that pure and undefiled religion finds its expression in two things: the financial care of a family that has lost the financial support of a father and the holiness to which God calls His people to live out.

Paul's advice in 1 Timothy is for younger widows to remarry, and for older widows to be supported by the church if there is no one else to support them. However, even younger widows (and their children) in the meantime must be supported until then. This is what James refers to as τῇ θλίψει αὐτῶν "in their trouble," or "tribulation."