5:11–13, 15; 6:3–5, 9–10, 17, 20–21).4 The declared occasion of the letter is a problem of false teaching in the church (1:3–7) which derives ultimately from “deceitful spirits and demons” active in these “last days” (4:1). Furthermore, there are indications of particular difficulties with respect to women, especially some younger widows. In ch. 2 instructions regarding women receive five times as much space as the exhortation to men, and in ch. 5 although the whole area of providentia for widows