BIG IDEA:
THE CONDUCT OF EVERY SEGMENT OF THE CHURCH MUST REFLECT AND ENHANCE (ADORN) THE MESSAGE OF SOUND DOCTRINE RATHER THAN DETRACT
INTRODUCTION:
William Barclay: This whole chapter deals with what might be called the Christian character in action. It takes various groups of people by their age and status and lays down what they ought to be within the world. It begins with the senior men.
Paul Zehr: The text gives more attention to relationships between age groups than to gender distinctions. To these first four groups the author adds slaves in verses 9-10.
The four age groups mentioned in Titus 2:1-8 can be arranged in chiastic order.
A Older Men
B Older Women
B′ Younger Women
A′ Younger Men
Paul attends to three major themes.
- First is the importance of self-control, which Paul applies to older men ( 2), older women (v. 4), younger women (v. 5), and to younger men (v. 6).
- Second, Paul emphasizes the need for spiritual health. Titus is to teach healthy doctrine ( 1 NJB), older men are to be healthy in faith (v. 2), and Titus is to make use of healthy speech that cannot be condemned by any opponent (v. 8).
- Third, several purpose or result clauses appear (introduced by the Greek conjunction hina), indicating the mission effect of upright living upon the pagan Cretans.
Thomas Lea: The repeated use of the Greek conjunction “in order that” (hina) four times (vv. 4,5,8,10) is especially noteworthy. Each hina clause expresses the goal or purpose of the behavior that is encouraged. Furthermore, these hina clauses indicate that proper Christian behavior has a significant impact on pagan attitudes toward Christianity (v. 5), silencing opponents by correct Christian teaching (v. 8), and attracting a lost world to Christianity (v. 10), thus affecting the entire missionary enterprise of the church. . .
The effect of individual Christian behavior on unbelievers cannot be underestimated. Inevitably, unbelievers judge the gospel message by the lives of those who embrace it. As we live and identify ourselves as Christians, we can make the gospel message attractive and credible by our godly attitudes and behavior. However, if we are perceived as unloving and hypocritical, we provide unbelievers with good reason to be skeptical about the power of the gospel. Paul’s exhortations, both to these Cretan groups and to Christians of every age, should alert us to the tremendous importance of being in reality what we profess in word.
David Platt: We live in a culture that is drowning in gender confusion. The lines have become blurred, and we are groping about trying to understand what it means for a man to be a man and a woman to be a woman, what it means for a man to be masculine and a woman to be feminine. A presidential candidate a few years back referred to himself as “metrosexual,” a word that refers to a heterosexual male who is in touch with his feminine side. The candidate then went on to say, “I’ve heard the term, but I don’t know what it means.” It is perfectly clear that the cultural engineers that dominate the media, our educational system—from the preschools to the university—and other strategic places of influence want to neutralize, if not eliminate, the gender distinctions and differences God has hardwired into human beings (Gen 1:26-27). This is the consistent drumbeat heard again and again, and unfortunately the church has not been immune to the cadence.
Practicing homosexuals are now ordained as bishops. Divorced ministers continue in places of service as if nothing significant occurred when their marriage covenant was broken. Women (married, divorced, single, heterosexual, and lesbian) now flock to seminaries and fill pulpits across the land declaring their liberation from the oppressive writings of the Bible. Even within evangelical fellowships women aspire to teaching positions that place them over men in Sunday schools, Bible studies, and local church worship services. The church is being shaped by secular culture more than by sacred Scripture. Never has the church needed more desperately to hear the words of Titus 2:1-8. This is a text that makes God’s plan, God’s assignments, God’s roles for men and women in the church plain and clear. In this passage of Scripture, Paul outlined God’s expectations for each of the four major groups in the church in terms of gender and age. He defined godly living that is “consistent with sound doctrine.” Though the word itself does not appear, the driving concept in these verses can be summed up in one important word: discipleship. Older men need to disciple younger men, and older women need to disciple younger women. The gospel is to produce godliness in the lives of those within the church, whether old or young, male or female.
(:1) CHARGE TO INSTRUCT IN GODLINESS THAT ADORNS SOUND DOCTRINE
A. Responsibility of the Spiritual Leaders to Provide Instruction
“But as for you, speak the things“
B. Relationship between Sound Doctrine and Godliness
“the things which are fitting for sound doctrine“
I. (:2) CONDUCT OF OLDER MEN
Thomas Lea: There is no indication about what specific age a man must attain before he is considered an “older man.” Generally speaking, this group may have referred to men of an age sufficient to have raised a family and seen their children begin families of their own.
A. “temperate”
B. “dignified”
David Platt: This is the man who, while not being a prude or a Pharisee, takes no delight in inappropriate, off-color humor, vulgarity, or anything else that is suspect, questionable, or clearly out of bounds. He himself is worthy of honor and respect, particularly by younger men, because of the purity and integrity of his life.
C. “sensible”
William Barclay: They must be prudent. The word is sōphrōn, and it describes someone with the mind which has everything under control. Over the years, the senior men must have acquired that cleansing, saving strength of mind which has learned to govern every instinct and passion until each has its proper place and no more.
The three words taken together mean that the senior man must have learned what can only be called the gravity, the serious nature, of life. A certain amount of recklessness and of thoughtlessness may be excusable in youth, but the years should bring their wisdom. One of the most tragic sights in life is the individual who has learned nothing through all the years.
D. “sound in faith” — Faith
E. “in love” — Love
F. “in perseverance” — Endurance
Paul Zehr: Faith, love, and endurance present a distinctly Christian emphasis to the virtues desired of older men. The same triad appears in 1 Timothy 6:11 and 2 Timothy 3:10 (NIV). Early in Paul’s writings, this triad appears as “faith, hope, and love” (1 Cor 13:13; 1 Thess 1:3). Here in Titus 2:2, the term endurance instead of “hope” suggests that patience results in endurance and is a quality of hope. Endurance or steadfastness has within it the quality of constancy and perseverance, which enables older persons to live out their faith and love in the senior years of life (I. H. Marshall 1999: 241).
David Platt: The Christian, of all people, because of the hope that is within him, should be patient and steadfast; he should exhibit “endurance.” Because we know how it will all come out in the end, we can endure testing, work through hardship, accept disappointment, and not give up under pressure and adversity. The mature, godly man does not lose heart, throw in the towel, or drop out of the race. Rather, he runs the race with endurance, fixing his eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith (Heb 12:1-2).
II. (:3-4A) CONDUCT OF OLDER WOMEN
Robert Yarbrough: Paul refers to a range of four characteristics or tendencies: behavior, speech, appetite, and teaching competence. The first is the most general and may be an umbrella under which to regard the other three. The word for “the way they live” (katastēma; BDAG 527) means behavior or demeanor. “Paul is referring to all aspects of a Christian woman’s bearing and appearance, in public and in private.” It occurs only here in the New Testament and not at all in the LXX. It occurs once in the AF, denoting the “demeanor” of a gentle bishop whom “even the godless respect” (Ign. Trall. 3:2). Josephus used the word to describe the poise and composure of Mariamne I when Herod the Great cruelly ordered her execution (Jewish Antiquities 15.236). “Outwardly visible bearing” seems to be the sense. In this regard elderly women are to be “reverent” (hieroprepēs; BDAG 470), another word that does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament, and only in 4 Macc in the LXX, once describing the noble spirituality of the first of seven brothers being martyred for their faith (9:25) and again describing the holiness or sanctity of the death throes of the sixth brother tortured to death in the same sequence (11:20). Titus is to encourage these women in the direction of truly sublime deportment.
A. “reverent in their behavior”
B. “not malicious gossips”
C. “nor enslaved to much wine”
Robert Yarbrough: Alcohol abuse and addiction are prominent among evils that seems to crop up in most places and times if one looks closely enough. These women should have no part in imbibing to excess.
D. “teaching what is good”
E. “that they may encourage the young women”
Paul Zehr: As Jewish teachers transmitted the Torah and the knowledge of God (Deut 33:10; Hos 4:6; Mal 2:4-7), so older women taught younger women Christian conduct. A major goal of this teaching is to prevent younger married women from flighty, careless living that would attract criticism against Christianity. Older women are to teach younger women upright living so that no opponent can find a reason for discrediting the word of God (Titus 2:5b).
David Platt: This mentoring of the younger by the more mature is a biblical pattern we have too often neglected to our great hurt and harm. Younger women desperately need the role modeling, teaching, discipling, insight, and practical wisdom that these older ladies can provide. Being more experienced in life and in the Lord, they can pass on a godly legacy that will hopefully reproduce itself for generations. A godly home will orbit around a godly wife and mother.
III. (:4-5) CONDUCT OF YOUNG WOMEN
Thomas Lea: Communicating Paul’s exhortations for the younger women was not Titus’s direct responsibility. Rather, this was to be the duty of the older women. Because of the domestic focus of Paul’s encouragements to this particular group, it is certainly reasonable to assume that the older women would be better qualified to communicate effectively with the younger women. The very specific characteristics proposed by Paul suggest that he primarily had younger wives in mind. Of the seven adjectives used to describe the desirable qualities for Christian young women, four implicitly presuppose a life involving marriage and family.
A. “love their husbands”
B. “to love their children”
David Platt: Few things are more natural for a mother than loving her children. However, a young mother must move beyond her natural innate affection to a specific lifestyle and plan of action that will cultivate in her children godly character and affection. Proverbs 29:15 says, “A rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a youth left to himself is a disgrace to his mother.” The most important way a mother can love her children is to love them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. As she loves them physically, emotionally, educationally, morally, socially, and spiritually, she always has her eye on their need for Christ. In word and deed, she gently and with sensitivity puts before them the love of God and the work of Christ. She speaks to her child with grace and wisdom sharing with him or her the grace, mercy, and claims of Jesus Christ. Her greatest joy and most awesome heritage is godly children devoted to Jesus and His plan and purpose for their lives.
C. “to be sensible”
D. “pure”
E. “workers at home”
David Platt: This lady is to be a good homemaker, “busy at home” (NIV). Her home is her primary base of operation and the main focus of her attention. Proverbs 31:10-31 teaches us that a diligent homemaker may be involved in a wide range of activities and interests. She is not lazy or a busybody, nor is she distracted by outside pursuits and responsibilities that eat up her precious time and attention. This woman is not seduced by the sirens of modernity who tell her she is wasting her time and talent as a homemaker and that it is the career woman who has purpose and is truly satisfied. The recent trend in women leaving the workplace and returning home has become too noticeable to be ignored. It is a reflection of what God planted in the heart of a wife and mother when He made her a female in His image. The blessings and joy she will discover as a wife, mother, and homemaker can never be matched by a career that in the end cannot make good on its promises. Being a homemaker is not an institutionalized form of bondage and slavery. It is the greatest context for a woman to experience liberation and liberty as she is set free by the plan of God to be the woman God created and saved her to be.
F. “kind”
G. “being subject to their own husbands”
Paul Zehr: The young married wives are to submit to their own husbands, not to men in general. The command is not gender-specific female submission to male. Rather, it is Christian marriage-specific submission each to her own husband.
H. Goal: “that the word of God may not be dishonored”
Paul Zehr: The credibility of the Christian message is undermined when Christian people do not live godly lives. Respectable behavior bears witness to the power and truth of God and enhances the Christian witness (Towner 1994: 239).
IV. (:6-8) CONDUCT OF YOUNG MEN
David Platt: Paul recognizes the need younger men have for godly mentoring, and so he instructs them in a pattern of discipleship that would promote godly character, conviction, and commitment.
A. “sensible”
William Barclay: Self-discipline is not among the more glamorous of the virtues, but it is the very stuff of life. When the eagerness of youth is supported by the solidity of self-control, something really great comes into life.
B. “in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds”
Paul Zehr: Titus is to display good works in his own life. Modeling Christian behavior is a common theme in Paul (Phil 3:17; 1 Thess 1:7; 2 Thess 3:9). Just as Timothy models Christian virtues in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity (1 Tim 4:12), so also Titus models Christian faithfulness. The term model refers to a moral example or pattern of a determinative nature (I. H. Marshall 1999: 254). Both Titus and Timothy are younger men living in a culture that respects older persons, but not necessarily younger ones. Older men will respect their leadership only if they model good behavior.
C. “with purity in doctrine”
Paul Zehr: integrity implies transparency and honesty
D. “dignified”
E. “sound in speech which is above reproach”
F. Goal: “in order that the opponent may be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us”
Thomas Lea: Paul’s desire that the opponents “may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us” does not imply that he thinks the communication of the gospel can be so good that it will be unchallenged or uncriticized. Paul’s own experience as a teacher or preacher of the gospel demonstrated that this would not be the case. Rather, his concern was that no legitimate challenge or criticism be offered. Of course, criticisms will be made; yet hostile critics will ultimately be “ashamed” (entrap) in the sense of publicly suffering loss of respect as it becomes apparent that their criticisms are groundless. Interestingly, Paul included himself by stating “they have nothing bad to say about us” (author’s emphasis). Titus was thus reminded that his teaching, both by word and example, would reflect not only on himself but on Paul as well, since he functioned on Crete under the apostle’s authority and as his personal representative.
V. (:9-10) CONDUCT OF SLAVES
Thomas Lea: The socioeconomic institution of slavery was extremely widespread in both Greek and Roman society. Slavery was protected by civil law. The military conquests of Rome produced many prisoners of war who were subsequently sold as slaves. Unlike the American institution of slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, slavery in the ancient world was not racially restricted, nor did it apply primarily to uneducated or socially deprived persons. Many slaves were well-educated, skilled individuals and therefore contributed greatly to the social and economic fabric of society. The condition of the slave’s life may have ranged from holding a position of trust and relative comfort to being treated in a most cruel and heinous manner. At any rate, slaves were the material possessions of their masters, who exercised complete authority over their activities and destinies.
William Barclay: Paul lists the qualities of Christian workers.
They are obedient. Christians are never above taking orders. Their Christianity teaches them how to serve. They are efficient. They are determined to give satisfaction. Christian workers can never put less than their best into any task that is given them to do. They are respectful. They do not think that their Christianity gives them a special right to be undisciplined. Christianity does not obliterate the necessary lines of authority in the world of industry and of commerce. They are honest. Others may stoop to the petty dishonesties of which the world is full; but their hands are clean. They are faithful. The master can rely upon their loyalty.
A. “Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything”
B. “to be well-pleasing, not argumentative”
C. “not pilfering, but showing all good faith”
D. Summary: “that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect”
Paul Zehr: The verb to ornament means to adorn, to put in order. This verb was commonly used for beautifying a person or adding adornments to an edifice (Collins: 346). As Christian slaves live Christlike lives, they attract nonbelievers to the gospel of God our Savior. One’s conduct in the midst of life goes a long way in making the gospel attractive to onlookers.
Robert Yarbrough: Doctrine by itself can be lifeless and dull, but lived out nobly, it may work magnetically and give rise to admiration. Then it may communicate the saving grace of the Christian message across even the kinds of social barriers that separated slaves and masters. God the Savior cares for both and uses every means possible to makes his presence known. One of these means is how believers live out their convictions wherever God places them. This is at least as true today for employees in the workplace as it was then in the economy of the Roman Empire.