Comments on Titus 2

Titus 2:1-15 states: “But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”

After exhorting Titus in the first chapter to seek such men as would be qualified to lead the local assemblies, and giving him a list of what those qualifications would be, Paul turns his attention to the Christian home. I think it’s important to note that good Christian behavior starts with sound doctrine. If we don’t know our Bibles, if we can’t be bothered to spend time learning what God has for us, our behavior cannot be reflective of Him. 

So while teaching sound doctrine to the entire body, Paul then tells Titus what things to teach to certain groups within the church. He starts with older or aged men. These should be the men standing up and leading their families well. They are to be taught to be “sober-minded,” or “temperate” meaning they should not be given to fits of anger or blustering but rather be known by their calm and collected spirits. They ought to be dignified or praised for their character. The next word here is “sensible” or KJV has “temperate” here, but they are translating the Greek word sophron which means to have a whole understanding. These men aren’t necessarily going to be book smart, but they ought to have wisdom that comes from experience. And as Titus was to be teaching sound doctrine, these men are to be taught to be sound in three things: “faith, love and perseverance.” 

We’ve used the word “sound” twice here so I wanted to stop for a second and talk about what this word means. It’s been used to describe the doctrine that Titus is to teach and that older men should be “sound in faith, in love, and in perseverance.” So what does it mean to be “sound,” or for a thing to be “sound?” I have here a piece of a door jam from my house that my dogs chewed into and were able to break off. It was not sound. Sound means to be free from defect or decay or being unbroken or undisturbed. The Greek here holds the same connotations of being free from error and having strength. So the doctrine ought to be sound and these men are to be sound in faith, love and perseverance. They are to, as Paul writes in Timothy, “know Whom [they] have believed,” and as John told his readers, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11). In both of these things they are to continue regardless of how hard the road gets for them and so we can be encouraged as well.

The next group that Paul tells Titus to address is the older women in the assembly. They are to be reverent or KJV has here: “that they be in behavior as becometh holiness.” Their actions and attitudes should reflect their saved state. They are not to be slanderers either. I wanted to stop and talk about the seriousness of this word. The Greek word here is diabolos or the same word we use for devil. Obviously no Christian should be associated with that enemy, but here older women are specifically exhorted to not slander. They are also told here, in a similar vein as the men being told to be sober, to not be “enslaved to much wine.” A Christian woman ought not be characterized by her drinking habit. Finally Paul instructs Titus to exhort the older women to “teach what is good and so train the young women.” 

I do think it’s worth noting here that Titus isn’t given any instructions on what he ought to teach the young women. That wouldn’t necessarily lead to anything inappropriate but to keep from there even being a hint of impropriety Titus is told to exhort the older women to teach the younger. They are to live their lives in such a way so that the younger women can follow their examples. The older women are also instructed to teach the younger women in several areas starting with loving their husbands and children. Now one wouldn’t assume this would need to be taught, but the specific actions taken and attitudes held will be different based on the different situations that the young women and their husbands will find themselves in. The older women are also to teach the younger to be self-controlled. This is that same Greek word used for the older men being sensible. Her life should reflect a wisdom that can only come from God. Also she is to be taught to be pure which is the same root as holy. Next she is to be a worker at home, one who takes care of, and keeps the home. She is also to be kind or pleasant or joyful.

The next instruction that the older women are to give the younger is to be subject to their own husbands. It’s not husbands in general here, but each wife to her own husband. The reason Paul gives for this subjection is “that the Word of God will not be blasphemed.” He doesn’t go into detail here, but the implication is that women who are not living this way are opening up the word of God itself to having evil spoken of it. So the older women are to teach the younger women these things and Titus is to tell the older women to do so. 

Our next verse states: “Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.” Here again Titus can directly address this group. He was a younger man himself and so he can encourage his brothers to godliness. This “self-controlled” is the same as to the younger women, the older women and the older men. So we can take from this the importance of having control of ourselves and not giving in to the passions of our flesh but instead living our lives in such a way as to bring glory to God. 

Next Titus is exhorted by Paul that he ought to be modeling all of these things as well. Since he was left on Crete as a teacher to the assemblies his life ought to reflect his high calling as well. Ironside mentioned that a preacher can be forgiven for many things, but if there is insincerity or hypocrisy all that he tried to teach will go out the window. He was to live his life like Daniel where his enemies would have, “nothing evil to say about [him].” 

I’m just going to read briefly from Daniel chapter 6, the first five verses: “It seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom, that they would be in charge of the whole kingdom, and over them three commissioners (of whom Daniel was one), that these satraps might be accountable to them, and that the king might not suffer loss. Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit, and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom. Then the commissioners and satraps began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs; but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him. Then these men said, ‘We will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God.’” The only thing Daniel’s enemies were able to find against him was that he followed his God “too well.” The same ought to be able to be said of us.

The last group that Titus is called to give instruction to is the bondservants. They are to work well for their masters, well-pleasing and without arguing. Now none of us here are bondservants but most of us do have jobs and we have bosses. We ought to be working in such a way that God is glorified. They ought to know of our faith and know that it is why we are such good workers. We are also exhorted here to not steal so that “in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.” Our attitudes and our actions ought to make the doctrines of God more attractive, not less. 

Chapter 2 ends here with the reason for why all of us should be acting in these specific ways. “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.” The fact that we can now be saved, that Christ left eternal glory with the Father above to come to Earth, to die on the cross, to rise again, and to return to His Father’s right hand should mean something. Our lives should reflect the great calling to which we’ve been called. These are some very practical ways that our lives can look different from the world around us. We should be shining forth a joy that can’t be explained except by our salvation. The world should see us as a little weird because we have the life of Christ in us, empowering us to live differently. Paul writes to Titus that this salvation is, “training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions,” meaning that our lives should be different. We’re to live (here’s that word again) “sensibly,” but also “righteously and godly in the present age.” Our age is different from Paul and Titus’s but it’s still the “present age.” We ought to be differentiated from the world. In large part because we are, as the next verse says, “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” 

Our hope in this present world, what causes us to live differently and be able to be lights in this present darkness is that Jesus Christ will come back in the flesh to take us up to Himself. Now obviously there are those believers who died without seeing this hope come to fruition but nevertheless it is our hope. Hebrews 11:13 “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” That’s speaking of the Old Testament saints, but is somewhat applicable to those Christians who died before Christ returns because their hope is still in Him. And in case Titus and we have forgotten what Jesus has done we’re reminded here once again that He “gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.” This is us. We ought to be “zealous for good works” because of the fact of our redemption. The one follows the other. 

Paul ends this section with another reminder to Titus to continue to teach what is good with authority. Titus can have this authority the same way I or any of the brothers who stand up here do, because of the Word of God. I have no strength or authority in myself, but the Bible is true and comes from God and tells us how we ought to live. He was not to let anyone disregard him because his message was from God for their good and God’s glory.