A Study of Titus 2:1-10

“But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.”

Titus 2:1-10 ESV

Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):

Church leaders are to teach sound, Biblical doctrine. Older men are called to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, and sound in love, faith and steadfastness. Older women are also to be reverent in their behavior, as well as not being slanderers or slaves to excessive amounts of alcohol. They should also teach what is good and train the younger women to love their husbands and children, and to be self-controlled, working hard at home, and to be kind and submissive to their husbands so that God’s Word will not be reviled. Younger men should be urged to be self-controlled also.

Leaders should endeavor to be seen as a model of good works, and in their teaching need to show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned so that opponents will be put to shame as others see there is nothing evil to be said about believers. Bondservants also are called to be submissive to their masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative or thieving, but instead to show good faith so that in all things they adorn and show the good doctrine of God our Savior.

Textual Analysis and Implication (what is being said and what does this mean?):

Chapter 2 of Titus begins with, “As for you…” as Paul switched from speaking of insubordinate, false teachers at the end of chapter 1. While these others propagated legalism and myths, Paul told Titus to teach what accords with sound doctrine. The meaning of sound doctrine extends beyond merely right thinking into right living. The Bible tells us salvation is by grace through faith and not of works, but it does also tell us how to live. What we believe will have an effect on how we live if we truly believe it. As we love and trust God, we need to listen to how He tells us to live. This is in perfect alignment with Jesus’ final words from the great commission (Matthew 28:19-20), “…teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.”

In verse 2 Paul told Titus to instruct older men to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older men, when taught by a younger man like Titus, should be engaged with love, respect and wisdom, so that they are not easily offended by their younger teacher. Likewise though, the older men should have the humility to still be teachable and receive godly instruction from a younger church leader.

Of the older men in the church, Paul told Titus they should live with wisdom and maturity befitting their advanced years, meaning they should be dignified and self-controlled. The fact that Paul said to teach these things tells us these traits do not automatically come with age. These characteristics must be taught and learned. Paul also said older men should be stable in faith, love and “steadfastness” or patience. As we age we tend to harden in our ways, and this is a good thing if we harden in godly characteristics. Importantly, the Greek word for steadfastness or patience is “hupomone” which means an active endurance, as opposed to a passive waiting. Older men are to actively endure what the Lord has called them to, not to passively sit around waiting for the end of life.

After giving specific instructions for older men, in the same way Paul told Titus to give special consideration to older women. Older ladies have their own set of challenges, temptations and opportunities for service that need pastoral addressing. Paul said they are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. The meaning behind behavior pertains to how a lady dresses and conducts herself with reverent grace and dignity. Interestingly the word for  “slanderer” is the same word used for “devil.” So, we might say when anyone slanders or gossips they are doing the devil’s work.

Paul also warned against slavery to alcohol. In the Roman and Greek culture of the day, it was common for older women to over indulge in wine. For this reason Paul gave this particular vice specific consideration. To consistently drink alcohol in excess is to be enslaved to it. Next, in the positive, Paul says older women are to “teach what is good.” While the older ladies may face particular challenges they also have special opportunities to use their wisdom and experience to teach what is good to the next generations.

And Paul particularly pointed out their opportunity to teach younger women in a number of ways. Importantly Paul directed Titus to instruct older women to teach younger women, as opposed to Titus himself doing it. This does not mean the younger women were barred from hearing Titus teach in the main gatherings, but rather, the work of small group discipleship and Bible study should not be conducted by him. Titus was to encourage and enable the older women to teach the younger women where it would be wrong and dangerous for Titus to lead the smaller, more intimate gatherings of younger ladies. This should be done by the older ladies. Now, as to what the older women ought to teach the younger women, Paul first mentioned, “to love their husbands and children.” Young women have a special ability and opportunity to be a loving and gracious influence to their husbands and children. While some loving instincts are born in us, overall, selfless Christ-like love must be taught and practiced.

Paul also said the older women should teach the younger “to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” This does not prohibit younger women from working outside the home or remaining single, but most of the younger women in Paul’s day were married and working at home, so that is what he spoke to. Whether a young woman is married or single, there is much that can be learned from these things Paul pointed out.

To be self-controlled, pure, kind and hard working are godly characteristics every Christ follower should pursue. And if a lady is married, Paul exhorts them to have godly submission to their husband’s role of authority, but husbands likewise are to die to themselves and serve their wives as Christ laid his own life down for the church. When a husband and wife endeavor to outdo one another in serving each other, gentle, loving matrimony flourishes. All this Paul says to do so that the word of God will not be reviled. When Christians do not live in these God honoring ways, it gives cause for unbelievers to revile, or blaspheme the Word of God. What we believe should influence how we live. When we profess the gospel, but live ungodly lives, people understandably revile the gospel and Jesus Christ Himself.

When it came to the younger men, rather than restate and reframe everything he said about younger women, Paul simply said “likewise, urge the younger men to be self controlled.” Nearly all of what Paul said about younger women applies to the younger men as well. Some of the emphasis on certain challenges and opportunities may vary for the young men, but the overall exhortation to godly character is the same. However, the one thing Paul did specifically mention was “self-control.” Self-control can be difficult for everyone, but sometimes is particularly difficult for younger men. To be self-controlled could also be stated as behaving carefully and taking life seriously. The word used for self-control is “sophron,” which Barclay describes as, “the man with the mind which has everything under control…. strength of mind which has learned to govern every instinct and passion until each has its proper place and no more.”

In verses 7-8 Paul then told Titus to be a good example himself as a “model of good works,” and in his teaching to show integrity, dignity and sound speech that could not be condemned so that an opponent may be put to shame when they had nothing evil to say about him. Titus was exhorted to not only teach God’s Word, but to live it out. No one takes the teaching of the servant of God seriously if they do not practice what they preach. Sometimes the way we live proclaims the gospel far more effectively than any sermon. Also, Titus needed to teach substantive, sound doctrine, as opposed to the weak, watered down, error filled teaching of his opponents who were spreading a “works plus grace” version of the gospel. Titus needed to rightly understand the Scriptures as he led and taught others. And in addition to edifying the body of Christ (the church), another result of this is that anyone who wanted to speak against him would not have any grounds to accuse him of hypocrisy or evil. They might still say evil, hateful things, but they would have nothing evil to report concerning him.

Lastly for this section, Paul told Titus how to instruct bondservants. Something about the church that astounded the ancient world was how it mixed slaves, masters and freemen. A slave might even be an elder in a church where his own master attended. Now, Paul did not advocate for slavery, in fact his teaching on slavery indicates he believed the foundational principles of Christianity would undermine and overthrow slavery where Christianity flourished. But they lived in a society where slavery existed, and Paul provided guidance for how Christian slaves were to live and honor God in an oppressive system that did not, in itself, honor God.

In the Greco-Roman world, slavery was a reality, and Paul’s instruction to Christian slaves living under this harsh reality was firstly to be submissive or obedient to their masters, as well as to be well pleasing and not argumentative. This is advice even we as free people can take to heart today in regard to the authority placed over us in different situations. However, for the slaves in Paul’s time, and for us today, our ultimate authority is God, and our submission and obedience is always limited by our responsibility to God. We are to obey Earthly authority as long as that authority does not command us to disobey God. As Peter and the apostles said in Acts 5:29, when they were commanded to stop preaching the gospel, “We must obey God rather than men.”

Paul also mentioned they were not to pilfer. Pilfering was very common in the ancient world, so much so that at times the word “servant” and “thief” could be used interchangeably. As servants carried out various tasks for their masters, they would skim a little money, or whatever else, off of the top and keep it for themselves. It was practically an accepted fact of life that servants and slaves would steal in these small ways, but Paul instructed the Christian bondservants not to do this.

Finally, as Paul said bondservants should conduct themselves in these well pleasing ways, he said they should do so in order to “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” in everything. By humbly submitting to their masters and working hard to accomplish their tasks with excellence they would “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.” The idea of “adorning” carries the meaning of placing and arranging precious jewels in order to display their beauty. One way to display the beauty of the gospel is by how we live. Preaching the gospel is important, but so is living out the gospel. The beauty of this passage is that it shows even those of the lowest station in life in this world have the ability to show the beauty of the gospel by living it out while in difficult circumstances. In fact, those living in lowly circumstances have opportunities to adorn the gospel in ways those in loftier positions do not. Faith in practice powerfully displays the glory and beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Response (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):

Good works do not save us but how we live matters. We do not live a certain way to be saved, because salvation is a free gift (Ephesians 2:8-9), but we live a certain way because we have been saved (Ephesians 2:10). True faith will affect how we conduct ourselves. Also, our good conduct is a blessing to the people around us in a variety of ways, but perhaps most importantly, it helps display the beauty of Christ, so that they may come to see Jesus for the wonderful God and Savior He truly is, and come to salvation themselves. While we are called to share the gospel in word, we are also called to live it out, and actions often speak louder than words.

Self Reflection:

1. How can I adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in my life today?
2. How does the fact that I answer ultimately to God affect how I respond to the authority He has placed in my life?
3. What areas in my life do I most need to grow in godly self control?