Read with Me
Titus 2:1-5 (HCSB)
But you must say the things that are consistent with sound teaching. Older men are to be level headed, worthy of respect, sensible, and sound in faith, love, and endurance. In the same way, older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not addicted to much wine. They are to teach what is good, so they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children, to be self-controlled, pure, homemakers, kind, and submissive to their husbands, so that God’s message will not be slandered.
Listen with Me
The society of Crete, like societies throughout the Roman Empire and across the world, was very stratified. The stratification occurred across lines of gender: men and women. It occurred across lines of age: old and young. It occurred across lines of possessions: rich and poor. And it occurred across lines of social status slave and free. Paul’s instructions here were not designed to deconstruct those stratifications or to reshape society along more equitable forms. They were intended to instruct the people of the kingdom how to function at their highest level within the social constructs in which they lived.
Pause first instruction is quite general and is directed to Titus himself. He is only to teach those things that are in accordance with sound doctrine. At that point in time, the source of this doctrine was what is called today the Old Testament, the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. To those were added the oral teachings of the apostles about Jesus, what He had said, done, and taught about God’s kingdom.
This instruction was designed to ensure that Titus avoided the trap into which the false teachers had fallen, teaching their own ideas as the truth, even if those ideas conflicted with cleared the clear teachings of Scripture. If he made sure that everything he taught was in accord with sound doctrine, the doctrine handed down through the prophets and apostles, he would avoid the snare himself, and none of his pupils would be misinformed or led astray.
Paul’s next instruction was specifically for the older men. Older men were looked upon as leaders and role models in the majority of world societies, and they were in the Church as well. As such, their lives needed to be worthy of respect and even imitation, and they should not allow themselves to slide into laziness, dissipation, and addiction to carnal pursuits.
Next Paul addresses the older women. In many societies it was common for the older women in wealthy homes or those of nobles to become vain busybodies who were focused on keeping up with the latest styles and the latest gossip. Those from poorer homes often descended into addiction to alcohol or other forms of escape, trying to avoid the harsh realities of their day-to-day existence. But the calling for older women in the kingdom was higher and more noble. Rather than distraction or escape, these older women, like the older men, were to see themselves as leaders and role models for the women who were coming up behind them. They were to be intentional about passing on a love for God, a love for their families, and industriousness instead of idleness or escape, so that the families in the Church would be strong and close-knit, and so that the name of Jesus would be lifted up by their lives and by the good that they did.
Pray with Me
Father, I’m afraid that much of this solid advice and instruction is ignored or missed by some of Your people today. They see these defined roles and relationships, and in rejecting that kind of stratification, they turn away from learning what You want to show us. The key is that whatever place we are in in the time and place we live, we are not to merely slide into the carnal ways of our society. Instead, we are to passionately and intentionally pursue a path that is useful to those around us, is true to Your instructions, and glorifies Your name. Thank you, Lord, for helping me to see this today. Amen.