A Commentary in Simple English on Titus

CHAPTER 2

Verses 1-10: What Titus should teach

We know that without the Good News there is no Christian life. Only when we have faith in Jesus and God gives us His Spirit can we live as Christians.

We remember from 1:5 that Paul had left Titus in Crete. Paul had not finished the work that needed to be done there. Chapter 1 spoke about one part of this work. That was the need to give leaders to the church. But there was other work for Titus to do.

So in these verses, Paul sets out the teaching that Titus should give to different kinds of people. He is to teach what will make people's lives 'healthy'. The best of the Greeks would have agreed with most of what Paul says. The Christian is to be as good as 'the good heathen'. But the Christian will be even better. God puts His love in our hearts. We want to do all the good that we can. The Greeks, too, would understand the way in which Paul divides people into groups.

a) Verse 2: Teaching for older men.

1. The older men are not to drink too much wine. They are to be 'temperate' or 'sober'. Strong drink and wine is still a real problem in many parts of the world today. People grow grain crops for food but the grain is often used instead to make strong drink. There is not enough food then for the women and children. They are hungry. So are the animals. The men and women get drunk. They may fight and do many wrong things. They do things which they would never do if they were not drunk. Then they do not feel well enough to work. So things grow worse. There is still a great need today to show people the damage that strong drink can do.

Many Christian people feel that it is best not to drink strong drink at all. Some feel that it is right for them to drink a little. There is no Christian law in such matters. But if someone sees a Christian who drinks a little, and then thinks that he can drink a lot, then great damage has been done. Christian love then has to say: 'I will not drink at all, in case another man sees me, and it leads him into wrong ways' (Romans 14:21).

2. They are to be serious or 'worthy of respect'. That does not mean that they will always be sad! People will be able to respect them and to give them honour.

3. They are to be 'sensible' or 'self-controlled'. Paul has already used this word in 1: 8. God's love makes a change in the mind of anyone who becomes a Christian. Before we were Christians, we did things that really were rather silly or even bad. Perhaps false religion or fear of bad spirits made us do these things. But now we are free from lies and fears. There is a good reason for what we do.

4. The old men are to be 'sound' or healthy in their faith. We want our bodies to be healthy. But our bodies are only one part of us. Our bodies are not even the most important part of us. We want the whole man to be healthy. That means our heart and mind.

5. Any 'healthy' Christian will be 'healthy' in love as well as in faith. 'Love has two things in it: giving and forgiving.' Christian love plans ways to do good to other people. It does not try to do the best for ourselves. It puts the needs of other people before our own needs.

6. Then the older men are to have 'patience' or 'endurance'. They are to keep on in the Christian life. As we grow older, the body is less fit. It is not so easy to do what we know we ought to do. And it may be that the things which happen to us do not help either. It is part of the Christian life not to give up.

b) Verse 3: Teaching for older women.

The teaching for the older women is to be rather like that for the older men but perhaps Paul knew one way in which the older women were weak. They went from one house to another and they talked. They talked about other people. Maybe what they said was mostly true but then their friends passed it on to someone else and they did not get it quite right. This is 'gossip'. It can cause so much trouble. Much worse, of course, is when we talk to people and we suggest things that are not true. We do not have to lie. We can give people wrong ideas just by what we do not say [2.1] (1 Timothy 5: 13). They are not to talk in this way. Instead, they are to 'teach what is good'. The long years when they have been married will have taught them much. They are to pass this on to help the younger women to care for their husbands and children.

c) Verses 4 and 5: Teaching for younger women.

The older women will teach the younger women. The elders will share in this. Most of the younger women would have been married in those times. (But see what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7: 25-28.) There is a good place in the Christian church for the woman who does not find a husband or chooses not to marry.

1. The younger women will be taught to love their husbands and children.

2 Paul then says (verse 5) that they will be 'sensible'. This is the word that he has used before in 1: 8 and in 2: 2.

3 Then they are to be 'pure'. They must be faithful to their husbands.

4 Then Paul adds that the younger women are to be 'busy at home'. They are to be 'home makers'. Their work is to make a good home for their husbands and children.

Now in some parts of the world it is the work of women to grow the food crops. Perhaps husbands are busy hunting, fishing or building. In the West, many wives do not want to stay at home. They want to go out to work and to earn money. And so the home and the children do not get the care that they need. This is not an easy matter. But what Paul says is plain. The place for a wife is in her home! And when women make better homes every part of life will be better. There is no work that a woman can do which is more important than caring for her children.

5 They are to be 'kind'.

6 They are to be 'subject to their husbands'. Paul also teaches this in Ephesians 5: 22-25 and in Colossians 3: 18 and 19. Now this is most important.

Wives can be subject to their husband or 'submit' to them just because their husbands love them.

We should be careful to see that it is wives who are to be subject to their husbands. The Bible does not say that all women are to be subject to men.

In many parts of the world, the parents choose a wife for their son. Parents 'arrange' marriages. In the West, young people like to think that they 'fall in love with each other': they make their own choice of husband or wife. Sadly, very often, they marry and before long they 'fall out of love' again! The 'arranged' marriage is not a bad thing. Often, it works well. But in a Christian family, the girl should always have the right to refuse to marry the man the parents ask her to marry. And, of course, Christian parents must never tell their daughter that she must marry a man who is not a Christian.

So what Paul says is this. A Christian man has to decide something. He will ask his wife what she thinks. He will listen carefully to what she says to him. Then he will decide what they are both to do. The wife will sometimes think that her husband is wrong. She may think that her way is better than his is. But they will both do what he decides. But remember that his love for his wife will help him to decide what to do.

Now Paul says that the world around watches us. Both Greeks and Jews watched the Christians in Crete. They watched Christian husbands and wives. They must see that the Christian way of living is better than their way. These people must not be able to speak against God's Word.

d) Verse 6: Teaching for younger men.

Paul (verse 6) uses the same word, 'sensible', that he has used before (1: 8; 2: 2 and 4). The younger men are to have clear minds. They are to 'think straight'. They are to be self-controlled.

e) Verses 7 and 8: Teaching for Titus.

Now Paul tells Titus in what way he is to teach the Christians in Crete. First, he must do good to others. This will give him authority when he tells others to do good. His example will teach them more than what he says. He is to speak like a man who knows that what he says is the truth from God and that it is important. Verse 8 shows us that there were people in Crete who would like to find fault with what Titus said. So he must aim to give them no chance to find fault with what he said.

f) Verses 9 and 10: Teaching for slaves.

This makes it clear that some of the Christians in Crete were slaves. Not all masters were cruel to their slaves. And we like to think that Christian masters were kind to their slaves. Roman law did not make it easy to set slaves free. And if a slave were just set free, he would not be able to find work. He would have no home, and he might die of hunger. So we must not blame slave owners in those days because they did not set all their slaves free. But slavery is not just or right. We must be thankful that the world is now almost free from slavery (Ephesians 6: 5-8; 1 Timothy 6: 1 and 2; 1 Peter 2: 18).

So Paul tells slaves to obey their masters. Slaves are not just to do what they are told to do, but to try to please their masters. A Christian slave might at times want to argue with a Christian master: Paul warns him not to do this.

A slave had had his honour and freedom stolen from him No wonder that he will be tempted to steal. A man who does not even have his own name might well feel that he wanted to 'pilfer' - that is, to steal little things. Paul warns against this too in verse 10. Paul wants masters to be able to trust their Christian slaves. People in those days thought that if a man was a slave, he was bad. And often the cruelty of the masters made good men into bad slaves. Paul wants these Christian slaves to show everyone that Christ can make all men new, whether or not they are slaves.

Paul now gives us one of the great sayings in this letter about the Good News.

Verses 11 - 15: The reason for this teaching: the Good News.

It is no good just to tell people to live a new kind of life. You must tell them where they can find the power to do it. The power is in the Good News. So this is what Paul does now.

These verses are full of great truths. These are some of them.

1 God is the God of grace. God is great. He made all things. He is pure. He cannot bear anything that is wrong. He is holy. He is in heaven, far above us. But it is also true that God is love. God is good. He is kind. He forgives all our sins because Jesus has died. 'Grace is good because it makes us good. Grace is so good that it makes bad things good.' [2.2]

2 God always was and He always will be 'The God of grace'. But God sent Jesus into the world. And this was like the dawn of a new day upon the world. It was a new day of grace. [2.3]

3 It is 'the grace of God' that brings 'salvation'. The Roman Emperors called themselves 'Saviour'. But they were only lost sinners themselves so that they could not save anyone! Jesus did not sin; He is not a sinner. He knew what the work was which God had given Him to do. And He is God. So He is the only One who is able to save us.

4 The 'grace of God' is for all men. It was not only for the Jews; it was for the Greeks too. It was not only for the rich: it was for the slaves too. And still today, as the Good News of God's grace is spread, we see that it meets the needs of men of every kind and in every place.

5 The grace of God 'trains', teaches or 'educates' us. (verse 12)

a) It teaches us to say 'No' to all that is wrong. We say 'No' to all that does not honour God. We say 'No' to all our bad desires. There are good desires in us, which God has given to us. There are bad desires in us too. Bad desires are in us because of our sin. We learn which are good desires and which are bad desires. Then we can know which we must say 'No' to. Many people say 'No'! to all that is wrong when they are baptised. This may be what Paul has in mind here.

b) But there are things that we say 'Yes!' to as well. Paul tells us what they are. He once again uses the word 'sensible'. The word 'upright' is another word that we have had before. It means that we live our lives in such a way that we hope God will say to us: 'Well done.' We are to be 'godly'. We are to look for ways to do good. (Ephesians 2:10) In all we do, we try to honour God.

6 We have to lead these lives in 'this present age'. This means in the world as it is now. It is no good for us to wait until the world grows better. The world is not good at all (Romans 12:2; Galatians 1: 4). But we wait and hope for another new day to dawn from God! He has given to us a new day of His grace. And He has promised a new day of glory (verse 13).

The Psalms are full of verses that tell us to wait for God. Look at Psalm 27: 14; Psalm 33: 20 or Psalm 40: 1. There are many others.

7 The hope, which a Christian has, means that he is sure that something which God has promised will happen. God's Word is always sure. Our hope does not fix a time or how God will keep His Word. I find Psalm 131 helps me to understand Christian hope. We are to hope (verse 3) 'from this time'. We are not to wait a little while until things get better. However bad things are, we hope now. Then it is as though hope jumps over everything in between, and we are told to 'hope for evermore'. [2.4]

Our hope is a 'blessed' hope. It is the hope that Jesus will come again to this world. He will come with glory, great honour and power. And he is our Saviour. We want to be ready for him when he comes. It already does us good to have this hope now. And it is the hope that God will do us yet more good. We shall share his glory.

8 When our Lord Jesus Christ lived in this world, He was truly God. But people could not see the glory and honour of God in Him. Jesus lived the life of a poor man. He was humble. Now Jesus has gone into heaven, and we cannot see Him. He is hidden from us. He shares now in all the glory, praise and honour of God. But we do not see anything of it. When God's new day dawns upon the world, the day of God's grace will come to an end. God's great new day of glory will begin. The glory of God and of His Son who saves us will be seen. [2.5]

9 So in verse 14, Paul tells us how Jesus saved us. He gave Himself for us (Galatians 2: 20). Cruel men did not take away the life of Jesus from him. 'He gave Himself' to suffer and to die on the cross. He did this because He loved us so much
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10 Jesus died 'to redeem us'. He paid the price, which was His death. We could not pay the price. But perhaps the main thought in the word 'redeem' here is not of the price which He paid. Rather it is His death which sets us free. We were not free. Sin was like a prison. And Jesus sets us free from 'all iniquity', that is, from the guilt which we have because we have broken God's laws.

When we buy anything, we think about the person we hand over our money to. This is where the idea of 'redeem' is different from 'buy'. We should not try to work out who took the price which Christ paid when He died to redeem us.

11 But more than this, Jesus gave Himself in order to make us pure. It was not just one man here and there that He wanted. When He died, He wanted a people who would be His very own. He gathers His people together into His Church. We are His by right, because He has paid the price to buy us.

12 The death of Jesus will make His people, the church, pure. But also they will really want to do good and to help other people. They will not do 'good works' only because they know that they ought to. They will not do good only because the preacher tells them to. They will look for new ways to help other people. Their minds and their hearts will be 'hot' with the desire to do good.

So, in verse 15, Paul tells Titus that he is to 'encourage' or 'exhort' the Christians. He is to teach these things so that they will more than ever go on in the Christian life. He is to 'rebuke' or 'reprove' people. He is to tell them where they are wrong. He is to do this with authority. He has the right to talk to people like this. He is not to let people think that he does not matter. People are not to 'despise' or 'disregard' what he says. What Paul says is really that they must not 'think round' what he says. The teaching in God's Word is for us. We all like to say: 'Oh yes! that is right for someone else'. This is the way that we try to get round the teaching of Paul and of Scripture. But we must take God's Word for ourselves.