CHAPTER 2

Tit 2:1-15. DIRECTIONS TO TITUS: HOW TO EXHORT VARIOUS CLASSES OF BELIEVERS: THE GRACE OF GOD IN CHRIST OUR GRAND INCENTIVE TO LIVE GODLY.

1. But . . . thou--in contrast to the reprobate seducers stigmatized in Tit 1:11, 15, 16. "He deals more in exhortations, because those intent on useless questions needed chiefly to be recalled to the study of a holy, moral life; for nothing so effectually allays men's wandering curiosity, as the being brought to recognize those duties in which they ought to exercise themselves" [CALVIN].
- speak--without restraint: contrast Tit 1:11, "mouths . . . stopped."
- doctrine--"instruction" or "teaching."

2. sober--Translated "vigilant," as sober men alone can be (1Ti 3:2). But "sober" here answers to "not given to wine," Tit 2:3; Tit 1:7.
- grave--"dignified"; behaving with reverent propriety.
- temperate--"self-restrained"; "discreet" [ALFORD], (Tit 1:8; 1Ti 2:9).
- faith . . . charity [love] . . . patience--combined in 1Ti 6:11. "Faith, hope, charity" (1Co 13:13). "Patience," Greek, "enduring perseverance," is the attendant on, and is supported by, "hope" (1Co 13:7; 1Th 1:3). It is the grace which especially becomes old men, being the fruit of ripened experience derived from trials overcome (Ro 5:3).

3. behaviour--"deportment."
- as becometh holiness--"as becometh women consecrated to God" [WAHL]: being by our Christian calling priestesses unto God (Eph 5:3; 1Ti 2:10). "Observant of sacred decorum" [BENGEL].
- not false accusers--not slanderers: a besetting sin of some elderly women.
- given to much wine--the besetting sin of the Cretans (Tit 1:12). Literally, "enslaved to much wine." Addiction to wine is slavery (Ro 6:16; 2Pe 2:19).
- teachers--in private: not in public (1Co 14:34; 1Ti 2:11, 12); influencing for good the younger women by precept and example.

4. to be sober--Greek, "self-restrained," "discreet"; the same Greek as in Tit 2:2, "temperate." (But see on Tit 2:2; compare Note, 2Ti 1:7). ALFORD therefore translates, "That they school (admonish in their duty) the young women to be lovers of their husbands," &c. (the foundation of all domestic happiness). It was judicious that Titus, a young man, should admonish the young women, not directly, but through the older women.

5. keepers at home--as "guardians of the house," as the Greek expresses. The oldest manuscripts read, "Workers at home": active in household duties (Pr 7:11; 1Ti 5:13).
- good--kind, beneficent (Mt 20:15; Ro 5:7; 1Pe 2:18). Not churlish and niggardly, but thrifty as housewives.
- obedient--rather "submissive," as the Greek is translated; (see on Eph 5:21, 22; Eph 5:24).
- their own--marking the duty of subjection which they owe them, as being their own husbands (Eph 5:22; Col 3:18).
- blasphemed--"evil spoken of." That no reproach may be cast on the Gospel, through the inconsistencies of its professors (Tit 2:8, 10; Ro 2:24; 1Ti 5:14; 6:1). "Unless we are virtuous, blasphemy will come through us to the faith" [THEOPHYLACT].

6. Young--Greek, "The younger men."
- sober-minded--self-restrained [ALFORD]. "Nothing is so hard at this age as to overcome pleasures and follies" [CHRYSOSTOM].

7. In--with respect to all things.
- thyself a pattern--though but a young man thyself. All teaching is useless unless the teacher's example confirm his word.
- in doctrine--in thy ministerial teaching (showing) uncorruptness, that is, untainted purity of motive on thy part (compare 2Co 11:3), so as to be "a pattern" to all. As "gravity," &c., refers to Titus himself, so "uncorruptness"; though, doubtless, uncorruptness of the doctrine will be sure to follow as a consequence of the Christian minister being of simple, uncorrupt integrity himself.
- gravity--dignified seriousness in setting forth the truth.
- sincerity--omitted in the oldest manuscripts.

8. speech--discourse in public and private ministrations.
- he that is of the contrary part--the adversary (Tit 1:9; 2Ti 2:25), whether he be heathen or Jew.
- may be ashamed--put to confusion by the power of truth and innocence (compare Tit 2:5, 10; 1Ti 5:14; 6:1).
- no evil thing--in our acts, or demeanor.
- of you--So one of the oldest manuscripts. Other very old manuscripts read, "of US," Christians.

9. servants--"slaves."
- to please them well--"to give satisfaction" [ALFORD]. To be complaisant in everything; to have that zealous desire to gain the master's goodwill which will anticipate the master's wish and do even more than is required. The reason for the frequent recurrence of injunctions to slaves to subjection (Eph 6:5, &c.; Col 3:22; 1Ti 6:1, &c.; 1Pe 2:18) was, that in no rank was there more danger of the doctrine of the spiritual equality and freedom of Christians being misunderstood than in that of slaves. It was natural for the slave who had become a Christian, to forget his place and put himself on a social level with his master. Hence the charge for each to abide in the sphere in which he was when converted (1Co 7:20-24).
- not answering again--in contradiction to the master: so the Greek, "not contradicting" [WAHL].

10. Not purloining--Greek, "Not appropriating" what does not belong to one. It means "keeping back" dishonestly or deceitfully (Ac 5:2, 3).
- showing--manifesting in acts.
- all--all possible.
- good--really good; not so in mere appearance (Eph 6:5, 6; Col 3:22-24). "The heathen do not judge of the Christian's doctrines from the doctrine, but from his actions and life" [CHRYSOSTOM]. Men will write, fight, and even die for their religion; but how few live for it! Translate, "That they may adorn the doctrine of our Saviour God," that is, God the Father, the originating author of salvation (compare Note, see on 1Ti 1:1). God deigns to have His Gospel-doctrine adorned even by slaves, who are regarded by the world as no better than beasts of burden. "Though the service be rendered to an earthly master, the honor redounds to God, as the servant's goodwill flows from the fear of God" [THEOPHYLACT]. Even slaves, low as is their status, should not think the influence of their example a matter of no consequence to religion: how much more those in a high position. His love in being "our Saviour" is the strongest ground for our adorning His doctrine by our lives. This is the force of "For" in Tit 2:11.

11. the grace of God--God's gratuitous favor in the scheme of redemption.
- hath appeared--Greek, "hath been made to appear," or "shine forth" (Isa 9:2; Lu 1:79). "hath been manifested" (Tit 3:4), after having been long hidden in the loving counsels of God (Col 1:26; 2Ti 1:9, 10). The image is illustrated in Ac 27:20. The grace of God hath now been embodied in Jesus, the brightness of the Father's glory," manifested as the "Sun of righteousness," "the Word made flesh." The Gospel dispensation is hence termed "the day" (1Th 5:5, 8; there is a double "appearing," that of "grace" here, that of "glory," Tit 2:13; compare Ro 13:12). Connect it not as English Version, but, "The grace . . . that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared," or "been manifested" (1Ti 2:4; 4:10). Hence God is called "our Saviour" (Tit 2:10). The very name Jesus means the same.
- to all--of whom he enumerated the different classes (Tit 2:2-9): even to servants; to us Gentiles, once aliens from God. Hence arises our obligation to all men (Tit 3:2).

12. Teaching--Greek, "disciplining us." Grace exercises discipline, and is imparted in connection with disciplining chastisements (1Co 11:32; Heb 12:6, 7). The education which the Christian receives from "the grace" of God is a discipline often trying to flesh and blood: just as children need disciplining. The discipline which it exercises teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world (Greek, "age," or course of things) where such self-discipline is needed, seeing that its spirit is opposed to God (Tit 1:12, 16; 1Co 1:20; 3:18, 19): in the coming world we may gratify every desire without need of self-discipline, because all desires there will be conformable to the will of God.
- that--Greek, "in order that"; the end of the "disciplining" is "in order that . . . we may live soberly," &c. This point is lost by the translation, "teaching us."
- denying . . . lusts-- (Lu 9:23). The Greek aorist expresses "denying once for all." We deny "worldly lusts" when we withhold our consent from them, when we refuse the delight which they suggest, and the act to which they solicit us, nay, tear them up by the roots out of our soul and mind [ST. BERNARD, Sermon 11].
- worldly lusts--The Greek article expresses, "the lusts of the world," "all worldly lusts" [ALFORD], (Ga 5:16; Eph 2:3; 1Jo 2:15-17; 5:19). The world (cosmos) will not come to an end when this present age (aeon) or course of things shall end.
- live soberly, righteously, and godly--the positive side of the Christian character; as "denying . . . lusts" was the negative. "Soberly," that is, with self-restraint, in relation to one's self: "righteously" or justly, in relation to our neighbor; "godly" or piously, in relation to God (not merely amiably and justly, but something higher, godly, with love and reverence toward God). These three comprise our "disciplining" in faith and love, from which he passes to hope (Tit 2:13).