Survey of the Letters of Paul back to the top     back to main page for this verse Titus 1:6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. This section has 3 verses: 5 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: 6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. 7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; We will begin with the Barclay: THE ELDERS OF THE CHURCH Paul uses one very vivid word. The family of the elder must be such that they cannot be accused of profligacy [prof-li-guh-see] [shameless, reckless extravagance]. The Greek word is aso¯tia. It is the word used in Luke 15:13 for the riotous living of the prodigal son. The person who is aso¯tos is wasteful, extravagant and incapable of saving, and spends everything on personal pleasure. Such a person loses it all and in the end suffers personal ruin. One who is aso¯tos is the old English scatterling, the Scots ne’er-do-well, the modern waster. Aristotle, who always described a virtue as the midpoint between two extremes, declares that on the one hand there is stinginess, on the other there is aso¯tia, reckless and selfish extravagance, and the relevant virtue is generosity. The household of the elder must never be guilty of the bad example of reckless spending on personal pleasure. Quoted verse: Luke 15:13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. See my sermon on the subject:  Rampageous [ram-pey-juh s] Further, the family of the elder must not be undisciplined.  Nothing can make up for the lack of parental control. In his book on the Pastorals, Sir Robert Falconer quotes a saying about the household of the English statesman and martyr Sir Thomas More: ‘He controls his family with the same easy hand: no tragedies, no quarrels. If a dispute begins, it is promptly settled. His whole house breathes happiness, and no one enters it who is not the better for the visit.’ The true training ground for the eldership is at least as much in the home as it is in the church. ~Barclay commentary See my sermon on discipline: Zucht [zyxt] [ https://www.howtopronounce.com/german/zucht/ ] Now to the other commentaries.  We will begin with the general and proceed to the specific. The apostle here gives Titus directions about ordination, showing whom he should ordain, and whom not. I. Of those whom he should ordain. He points out their qualifications and virtues; such as respect their life and manners, and such as relate to their doctrine: the former in the sixth, seventh, and eighth verses, and the latter in the ninth. 1. Their qualifications respecting their life and manners are, (1.) More general: If any be blameless; not absolutely without fault, so none are, for there is none that liveth and sinneth not; nor altogether unblamed, this is rare and difficult. Christ himself and his apostles were blamed, though not worthy of it. In Christ thee was certainly nothing blamable; and his apostles were not such as their enemies charged them to be. But the meaning is, He must be one who lies not under an ill character; but rather must have good report, even from those that are without; not grossly or scandalously guilty, so as would bring reproach upon the holy function; he must not be such a one. (2.) More particularly. [1.] There is his relative character. In his own person, he must be of conjugal chastity: The husband of one wife. The church of Rome says the husband of no wife, but from the beginning it was not so; marriage is an ordinance from which no profession nor calling is a bar. 1 Corinthians 9:5, Have I not power, says Paul, to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles? Forbidding to marry is one of the erroneous doctrines of the antichristian church, 1 Timothy 4:3. Not that ministers must be married; this is not meant; but the husband of one wife may be either not having divorced his wife and married another (as was too common among those of the circumcision, even for slight causes), or the husband of one wife, that is, at one and the same time, no bigamist; not that he might not be married to more than one wife successively, but, being married, he must have but one wife at once, not two or more, according to the too common sinful practice of those times, by a perverse imitation of the patriarchs, from which evil custom our Lord taught a reformation. Polygamy is scandalous in any, as also having a harlot or concubine with his lawful wife; such sin, or any wanton libidinous demeanor, must be very remote from such as would enter into so sacred a function. And, as to his children, having faithful children, obedient and good, brought up in the true Christian faith, and living according to it, at least as far as the endeavours of the parents can avail. It is for the honour of ministers that their children be faithful and pious, and such as become their religion. Not accused of riot, nor unruly, not justly so accused, as having given ground and occasion for it, for otherwise the most innocent may be falsely so charged; they must look to it therefore that there be no color for such censure. Children so faithful, and obedient, and temperate, will be a good sign of faithfulness and diligence in the parent who has so educated and instructed them; and, from his faithfulness in the less, there may be encouragement to commit to him the greater, the rule and government of the church of God. ~Matthew Henry Main Quoted verses: 1 Corinthians 9:5 Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas? 1 Timothy 4:3 [see Lesson] Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. Now the Matthew Henry concise which covers verses 1-5: The Holy Spirit, both in the Old and the New Testament, spoke of a general turning from the faith of Christ, and the pure worship of God. This should come during the Christian dispensation, for those are called the latter days. False teachers forbid as evil what God has allowed, and command as a duty what he has left indifferent. We find exercise for watchfulness and self-denial, in attending to the requirements of God's law, without being tasked to imaginary duties, which reject what he has allowed. But nothing justifies an intemperate or improper use of things; and nothing will be good to us, unless we seek by prayer for the Lord's blessing upon it. ~Matthew Henry Concise Here is something from the Biblical Illustrator: Rules to keep a man unreprovable 1. Labour with thy heart to see itself still in the presence of God, and this wilt be a means to keep it in order; whores otherwise an unruly heart will break out one time or other. 2. Have a care of a good name, as well as a good conscience; not so much for thy own as for God’s glory: neither because thyself, but ethers stand much upon it. 3. Avoid occasions of sins, appearances of evil, seeing thy motes become beams. 4. Study to do thy own duty diligently, meddle not with other men’s matters. 5. Curb and cover thine own infirmities, buffet [content with or battle] thy body, and bring it in subjection (1 Corinthians 9:1-27). 6. Daily pray for thyself, with a desire of the prayer and admonition of others. Quoted verses are 1 Corinthians 9:1-27 but I will give you the definitive four verses that apply to line 5. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. Now notice this from the Cambridge Bible commentary: If any be blameless, the husband of one wife - ‘Blameless’; the word has occurred 1 Timothy 3:10, to the same effect as ‘without reproach’ in 1 Timothy 3:2, that word describing a character ‘such as cannot be laid hold of,’ this denoting a life ‘such as cannot be called in question,’ Vulgate ‘sine crimine.’ For the importance of this primary qualification see note on 1 Timothy 5:7. It fits exactly with the next, ‘husband of one wife.’ This also was what the ordinands [awr-dn-and] [candidate for ordination]  were to be before they were appointed presbyters; hence ‘husband of one wife’ refers to the prevalent polygamy, and has nothing to do with prohibition of a second marriage after ordination. We see in this here as elsewhere in the Pastoral Epistles ‘a solemn demand for purity and blamelessness in the marriage relation amid widespread concubinage [kon-kyoo-buh-nij] [man-woman living together without marriage or use of concubines] and license [excessive or undue liberty].’ Dr Reynolds, Expositor, Vol. viii. p. 74. Technically, ‘not a bigamist.’ ~Cambridge Bible commentary Quoted verses: 1 Timothy 3:10 [see Lesson] And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. 1 Timothy 3:2 [see Lesson] A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; 1 Timothy 5:7 [see Lesson] And these things give in charge, that they may be blameless. Now to the specific commentaries. The commentaries break this verse in many different ways so we will go with this: 1] If any be blameless. 2] The husband of one wife. 3] Having faithful children not accused of riot. 4] Or unruly. 1] If any be blameless. If any be blameless - In his outward life and conversation, not chargeable with any notorious crime. ~John Gill If any be blameless - The appointment is conditioned on finding the right kind of men. For a discussion of the qualifications. ~People's New Testament 2] The husband of one wife. This phrase was covered adequately in the general commentaries. 3] Having faithful children not accused of riot. Having faithful children - That is, having a family well-governed, and well-trained in religion. The word here - πιστὰ pista - applied to the children, and rendered faithful, does not necessarily mean that they should be truly pious, but it is descriptive of those who had been well-trained, and were in due subordination. If a man’s family were not of his character - if his children were insubordinate, and opposed to religion - if they were decided infidels or scoffers, it would show that there was such a deficiency in the head of the family that he could not be safely entrusted with the government of the church. It is probably true, also, that the preachers at that time would be selected, as far as practicable, from those whose families were all Christians. There might be great impropriety in placing a man over a church, a part of whose family were Jews or heathens. ~Barnes Notes Not accused of riot - That is, whose children were not accused of riot. This explains what is meant by faithful. The word rendered “riot” - ἀσωτία asōtia - is translated excess in Ephesians 5:18, and riot in Titus 1:6; 1 Peter 4:4. It does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament, though the word riotous is found in Luke 15:13. The meaning here is, that they should not be justly accused of this; this should not be their character. It would, doubtless, be a good reason now why a man should not be ordained to the ministry that he had a dissipated and disorderly family. ~Barnes Notes Quoted verses: Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 1 Peter 4:4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: Luke 15:13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. Having faithful children - Whose family is converted to God. It would have been absurd to employ a man to govern the Church whose children were not in subjection to himself; for it is an apostolic maxim, that he who cannot rule his own house, cannot rule the Church of God ~Adam Clarke Having faithful children - legitimate ones, born in lawful wedlock, in the same sense as such are called godly and holy, in Malachi 2:15 1 Corinthians 7:14 for by faithful children cannot be meant converted ones, or true believers in Christ; for it is not in the power of men to make their children such; and their not being so can never be an objection to their being elders, if otherwise qualified; at most the phrase can only intend, that they should be brought up in the faith, in the principles, doctrines, and ways of Christianity, or in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. ~John Gill Malachi 2:15 ...but I will read from verse 10.  This chapter of Malachi is God rebuking the concept of marriages with heathen neighbors. 10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god. 12 The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts. 13 And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. 14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. 15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. 1 Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. Not accused of riot - or chargeable with sins of uncleanness and intemperance, with rioting and drunkenness, chambering and wantonness; or with such crimes as Eli's sons were guilty of, from which they were not restrained by their father, and therefore the priesthood was removed from the family: "or unruly" not subject, but disobedient to their parents. ~John Gill Having faithful children — that is, believing children. He who could not bring his children to faith, how shall he bring others? Alford explains, “established in the faith.” ~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown 4] Or unruly. Or unruly - Insubordinate; ungoverned. ~Barnes Notes Unruly — insubordinate; opposed to “in subjection” ~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown As you take time later to review this verse, you will come to understand what it means to be blameless.  You will understand what God wants in elders and ministers and ultimately all positions in the church.  You will also come to fully understand what God wants from firstfruits for their children as you read from that one commentary, "that they should be brought up in the faith, in the principles, doctrines, and ways of Christianity, or in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." These are the lessons of verse 6. back to the top     back to main page for this verse