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. |