This section of chapter 2 has 3
verses.
Titus 2:3-5
3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour
as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given
to much wine, teachers of good things;
4 That they may teach the young women to be sober,
to love their husbands, to love their children,
5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good,
obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God
be not blasphemed.
We will begin with the Barclay:
THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER
3. THE YOUNGER WOMEN
THE younger women are instructed to be devoted to
their husbands and their children, to be prudent and
chaste, to manage their households well, to be
kindly to their servants and to be obedient to their
husbands; and the object of such conduct is that no
one will be able to speak evil of the word of God.
In this passage, there is both something that is of
temporary value and something that is permanent.
In the ancient Greek world, the respectable woman
lived a completely secluded life. In the house, she
had her own quarters and seldom left them, not even
to sit at meals with the male members of the family;
and no man except her husband ever entered her
rooms. She never attended any public assemblies or
meetings; she seldom appeared on the streets, and,
when she did, she never did so alone. In fact, it
has been said that there was no honourable way in
which a Greek woman could make a living. No trade or
profession was open to her; and, if she tried to
earn a living, she was driven to prostitution. If
the women of the ancient Church had suddenly burst
every limitation which the centuries had imposed
upon them, the only result would have been to bring
discredit on the Church and cause people to say that
Christianity corrupted womanhood. The life laid down
here seems narrow and restricted, but it is to be
read against its background. In that sense, this
passage is of its time and so is temporary.
But there is also a sense in which it is permanent.
It is the simple fact that there is no greater task,
responsibility and privilege in this world than to
make a home. It may well be that, when women are
involved in all the exhausting duties which children
and a home bring with them, they may say: ‘If only I
could be done with all this, so that I could live a
truly religious life.’ There is in fact nowhere
where a truly religious life can better be lived
than within the home. As John Keble’s hymn ‘New
Every Morning’ has it:
We need not bid, for cloistered cell,
Our neighbour and our work farewell,
Nor strive to wind ourselves too high
For sinful man beneath the sky;
The trivial round, the common task,
Will furnish all we need to ask –
Room to deny ourselves, a road
To bring us daily nearer God.
In the last analysis, there can be no greater career
than that of homemaking. Many who have made a mark
in the world have been enabled to do so simply
because someone at home loved them and looked after
them. It is infinitely more important to be at home
to put the children to bed and hear them say their
prayers than to attend all the public and church
meetings in the world. ~Barclay commentary
Now to the other commentaries. We will begin with
the general and go to the specific.
We will begin with Matthew Henry Main. This is a
huge commentary covering the first 10 verses of
Titus 2. We will break in to this where they discuss
verse 5.
Thus, in reference to the husbands, wives must be
instructed in their duties of love and subjection to
them. And to love their children, not with a natural
affection only, but a spiritual, a love springing
from a holy sanctified heart and regulated by the
word; not a fond foolish love, indulging them in
evil, neglecting due reproof and correction where
necessary, but a regular Christian love, showing
itself in their pious education, forming their life
and manners aright, taking care of their souls as
well as of their bodies, of their spiritual welfare
as well as of their temporal, of the former chiefly
and in the first place. The reason is added: That
the word of God may not be blasphemed. Failures in
such relative duties would be greatly to the
reproach of Christianity. “What are these the better
for this their new religion?” would the infidels be
ready to say. The word of God and the gospel of
Christ are pure, excellent, and glorious, in
themselves; and their excellency should be expressed
and shown in the lives and conduct of their
professors, especially in relative duties; failures
here being disgrace. Romans 2:24,
The name of God is blasphemed
among the Gentiles through you. “Judge what a
God he is,” would they be ready to say, “by these
his servants; and what his word, and doctrine, and
religion, are by these his followers.” Thus would
Christ be wounded in the house of his friends. Thus
of the duties of the younger women.
~Matthew Henry Main
Now to the Matthew Henry Concise. This commentary
covers verses 1-10.
Old disciples of Christ must behave in everything
agreeably to the Christian doctrine. That the aged
men be sober; not thinking that the decays of nature
will justify any excess; but seeking comfort from
nearer communion with God, not from any undue
indulgence. Faith works by, and must be seen in
love, of God for himself, and of men for God's sake.
Aged persons are apt to be peevish and fretful;
therefore, need to be on their guard. Though there
is not express Scripture for every word, or look,
yet there are general rules, according to which all
must be ordered. Young women must be sober and
discreet; for many expose themselves to fatal
temptations by what at first might be only want of
discretion. The reason is added, that the word of
God may not be blasphemed. Failures in duties
greatly reproach Christianity. Young men are apt to
be eager and thoughtless, therefore must be
earnestly called upon to be sober-minded: there are
more young people ruined by pride than by any other
sin. Every godly man's endeavor must be to stop the
mouths of adversaries. Let thine own conscience
answer for thine uprightness. What a glory is it for
a Christian, when that mouth which would fain open
itself against him, cannot find any evil in him to
speak of! ~Matthew Henry
Concise.
Here is a piece from the Biblical
Illustrator
That they may teach the young women - The education
of young women
The young women are mentioned here as under the
teaching and authority of the aged. What now are
some of the first elements which Paul insists on in
the education of a Christian family? He omits many
things which one would have supposed to stand high
in the list of young ladies’ accomplishments; for
example, music, dancing, and the art of binding
themselves into the shape of sand glasses. Perhaps
the apostle thought them sufficiently advanced in
such acquirements, and that therefore he might pass
them over in silence. He insists, however, that
these aged governesses shall teach the following
great elementary principles.
1. That the young woman be sober, wise, of a sound
mind, prudent and discreet members of the Church of
[God] The first
element, then, in the education of your daughters is
wisdom or prudence [invoking
wisdom in practical affairs]; and if you
begin anywhere else with them, you begin at the
wrong end. This wisdom or prudence is not easily
defined, but it will appear in the entire character
and conduct of their future life; it will enable
them to avoid the snares which the ungodly lay for
them, and conduct themselves in a manner worthy of
the name and the religion of their Redeemer. This
prudence is opposed to rashness, enthusiasm, and
impulsive resolutions, to which the young mind, and
especially the young female mind, is naturally
inclined.
2. Then secondly, they are to love their husbands,
for without this, the house will become a
pandemonium, and profligacy [prof-li-guh-see]
[shamelessness]
and impurity fill the land. Their love to their
husbands should be ardent [intense
feeling; passionate] and unchangeable,
yielding neither to the seduction of strangers nor
to the husband’s coldness and neglect at home.
3. To love their children. It may be asked, Is not
this love natural? and if so, where is the necessity
for teaching it? I answer, bad habits in society can
eradicate many of the principles of our nature, and
make us more degraded and unfeeling than the brutes.
[The commentary here gives
examples from history where parents killed their
young] Are there no Foundling hospitals
within the bounds of Christendom? Then remember that
the Isle of Crete was one of the wickedest places in
the world, and the inhabitants mere heathen, and you
shall see the force of the exhortation to “love
their children.” It is an awful fact, which I first
heard of in Hamburgh, that in the continental cities
there is a class of old wives, real old devils, who
are called “child murderesses,” and whose office it
is to save the mother and destroy the child! In this
way myriads of innocent infants are sacrificed, and
no eye but the eye of God, the mother, and the
murderess, ever knows anything about it!
4. They are to be discreet, which is the same as
sober, mentioned in the fourth verse; chaste, viz.,
placing all their happiness in their husbands and
families alone; keepers at home, that they may
attend to the affairs of the household, and be an
example to their children.
5. Good; they are to be good wives, faithful and
diligent in their household duties. Good is a very
expressive word, and is used to denote the highest
excellence (Acts 11:24). Good (from
which our word God comes, the Good One) I
take in its most general acceptation to signify the
disposition to bless; it is the fountain of kindness
within, from which love, mercy, and all gentle and
kind actions flow; “obedient to their own husbands,
that the Word of God be not blasphemed.” The great
duty of the wife is obedience, and in this she is a
type of the Church’s obedience and submission to
Christ. Love is common to both, though the natural
order is that his should go before and hers follow
after, as in the case of Christ and the Church; then
obedience is her special duty, even as protection
and defence are his. The command, probably, has a
special reference to wives who were united to
unbelieving or heathen husbands, and teaches that
grace never delivers us from the obligations of
nature—they are, though believing, to be obedient to
their husbands though unbelieving, and the husband,
though unbelieving, is bound to love, support, and
protect his wife, though she is a believer in the
gospel. ~Biblical
Illustrator with some editing by me
Quoted verse:
Acts 11:24
For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost
[Spirit and of faith: and much people was added unto
the Lord.
Now to the specific commentaries.
The verse is broken out in 6 parts
1] To be discreet.
2] Chaste.
3] Keepers at home.
4] Good.
5] Obedient to their own husbands.
6] that the word of God be not blasphemed.
1] To be
discreet.
To be discreet - The
same word rendered, in Titus 2:2, “temperate.
~Barnes Notes
To be discreet - Or
temperate in eating and drinking, so the word is
rendered in Titus 2:2 or to be sober both in body
and mind; or to be wise and prudent in the whole of
their conduct, both at home and abroad:
~John Gill
To be discreet
- Particularly in the love of their children.
~John Wesley Explanatory Notes
2] Chaste.
Chaste - Pure - in
heart, and in life. ~Barnes
Notes
Chaste - in body, in
affection, words and actions, having their love pure
and single to their own husbands, keeping their
marriage bed undefiled.
~John Gill
Chaste - Particularly
in the love of their husbands.
~John Wesley Explanatory Notes
3] Keepers at
home.
Keepers at home - That
is, characteristically attentive to their domestic
concerns, or to their duties in their families.
This does not mean, of course, that they are never
to go abroad, but they are not to neglect their
domestic affairs; they are not to be better known
abroad than at home; they are not to omit their own
duties and become “busy-bodies” in the concerns of
others. Religion is the patron of the domestic
virtues, and regards the appropriate duties in a
family as those most intimately connected with its
own progress in the world. It looks benignly on all
which makes home a place of contentment,
intelligence, and peace. It does not flourish when
domestic duties are neglected; - and whatever may be
done abroad, or whatever self-denial and zeal in the
cause of religion may be evinced there, or whatever
call there may be for the labors of Christians
there, or however much good may be actually done
abroad, religion has gained nothing, on the whole,
if, in order to secure these things, the duties of a
wife and mother at home have been disregarded. Our
first duty is at home, and all other duties will be
well performed just in proportion as that is.
~Barnes Notes
Keepers at home - A
woman who spends much time in visiting, must neglect
her family. The idleness, dirtiness, impudence, and
profligacy [prof-li-guh-see]
[shamelessness]
of the children, will soon show how deeply criminal
the mother was in rejecting the apostle’s advice.
Instead of, keepers of the house, or keepers at
home, and several of the Itala, have, workers at
home; not only staying in the house and keeping the
house, but working in the house. A woman may keep
the house very closely, and yet do little in it for
the support or comfort of the family.
~Adam Clarke
Keepers at home -
minding their own family affairs, not gadding
abroad; and inspecting into, and busying themselves
about other people's matters.
~John Gill
Keepers at home -
Whenever they are not called out by works of
necessity, piety, and mercy.
~John Wesley Explanatory Notes
Keepers at home — as
“guardians of the house,” as the Greek expresses.
The oldest manuscripts read, “Workers at home”:
active in household duties (Proverbs 7:11; 1 Timothy
5:13). ~Jamieson, Fausset,
Brown
Quoted verses:
Proverbs 7:10-12
...giving you verse 10 and
12 also
10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the
attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in
her house:
12 Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth
in wait at every corner.)
1 Timothy 5:13 [see
Lesson]
And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about
from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers
also and busybodies, speaking things which they
ought not.
4] Good.
Good - In all respects,
and in all relations. To a wife, a mother, a sister,
there can be no higher characteristic ascribed, than
to say that she is good. What other trait of mind
will enable her better to perform her appropriate
duties of life? What other will make her more like
her Saviour? ~Barnes Notes
Good — kind,
beneficent. Not churlish and niggardly [reluctant
to give or spend], but thrifty as
housewives. ~Jamieson,
Fausset, Brown
Good - Well tempered,
sweet, soft, obliging.
~John Wesley Explanatory Notes
5] Obedient to
their own husbands.
Obedient to their husbands - Whose will, in
all things lawful, is a rule to the wife.
~John Wesley
Explanatory Notes
Obedient to their own husbands - Ephesians
5:22-24. ~Barnes Notes
Ephesians 5:22-24
22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands,
as unto the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as
Christ is the head of the church: and he is the
saviour of the body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ,
so let the wives be to their own husbands in every
thing.
See the sermon, "Mystery
He Wrote."
6] that the
word of God be not blasphemed.
That the word of God be not
blasphemed - That the gospel may not be
injuriously spoken of, on account of the
inconsistent lives of those who profess to be
influenced by it. The idea is, that religion ought
to produce the virtues here spoken of, and that when
it does not, it will be reproached as being of no
value. ~Barnes Notes
That the word of God be not
blasphemed - The enemies of the Gospel are
quick-eyed to spy out imperfections in its
professors; and, if they find women professing
Christianity living an irregular life, they will not
fail to decry the Christian doctrine on this
account: “Behold your boasted religion! it professes
to reform all things, and its very professors are no
better than others! Our heathenism is as good as
your Christianity.” These are cutting reproaches;
and much they will have to answer for who give cause
for these blasphemies.
~Adam Clarke
That the word of God be not
blasphemed - Or evil spoken of; particularly
by unbelieving husbands, who lay all the blame on
the religion of their wives.
~John Wesley Explanatory Notes
That the word of God be not
blasphemed - by unbelieving husbands, who, by
the ill conduct of their wives, would be provoked to
speak ill of the Gospel, as if that taught
disaffection and disobedience to them.
~John Gill
That the word of God be not
blasphemed - “evil spoken of.” That no
reproach may be cast on the Gospel, through the
inconsistencies of its professors “Unless we are
virtuous [morally excellent],
blasphemy will come through us to the faith."
~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
So young ladies and wives:
--be discreet
--chaste
--keepers at home
--good
--obedient to your husbands
--guard the gospel that it not be blasphemed
These are the lessons of verse 5 |