Titus 2:1-15

A Guide for Christian Leaders

Titus

Hilda Bright and Helen Pocock

Chapter 2

What Titus had to teach

v1 But you, Titus, must teach the things that are true. v2 Teach the older men that they should not drink too much wine. Other people should be able to respect them. They should be able to control themselves. They must believe what is true. They must love and be patient. v3 In the same way, you should teach the older women to live a holy life. They must not speak badly about other people. They must not drink too much wine. But they should teach people that which is good. v4 Then they can teach the young women to love their husbands and their children. v5 The young women should also learn how to control themselves. And they should be pure (morally good). They should be busy at home. They should be kind. They should obey their husband. Then people cannot say evil things about the good news that comes from God.

The Christian character

Verse 1

Titus had to teach the Christians who lived in Crete. The false teachers had taught the Christians many wrong things. Titus was different from the false teachers. He had to teach what was true. He taught the different groups of people how to behave in the right way.

The older men

Verse 2

Older men should be mature. They should not behave in a foolish way. Younger people often copy older people; so older people should be good models.

1 They should not drink too much wine. People often behave badly when they drink too much wine. Then they cannot think clearly.

2 They must be men whom other people can respect. They should be serious and they should not be silly. They must realise that life on earth will come to an end. Then they will live in the right way to prepare for heaven.

3 They must be able to control their words and actions. They should think about the results of their behaviour. They should be sensible.

4 They must trust God completely as they believe the true *gospel message.

5 As they trust God, they will love him more. Then they will be able to love other people more. They should be able to understand people more. Then they can give more sympathy to those people who need help. Some old people tend to complain about people more. But this should not happen to Christians.

6 They should be patient. They should have courage when life is difficult.

Paul links faith (what people believe), love and patience in two other personal letters. (See 1 Timothy 6:11-12; 2 Timothy 3:10.)

The older women

Verse 3

The older women should behave in a mature way, too. They should always try to please God. The result of their good character should be their good behaviour. An older woman may have more spare time because her children have become adults. In that society, women often met together to gossip about other people. They also drank too much wine. To ‘speak badly’ means to say evil things and to lie. Paul said that Christian women should be different. They should be good models for other people to copy. They should use their time wisely. Paul wanted these women to teach in their homes. They should always speak about good things.