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The Bible is a never changing guide for such things as salvation, worship, relationships
with others and even family relations. "According as his divine power hath given unto us all
things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to
glory and virtue" (1 Peter 1:3). In Titus 2:1-5 the Holy Spirit has provided us with
a guide for all the varied age groups which make up the church of Christ. In this article we
will dwell upon our sisters-in-Christ.
In the past 30-40 years the devil's attack upon Christian women has been relentless. Beginning in the early 1970s the Feminist Movement has degraded motherhood and true femininity. These men-haters have been largely successful in bringing many women down to the moral level of some men — near the gutter. Its influence on the church was also felt through the calls for unscriptural roles for women in the church. Another factor which has affected Christian women is the increasingly materialistic bent of our society. Some sisters neglected their God-ordained role as homemakers to gain more and more of this world's goods. They left the home for the market place. Popular religion and religious literature also wreaked havoc with many Christian women's lives. Subjectivism was exalted, along with religious liberalism and pluralism. Interdenominational women's groups sprouted up like weeds on the American landscape, complete with the abomination of Scripture — quoting women preachers (see 1 Corinthians 14:34). Many sisters have been seduced by these groups away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ to "another gospel" (Galatians 1:6-9). But the righteous, God-fearing sister is still found in the pages of the New Testament. Women such as Phoebe of Cenchrea (Romans 16:1-2). She and many other women found the way out of the slavery of paganism and the burdens of Judaism — the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The pagan society of ancient Crete had a bad reputation. "One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies" (Titus 1:12). Paul was restating that the reputation of the Cretan was of a lying, destructive, gluttonous people. The lot of married women was no better. A married woman's place was in her room in her husband's house. She had no real rights or respect. The Christian sister in this environment was also surrounded by paganism where immorality was as common as breathing. Paul notes in Titus 1:14 the need for sound or spiritually healthy doctrine in the lives of these Christian women in Crete. In chapter one he showed how false doctrine trumpeted by false teachers (Titus 1:15-16) produces an unbalanced life filled with excesses. In contrast Paul wanted to show them how sound doctrine can produce the complete spiritual person (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Likewise Christian women today live in a society which is producing spiritually bankrupt people. Instead of a stable family you have the specter of broken homes and abusive relationships. The result is an aimless life, even for some sisters-in-Christ. These women desperately need the sound doctrine of the Bible to guide them to the joy of Christianity. Paul's goal in these instructions was to produce holy women. "Holy" is a word that means to be set apart for service to God (1 Peter 1:15-16). He begins by giving the older sisters a pattern for living they were to abide by as Christians. He first states that their behavior must be "as becometh holiness" (Titus 2:3) or "reverent" (NKJ). In other words they were to act as holy women of God should act. This is a needed trait for sisters today; women who are serious about their lives. Speaking of this daily reverence that produces inner beauty, Peter writes, "But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price" (1 Peter 3:4). These older sisters were also to not be "false accusers" (Titus 2:3) or "slanderers" (NKJ). This condition may have been caused by idleness mixed with envy and hatred. Speaking of young Christian widows, Paul wrote Timothy, "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" (1 Timothy 5:13). Awareness of our accountability to God of what we speak can stop this harmful speech (Matthew 12:36). Paul further commands Titus to tell the older sisters not to be "given to much wine" (Titus 2:3) or literally, "not to wine much enslaved." A life of idleness and sinful conduct may have caused them to be enslaved to wine. Paul was not advocating partial slavery to the sin of drunkenness by "moderate drinking" as some teach. Rather, he wanted the opposite of slavery which is freedom or total abstinence from alcoholic beverages. Millions of women today are enslaved to drink, wither "moderate" or habitual, and society is the worse for it (John 8:34). In Titus 2:3 Paul instructs Timothy to tell the older women to "teach" or "train" (ASV) the younger Christian women. He and the Holy Spirit even gave them a curriculum of "good things" to follow:
The Apostle Paul gives in verse five the reasoning behind these instructions: "that the word of God be not blasphemed." The unbeliever in First Century A.D. Crete might notice the undisciplined lives of some Christian women and think, "If that is the Way, I want no part of it!" Likewise the unbeliever can come to the same conclusion today. They can look at our aimless lives and think, "And they say we should follow the Bible?" Our lives should reflect the fact that the word of God is our guide in this life to life eternal. "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). The writer of this epistle followed his own instructions. He lived a life of discipline and purpose; a complete man in Christ. Christian women and men can learn from these inspired instructions he wrote 2,000 years ago. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). |