When Paul wrote that “young women” with “husbands” and “children” are to be “keepers at home” (Titus 2:4,5), the exact meaning of that latter phrase has inspired debates among Christians of epic proportion!  At the core of this discussion we usually find the issue of whether or not a mom should work outside the home.  And one of the examples of Christian women in the Bible who can help answer this question is a woman the Bible describes as “virtuous,” saying,

“…a virtuous woman… perceiveth that her merchandise is good… she layeth her hands to the spindle, and… the distaff…” (Proverbs 31:10,18,19).

The spindle and distaff were used in making cloth, and that word “merchandise” refers to goods that are bought and sold.  That means this lady was a merchant!  That agrees with how this chapter later says of her, “she maketh fine linen, and selleth it” to other merchants (v. 24).

From her example, I would suggest it is not unvirtuous for a Christian wife to work outside the home.  If it be argued that she ran a home business, as opposed to working for an employer, I would invite you to consider that in those days most men were also self-employed.  It was the Industrial Revolution that led men away from family-owned farms and businesses to work outside the home.  So this virtuous woman was employed in the same way most men were in her day.

Over in the New Testament, we see another merchant named Lydia, “a seller of purple” (Acts 16:14).  She had a “household” (v. 15), a family, as well as a business that took her and her family away from her home in Thyatira to Philippi, where she too worked outside her home.

Beloved, we didn’t create the two-income society in which we live.  Women in the ‘60s were sold a bill of goods when they were told that being a wife and mother wasn’t a high enough ideal to aim at in life.  But when they went to work, prices rose accordingly.  When retailers saw people had more money, they charged more for their products, forcing many wives to work just to make ends meet.  So as I say, we didn’t create this two-income society, but we have to live in it.

And this has caused no end of unhappiness for believers and unbelievers alike.  Back in the ‘90s I heard a radio talk show host tell how he took calls from wives in the ‘60s who felt trapped because they wanted to work outside the home but couldn’t, for in those days jobs for women were scarce.  But in the ‘90s he heard from women who also felt trapped, but for the opposite reason.  They longed to be able to stay home with their children, but couldn’t afford to do so.

If it is your understanding that moms shouldn’t work, I have nothing but respect for your conviction.  It is extremely difficult to raise a family on one income as I did, and those choosing to do so face an uphill climb.  Standing firm in the face of what feminism did to us takes courage.

But whatever your conviction, it is my sincere hope that you will avoid being critical of those who are of a different persuasion.  Paul says,

“Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth… Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” (Romans 14:4,5).

All Christians belong to the Lord.  He is our Master, we are His servants.  So when you judge another believer, you are judging God’s servant!  And when you do, you should know that the Lord is on his side.  How do I know?  Because Paul went on to say,

“…to his own master he standeth or falleth.  Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand” (Romans 14:4).

This means that no matter what your personal conviction is as to the meaning of “keepers at home,” God will uphold you at the Judgment Seat of Christ—that is, if you live by your conviction and don’t judge others.  What do you say we all determine right here and now to be grace believers in deed and not just in word, and be gracious in this sensitive area of life as well.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.

If you want to get a big fight going in a small amount of time, just ask a few Christians what they think Paul meant when he wrote that “young women” with “husbands” and “children” should be “keepers at home” (Titus 2:4,5).  But the only sure way to interpret the Bible is by comparing Scripture with Scripture (I Cor. 2:13), not by comparing opinions with opinions!  With that in mind, let’s compare how the word “keeper” is used in other parts of the Bible.

For instance, you’ve probably heard Christians quote this beloved verse:

“I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Psalm 84:10).

Doorkeepers in Israel’s temple had some pretty specific duties, some of which involved the finances of God’s house:

“…they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered… and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the Lord, to repair and amend the house” (II Chronicles 34:9,10).

As you can see, the doorkeepers in God’s house were evidently involved in the finances that were used to maintain the grandest home in the world, the temple of Solomon.  So to say you were a doorkeeper in those days probably didn’t sound like a job that came with a lot of responsibility.  But those who knew the Word of God well knew that such was not the case.

Similarly, when a Christian woman says that she’s one of the “keepers at home” that the Bible talks about, that too sounds like a job that doesn’t come with a lot of responsibility, at least in the ears of unbelievers.  But those who know the Word of God well know that that’s not the case either.  For example, in many Christian homes the wife is in charge of the finances.

This is something I like to point out in the premarital counseling class that I have with couples before I officiate at their wedding.  Some women are just naturally better at keeping the books!  God’s Word clearly teaches that “the husband is the head of the wife” (Eph. 5:23), but a wise husband recognizes his wife’s abilities and is willing to delegate some of his authority to her.

Sure, a husband could insist, “I’m the head of the home, so it’s my job to manage our finances.”  And since finances are such an extremely important aspect of the home, I can surely understand how a man might feel that way, and I have nothing but respect for his conviction.

But if that is your personal persuasion as a husband, I would invite you to consider that the finances are an extremely important aspect of businesses and corporations as well.  Yet we know that business owners and CEOs alike all employ comptrollers, CPAs and others with accounting skills to keep the books.  A leader who insists on personally managing every aspect of his organization is sure to affect his health adversely, and the same is true for the head of a home.

And needlessly so!  God calls women who are in charge of the finances “virtuous,” saying:

“…she considereth a field, and buyeth it…” (Proverbs 31:10,16).

As you can see, the virtuous woman described in this well-known passage of Scripture had a husband who allowed her to make financial decisions that were more than just incidental.  Her liberty to make such a major purchase shows that it was true that “the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her” (v. 11) in the important area of the family’s finances, as well as in other areas where she can “do him good and not evil all the days of her life” (v. 12).

The Christian home is often criticized by the world as a place where the wife and mother is little more than a dishrag and a doormat.  But this is not how the Word of God describes “keepers at home!”  The Christian wife and mother is an integral part of the management of the grandest home in the world in our own day: the Christian home.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.

In Paul’s letter to Titus, he gave the young man some instructions to pass on to “aged women” (Titus 2:1-3).  Whenever I read these verses while preaching, I always explain to my congregation that I’ll teach Paul’s instructions, “even though we don’t have any aged women in our church.”  This policy has always made me very popular with the aged women in our church!

One of the things Paul tells aged women to do is to “teach…young women” with “husbands” and “children” to be “keepers at home” (vs. 4,5).  Since there is a lot of controversy about the exact meaning of that phrase, in an earlier edition of Two Minutes I shared some examples of how that word keeper is used in Scripture, to try to determine what “keepers at home” might mean.

For instance, the Bible talks about the doorkeepers of the temple (Ps. 84: 10).  We discussed some of the Bible duties of doorkeepers, and another is found in II Kings 23:4:

“And the king commanded… the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal…”

Doorkeepers in the temple were commanded by the king to expel idolatry from God’s home.  From this example I think it is safe to extrapolate and say that Christian moms should guard the temple of their homes against idolatry as well.  Now you might think that there is little danger of idolatry rearing it’s ugly head in a Christian home, but remember that the Apostle Paul says that “covetousness…is idolatry” (Col. 3:5).  If you’re a Christian mom, and you’ve never witnessed any covetousness in your home among your children, you are a fortunate mom indeed!  Most moms have to work hard to keep their children from the pitfalls of always wanting things.

But the “the vessels that were made for Baal” in the temple didn’t just promote idolatry, they also promoted false doctrine.  So I would further submit that it is the job of the door keepers of the Christian home to keep the influences of false doctrine out of the home.  Moms need to be careful about the kinds of religious programming they allow to enter their homes via the radio, television and internet, etc.  Kids might not seem to be paying attention to the words of the programs you listen to, but do you remember what the Bible says about how children learn?

“Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:9,10).

Did you ever wonder why those verses repeat themselves so much?  It is because children learn by constant repetition.  And if a mom is constantly listening to errant Bible teachers, her children are learning error—line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little.  Christian mom, you are your children’s first line of defense against unsound doctrine.

Finally, there is yet another kind of keeper mentioned in Scripture, the “keeper of the wardrobe” (II Kings 22:14).  Moms are in charge of providing suitable clothing for their children (Prov. 31:21)—and then there’s the endless job of washing and ironing the wardrobe!

But there is more to being the keeper of the wardrobe than this.  Christian moms must see that daughters learn to dress like young ladies, and boys learn to dress like young men.  This might not seem very important on the surface, but stop for a minute and consider how the world around us is pushing our society toward what they call a “gender neutral” status.  In the face of this onslaught of evil, could anything be more important than for moms to be “keepers of the wardrobe.”

As you can see, being “keepers at home” involves far more than just housekeeping.  A mom who is keeping a Christian home is standing firm on the front line of the battle for the minds and hearts and souls of her children.  And is there anything more important than that?

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.