Summary:

“Principalities” (3:1) are the “principal men” of a city (Acts 25:10,11).  Paul was willing to be subject to them even to death, because he understood the power of government is ordained of God, that “there is no power but of God” (Rom. 13:1).  Who’s to say husbands have power over wives?  Only God.  There is no power but what God gives.

So to resist the government is to resist the power of God, and resisting brings “damnation” (Rom. 13:2), or judgment from the government—up to and including the death penalty (Gen. 9:6).  So we should be “afraid” of the government’s “ministers” (Rom. 13:3,4), i.e., police officers, for they don’t bear a lethal weapon “in vain.”

God has always wanted His people to obey the government in every dispensation, and not be hasty to go live someplace else (Eccl. 8:2,3).  His people were always told not to stand up to the government (8:3,4), and if we don’t, that we’ll feel no evil thing from them (v.5 cf. Rom. 13:3).

We are free citizens of the United States, but “as free” citizens of heaven (I Peter 2:13-16), Peter says we have to obey the government to be “servants of God.”  That is, we shouldn’t look at it as serving the government, but as serving God who gave the government it’s power.

Someday our government might be conquered by another, but even then God’s people are told to obey the new government, just as God’s people in Israel were told to do when they were conquered (Jer. 27:17).

When Paul says to obey “magistrates” (Tit. 3:1), don’t forget some magistrates wrongfully beat and imprisoned him (Acts 16:19-24).  Paul took that joyfully (v.25), and so should we.

If you don’t obey the government, you can’t be “ready to every good work” (Tit. 3:1).  We’re not saved by good works (Eph. 2:8,9), but “unto” good works (v. 10).  But if you break the law and they put you in prison, you can’t be ready to do a lot of good works that can only be done as a free man.

When Paul says to “speak evil of no man” (Tit. 3:2) it looks like he’s changing the subject, but he’s talking about not speaking evil of dignities in government (II Pet. 2:10-12). That phrase “speak evil” means saying things like what we read in Psalm 41:5.  Also, if you lie about leaders in government you are speaking evil of them (cf. Ps. 109:2,20).  It is also speaking evil of them to call them evil-doers (I Pe. 3:16).  It’s one thing to disagree with one of a government policy, it’s another to say they are evil to have passed it into law.

“What if the government is plotting to do us evil”?  Even then, it is not our place to call our leaders evil (Job 34:18).  Paul knew that and lived by it.  Everything he said about his ruler was true, but he admitted that he had spoken “evil” of him in saying it (Acts 23:1-5).

There’s a reason the Greek word for “speak evil” in Titus 3:2 is blasphemo.  Since God has ordained government, it is blasphemy to speak against it.  It is what they charged Naboth with (I Ki. 21:13).  Now it was true he refused to sell the king his vineyard, but it wasn’t blasphemy for him, for the Law of Moses forbad it.  So to obey the king he would have had to disobey God—and that is the exception to the rule (Dan. 3:16).

Outside of that, not even the Jews going into the Tribulation to whom Peter wrote were to speak evil of the government, as Peter told them (II Pe. 2:10-12).  Some will, but Peter says that they “understand not” that they shouldn’t resist the government even if the Antichrist is on the throne, which he will be in the Tribulation.

Summary:

Before Paul, “the grace of God that bringeth salvation” (2:11) only appeared to Jewish men (John 4:22).  But beginning with Paul, it now appears to Jews and Gentiles, teaching us how to behave (2:12).  But it teaches us differently than our moms taught us this.  When we were kids, we were under the law — Mom’s law (Pr. 1:8). It worked like the Law of Moses.  She punished us when we were bad (cf. Lev. 26) with the rod of correction (Pr. 22:15).  But when a child becomes an adult (cf. Gal. 4:1,2) parents correct them with words of correction, and God does too (II Tim. 3:16).

Jews learned to be godly under the Law, so legalists insist we teach the Law today.  They don’t understand how grace can teach us to be godly.  If you don’t either, consider that we shouldn’t presume on God’s grace just because we are immune from the prosecution of God’s laws (Eph. 5:3-7).

The word “godly” is a contraction for “God-like,” so “denying ungodliness” (2:12) means to deny anything in your life that is not like God.  “Lusts” (2:12) aren’t always bad in the Bible (Deut. 12:20).  The word just means to eagerly desire something.  But “worldly lusts” (2:12) are desires that are associated with the world that God says is going downhill fast (Eph. 2:2,3).

Ungodliness refers to actions, but worldly lusts refers to thoughts.  So Paul is saying not to sin and not to even think about sinning (cf. James 1:14,15).  We should live “soberly” instead (2:12).  Drunks are controlled by alcohol, and we should be controlled by the Spirit instead (Eph. 5:18), by obeying the things in the Book that the Spirit wrote.

Soberness also involves not thinking too highly of yourself (Rom. 12:3) — like a drunk!  Drunks also think they can live carelessly without consequences, that their legendary driving ability isn’t impaired by alcohol.  Christians who don’t think soberly think they can think about sin without falling into sin, and can commit sin without consequences.

When Paul says to live “righteously” (2:12), we are righteous (II Cor. 5:21) so we should live righteously.  We are accepted in Christ (Eph. 1:6) so we should live acceptably (Rom. 12:1).  We are unleavened by sin in God’s eyes, so we should live that way (I Cor. 5:7).

If you find that hard, maybe you are looking at all the ungodliness in the world instead of “looking for that blessed hope” (2:13) the Rapture (I Thes. 4:13-18).  This verse follows a verse that tells us to live godly because the way to stop sinning is to start focusing on eternity instead (Col. 3:1,2).

The resurrection of the dead has always been the hope of God’s people (Acts 23:6; 24:14,15; 26:6-8), but the Rapture is our blessed hope — to go to heaven without dying!

Both the Rapture and the 2^nd Coming are called “glorious” (Tit. 2:13 cf. Mt. 24:29,30), but don’t confuse them!  The glory of the 2^nd Coming is the “power” the Lord will use to defeat the Antichrist and judge the world.  The glory of the Rapture is that we’ll be spared that judgment!  Both comings will feature the coming of “the great God” (Tit. 2:13 cf. Rev. 19:11-18), but don’t confuse them!  God is great when He judges, and great when He spares His people judgment as well.

But if both comings are called great and glorious, how do we tell them apart?  Paul calls the Rapture the coming of “our Saviour” (2:13).  At the Second Coming, God’s people will be looking for the Judge (James 5:8,9) to come and incinerate creation (II Pet. 3:10-12) to clear the way for their hope, the new earth (v.13).  But Paul calls Him “our Saviour” at the Rapture because we’ll be saved from judgment. The Rapture will be the culmination of our salvation (Rom. 13:11).

Of course, these days many Christians are looking for the Tribulation and the Antichrist rather than Christ.  That’s Biblical (Mt. 24:3-33; Luke 21:25-28; Acts 1:9-11) but not dispensational.  God knew this would happen so had Paul tell Titus to teach the truth “with all authority” (2:15).

But Paul is only talking about the Rapture to help us deal with sin (2:12-14).  God was zealous to save you (Isa. 9:6,7), are you “zealous of good works” (Tit. 2:14)?

Summary:

Usually after addressing “servants” (v.9) Paul addressed masters (Eph. 6:5-9; Col. 3:22—4:1). But Titus was stationed in Crete, a newer work, and there were no masters yet. The gospel appeals more to base and despised servants (I Cor. 1:26-29) so they usually get saved first.

The reason Paul has to tell servants to obey masters is that all saved servants knew that “in Christ… there is neither bond nor free” (Gal. 3:26-28). But if that meant servants didn’t have to obey their masters, then wives didn’t have to obey husbands, for “in Christ… there is neither male nor female” (Gal. 3:26-28). This didn’t mean servants and wives were inferior for the Lord was “subject” to His parents (Lu. 2:51).

When Paul says that servants should obey their masters and “please them well in all things” (2:9) that means a servant should make himself a delight to his master (Isaiah 42:1 cf. Mt. 12:18). And what Paul says to servants is true for employees today. Employees should obey the boss, but if they please them well in all things they’ll make themselves a delight to him! And if all of God’s people did that, imagine what a testimony that would be to how Christianity can brighten the world!

Servants must also be “answering not again” (2:9)—no backtalk! And when he adds, “not purloining” (2:10) that means no stealing, but a particular kind of stealing. In this context it means stealing by a breach of trust, one of the definitions of the word. Servants were often trusted with all their master’s money (Gen. 39:1-6) making it easy to purloin. If lesser servants were given 100 shekels to buy something, and it only cost 90, they could purloin the difference.

Instead, servants were to show “all good fidelity” or faithfulness (2:10). And while we don’t have masters and servants, plenty of purloining goes on at work — about 50 billion dollars worth a year! Compare that to only 14 billion stolen by men at gunpoint or by burglary. Employees also steal about 4.5 hours a week — 6 weeks a year from their employers. More billions lost! It’s easy to think, “They don’t pay me enough so I’m evening the score,” but Paul told slaves not to purloin — men who were paid nothing.

Servants were to do all this to “adorn” the doctrine of God (2:10), which means to beautify it(cf. Isa. 61:10). But which doctrine does their service adorn? Well, the phrase “God our Saviour” is associated with the doctrine of salvation (I Tim. 2:1-4; Tit. 3:3-5). It makes the doctrine of salvation look bad if servants don’t adorn it by serving well. If they do, people think, “If Christianity can make a slave want to be a delight to his master, it must be the religion of the true God.”

Servants and aged men and women and young men and women (Tit. 2:1-9) should adorn the doctrine of salvation by doing what Paul says because the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men — old and young men and women and servants — and brought them salvation! If they didn’t do what Paul said, it made salvation look bad!

But how could Paul say the grace of God that brings salvation had appeared to “all men”? The stars tell all men there is a Creator (Ps. 19:1-3), but knowing there’s a God isn’t enough to save anyone (James 2:19). Well, “all men” sometimes means all kinds of men (I Tim. 2:1-4). The grace of God that brought salvation had appeared to old and young men and women, servants and kings!

Of course, there was a time when the grace of God that brought salvation only appeared to Jewish men (John 4:22). But now Paul says it appears to “all men,” including Jews and Gentiles. That’s another meaning of the phrase “all men” in Titus 2:10, just as it is in I Corinthians 10:32,33. As Paul went forth preaching salvation, he didn’t have to ask if men were Jews or Gentiles as the Jews did in time past.

That didn’t mean Gentiles couldn’t be saved in time past. They saw the wrath of God that brought salvation to Israel at the Red Sea (Ex. 15:1-6 cf. Ps. 98:1-3) and the grace of God that brings salvation appeared to Rahab (Joshua 2). But today for Gentiles to see the grace of God that brings salvation, they must see it when saved men and women and servants adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour.

Summary:

Paul told aged men to be sober (2:2) and aged women “likewise” (v. 3), and young women (v. 4), and now young men (v. 6). God would have Christians of all ages to live above the frivolity of the world and be serious about living for Him.

Paul told Titus to be a “pattern” for young men. Dresses are made by laying a pattern on the cloth and cutting it to the exact shape. Paul was telling Titus to be an exact match to the good works God has laid out for us in his epistles.

God motivated people to walk in good works in time past by showing them the “pattern” of the temple and all the rules of the priesthood (Ezek. 43:10,11) to make them “ashamed” of their sins. If they still wanted to continue in sin after seeing the lengths to which God went to forgive them their sins, that would be the height of ingratitude. Today we look to the cross to see the lengths God went to forgive our sin. It is the height of ingratitude today to continue in sin after God has made us dead to sin (Rom. 6:1,2).

The candlestick in the temple was made according to the “pattern” given in the Law. It was a type of Christ (John 8:12) who was made under the Law (Gal. 4:5) and walked according to the pattern given in the Law. But He was only the light of the world as long as He was in the world (John 9:5). Now we are the light of the world as we hold forth the word of life to men (Phil. 2:15,16).

But we don’t shine as lights in the world by walking according to the pattern given in the Law as the Lord did. We shine by walking according to the pattern given in Paul’s epistles. If you’re still walking in the good works of the Law, observing the sabbath and Israel’s diet laws, you’re telling people we’re under the Law, and that’s not shining the right light of life. It’s hard to get saved by grace if you think we’re under the Law!

Just make sure people see your pattern of good works and glorify God, not you (Mt. 5:16). That only happens if you tell people you belong to Him!

And they must know you’re not doing good works to pay for your sins, but to show your connection to the Savior who paid for your sins.Just like the tribes in Israel that didn’t erect an altar on the wrong side of the Jordan River to sacrifice and pay for their sins, but to show their connection to the altar in Israel that did pay for them (Joshua 22:11-29). They built it according to the “pattern” of the one in Israel to show their connection to it, and we walk in the pattern of good works to show our connection to the Lord who saved us.

If you need more motivation to show yourself a pattern of good works, remember that Moses made the tabernacle according to the “pattern” (Heb. 8:5) “of things in the heavens” (Heb. 9:23), “the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched” (Heb. 8:2). Entering the pattern of the earthly tabernacle they were entering heaven on earth, and you can have heaven on earth if you walk in good works!

Corrupt means to turn something sound into something unsound, so “uncorruptness” in doctrine (2:7) is sound doctrine “Gravity” in doctrine means seriousness, but not to the exclusion of humor. There are funny things in the Bible (Deut. 5:23-27; I Sam. 15:13,14; Job 8:1,2; 12:1,2; 13:5; 21:3). We should be serious enough about the things of God to use every tool in our belt to get truth across, including humor!

“Sincerity” in doctrine (2:7) means pure doctrine, not mixed with sin (I Cor. 5:8) or human wisdom (II Cor. 1:12), and not mixed with things like envy and strife and contention (Phil. 1:15,16).As the presence of the word “sincere” in those verses indicates the truth must be kept pure from those things.

“Sound speech” (2:8) consists of sound doctrine. Sound speech “that cannot be condemned” is doctrine that is set forth so accurately that it cannot be proven untrue, one of the meanings of the word “condemn.” No one can prove the Bible untrue, so all we have to do is convey it accurately! The Lord dealt that way with those who were “of the contrary part” (2:8 cf. Mt. 22:15), and when He did they were “ashamed” (Lu. 13:17)— as Paul said those contrary to Titus would be (2:8). This would shut their mouths (Tit. 1:11)

Summary:

When Paul told aged men to be sober, grave, temperate, and sound in faith, charity and patience, and then said that the aged women “likewise” should be “as becometh holiness,” that means aged women should be holy by being all those things as well. When Paul wrote of the ancient Gentile world that “even their women” were sinful (Rom. 1:31), that reminds us that women are the guardians of decency in society.

But then Paul tells aged women to be holy in an area that’s hard for them when he says they shouldn’t be “false accusers.” This is hard in that women tend to hurt with words (I Tim. 3:11) while men hurt with their fists (I Tim. 3:2,3). Paul adds they shouldn’t be given to wine because wine tends to overcome a woman’s inhibition not to slander others.

The “good things” Paul wants aged women to teach younger women (v.4) include being sober. Coming right after being told not to be given to wine, this means not drunk. Women can be tempted to drink because they must also “love their husbands” (v.4), and some men aren’t easy to love. Aged women must teach this by their example, and by the example of Christ, who loved the unlovable (Rom. 5:6,10). If a wife doesn’t love her husband, she must realize that if love can be taught by aged women, love can be learned by young wives.

You wouldn’t think that wives would need to be taught “to love their children” (2:4), for a mother naturally loves her children. But sin can make women “without natural affection” (Rom. 1:31; II Tim. 3:3). So moms sometimes abuse or abandon their children, and need to be taught not to.

Young wives must be taught to be “discreet” (2:5), which means wise in avoiding mistakes and accomplishing a purpose (cf. Gen. 41:33) — the purpose of making a home for her husband and kids. They must also learn to be “chaste,” pure from extramarital sexual contact. Young wives must also be “keepers at home” (2:5). Some say that means she shouldn’t have any kind of life outside the home, but zookeepers and barkeepers do, as do jailkeepers (Acts 16:27). They keep prisoners from escaping, and so must the mothers of young children! Keepers of sheep (Gen. 4:2) feed and care for them, as moms do their kids. Doorkeepers (Ps. 84:10) must keep more than the door to the house, but also the door of their kids’ mouths (Ps. 141:3) by watching what they say. Doorkeepers in the temple also kept false religions out (II Ki.23:4), and moms must keep false teachers from creeping into the house (cf. II Tim. 3:6). Kids might not seem to be paying attention, but they learn little by little by repetition (Isa. 28:10,11). Moms also have to be the “keeper of the wardrobe” (II Ki. 22:14), in charge of laundry.

Mothers can also be doorkeepers that are involved in the family finances (cf. II Chron. 34:9,10). The virtuous woman did (Pr. 31:16-24), as did Lydia (Acts 16:14). These women were involved in earning finances as well as managing them.

Some Christians believe wives can work outside the home before they have kids, or after the kids are grown. Some believe they can operate home businesses. But if it is your understanding that wives shouldn’t work outside the home, just don’t judge those who hold other convictions (Rom. 14:4,5). Whatever your position, God is on your side!

Young wives must also learn “to be obedient to their own husbands.” Are there exceptions to this rule? Well, are there exceptions to the rule that all believers must obey the government? (Dan. 3:8-18; Acts 5:29). In the same way, if a wife’s husband asks her to cheat on their income taxes, she can refuse to sign the return. Do wives have to obey when he wishes to be intimate and she doesn’t? It’s easy for a husband to read I Corinthians 7:4 and say to his wife, “I have power over your body so I can do as I please with it.” But he’s forgetting his wife has power over his body and so he can’t do as he pleases with it.