Titus 2:1-15
Titus 2:1-8:
2:1But you must utter-forth
the-things-which become the teaching being sound: .2elderly-men
to be sober, reverential, sound-thinking, being sound with the
belief, with the love1, with the patient-endurance;
.3likewise elderly-women
(to be) in constitution becoming-sacred-women, not devilish, nor
having been enslaved2 with much wine, beautiful-teachers,
.4in order that they may sound-thinkingly-cause
the young-women to be husband-loving, child-loving, .5sound-thinking,
pure, good home-workers, subjecting-themselves to
(their) own husbands in
order that the word of God may not be blasphemed; .6likewise
the younger-men you must encourage to soundly-think .7concerning
all-things presenting yourself a type of beautiful works, in the
teaching (presenting)
incorruptness, reverential(-behavior),
.8a sound word not-known-against, in order that the
(person) out-from contrary
may be caused-shame having nothing slight to say concerning us;
You (Titus) must speak the things which are
distinguished, suitable, proper for/to the teaching being sound (the
word "teaching" includes the teaching itself and the action of teaching
it, and this word "sound" refers to being healthy - the instruction or
doctrine being healthy, in good health, well):
- elderly (old in age) men to be…
- sober (free from intoxicants; figuratively: be in control of their minds
and bodies so that they are receptive to what God wants to make known to
them and they are not in a stupor),
- reverential (having deference to God and all the things of God and thus
are deserving of reverence and respect from others towards themselves;
in the state of behaving reverentially),
- sound-thinking (having thoughts in their minds that are sound, safe in
God’s viewpoint, with prudence, thoughts in alignment with their
salvation),
- being sound (this word "sound" refer to being healthy, in good health, well)…
- with
the belief (in/by the faith relative-to God and the things of God),
- with
the love1 (the word "love1" comes from the Greek
word agape which is God's kind of love - in/by the kind of love
that God loves with),
- with
the patient-endurance (in/by the bearing-up, holding, enduring,
remaining upwards or upright relative-to God and the things of God under
any obstacles);
- in the same manner elderly (old in age) women to be…
- in
constitution becoming-sacred-women (within their position, standing,
level place of action and behavior they should be distinguished,
suitable, proper for/to/with women who are consecrated and devoted to
God; the word “sacred” comes from the same root word that gives us the
words: temple, priest, Jerusalem, temple utensils and services and areas
and all belonging to God),
- not
devilish (not behaving in a manner that is on a par with the devil
throwing, casting things through people, like stabbing a person from
outside through the person and out the other side with an accusation,
slander, etc),
- nor
having been enslaved and continuing enslaved with much wine (made a
slave of a lot of alcohol and staying a slave to it),
- beautiful-teachers (teachers of beautiful things, instructors of what
has a manifested decorous, harmonious and acceptable goodness from God’s
viewpoint),
- for
the purpose and result that these elderly women would cause with sound
thinking (this is the verb form of “sound-thinking” in verse 2 above –
by having thoughts in their minds that are sound, safe in God’s
viewpoint, with prudence, by having thoughts in alignment with their
salvation they would cause)…
- the young women to be…
- husband-loving (lovers of their husbands with the brotherly or friendly
kind of love),
- child-loving (lovers of the children they give birth to with the
brotherly or friendly kind of love),
- sound-thinking (as in verse 2 above),
- pure
(uncontaminated from God's viewpoint by any bad-thing which may be
near-by),
- good
home-workers (women who expend their energy at home in a manner that is
in alignment with God Who is good and sets the standard for what is good
[some Greek texts have the word meaning: keepers of the house, watchers
of the home]),
- subjecting themselves to their own husbands (causing themselves to be in
submission, arrange themselves in the position of being underneath,
under the authority of their own husbands in the walk/behavior category,
not other people's husbands, their own adult-males, grown-men -
translated "husbands" depending on the context)
- for
the purpose and result that the word of God may not be blasphemed (that
the spoken account of God’s inner-thoughts, His word, would not be
evilly-spoken-of, treated with lack of Godly reverential-respect,
calumniated);
- in
the same manner the younger men you (Titus) must encourage to
soundly-think (exhort them to think soundly, as verses 2, 4 and 5 above,
call them beside you as a concerned father or mother would invite their
children beside them helping them to do what is right) about all things
(around, with reference to everything) presenting yourself a type
(having, holding, offering yourself beside others whereby you are a
type)….
The word “type” means: a mark, impression, pattern, as an old typewriter
would impress the shape of the required letter on a piece of paper, an
example for the younger men and others believers to copy and follow.
Likewise the younger-men you must encourage to soundly-think concerning
all-things presenting yourself a type of beautiful works (deeds,
beautiful things worked, effects-produced having acted expending energy,
activities that have a manifested decorous, harmonious and acceptable
goodness), in the teaching (as in verse 1 above) you must be presenting…
- incorruptness (the state of being incorrupt, not capable of decay),
- reverential behavior (behaving in a manner having deference to God and
all the things of God that is deserving of reverence and respect from
others towards you),
- a
sound word not-known-against (this word "sound" refers to being healthy
- a spoken account that is healthy, in good health, well, and that does
not have something known and brought down against it, against what you
speak while teaching),
…for the purpose and result that he who is out-from contrary (literally:
the person physically opposite you while you teach; figuratively: an
opponent, the one who is in opposition, opposed to what you are
teaching)…
- may
be caused shame (would be ashamed, caused to turn in on himself
recoiling from that-which is wrong when he reflects on his own
walk/behavior)
- having nothing slight to say concerning us (having not one light thing to say
about us, he cannot blow us away as trivia);….
It is interesting to notice that Paul uses the pronoun “us” here and not
“you” – Titus was to teach the same teaching as Paul.
[Reference: Matthew 5:16, 12:13; John 3:20, 5:29; Acts 4:10; Romans 12:3,
15:4 and 5; I Corinthians 14:34 and 35; Galatians 2:11; Ephesians
5:21-24, 6:24; Philippians 3:17, 4:8; Colossians 2:22, 3:18; I
Thessalonians 1:3; II Thessalonians 3:5; I Timothy 2:2 and 9, 3:1-11,
4:12, 5:1, 2 and 22, 6:11; II Timothy 3:3 and 10; Titus 1:8, 9 and 13;
James 3:16.]
Verses 9 and 10:
.9slaves to be subject to
(their) own masters in
all-things to be well-pleasing, not contradicting, .10not
putting-apart-for-themselves but pointing-out all good belief
in order that they may orderly-arrange the teaching, the
(teaching) of God our Savior among all-people;
A “slave” is a servant who is bound to serve his
master. This service as a slave (bond-servant) means that the slave's
whole being is at the service-of or in service-to that one master, not
serving anybody or anything else. During the time-period of the writing
of the Bible, a master was obligated to take-care of his slave, and the
slave was obligated to do all his master would ask of him. It was a
mutually-beneficial relationship between the master and his slave.
To be a "slave" was quite an honorable and responsible position to hold.
However, today in the minds of some people the word "slave" has been
changed from God's original design of a working relationship to what
mankind twisted, corrupted and perverted it to mean as a position of
demoralization or degradation, etc. But we who are students of God's
Word must consider this word "slave" as God considered it at the time of
Paul's writing of this letter – similar to ‘employees’ in the work
situation today.
The word translated “masters” here is
despotes, not the Greek
word kurios
usually translated ‘lord.’ “Masters”
(despotes) means: the sovereign lords, the absolute masters,
the despots, those who have absolute dominion, ownership, supreme
authority, and unlimited power within that working relationship –
similar to ‘employers’ in the work situation today. This word “masters”
is used to emphasize that the masters are over their own slaves whereby
their slaves figuratively have their feet bound in complete subjection
to them in service during everyday living.
Paul continues telling Titus the things that he must utter-forth to
people, which are becoming with the teaching being sound:
- slaves to be subject to their own masters (cause themselves to be in
submission, arrange themselves in the position of being underneath,
under the authority of their own masters in the walk/behavior category)
in all things…
- to
be well-pleasing (goodly agreeable, acceptable and gratifying)
- not
contradicting (speaking, saying things against their masters),
- not
putting apart for themselves (purloining, embezzling; refer to Acts 5:2
and 3)
- but
contrary to that, pointing-out all good belief (indicating, as though
with a finger, displaying to their masters all faith/trust relative to
God Who is good and sets the standard of what is good [some Greek texts
do not include the word “belief”])
- for
the purpose and result that they may orderly-arrange the teaching (that
they would ornament, adorn the teaching, as in verses 1 and 7 above [the
root of the verb “orderly-arrange’ is the same as the noun usually
translated “world” which is the ordered arrangement that God created,
the universe], the teaching itself remains intact but the slaves are to
behave themselves so as to ornament it, orderly arrange the teaching),
- emphatically and specifically the teaching of God our Savior (God Who
saves us)
- among all people (everyone [some translate this as “in all-things”]);…
The only true God is the source of salvation for all holy-people. God is
the originator of our salvation. He makes us safe to Himself. God
decided the plan of the redemption and salvation of mankind and then His
son, Jesus the Christ, carried it out.
[Reference: Acts 5:2 and 3; Ephesians 5:21-6:9; I Timothy 1:16, 2:3,
4:10, 6:1 and 2; II Timothy 4:14; Titus 1:9.]
Verses 11-14:
.11for the salvational
grace of God was brought-to-light-upon all men, .12training
us in order that we, having denied the lack-of-reverence and the
worldly intense-yearnings, may live sound-thinkingly
and righteously and reverentially in the present age .13waiting-for
the happy hope and shining-light of the glory of the Great God and
our Savior Jesus Christ, .14who gave himself on behalf of
us in order that he may redeem us away-from all lawlessness and he
may clean with himself a present people, a zealot of beautiful
works.
Paul continues: …in truth, the
salvational grace of God (God’s unmerited favor that pertains to
salvation, His saving grace, what is willingly and freely given by God
to the recipients making them safe)…
- was
brought to light upon all men (this grace was caused to have its light
shone upon all mankind, and so it has been made evident to all, it is
visible shining this light forth upon everyone),
- training us (this grace is presently training us who have willingly
received it, not everyone; ‘training’ means teaching as to children,
which not only includes instruction but also discipline and correction
and education)
- for
the purpose and result that we,
- having denied (disowned, negated, rejected)…
- the
lack-of-reverence (the state of not being reverential towards God, not
being respectful in service towards/for Him)
- and
the worldly intense-yearnings (the strong-desires attached or fixed upon
certain objects other-than God and the things of God, lusts pertaining
to the world),
- may live (be alive, living in the following manner/mode)
- sound-thinkingly (having thoughts in our
minds that are sound, safe in God’s viewpoint, with prudence, thoughts
in alignment with our salvation; refer to verses 2, 4, 5 and 6 above)
- and
righteously (justly, rightly, with justice, with righteousness)
- and
reverentially (with good/well service being respectfully reverential
of/towards God)
- in
the present age (during the now age, the duration of life that is
currently in progress)…
…waiting-for the happy hope and shining-light of the glory of the Great
God and our Savior Jesus Christ….
The verb translated "waiting-for" literally means: to accept towards
oneself (to welcome, subjectively receive, willingly accept something
towards oneself), but when the thing is still future then it can be
translated as "to wait-for" in the sense of willingly being ready to
accept it when it will be presented to you at a future time. (Refer also
to Acts 23:21, 24:15.)
The salvational grace of God was
brought-to-light-upon all men, training us in order that we, having
denied the lack-of-reverence and the worldly intense-yearnings, may live
sound-thinkingly and righteously and
reverentially in the present age while we are waiting-for the happy
(felicitous)…
- hope
(what God, via the Lord Jesus Christ, has given us to expect to come to
pass in the future, the firm anticipation concerning our future which
will be a happy occasion for us) and
- shining-light (the complete light being shone upon all, the illumination which will be
a happy occasion for us)…
…of the glory of (the full manifestation of the importance, splendor and
renown caused-by and emanating-from)…
- the
Great God (the God Who is large in magnitude, quality, degree, eminence,
majesty, etc) and
- our
Savior Jesus Christ (all holy-people’s savior who is Jesus the
Anointed-one; the name ‘Jesus’ is written before ‘Christ’ here
emphasizing his obedience and service to God on a horizontal level to
benefit people – how and why? – Paul explains that he is the one)…
- who gave himself on behalf of us (he willingly yielded himself, an unforced
presenting of himself in our interests) for the purpose and result that…
- he
may redeem us away-from all lawlessness (he would be the ransom,
expiation, atonement money, the payment necessary to loosen, release,
free us away from all/every state of being without law and thus in
violation, non-observance, transgression of the law of God which is what
God says) and
- he may clean with himself (he would make free from all mixture, cause not
to be mixed with something else – how or with-what would he clean? –
with himself [some translators write “to/for himself”] – who or what
would he cause to be clean with himself?)…
- a
present people (a mass of people collectively as one unit being around
him, permanently coming/going about him and never being away from him, a
people belonging to him),
- a
zealot of beautiful works (boiling with very-eager and vehement passion
pertaining to beautiful deeds, things worked, effects-produced having
acted expending energy, activities that have a manifested decorous,
harmonious and acceptable goodness, as in verse 7 above).
The Lord Jesus Christ has made redemption available to all people – but
it is only those who believe and obey what God says about Himself and
His son who actually receive redemption and are cleaned. Those who
reject God reject redemption refusing to be released from the power of
satan/the devil. Today all holy-people (all who have received the gift
of holy spirit) are the “present people, a
zealot of beautiful works.” The full completeness of this will come to
pass in the future when all believers who have ever lived will be
resurrected and gathered with the Lord Jesus Christ and given our new
spiritual bodies remaining with him and with the only true God from that
time forward.
Verses 11-14 again:
.11for the salvational grace of
God was brought-to-light-upon all men, .12training us in
order that we, having denied the lack-of-reverence and the worldly
intense-yearnings, may live sound-thinkingly
and righteously and reverentially in the present age .13waiting-for
the happy hope and shining-light of the glory of the Great God and
our Savior Jesus Christ, .14who gave himself on behalf of
us in order that he may redeem us away-from all lawlessness and he
may clean with himself a present people, a zealot of beautiful
works.
[Reference: Exodus 19:5, 20:5, 34:14; Deuteronomy 5:9 and 10, 7:6, 14:2;
Psalm 130:8; Matthew 5:16, 20:28; Acts 5:31, 13:23, 23:6, 24:15; Romans
1:18, 3:24, 4:7, 5:2 and 9, 6:19, 11:29, 15:13; I Corinthians 1:7 and 8,
8:6, 12:4-27, 14:12, 15:34 and 51-58; II Corinthians 4:4b, 5:14 and 15,
6:14-16; Ephesians 1:7, 13, 14 and 19-23, 2:1-10, 5:21-33; Philippians
3:20; Colossians 1:5, 14, 23 and 27; I Thessalonians 1:10, 2:10,
4:13-17; II Thessalonians 2:3, 7 and 8; I Timothy 1:1, 2:4-6, 3:1, 4:10,
5:10 and 25, 6:11, 14 and 18; II Timothy 1:10, 2:16 and 25, 3:12, 4:1
and 8; Titus 1:2, 3:7, 8 and 14; Hebrews chapters 9 and 10; I Peter 1:18
and 19, 2:12; I John 2:2 and 16.]
Verse 15:
.15These-things you must utter-forth and
encourage and refute with all command; not-one-person must
think-around you.
These things (what I am writing to you in this letter) you (Titus) must…
- utter forth (speak) and
- encourage (exhort, call the people beside you, as a concerned mother or
father would invite their children beside them to help them to do what
is right) and
- refute (prove those in error to be wrong, convict and convince the people who
are saying things against the sound, healthy teaching of their error)…
…in company and association with all command (every
authoritative arrangement, what is put in order upon or over the people
and therefore must be obeyed). Not one person must think around you (no-one must
have thoughts in his/her mind beyond you speculating about what you are
saying and doing). Nobody should have any doubts or questions but they
must perceive that what you are saying and doing is with all command and
there is no way around it, no way to circumvent the sound (healthy)
teaching.
[Reference: Romans 16:26; I Corinthians 14:24;
Ephesians 5:11 and 13; I Timothy 1:1, 5:20; II Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:3, 9
and 13. Note: verbs with a superscript 2 (2) immediately
following them indicate the "perfect" tense - details are provided in
the "Relevant Notes" link of this study.]
