Paul stressed the importance of building up the spiritual life of believers as the best defense against error.

Paul stressed the importance of building up the spiritual life of believers as the best defense against error.

Verse one serves as the basis for Paul’s instructions. Paul told Titus to “teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.” Sound doctrine must lead to ethical conduct in the lives of all the people in the church.

Sound doctrine produces health in the individual, making him fit for service and spiritual development.

The call upon a Christian’s life comes not from the neighborhood or nation, the mores of consensus, but from the divine personality and nature of God.

Jesus once remarked to his disciples, “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master” (Matt. 10:24–25). The teacher or master sets the tone, defines the curriculum, and exemplifies what the student aspires toward. This is why the older women must be sound in their inner spirit, their outward lifestyle, because these women were to train the younger women. By living in a godly manner, they would be qualified to pass on the life of faith and godliness to younger women.

The word love in this instance comes from the root word phileo, or “brotherly love.” It emphasizes the strength of companionship, of pulling together toward a goal, of devotion measured by kindness and mutual friendship. This forms the basis of a secure and solid marriage and home. At times spouses and parents must exhibit agape, or “sacrificial love.” But the fundamental strength of home life is the intertwining strands of kindness, companionship, and friendship. There exists among the household shared values, shared interests, and, among Christians, a shared Lord and vision of life.

Paul also wanted the younger women to be busy at home. To modern readers this statement may conjure visions of a young woman chained to the kitchen sink with six crying children at her feet. Paul has been accused by some interpreters of male chauvinistic tendencies. The context, however, does not support such notions. In first-century cultures, the home was the domain of the woman. This instruction by Paul would not have sounded foreign or oppressive to anyone in the Greco-Roman culture. He was not defining or limiting a woman’s place; he was addressing women where they were. This is not a picture of enslavement but of useful enterprise.

It should also be noted that Paul’s directive for submission was given in the middle voice. This means that the woman was to submit herself. The husband must not take it upon himself to make his wife submissive. This her responsibility, just as it is the husband’s responsiblity to love his wife just as Christ loves the church (Eph. 5:24–25).

Paul emphasized two fundamental structures of true Christianity—behavior and belief. In contrast to the false teachers, the proclaimer of the gospel must live a life typified by goodness. Such a proclaimer must deliver the message with integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned.