by Edwin Crozier<\/p>\n
Though there are some teachers who need to be silenced, as Paul explained at the end of Titus 1, teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach, upsetting whole families, Titus needs to teach what accords with sound or healthy doctrine. I have no doubt all true doctrine falls under the heading of healthy teaching. However, since the empty talkers and deceivers are upsetting families, we are not surprised Paul emphasizes healthy teaching to shore up the homes among the Christians on Crete.<\/p>\n
Paul has already described the mature character of elders within the congregation. These were men who held a recognized and appointed role of leadership within the congregation. In Titus 2:2, Paul tells Titus what all the older men are to strive to be: sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, love, and in steadfastness. These terms are surprisingly similar to the very men who should be appointed elders, reminding us that the character of pastors is a standard goal of maturity for all Christians.<\/p>\n
Older women are to be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. These character traits are reminiscent of the character of the wives of deacons in I Timothy 3:11. Not only must they have these good character traits, but they are also to teach what is good. Why? So they can teach the younger women. Titus is not to teach the young women; the older women are to do that. Paul clearly recognizes the danger of Titus getting closely involved with the younger women. Just as Paul had told Timothy to treat the younger women as sisters with all purity (I Timothy 5:2), he establishes a boundary for Titus to help maintain purity.<\/p>\n
The older women are to teach the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands. No doubt, this is the kind of behavior that leads to reverent behavior that is neither slanderous nor enslaved to wine.<\/p>\n
The young men seem to get off pretty easy. Titus is charged simply to teach them to be similarly self-controlled. However, we should recognize this as a kind of synecdoche, that is, part for the whole. He uses one term from the list about older men to represent the larger list. Paul’s point is certainly not that young men are to be self-controlled like the older men, but that they are allowed to be undignified and unsound in faith, love, and steadfastness. Certainly, we expect the older men to be farther along in all this than the younger. But the older men only get that way by being taught these things as younger men.<\/p>\n
Again, I have no doubt healthy teaching encompasses all true teaching in all areas. But healthy teaching has a great emphasis on healthy families and healthy individual behavior in those families. Yes, we need to make sure our congregations are following healthy teaching, but let us not ignore the healthy teaching that should govern our lives at home.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Edwin Crozier Though there are some teachers who need to be silenced, as Paul explained at the end of Titus 1, teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach, upsetting whole families, Titus needs to teach what accords with sound or healthy doctrine. I have no doubt all true doctrine falls under…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1383,451],"class_list":["post-96983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-soundness","tag-teaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-support-conscientious-objection\/","url_meta":{"origin":96983,"position":0},"title":"Do you support conscientious objection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you or your church support selective conscientious objection and conscientious objection? Answer: Registering for the draft is a government law that does not violate any teaching of God. \"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1296,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-boy-girl-relationships-not-advisable-at-a-young-age\/","url_meta":{"origin":96983,"position":1},"title":"Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age Answer: Youth is a time of impatient desires. They want the things available to adults, but adulthood seems so far away. The typical teenage boy enters puberty around the age of 11. 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Answer: We were taught to pray, \"Give us this day our daily bread\" (Matthew 6:11), but God still commands us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61889,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-book-of-my-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":96983,"position":4},"title":"The Book of My Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Job 19:23-27 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Each week the paper publishes its list of top selling books \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes the books are biographies, fictional stories, or fiction placed in historical settings. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They hope that others will also purchase the books, if for no other reason than curiosity. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many author\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6988,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-passages-that-refer-to-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":96983,"position":5},"title":"Are there passages that refer to THE Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have been studying the Lord's supper issues and one of our main concerns is about a second offering in which only a few partake, for the reasons you listed in your article (not doing it together). 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