Titus (4)—Older Men and Women - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2024

Speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discrete, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.
Titus 2:1–5 NKJV

Titus (4)—Older Men and Women
The writer of this epistle now addresses Titus directly, telling him to teach what was—and still is—appropriate in the character of Christians in every area of life. Remember, some believers Titus was working with were Jews newly converted to Christ, but most had been pagans. In their former unbelieving lives, they had been “abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work” (1:16). Now their lives—and ours—were to be different.

First in line are the older men. These should be respectable in their being, setting the example for others to follow. Sober here means clear-headed, with minds not muddled with intoxicating influences. Reverent is with due respect for God. Temperate is self-controlled. The other qualities are readily understood.

“The older women likewise” shows that the foregoing also applies to them. God adds more details showing how important their role in the Christian life was then, and today, too. They are to teach good things. They, not Titus (nor brothers today) are given the lovely service of admonishing young women, making plain to them by word and by example what God’s desire and normal plan for a woman is. She is to love her husband and children, and her prime sphere of service is her home. The virtuous woman in Proverbs 31 is the outstanding scriptural example of this. However, the Bible also shows us godly single and widowed women serving the Lord.

-- Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.