Living Christian In ‘This Present World’ (Part 6)

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Living Christian In ‘This Present World’ (Part 6)

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We are studying Paul’s letter to Titus to learn how to ‘live Christian’ in this present world. We invite you to read the introduction to this series for some historical background.

We looked at the importance of older men, older women and younger women in the church in the last part of our special series. We now move to younger men and slaves in the church and what Paul’s words two-thousand years ago mean to live Christian in this present world.

Titus 2:6-10

“Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you. Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.”

The Apostle Paul moves next to direct Titus about what to teach young men and bondservants who are members of local churches on Crete.

Likewise … ὡσαύτως (in like manner, in the same way as) … Paul linked the next group of people in the church to the groups addressed ahead of them: older men, older women, younger women …
exhort the young men … παρακάλει means “to encourage, to call to or for, summon” … νεωτέρους is the masculine plural of a word that means “youth, young, new, fresh” (νέος) … the word νεωτέρους is used twice in the New Testament: Titus 2:6 and 1 Timothy 5:1 … Paul told Timothy to exhort “younger men as brothers” and an older man “as a father” … Paul wrote Timothy “Let no one despise your youth” … based on Timothy’s young age when he joined Paul and Silas on a missionary journey, Timothy may have been in his early to mid 30s … Titus joined Paul earlier than Timothy and was probably older, though not an older man … some scholars believe Titus was in his 40s when Paul wrote him on Crete …
to be sober-minded … σωφρονεῖν means “be of sound mind, sound judgment, temperate, self-controlled, sensible” … this is similar to what Paul wrote about older women training young women to be σώφρονας (of sound mind, temperate, self-controlled) … it is important in a church that young people learn how important self-control is in order to live Christian in the present world … when we look at what older Christian men should be, it makes sense that the development of those character qualities would begin when they were younger men …
in all things … Περὶ πάντα (in all things) may point back to the previous thought of being sober-minded, though it may lead into the next phrase …
showing yourself to be a pattern of good works … Paul addressed Titus and his responsibility to παρεχόμενος τύπον καλῶν ἔργων (be holding forth as a pattern of good works) … παρεχόμενος means “to furnish, present, offer, provide, show” … τύπον comes from τύπτω which means “to strike repeatedly” … the idea is of “a model forged by repetition” … martial artists understand what that means … we learn by repeating movements hundreds, even thousands of times, to perfect techniques … showing yourself to be a pattern of good works is similar … repeating good works hundreds, thousands, of times is important to help younger Christians understand how God wants His people to live …
in doctrine showing integrity … ἐν τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ (in the teaching) … as part of that pattern of good works, Titus was to demonstrate integrity … the word ἀφθορίαν means “incorruptibility” … it comes from the word ἄφθαρτος which means “undecaying, imperishable” … Paul wanted Titus to demonstrate incorruptibility in his teaching … Christian teachers must never allow their teaching to be corrupted by anything that is less than the Truth of the Gospel … the sad fact we face today is a great corruption of teaching in the modern church … it should not be this way, but it is … Living Christian in the present world means teachers and preachers must show integrity in their teaching and preaching … this is the meaning of “sound doctrine” …
reverence … σεμνότητα means “dignity, seriousness, gravity, honor” …
sound speech that cannot be condemned … λόγον ὑγιῆ ἀκατάγνωστον (speech sound beyond reproach) … ἀκατάγνωστον means “not to be condemned, beyond reproach, not open to just rebuke” … “sound speech” ( logon hygiē) may refer to a healthy, persuasive, well-thought-out, and attractively delivered presentation of the Christian gospel, characterized as ‘speech that cannot be condemned’ (Thomas Lea (2012). New American Commentary Vol 34: 1, 2 Timothy, Titus. B&H Publishing Group.)
that one who is an opponent may be ashamed … ἵνα ὁ ἐξ ἐναντίας ἐντραπῇ (so that he who is of the contrary may be ashamed) … ἐναντίας means “hostile, opposite, opposed, adversary” … every Christian involved in teaching/preaching the Gospel of Christ will face opposition … how should we deal with those who oppose our Living Christian in the present world? by living our lives in the same way Paul told Titus to live and teach … we must show integrity in our beliefs and teachings, we must be serious and speak in ways that are beyond reproach … ἐντραπῇ means “to turn about, turn to confusion, turning away in shame, put to shame” … God can use our dignified lives and sound speech to bring our opponents to being turned away from their bad behavior to shame … the idea is that our opponents will eventually suffer loss of respect because of their opposition to our sound doctrine and dignified living … Living Christian has an impact on unbelievers, including those who publicly oppose our teaching … why?
having nothing evil to say of you … μηδὲν ἔχων λέγειν περὶ ἡμῶν φαῦλον (nothing having to say concerning us evil) … φαῦλον means “worthless, bad, evil” … those who oppose serious Christians who teach and preach the sound doctrine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will eventually be ashamed because they will have nothing bad or evil to say about us … one of the best arguments unbelievers have against Christian beliefs are the Christians who say they believe the Gospel but live lives that oppose the truth of the Gospel … hypocritical church members led me as a young man to atheism and public opposition of Christianity … meeting Christians years later who lived out Christianity as Paul told Titus led me to be ashamed of my opposition to Christianity and become a Christian … I had nothing bad to say about the Christians who actually lived Christian which meant that the power of the Gospel truth left me without excuse …
Exhort bondservants … the word “exhort” is implied … Δούλους is accusative masculine plural and means “male slave” … slavery was widespread in ancient times and was allowed by civil law … people became slaves through many means, including socioeconomic and war (prisoners of war) … slaves were the material possession of slave owners who had complete authority over the lives of their slaves … many slaves became Christians and thus members of local churches … how should Christian slaves behave?
to be obedient to their own masters … ἰδίοις δεσπόταις ὑποτάσσεσθαι (to their own masters are to be subject) … ὑποτάσσεσθαι means “to place or rank under, to obey, submit” … Paul was not supporting slavery, as some have accused, but was addressing a societal and legal issue … Christians have long lived under social injustice and God’s Word teaches us how to live Christian under injustice … we learn more about what Paul thought about slavery in his letter to Philemon … whatever Christian slaves thought of the injustice of their situation, their higher allegiance was to Jesus Christ who became a slave (δοῦλο) that they might be free from the power of sin (Philippians 2:5-8) … also read Romans 6:15-23 …
to be well pleasing in all things … εὐαρέστους means “fully acceptable, well-pleasing” … Paul wanted Christian slaves to be well-pleasing toward their master πᾶσιν, in everything, all things … all means all and that’s all all means (favorite saying of a professor) … this is certainly a high standard for a slave …
not answering back … μὴ ἀντιλέγοντας (not speaking in opposition) … ἀντιλέγοντας means “to speak against, contradict, oppose, resist” … Christian slaves were not to be confrontational with their owners to contradict, oppose or resist them … that was not the way for a Christian slave to live Christian …
not pilfering … μὴ νοσφιζομένους (not pilfering) … there are many ways a slave could oppose a master, including speech and actions … in addition to not speaking in opposition, a Christian slave was not to rob their master … νοσφιζομένους means “rob, steal, pilfer, purloin, keep back” … slaves were in the position to handle the money and property belonging to their masters … Christian slaves were not to “keep back, steal” money or property that wasn’t theirs … petty theft was most likely available to slaves engaged in household and other duties for their masters … they were to be honest in all their actions toward their masters …
but showing all good fidelity … ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν πίστιν ἐνδεικνυμένους ἀγαθήν (but all fidelity showing good) … πίστιν means “faithfulness, trust” … a Christian slave should be someone a master could trust … ἐνδεικνυμένους means “show forth, prove” … Christian slaves could prove themselves trustworthy through their words and actions concerning their master … why do that?
that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things … ἵνα τὴν διδασκαλίαν τὴν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Θεοῦ κοσμῶσιν ἐν πᾶσιν (so that the doctrine of the savior of us God they may adorn in all things) … Paul always brought Living Christian in the present world back to the impact our words and actions have on the teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ … living a good life, speaking good words, and being trustworthy is not so we can be admired by others, but so the teachings of Christ will be adorned … κοσμῶσιν means “beautify, having the right arrangement, decorate, make attractive, appealing” …

Whether you are an older man, older woman, younger woman, younger man or a slave, if you are a Christian, God wants you to do everything you can to make the Gospel message appealing to unbelievers. We do not do that by watering down the message of God to sinners, but Living Christian in the present world.

In Summary

Here’s a quick summary of the reasons Paul gave to Titus about the importance of every member of every church in Crete obeying God’s commands concerning the way they lived:

that they may be sound in the faith
speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine
that the word of God may not be blasphemed
sound speech that cannot be condemned
that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you
that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things

Next Time

We will look deeper into how God’s Grace trains His people in the next part of our special study about Living Christian in the Present World.

Apostle PaulChristian lifeChurch DoctrineLiving ChristianTitus Living Christian In ‘This Present World’ (Part 6)

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Living Christian In ‘This Present World’ (Part 6)