Titus 2 - The Grace of God Teaches Us to "Just Say No!"

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2 You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. 2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.

Once again Paul urges the spiritual leader, in this case Titus, to teach sound doctrine. This is where we get the term "orthodoxy", which also means right teaching. Though this is focused on what we believe, it certainly doesn't exclude how we live, for the two are inexorably linked together. Right belief should always lead to right behavior. 

Paul then goes on teach what this means for different groups of people in the church. The older men should have wisdom and maturity to share with the community. They should be the stable force in any church. Just because someone is older in age though doesn't mean they are spiritually mature. Spiritual maturity is achieved through obedience to God's command and submitting to the power of the Holy Spirit. 

3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

In a similar way, the older women should be models of faith for the younger women. Again Paul urges Titus to teach them to emulate these virtues. They have their own set of temptations and vulnerability. They should importantly teach the young women how to treat their husbands. The assumption here is that the women would be in the home and in keeping with the cultural norms, subject to their husbands.

This is a challenging passage and it is not the only place where Paul teaches on this issue. See Colossians, 2 Timothy, and Ephesians. But we must also remember that men are called to love their wives and respect them. Though the husband may have authority as the head of the household, that authority is always in submission to Christ. Therefore, any sense of a husband lording it over his wife, or being domineering is not what is meant here. 

Jesus uplifted and affirmed women in many ways, which were completely foreign to the culture he lived in. Even in Paul's day there were not contemporary writings that called husbands to love their wives. Importantly this teaching is not demeaning to women in any sense of the word.  We even saw submission within the Trinity, as Jesus submitted to the will and authority of the Father, and was obedient to him unto death. If anything the more authority one has, the more responsibility and accountability they will have before God. 

6 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

With the younger men, he urges self control. We all know the desires that go along with being a young man can be very challenging. Young men need examples of older men to teach them how to enjoy the good things God has given in this life without abusing them. Integrity is a big part of Christ like character. Integrity is who you are when we no one is looking. Integrity is when your words and actions are in alignment. Integrity is keeping your promises and letting your "yes" be "yes", and your "no" be "no". One of the major problems in our culture is a lack of Christian men who can mentor younger men. 

9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

This is another passage which can be misinterpreted. Opponents of the bible say that bible endorses slavery in the way we have seen in our recent history, which was all about exploitation. Also Paul is teaching those who are already slaves in the culture to behave in a way that might give glory to and lead their masters to Christ. Since this was the station they were already in when they came to Christ, the question is how would they serve their masters? If they stole from their master it would tarnish the reputation of the Christian faith. 

11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. 15 These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

We often believe or assume the grace of God is only related to salvation. But in these closing verses Paul says the grace of God teaches us to say "no" to ungodliness and to live upright and self controlled lives. Evidently there were issues in this young church with Christians who were going back to old behaviors they were stuck in before they were saved. 

Just because one is a Christian doesn't mean all of their old desires are gone. We still struggle with a sinful nature that is wanting us to say "yes" to ungodliness. A sinful nature that says, "If you are forgiven you can just do what you want to do and then ask for forgiveness later!" 

As we pursue a life worthy of our calling, we wait for Jesus to return and redeem us from our sinful nature. We will not struggle with our sinful nature forever, but until Jesus returns we have been freed from the consequences of our sin by Jesus' death on the cross. This should mean that we want to honor God in our lives, and not go back to the behaviors that required our need for Savior in the first place. 

Paul says in Galatians, "It is for freedom that Christ set us free, so don't use your freedom to return to the burden of slavery to our sin." Galatians 6:1