Titus 2:4-10 (ESV)
. . . train the young women to
love their husbands and children, . . . Likewise, urge the younger men to be
self-controlled. . . . Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters
in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, . . . so that
in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
When we read these verses, we tend to approach them as though they are rules
for life. If we don’t keep them then we are unpleasing to God and lose his
blessing or protection. If we keep them, we are pleasing to God and under his
blessing and protection. Yet that is not the purpose of these instructions.
This is not about keeping a proper creative order, but about not hindering the
gospel. The chapter begins with an emphasis on sound teaching. Verse ten ends
with adorning or decorating the gospel. Verse eight commends “sound speech that
cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing
evil to say about us.” It has been taught that these and other similar verses
are about keeping a proper authority structure. If we keep the proper authority
structure we are taught, then we are then under God’s protective umbrella. Yet
there is not a single indication in this passage that this has anything to do
with being protected. These instructions are not about keeping a proper authority
structure. They are about impacting our community with the gospel. They are
about living in a way that does not bring shame or disgrace to the gospel. They
are about living in a way that does not discredit the gospel when people see
how we live. The important thing here is not our happiness or our protection,
but our influence on the world in which we live. Are we living in such a way
that even those who oppose our message are able to find nothing to accuse us
of. Do our lives adorn the gospel, or do they discredit it? That is the
question that we need to ponder.
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