Titus 2:6-10 meaning

In Titus 2:6-10, Paul will advise Titus on what to teach young men, how to be an example to them, and how slaves should act toward their masters.

Paul has already advised Titus on how the believers of Crete—the older men, women, and young women—can honor God’s word through their actions. Now he turns to address young men and slaves.

He writes Likewise urge the young men to be sensible (v 6).

The word Likewise points back to his previous statements about how young women should behave, as well as the older men and women of Crete. Earlier, in Titus 2:2, 5, Paul wrote that older men should be sensible and that older women should teach younger women to be sensible. The young men of Crete also need to be sensible.

It seems the new Cretan believers were lacking in this area. Everyone is being urged to be sensible. Paul does not tell Titus to "remind" the young men to be sensible, but urge them to be sensible. This is a matter of urgency. It needs to happen now, it needs to be impressed upon them that it is vital for them to start living sensibly.

This means to take actions that are rational and sane, rather than impulsive or foolish. The Cretan community of believers was apparently struggling with living for short-term gratification, rather than living with a focus on eternal benefit. Walking with God, loving our neighbors as ourselves, and harmony in the church is unattainable if everyone is living without sense.

The main issue with the young men is that they need to start being sensible; Paul does not list anything else for them in this passage. Apparently, no other instruction is appropriate for them until they master this one. They can begin to grow after they take this first step. The more detailed instructions Paul gave to older men, women, and younger women all entail living a sensible life—not being drunks, being dignified, not slandering, loving one’s family. It all points to harmony and taking care of one another, rather than living irrationally and selfishly.

Paul describes to Titus how he can set the example:

in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified (v 7).

Titus had served alongside Paul in preaching the gospel for many years at this point. Paul mentions him in his letter to the Galatians (Galatians 2:1), which is the first of Paul’s letters, written probably after his first missionary journey (47-48 AD). Titus had known Paul and served the mission of the gospel at various times with him for at least fifteen years when this letter was written (Galatians 2:3, 2 Corinthians 2:13, 7:6, 13-15, 8:6, 16-17, 23, 12:18, 2 Timothy 4:10).

Paul knows Titus very well, and commends him to show the Cretan believers what living by faithful obedience to God looks like. Titus is to be completely above reproach, in all things showing himself to be an example of good deeds (v 7). The new Cretan believers apparently are having to unlearn many bad habits and values, and they need someone to observe and imitate, like young children watching their parents. By being an example of good deeds (v 7), Titus can help tutor these immature believers in all things.

But Titus is faced with a problem greater than the immaturity of new believers. There are competing spiritual authorities fighting for influence on the island of Crete.

In Chapter 1, Paul referenced, "many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers…who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain" (Titus 1:10-11). Titus was in competition with men who were lying and sinning, teaching the Cretans things that were not true, dividing families, and leading people into sin: "They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed" (Titus 1:16). These people were using their influence to seek gain for themselves at the expense of others.

To stand apart from these corrupt teachers, Titus was advised not merely to talk and make arguments against false teaching, but to model good deeds in all things. The phrase "actions speak louder than words" is a cliché for a reason; we learn by observing effective actions more than we learn simply by being told what to think.

A child is better taught to love others by watching their parents treat each other lovingly and with respect, rather than being told simply to "be nice." Scripture has a consistent theme of focusing on actions above spoken claims. For Titus to model consistency between his deeds and his words would help guide the Cretans to seeing that Titus has integrity, is authentic, honest, and is not out for "the sake of sordid gain" or ulterior motives (Titus 1:11). Titus genuinely loves God and follows His word. Paul encourages him to demonstrate this through his actions.

By his example, Titus can exhibit that he lives with purity in doctrine. The Greek word translated doctrine is rendered as "teaching." To have purity in doctrine/teaching is to only teach those things that align with God’s word. To pollute God’s word ruins its purity. Living in purity in doctrine is putting God’s word into action. This is being a true leader.

In addition to living what he teaches, Paul asks Titus to be dignified. The Greek word translated dignified can also be rendered as "honesty." This fits with living in purity of doctrine. A part of honesty is to have words align with deeds. As Titus lives this life, the Cretans will be able to take notice, "Titus does what he says we should do. Titus lives as he speaks. He is not a hypocrite. He really means what he says."

By doing good deeds in purity with doctrine, Titus is not just teaching the truth, he’s living the truth. This will stand in stark contrast to the false teachers who "profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him" (Titus 1:16). By living in a dignified manner, with words matching deeds, all in alignment with God’s commands, Titus’s witness is fortified. He does not exhibit foolishness or debase himself.

Lastly, Paul advises Titus to be sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us (v 8). What Titus says needs to be sound. He needs to speak the truth, and to speak graciously, so that whatever he says in speech to the others on Crete is beyond reproach; if so, Titus will be someone of whom the Cretans say, "Titus is kind and honest; he doesn’t speak badly of others." This is also the opposite of gossip (Titus 2:3).

It is interesting to note that these instructions to Titus in no way overturn Paul’s assignment for Titus in Chapter 1 to oppose false teachers. It is actually in the best interest of false teachers to be corrected, as teachers will have a stricter judgment (James 3:1). Correction should not be personal or abusive. It should be factual and true. Titus has a difficult assignment to correct much that is awry. But he is to do so while living as an example of what he exhorts people to become.

In all these displays—by doing good deeds that serve others, by living consistently according to what he says, by being dignified and admirable, by speaking graciously and truthfully—Titus will model such godly character that the Cretans will not only have someone to imitate and learn from, but the false teachers on Crete will be defeated also. In this way, the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us (v 8).

Paul includes himself here, that they would have nothing bad to say about us, probably because he was on Crete too planting the churches and preaching the gospel, and Titus continues to be Paul’s representative. There is a division among the new believers; their attention is divided between the teachings of Paul and Titus, and "rebellious men," some of whom are Jewish believers, "those of the circumcision," who may have been pressuring the Cretans to become circumcised and submit to the Mosaic Law, which was completely unnecessary for Gentiles to do to be saved or to walk with God in righteousness (Titus 1:10).

But if Titus lives above reproach, the opponent to Paul and Titus’s teaching will be put to shame (v 8). No enemy of theirs will have any effective criticism to levy against Titus and Paul. Titus’s godly example will disarm them. Anything negative they say about Titus will be demonstrably false, since there will be nothing bad they can say; anything bad they say will be an obvious lie to those who know Titus. This opponent will have no credibility and will lose their influence.

Paul returns to listing ways in which the Cretan believers can live faithfully and obediently, turning to address bondslaves:

Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative (v 9).

Some of the Cretan believers are bondslaves, and Paul advises Titus to Urge them to live peacefully with their own masters. The bondslaves (Greek, "doulos") in the first century Roman empire were an economic bracket of that day. They were the working class, or beneath it, on call to work for someone wealthier and more powerful than they, possibly living in their house full time to always be available to serve.

It is estimated that a third of all Roman subjects were slaves in the first century. Slavery was a common and unquestioned institution throughout human history until the rise of the anti-slavery movement grew as a Christian initiative beginning in the 1700s.

For some slaves in the 1^st century Roman empire, it was a lifelong contract of employment to a master, and in other cases it was only indentured servitude fulfilling a contract for a certain number of years. Paul and other New Testament teachers described the world as it was.

Elsewhere, Paul recommends that slaves become free, if they can do so legally and with the consent of their masters, which was not uncommon (1 Corinthians 7:21). It is advisable to seek improved circumstances so long as you are living in contentment where you are (Philippians 4:11).

Paul remarks on the paradoxical freedom and slavery found for believers in Christ: "For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave" (1 Corinthians 7:22). Believers are freed from sin, we are freed from the manmade hierarchies that lord some men over others, putting no value into them, and yet we are forever in Christ’s care and called to devotion to His cause, like bondslaves who will never leave the house their master.

Paul wrote the Book of Philemon as a letter to a master, Philemon, who was a believer and whose slave Onesimus had apparently run away from serving. Paul’s letter to Philemon exhorted Philemon to free Onesimus, for Onesimus had become a believer after hearing the gospel from Paul (Philemon 1:10-16).

But some believers who were also bondslaves were not necessarily in service to masters who also believed. Their position in this temporary world was one of slavery, and Paul writes that they can honor God by doing their work with a good heart and peaceful obedience. It is not unlike the way Paul, Peter, and even Jesus encouraged obedience to the Roman authorities, even though the Jews and likely some of the Greek believers would have preferred national independence (Mark 12:17, Romans 13:1-7, 1 Peter 2:13-17, Titus 3:1).

Even in our modern world, we are all subject to an employer or local authorities to some extent. But our true master is the Lord Jesus and God the Father. It honors God to treat those in authority over us with respect, to do our job in a way that is well-pleasing, not argumentative or being rebellious, not causing conflict with those above us out of pride or bitterness (Romans 12:18, 13:1, 1 Peter 2:18-20).

This precludes the obligation to obey any command from a master, employer, or religious leader to sin or violate our conscience. The Apostles were respectful to the Jewish leadership, but they also chose to disobey their command to cease preaching the gospel, and would not be ordered into silence or fear (Acts 4:8-12, 18-20). They placed Jesus’s command to preach the gospel above the priests and rabbis’ demands for their silence (Matthew 28:18-20). Authority always has a hierarchy, and we are to understand and apply that hierarchy accordingly.

For the bondslaves of Crete, Paul advises that they be well-pleasing to their masters in everything. Do your work with a good attitude. This is not because any man is better than the next based on his station, as human systems and hierarchies would lead us to believe (Galatians 3:28, Proverbs 22:2, Romans 2:11), but because harmony shows good faith which honors God:

not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect (v 10).

The bondslaves on Crete are told not to practice pilfering (Greek, "nosphizō") which means "to set apart" or "hold back," used here to indicate embezzlement. In Acts 5, the word is used to describe how Ananias and Saphira "kept back" money they had made from selling property, about which they lied to the church as though they were giving them the full amount of the sale (Acts 5:1-2).

We should not steal covertly or overtly from anyone; even a slave should not steal from his master. That does not appropriately represent Christ. This represents the sin of stealing. God’s design for humanity is for us to be servant leaders, seeking to benefit one another. To steal is to fracture that design; it is to exploit rather than to serve. To exploit others is an outward manifestation of sin that was born in the heart of the one doing the pilfering. James describes how this works:

"But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death."
(James 1:14-15)

Death is separation, and exploiting others separates us from our design to serve one another. In addition to bringing harm to ourselves and others, pilfering from others serves as a damaging witness. Someone who confesses to follow Christ then makes death-inducing rather than life-giving choices produces a bad example and damages our witness. This hearkens back to the admonition Paul made in verses 7-8 to watch our conduct and be above reproach.

We are to deal honestly with all men. We are called to live with integrity and deal fairly. The money and treasures of this earth will pass away; it is a wiser investment to store up treasures in heaven by living honestly and fairly, in obedience to God, even though we might suffer (Matthew 6:19-21, Psalm 73). It is through suffering temporarily on earth in doing good that we can overcome this world and be rewarded to share in Christ’s inheritance (Romans 8:18, 2 Corinthians 4:17, Philippians 2:5-10, 1 Peter 4:12-14, Revelation 3:21).

The slaves of Crete are commended to practice showing all good faith in their actions that they may bring positive attention to Jesus and what He represents: so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect (v 10). To adorn something is to decorate and embellish it, to make it appealing. The word doctrine simply means "teaching," "instruction," or "that which is taught." Paul is explaining that it enhances our witness when we live with integrity and at peace with men.

This chapter has largely been about how the Cretan believers are to model themselves with dignity, not sin, and how Titus is to model himself to the Cretans, to show them by example how to obey God’s teaching (Titus 2:2-3, 5, 6-8). Bondslaves can shine a light on the doctrine/teaching of God by being agreeable and honest; they can make their witness as believers shine before men through their good behavior (Matthew 5:16), by cheerfully serving rather than seeking to pilfer their masters or have a generally bad, contentious attitude.

By showing good faith to their fellow slaves and their master, they demonstrate God’s ways as superior to the ways of the world in every respect. This often has the effect of drawing others to want to also learn about the doctrine of God and to trust in it.

Though we are, due to our fallenness, naturally self-serving and desire to extract from others, in the end we do not like it; selfish, disagreeable living is lonely and punishes those who practice it (Proverbs 11:17, 15:27, 1 Timothy 6:9-10, Ecclesiastes 5:10, Jeremiah 17:11). As Galatians 5:17 tells us, even though the flesh is our natural first reaction, the redeemed spirit of a believer seeks to do the right thing, and does not gain satisfaction from fleshly behavior.

Paul names God as God our savior here, underlining that God has saved us from something. He will spell this out in detail in the final passage of Chapter 2, how God the Father and God the Son have saved us from sin and death to the hope of a forthcoming world of harmony under the rule of the true king, Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 6:13-15).