Title: You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. (Titus 2:1)
1You must teach what is in accord with sound
doctrine. (Titus 21)
2What were the things Paul urged Titus to preach?
- Specific instructions to those who made up the
church to possess an inward righteousness that
adorns the gospel of Christ.
3Evidence Before Information
- People need to see the evidence of Christianity
in us before they will hear the information about
Christianity from us!
4Sound doctrine for older women (Titus 23-4)
5Cultural Background
- The coming of Roman values in no way diminished
the gains Cretan women had secured. The change
in Rome with married women able to hold property
provide the inhabitants of the imperial capital
with one of the powerful levers that secured for
them greater financial independence from the late
Republic onwards, and hence a measure of social
freedom. It will be suggest that the emergence
of the new Roman women in the first century
could only fortify the long-established legal
gains that already provided a measure of
independence for the women of Roman Crete
(Winter, p. 144).
6Likewise, 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.
Then they can train the younger women to love
their husbands and children, (Titus 23-4)
7Characteristics of older women
8Reverent in behavior
- katastemademeanor or describing a state of mind
- hieroprepesrelated to the Greek word for temple
and means suited to a sacred character. - Thus, the idea is that older women carry into
daily life the demeanor of priestesses in a
temple (Guthrie, quoting Dibelius)
9Not slanderers or addicted to wine
10Addicted to wine
- dulowto be enslaved to something
- polus--much
- oinoswine
- In view of our earlier study on wine in the NT,
the idea is the use of wine for intoxication.
11Not slanderers
- Diabolosa word reserved for the devil who is a
slanderer of God to men and men to God. - Athenaeus in the Learned Banquet quotes
Epicharmus who observed the problems of gossip or
slander at dinner parties But after drinking
comes mockery, and after mockery filthy insults,
and after insults a lawsuit (Deipnosophists,
2.36 quoted by Winter in Roman wives, Roman
widows,, p. 154.)
12Teach what is good
- kalodidaskaloigood teachers
- inain order that
- Sophonizoto call one to his/her senses.
- Younger women need role models and guidance in
the work of being a wife and mother. - Older women should seek out opportunity to help
those who are younger by giving them the wisdom
of experience
13Applying Pauls message in our contemporary
culture
14More freedom and power..
more temptation
- Women and men who are not married are brought
together in close working relationships that have
fostered adulterous affairs. - A womans freedom and power in secular life can
carry over into spiritual life resulting in more
assertive attitudes and occupation of roles
forbidden to them by God. - The obligations of work can take a heavy toll on
the relationship of a woman with her husband and
her children. - Privileges of public life can lead to involvement
in the sins of alcoholism and slander.
15Exhortations to older women
- Show the younger women how to participate in the
Lords work meaningfully while respecting the
leadership limitations God has placed upon you. - Be a good teacher ready to call the younger
women to their senses when they lose sight of
the divinely given priorities.