Titus 2:1-10: God's Design for People

Titus 2:1.. "But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine."

Since the beginning of time, sin has attempted to twist the roles of men and women to be something that they ought not to be. In a culture surrounded by homosexuality and well as transgenderism, it is not hard to recognize this. Oftentimes, these pagan ideas slip their way into the church. Such ideas that wives are not required to submit to their husbands, that homosexual attraction is justifyable, and a bunch of other ideas slowly infultrate our Christian thinking if we are not careful. However, what if there was a divine order of men and women set by God since the creation of time? What if God had his own way of setting apart both males and females to their respective purposes? What if there was a correct way that it was supposed to be--a set direction that would limit the chaos?

Titus 2:1-10 gives us that divine order. Paul, writing to Timothy, speaks of four different categories of people (older men, older women, younger women, younger men) and defines what each of them ought to do within the Church. Let us look at each of them briefly...

Older men are to be "sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness." Older men should be a great example of Christ to the church. They show this by their sober-mindedness, that is, in how they are not drawn away by this world and distracted easily by alluring temptations. They are also sound in the faith, having years of wisdom in which they have grown and now know what is right.

Older women are to be "reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children." Older women are the prime example to younger women within the church. They enable younger girls to have a model in which to follow. They are reverent in their behavior, meaning that they fear both God and the authority above them. They are not slanderers, but are gentle. They are to teach what is good and train the younger women how to live godly lives in love towards their families.

Younger women are to "love their husbands and children, be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands." Younger women have the great responsibility to be leaders in their family by loving their husbands and children. Furthermore, they are to "work at home." Now, notice something here. This verse does not say that women are to "work at home, and not out of the home." It simply says that they are to "work at home." God has given the unprecedented honor of taking care of the home primarily to women. For a truly godly woman, this is seen as a delight, not as a duty, as they are raising up the next generation of Christ-followers. This is not to say that a women cannot work outside the home, but it is to say that her primary focus ought to be on the home, even if she is working outside of the home, as we see the good wife in Proverbs 31 doing.

Younger men are to be "self-controlled." Personally, I love this, because that is the only instruction given to younger men. Why? Because young men (including myself) struggle with self-control, and frankly if we were just self-controlled it would solve 99% of our problems. Younger men are to be self-controlled.

So what's the point here? The point is that God has a design for people. We ought not to just "do what we want to" because it is "our body." We ought to follow God's design. This does not bring bondage, but liberation, as we live out what we were created for. This does not bring duty, it brings delight, as we live out God's plan for us. God has created us for better things than warping our genders to be something that we want them to be--he has created us for his divine design for people. Praise the Lord.