Titus 2:1 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Titus 2:1

Comments

In this chapter the apostle Paul will run through five different categories of believer, and the first of those is that of the aged men. But he begins with Titus himself. ‘Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.’ He shows what sound doctrine means in the case of four of these categories of believer. ‘Speak thou.’ So Paul begins with the pastor. He is to set an example. This is a kind of sandwich, because then you get verses 2 to 6, which exhort older men, older women, younger women, younger man, and then in verse 7 you come back to Titus, so the exhortation begins with the preaching elder, and ends with the preaching elder, and in between are these very practical instructions to older and younger men and women.As for you, when you talk – the translators have chosen the word ‘speak’, but it may sound as though this is official speak: when you preach; when you instruct, speak the things which become sound doctrine. But the word is perhaps better translated ‘talk’. This is about every day talk: in your ordinary conversation. Obviously it would include your official speak and preaching, but the word is broader. ‘[Talk] thou the things which become sound doctrine.’ Titus, make sure that all your talk is consistent with sound doctrine, agrees with sound doctrine, promotes sound doctrine, ‘the things which become sound doctrine’, and archaic way of saying which suit, which agree with, which befit sound doctrine. Before the apostle proceeds to deal with the categories, starting with the older men, he must address Titus. Is it because Titus is not always reliable for sound speech? No, of course not. But it is a principle. The teacher is responsible to set an example, and so first of all Paul starts with Titus, and he extends this thinking later on. As for you, in all your talk make sure it agrees with sound doctrine. See that your everyday conversation promotes, or is in accord with, healthy teaching. It is not speech about possessions, or boastful speech; it is not about entertainment. What does a worldling do? Well he speaks about entertainment; he speaks about sex; he speaks about possessions; he gossips. As for you, Titus, make sure that it isn't any of those things. It’s sound speech, sound doctrine, useful things. We all have to listen to ourselves.

Application

I was speaking to a pastor, and he had heard that I had had a gout attack, so he proceeded to tell me one or two tragic stories about people he knew of who had had gout attacks. In one case it wasn't gout at all; it was sepsis and the man almost died. In another case, it was some other terrible thing. Well, I didn't mind, but we should listen to ourselves. Maybe he should have said to himself, ‘I’m a pastor. Is this an appropriate thing to say? My mind went back thirty years to the same brother thirty years ago when, it so happened, I was due to have a procedure on something else. And he said to me, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t like that to happen to me’, and he started to tell me – he had a bit of a medical background – all the lurid possibilities. And I thought, have you spent the last thirty years frightening the life out of people? We should listen to ourselves, preferably before we speak. What am I going to say? Is it appropriate? Is it really promoting faith in God? Is it good? Is it wholesome? If it isn't particularly spiritual, is it at least wholesome? So it's not just Titus and pastors, but everybody. We have to listen to ourselves.

There was a lady in the church who was an arch grumbler, and she could always be counted upon to grumble. If there was a tea or something and she was on a table, the people at that table – they may be new comers; they may be guests – were regaled to grumbles. But one day she came to complain about somebody who was a grumbler, and the first thought that comes into one's mind is, ‘Have you ever heard yourself?’ We need to listen to ourselves, and our characteristic responses and speech. ‘Speak thou the things which [agree with] sound doctrine.’

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Titus 2:1 Commentary and Bible Study