Titus 2

This devotional is written by Arabella Northey.

Doing good for the sake of the gospel
You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. 2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.

3 Likewise, 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. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

6 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive.

11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

15 These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

Right living you say! What on earth do we mean by that? I have been having some difficult conversations recently in a professional context about a leader who overstepped their authority. Some say that it was a naïve oversight and others involved have cited religious hypocrisy in acting this way because they are a Christian. Paul in his letter to Titus is exhorting and encouraging the people of Crete to demonstrate their love for Jesus through their character and right living – he calls for wholesome teaching – for us to keep Jesus central, know his truth and promote spiritual health in ourselves and others. As my study Bible says: live what you learn. Easier for me to say, than to act! It might seem a challenge to always be self-controlled or pure. That is where we are reminded by Paul of what it means to be in a church and member of our community; each of us has a role to teach, to model and to encourage one another, it is not about doing this alone or in isolation. And throughout it all, we have been given grace and the Holy Spirit to live in this age whilst looking forward with hope. The tension is made bearable because we seek to build God’s kingdom with the gifts that we are given.

I love this passage because it contains the nuggets of our faith: grace, salvation, redemption and hope. We have been saved from all of our past hurts and sins, God has given us grace and redeemed us. There is hope! Admittedly, it is still hard when we are hit by the challenges of ungodliness in our world. Paul is not shying away from the challenges, but calls us into greater intimacy with Jesus. V14 ‘Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.’

When we truly know that we are loved, adopted, forgiven and called into his Kingdom then we can begin to share that joy and hope with others – that is when we can easily become eager to do what is good. Then, our life with Jesus has integrity and rings true to those looking in; we live what we have learnt.

Pray today for opportunities where you can bring your different viewpoints and experiences to teach and model others as Paul encourages in v15.