Deciphering Complex New Testament Texts about Women Part Seven: Titus 2
Mariotto Albertinelli’s 1503 Visitation from the The Uffizi in Florence. Pregnant, elderly Elizabeth greets her pregnant cousin, Mary of Nazareth.
Image source: Shala Graham, Visual Museum of Women in Christianity
Titus 2
Finally, we end our series on complex and controversial New Testament passages related to women and/or “gender roles.” We will conclude our series with Titus 2:1-8. In my experience with the church, this has been one of the least cited passages in this series. My awesome mother-in-law brought the passage to my attention most recently so I thought I would conclude with it.
Immediate Context
Before reading the passage in question, let’s start with the context of the letter. Paul wrote this letter to a man named Titus who lived in Crete (today, a Greek island; I’ve been there – it’s lovely). In Titus 1:5, Paul reminds Titus that Titus’ job is to “put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.”[1] Paul then goes into the qualifications for an “elder” and an “overseer” (in verse 7). Paul is not very clear on the difference between these two functions if there is one. This lack of clarity has vexed biblical interpreters for generations.
Often, people point to these qualification verses as evidence that Paul restricts these church jobs/roles/functions to men since modern translations use masculine pronouns when translating the qualifications. Yet, as Marissa Burt points out,
“While most English translations render these qualifications for church leaders with masculine pronouns, there are no gendered pronouns in the text. Instead, 1:6 opens with the sweeping neuter “anyone” (tis)!”[2]
I will summarize the qualifications Paul outlines in 1:6-9.
Elder - blameless, faithful to his/her spouse, children are believers and not seen as wild and disobedient
Overseer - manages God’s household, blameless, not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain, must be hospitable, loves what is good, self-controlled, upright, holy, disciplined, holds firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, encourages others by sound doctrine and refutes those who oppose it
Some pretty high standards. Notice that many of these qualifications are what I would call outward-facing. How is the elder or overseer bringing positive attention to the Christian faith? How does the person treat others? Of course, the inner self matters too – upright, holy, disciplined.
Verses 10-16 point towards some people engaging in false teaching for “dishonest gain.”
Then, Paul transitions to the passage in question. Let’s read it in full.
Titus 2:1-8, NIV
1 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.
Older Men and Women
The first question I wish to address is this: who are these older men and women? “Older” and “elder” have similar connotations of wisdom and age. Burt believes Titus 2 to be a continuation of Titus 1, where Paul continues to address the male and female elders of the church, this time with the specific duty of teaching others.[3] In her words:
“Paul opens his letter with the clear instruction to appoint presbyters and then goes on in chapter two to clarify that the male and female presbyters of Titus 2 are to be sober, sensible, not addicted to wine, and teachers of the good, all repeats of qualities that define the presbyterous [elder] and episkopon [overseer] of chapter one. Imagining that chapter one is about a group of vocational church leaders doing this in a specific way and chapter two is about lay people doing it in a different way shortsightedly envisions a large church community rather than the much more likely small and intimate church body. What precisely would the ‘elder’ in a church of thirty or fifty people be doing while the older men and older women were teaching sound doctrine and modeling godliness?”[4]
As Burt also points out, our modern eyes tend to view each subheading or chapter in our Bibles as a new topic or somehow distinct from the preceding subheading or chapter. However, the original letters did not have these subheadings, verse numbers, and chapters. Translators added them later to make navigating Scripture easier for modern readers. They are helpful! But let’s not think Paul included these when penning the letters.
Character Expectations
Below, I highlight similarities in the qualifications for all elders/overseers and all older men/women.
All Elders/Overseers
Blameless, upright, holy
Not overbearing or violent or quick-tempered
Not given to drunkenness
Not pursuing dishonest gain
Loves what is good
Self-controlled, disciplined
Holds firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that the overseer can encourage others with sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it
Male Elders/Older Men
Temperate
Worthy of respect
Self-controlled
Sound in faith, in love, and in endurance
Female Elders/Older Women
Reverent in the way they live
Not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine
Teach what is good
Lots of overlap, yes?
Now, what are the older women/elders to teach the younger women? What will Titus teach the younger men?
Younger women are to:
Love their husbands and children
Be self-controlled and pure
Be busy at home
Be kind
Be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God
Younger men are to:
Be self-controlled
Follow the example of doing what is good
Value integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose them may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about them
Everyone needs to show self-control, whether it’s with drink, with words, or with actions/ways of being towards others.
Notice also the way Paul uses “likewise” when transitioning from older men/elders to older women/elders to the instructions for teaching the younger men. All these ideas are connected.
“Busy at Home”
I learned recently that some Christians use the instructions for young women to be “busy at home” to mean that wives ought to not work outside the home and instead focus on raising the children if they have any. While there’s nothing wrong with a wife choosing to do this, I take issue with requiring a wife to do this “based on Scripture.” Interpreting verse 5 to mean Christian wives are all universally called to be homemakers is a gross misunderstanding of the historical context into which Paul writes and of Scripture itself.
In Paul’s culture, wives worked hard in the home, managing their households (which consisted of the family and any dependents such as servants/the enslaved) and often helping run the family business.[5] The family business happened inside the home; the home itself was both a public and a private space, where families hosted others, engaged in business transactions, and lived their everyday lives.[6] In no way does Paul envision a white, American 1950s ideal of wives expecting their husbands to independently make money while they vacuumed in pearls and raised children. Again, there is nothing wrong with a wife choosing to do this today; it’s entirely different to tell wives this is a Scriptural expectation. It is not.
Titus itself reveals that wives being “busy in the home” means something more than a 1950’s white, American ideal. As we have seen, each group Paul lists is expected to engage in self-control in one way or many. Rather than being lazy, undisciplined, or lacking self-control, Christians are called to “devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives” (Titus 3:14).
“Subject to Their Husbands”
Titus 2:5 states that young wives are to “be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.” The word NIV translates as “be subject” is the same word we see in 1 Corinthians 14:34; Ephesians 5:21, 22, 24; Colossians 3:18; and 1 Peter 3:1, 5. Once again, we’re talking submission of wives to their husbands. And once again, Paul tells us exactly why wives are to be submissive: “so no one will malign the word of God.” The Greek word for “malign” has connotations of defaming, reviling, slandering, insulting, cursing, or blaspheming.[7] Paul seeks to protect the Christian faith from outside critique or negative attention.
In the words of Gordon Fee, “Thus the concern throughout the passage is on observable behavior, obviously in contrast to that of the ‘opponents’ described in 1:10-16, who are finally judged as unqualified for any good work.”[8] Fee also highlights Paul’s use of general language that’s largely in line with contemporary Greco-Roman thought. He concludes “One gets the feeling, therefore, that the passage does not so much address ad hoc problems in Crete as it does in a more general way call for good works and a lifestyle on the part of the Christians that will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive (v.10).”[9] Indeed, we would do well to question whether imposing rigid gender roles on men and women in the church today makes Christianity look attractive to those outside the faith.
Wives being submissive to their husbands is a way of being for the Christ-followers in Paul’s day so they could avoid negative attention and win over people to Christ. Greco-Roman wives were expected to submit to their husbands. Paul tells Christians to live this way as a concession to the surrounding culture. Dr. Lynn Cohick notes that
“the descriptions of wives in the Pastorals serve an apologetic function, as failure to follow the dominant culture’s expectations for wifely submission would cast a shadow over the early Christian movement (Titus 2:3-5; cf. 1 Tim. 5:14).”[10]
However, this does not negate the clear, repetitive calling Paul gives for all believers to practice humble submission to one another, whether male or female, husband to wife, and wife to husband. (See Ephesians 5:21 especially, where all believers without qualification are to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.)
Friends, we must resist taking Paul’s words out of context and so malign the word of God, making it contemptible to the people around us. We live in a world much different from Paul’s. We must be careful when interpreting “gender roles” passages to avoid adding a burden on modern Christian women that Paul never intended as an everlasting requirement but rather as a concession to their Greco-Roman culture.
In many ways, American culture has moved on from ancient ideas about men’s and women’s roles. Women are largely free to pursue any level of education, own properties, run businesses, independently manage their finances, marry whomever they choose, elect not to marry at all, have as many children as they want and can bear, decide not to have children, work inside or outside the home, participate in politics, join the military, run for office, the list goes on.
In my experience, modern evangelical Christianity is not attractive to many women outside the faith. Why would women give up their freedom and independence to take on the burden of being a “submissive” wife whose husband makes all the rules? Why would they want to engage with a religious community that rejects women’s leadership, allows men to abuse women with minimal consequences, and expects women to take on the burden of child-rearing and household management in a way not expected of their spouses? Why would they want to enter a culture that values motherhood and marriage above singleness? Why would they want to give up their hard-earned careers as their spouses’ careers thrive, watching him rise up the ranks? Why would she surrender who she is and what she values to mold her life to match the values of an empire that existed 2,000 years ago?
What if, instead, we’re faithful to Paul’s words? What if, instead, women can choose how they want to live, guided by the Spirit? What if, instead, women see Christianity as liberating, inviting, and interesting? What if, instead, they see the heart of Jesus, unburdened by some ancient, patriarchal rules Paul never intended Christians to so rigidly cling to?
What about the women raised in and burned by the church? Those who want to live lives faithful to Christ but cannot stomach the spiritual abuse and letdown they’ve experienced in the one place that should have been safe and accepting?
For thousands of years, women have held up the church, often quietly doing Spirit-guided work while living within the confines of the patriarchy. Just imagine what good, faithful work we might do when loosed from those chains. Just imagine if our Christian brothers stood alongside us as co-workers and faithful servants of the Lord, unthreatened by our Spirit-given authority. May it be so.
Summary of Titus 2:1-8 - Verses & Possible Meaning
1 You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine.
Titus must teach sound doctrine.
2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.
Older men/elders are to possess self-control, be worthy of respect, practice good doctrine, and demonstrate love and perseverance.
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.
Older women/elders are to also be self-controlled, practice good doctrine, and teach the younger women.
Younger women/wives are to love their husbands/children, be self-controlled and pure, work hard, be kind, and submit themselves to their husbands to not bring negative attention to the faith (and perhaps to live a life attractive to non-Christ followers).
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.
Boys will be boys. Young men are to be self-controlled. They are to follow the example of doing good, having integrity, and using wholesome speech. They refrain from giving fuel to those with false doctrine.
References & Notes
[1] Unless otherwise noted, all verses in this article come from the New International Version (NIV).
[2] Marissa Burt, “Lost in Translation: Female Elders in Titus 1–2,” CBE International, June 18, 2024, https://www.cbeinternational.org/resource/lost-in-translation-female-elders-in-titus-1-2/, accessed November 9, 2024.
[3] Burt, “Female Elders.”
[4] Burt, “Female Elders.”
[5] Susan E. Hylen, Women in the New Testament World (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2019), 32-35 and 120-126.
[6] Hylen, Women, 32-35 and 120-126.
[7] StepBible, accessed November 9, 2024, https://www.stepbible.org/?q=version=ESV@version=NIV@version=ABEn@version=ABGk@reference=Titus.2&options=GVNUH&display=INTERLEAVED.
[8] Gordon D. Fee, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: BakerBooks, 1988), 184.
[9] Fee, Titus, 184. Bolding original.
[10] Lynn Cohick, Women in the World of the Earliest Christians: Illuminating Ancient Ways of Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009), 69. Pastorals refers to Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus.
Please note: By discussing “husbands” and “wives” in this article, I do not mean to imply marriage can only be between a man and a woman. Rather, I’m using the language used in the Bible and by Greco-Roman society for the sake of clarity.
