Titus 2:1–10 (NKJV)
1 But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: 2 that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; 3 the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—4 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. 6 Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, 7 in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, 8 sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you. 9 Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
Titus is to admonish his hearers to the things proper for those who believe the sound doctrine. What is proper for those who believe the sound, life-giving doctrine of the Gospel? To live as those who have been reborn as children of God through the Gospel. To that end, Paul presents a table of duties to guide Christians in good works. In spite of the separate admonitions to older men, older women, young women, and young men, there is one characteristic that is common to them all: sobriety.
Older men are to be “sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience.” Older women are to be “reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things.” Older women are to admonish younger women to be “discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands.” The word translated “admonish” has the same root as the word translated “sober.” That the older women are to admonish the younger women to be sober is shown in that the word translated “discreet” in verse 5 is the same word translated “sober” in verse 2. Young men are to be sober-minded as well. This sobriety is more than temperance and moderation in food and drink. It includes self-control of thoughts, words, and behavior in a way that aligns with the Gospel. Paul writes in verse 12 that the Gospel—the grace of God that brings salvation—teaches all Christians to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live “soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.”
No matter their callings, all Christians are to live soberly for the sake of themselves, so that they avoid sin, but also for the sake of the Gospel. They live soberly “that the Word of God may not be blasphemed.” Even slaves are to live in a way that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. Our lives are examples to other Christians and adorn the Gospel.
Let us pray: Increase our self-control, O Lord, that we may live lives that reflect the sound doctrine of the Gospel. Amen.
