Titus 2
1 You, however, speak about what things fit with healthy teaching. 2 Some examples are elder men being sober,a honorable, self-disciplined,b being healthy in connection with faithfulness and with love and with endurance. 3 Other similar examples are elder women being gracious,c not slanderingd people, not being enslaved to much wine, and being teachers of how to treat people well.e 4 That way, they can guide young women in being self-disciplinedf in caring about their men,g self-disciplinedh in caring about their children, 5 in being ready for sacred actions,i in running a household, in being generous,j and in being women who cooperate withk their own men, so that God’s message would not be slandered.l 6 Similarly, you yourself, encourage young men to be self-disciplined 7 concerning everything by presenting yourself as a template for kind actions, as having integrity and being honorable to the standard of the teaching, 8 a healthy discussion with nothing to criticize, so that no one from the opposition will have anything to say about us being unethical. 9 Similarly, encourage enslaved workers to cooperate with their own enslavers in everything, to satisfy them well, not refusing them, 10 not stealing,m but rather demonstrating complete, generousn faithfulness so that they would give credibility to the teaching of God our Liberator.
11 You see, God’s liberatory generosity has been made visible to all people, 12 training us like childreno so that rejecting disrespectfulness and worldly desires, we can live during this present Age with self-discipline, justness, and respectfulness 13 since we welcome the gratifying hope and praiseworthy arrival of our remarkablep God and Liberator, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for our sake so that he could pay the price to purchase us from enslavement, from all torahlessness,q and that he could cleanse his own people for himself, who are passionate for kind actions. 15 Say these things, and encourage people and call people out with each directive.r No one should consider themselves above you.
FOOTNOTES:
a Or ‘temperate.’ This word can imply both abstinence from alcohol or moderate use. It’s referring to not being enslaved to addiction.
b Tradtionally, ‘self-controlled.’ However, this is a different word than the one found in Galatians 5. It has to do with the healthiness of one’s mind and ability to self-regulate emotions and one’s reactions to those emotions.
c Or ‘reverent, appropriate to a sacrificial ceremony’ or ‘considerate’ or ‘respectful.’ The idea is treating others with the dignity appropriate for all who are the image of God—everyone.
d Traditionally, ‘not slanderers.’ The word is actually an adjective—‘slanderous.’ It is the same Greek word that is often translated as ‘blasphemous’ in some places. The word blasphemos was not a specifically religious term. It referred to slander, belittling, or speaking disrespectfully about anyone.
e Traditionally, ‘teaching what is good.’ The word is a compound of didaskolos, ‘teacher,’ and kalos, ‘good.’ The word kalos is typically used in the Bible to refer to kindness, generosity, being honorable, admirable and is the same word Jesus uses in John to describe himself as the ‘Good Shepherd.’
f Tradtionally, ‘self-controlled.’ However, this is a different word than the one found in Galatians 5. It has to do with the healthiness of one’s mind and ability to self-regulate emotions and one’s reactions to those emotions.
g There was not a separate word for ‘husband’ in Greek.
h Many translations repeat ‘self-controlled’ (self-disciplined) as if it were a stand-alone characteristic here, but it seems to make more sense that it is being repeated as a parallelism and should be connected to caring about their children as the first instance is connected with caring about their men.
i Traditionally, ‘pure.’ This does not have to do with any sense of inherent goodness or badness. It is about ritual purity, which is about readiness for sacred duties, not an absolute and enduring moral judgment about someone.
j Or ‘kind’
k Traditionally, ‘submit to.’ According to the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, hupotasso is “A Greek military term meaning ‘to arrange [troop divisions] in a military fashion under the command of a leader’. In non-military use, it was ‘a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and carrying a burden.’
l Traditionally, ‘to blaspheme,’ but the word blasphemeo was not a specifically religious term. It referred to slandering, belittling, or speaking disrespectfully about anyone.
m Or ‘taking something for yourself’ or ‘abandoning’ or ‘turning away’
n Traditionally, ‘good.’ The same Greek word is translated as ‘kind’ or ‘good’ in most translations in verse 5.
o Traditionally, ‘discipline.’ The Greek word is paideia, a noun from the word for ‘child’ as is reflected in the English word ‘pediatrics.’ Very literally, it would be something like ‘childing.’ It does not inherently imply punishment, as many people are likely to think when reading the word ‘discipline’ in this context. It means the practice of raising, nurturing, guiding, and training a child to prepare them for adulthood.
p Traditionally, ‘great.’ The word literally means ‘big’ and is used in a number of ways, including to mean ‘significant,’ ‘important,’ ‘impressive’ and others. It does not mean ‘very good.’
q In the Greek Bible, nomos literally means ‘law’ but should nearly always be understood to refer to Torah, the five books of Moses with an emphasis on the portions of teaching and direction provided by Moses. It seems to be not about simply not having access to the Bible but rather about a way of being that conflicts with the way of being taught in Torah.
r Traditionally, ‘full authority.’ This word does not mean the concept of authority, however. It refers to ‘commands’ or ‘conditions’ made in a peace treaty. It is about the statements about what should happen, not about the right of the person speaking to command others.