Homily 4 — Titus 2, verses 2 to 10

“That the older men be clear-headed, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, in endurance. The older women likewise, that their behavior be as befits holiness, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of what is good; that they may teach the young women to be sensible, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be self-controlled, pure, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, so that the word of God is not blasphemed.” [a]

There are some failings that old age has and youth does not. Some, it is true, it shares with youth; but besides these it has a slowness, a timidity, a forgetfulness, a dullness of feeling, and an irritability. That is why he urges the old men about these things, “to be watchful.” For at this time of life many things keep men from being watchful, especially what I have mentioned: their general dullness, and how hard it is to stir or rouse them. That is why he also adds, “dignified, self-controlled.” Here he means sensible. For self-control takes its name from a well-ordered mind.

For there are, there really are, among the old some who rave and are out of their minds, some from wine and some from grief. For old age makes them narrow-minded.

“Sound in faith, in love, in endurance.” He did well to add “in endurance,” for this quality especially suits old men.

Verse 3: “The older women likewise, that their behavior be as befits holiness.” That is, that in their very dress and bearing they show modesty.

“Not slanderers, not given to much wine.” For this was especially the failing of women and of old age. From the natural coldness of that time of life comes a craving for wine. So he aims his exhortation at that point, to cut off every occasion of drunkenness, wanting them to stay far away from that vice and to escape the ridicule that goes with it. For the fumes rise more easily from below, and the membranes of the brain take the harm because age has weakened them, and this above all is what causes drunkenness. Yet wine is needed at this age, because of its weakness; but much is not needed. Nor do young women need much, though for a different reason: because it kindles the flame of lust.

“Teachers of what is good.”

And yet you forbid a woman to teach. How can you command it here, when elsewhere you say, “I do not permit a woman to teach” (First Timothy 2, verse 12)? But notice what he has added: “nor to have authority over the man.” For from the beginning it was permitted to men to teach both men and women. To women it is allowed to instruct by conversation at home. But they are nowhere permitted to preside, nor to draw out their speech at great length. That is why he adds, “nor to have authority over the man.” [b]

Verse 4: “That they may teach the young women to be sensible.” Notice how he binds the people together, how he places the younger women under the older. For he is not speaking there of daughters, but simply of age. Let each of the older women, he means, teach any woman younger than herself to be sensible.

“To love their husbands.” This is the chief point of all the good in a household: “a man and his wife who agree together” (Sirach 25, verse 1). For where this is present, there will be nothing unpleasant. When the head is in harmony with the body and there is no disagreement between them, how can all the other members fail to be at peace? When those who rule are at peace, who is there to divide and break up the harmony? On the other hand, where these two are badly disposed toward each other, there will be no good order in the house. This, then, is a point of the highest importance, of more weight than wealth, or rank, or power, or anything else. And he has not said merely to be at peace, but “to love their husbands.” For where there is love, no quarrel will find a way in. Far from it: other good things spring up as well.

“To love their children.” This is well added, since the woman who loves the root will love the fruit much more. [c]

“To be self-controlled, pure, keepers at home, good.” All these spring from love. They become “good, and keepers at home” out of affection for their husbands.

“Obedient to their own husbands, so that the word of God is not blasphemed.” The woman who despises her husband neglects her house as well; but from love comes great self-control, and all quarreling is done away. If he is a pagan, he will soon be persuaded; if he is a Christian, he will become a better man. Do you see how Paul stoops down to meet us? He who in everything would draw us away from worldly concerns here gives his attention to household matters. For when these are well run, there will be room for spiritual things; otherwise, those too will be spoiled. The woman who keeps at home will also be self-controlled; the woman who keeps at home will also be a careful manager; she will have no taste for luxury, for untimely expenses, and for other such things.

“So that the word of God,” he says, “is not blasphemed.”

See how his first concern is for the preaching of the word, not for worldly things. When he writes to Timothy, he says, “so that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity” (First Timothy 2, verse 2); and here, “so that the word of God,” and the teaching, “is not blasphemed.” For if it should happen that a believing woman married to an unbeliever is not virtuous, the blasphemy is usually carried on to God; but if she is of good character, the good news gains glory from her and from her virtuous actions. Let the women who are joined to wicked men or to unbelievers listen. Let them hear, and learn to lead them to godliness by their own example. For even if you gain nothing else, and do not draw your husband to take up right teaching, you have still stopped his mouth, and you do not let him blaspheme Christianity. And this is no small thing; it is a great thing indeed, that the teaching should be admired because of our way of life.

Verse 6: “Likewise urge the young men to be self-controlled.”

See how everywhere he urges what is fitting. He has handed to women the greater part of the instruction of women, appointing the older to teach the younger; but the whole instruction of men he assigns to Titus himself. For nothing is so hard at that age as to overcome unlawful pleasures. Neither the love of wealth, nor the desire for glory, nor anything else tempts the young so much as the lust of the flesh. That is why he passes over other things and aims his warning at that vital point. Not that he wants other things neglected. For what does he say?

Verse 7: “In all things showing yourself a model of good works.” Let the older women, he says, teach the younger; but you yourself urge the young men to be self-controlled. And let the brightness of your life be a school open to all, a model of virtue set up in public before everyone, like an original pattern that holds every beauty in itself, from which those who are willing may easily stamp on themselves any of its excellences.

Verses 7 and 8: “In your teaching showing integrity, dignity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that whoever is on the opposing side may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.” [e]

By “whoever is on the opposing side” he means the devil and everyone who serves him. For when the life is shining and the speech matches it, gentle and mild and giving no handle to opponents, the benefit is beyond words. Of great use, then, is the ministry of the word: not just any word, but one that is approved and cannot be condemned, giving no pretext to those who want to find fault with it.

Verse 9: “Urge slaves to be obedient to their own masters, and to please them well in all things.” Do you see what he said just before, “so that whoever is on the opposing side may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you”? So the man deserves condemnation who, on the pretext of self-control, separates wives from their husbands, and so does the man who, on any other pretext, takes slaves away from their masters. This is not “speech that cannot be condemned.” It gives the unbelievers a great handle and opens everyone’s mouth against us.

“Not answering back.” Verse 10: “Not pilfering, but showing all good faithfulness, so that they may adorn the teaching of God our Savior in all things.” [g]

So he has well said in another place, “Doing service as to the Lord, and not to people.” For even if you serve your master with goodwill, the ground of that service still comes from your fear; and whoever renders the Lord service with such great fear will receive the greater reward. For if a slave does not hold back his hand or his unruly tongue, how will the pagan admire the teaching that is among us? But if they see their slave, who has been taught the philosophy of Christ, showing more mastery of himself than their own philosophers, and serving with all gentleness and goodwill, the master will admire the power of the good news in every way. For the Greeks do not judge teachings by the teaching itself; they make life and conduct the test of teachings. So let women and slaves be their teachers by their way of life.

For it is admitted both among the slaves themselves and everywhere else that the race of slaves is hot-tempered, hard to impress, unmanageable, and not very ready to receive instruction in virtue. This is not from their nature — far from it! — but from their bad upbringing and the neglect of their masters. For those who rule them care about nothing but their own service. Or if they do sometimes attend to their morals, they do it only to spare themselves the trouble that their sexual immorality, their thefts, or their drunkenness would cause them. So, neglected and with no one to concern himself about them, they naturally sink into the very depths of wickedness.

For if, under the direction of a father and mother, a guardian, a schoolmaster and a teacher, with suitable companions, with the honor of free birth and many other advantages, it is still hard to escape close friendships with the wicked, what can we expect of those who lack all these, who are mixed up with the wicked and keep company fearlessly with whomever they please, while no one troubles himself about their friendships? What sort of people do we suppose they will be? That is why it is hard for any slave to be good, especially when they have the benefit of instruction neither from those outside nor from ourselves. They do not mix with free men of orderly conduct who care a great deal about their reputation. For all these reasons it is a hard and surprising thing that there should ever be a good slave.

So when it is seen that the power of religion, putting a restraint on a class so self-willed by nature, has made them remarkably well behaved and gentle, their masters, however unreasonable they may be, will form a high opinion of our teachings. For it is plain that, having first fixed in their souls a fear of the resurrection, of the judgment, and of all the things our philosophy teaches us to expect after death, they have been able to resist wickedness, since they have in their souls a settled principle to weigh against the pleasures of sin. So it is not by chance or without reason that Paul shows so much consideration for this class of people. The more wicked they are, the more admirable is the power of the preaching that reforms them. For we admire a physician most when he restores to health and soundness someone who had been given up, whom nothing helped, who could not control his unreasonable desires but wallowed in them. And notice what he requires of them most: the qualities that contribute most to their masters’ ease.

“Not answering back, not pilfering”; that is, to show all goodwill in the matters entrusted to them, to be especially faithful in their masters’ affairs, and to obey their commands. [i]

So do not think I am dwelling on this subject without a purpose, for the rest of my sermon will be addressed to slaves. Do not look at this, my good friend, that you serve a man, but that your service is to God, that you adorn the good news. Then you will do everything in obedience to your master, bearing with him even when he is impatient and angry without cause. Consider that you are not pleasing him but fulfilling the command of God; then you will easily submit to anything. And what I have said before I repeat here: when our spiritual state is right, the things of this life will follow. For a slave so willing and so well disposed will not only be accepted by God and given a share in those glorious crowns; his master himself, whom he serves so well, even if he is brutish and hard-hearted, cruel and savage, will praise and admire him, will honor him above all the rest, and will set him over their heads, even though the master is a pagan.

I will show you by an example that slaves are required to be this way toward a pagan master. Joseph, who was of a different religion from the Egyptian, was sold to the chief cook. What did the Egyptian do, then? When he saw that the young man was virtuous, he did not consider the difference of their religion, but loved and favored and admired him, put the others under his oversight, and knew nothing of the affairs of his own house because of him. So Joseph was a second master, and even more a master than his own master, for he knew more of his master’s affairs than his master did himself. [j]

And even afterward, as it seems to me, when the Egyptian believed the unjust accusation his wife had framed against Joseph, he still kept, out of his former regard for him, some respect for that righteous man, and satisfied his anger with imprisonment. For if he had not greatly revered and esteemed him because of his earlier conduct, he would have run his sword through his body and killed him on the spot. “For jealousy is the rage of a man; therefore he will pay no regard to any ransom, nor will he be content, though you give many gifts” (Proverbs 6, verses 34 and 35). And if such is the jealousy of men in general, it must have been much more violent in him, an Egyptian and a barbarian, and wronged, as he thought, by one he had honored. For you all know that injuries do not affect us the same way from everyone. Those grieve us most bitterly and deeply that come from people who were well disposed toward us, who had trusted us and whom we had trusted, and who had received many kindnesses from us. Yet he did not reason with himself or say, “What! Did I take a slave into my house, share my goods with him, make him free and even greater than myself — and is this the return he makes me?” He did not say this, so much was his mind already taken up with his earlier respect for him.

And what wonder is it that he enjoyed so much honor in the house, when we see how great a regard he won even in a prison? You know how practiced in cruelty are the people who have charge of prisons. They profit by the misfortune of others. They harass those whom others support in their troubles, making a gain of them that is truly pitiful, with a cruelty worse than a beast’s. For they take advantage of the very wretchedness that ought to move them to pity. And we may notice further that they do not treat all their prisoners the same way. Those who are held only on an accusation, and are wrongly treated, they perhaps pity; but those imprisoned for shameful and atrocious crimes they punish with countless torments.

So the keeper of the prison might have been expected to be cruel, not only from the habits of such men, but from the cause for which Joseph was imprisoned. For who would not have been angry with a young man who had been raised to such honor and was charged with repaying those favors by a base attempt on his master’s wife? Would not the keeper, weighing these things — the honor to which he had been raised and the crime for which he was imprisoned — have treated him with a cruelty worse than a beast’s? But Joseph was lifted above all these things by his hope in God. For the virtue of the soul can soften even wild beasts. And by the same gentleness that had won his master, he won over the keeper of the prison too. So Joseph was a ruler again: he ruled in the prison as he had ruled in the house. For since he was destined to reign, it was fitting that he should learn to be governed; and while he was governed he became a governor, and presided over the house.

For if Paul requires this of one who is put in charge of a church, saying, “If a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?” (First Timothy 3, verse 5), it was fitting that the one who was to be a governor should first be an excellent ruler of a house. He presided over the prison, not as over a prison, but as if it were a home. For he eased the misfortunes of everyone and took charge of the prisoners as if they were his own limbs. He did not only take an interest in their troubles and comfort them. If he saw anyone lost in thought, he went to him and asked the cause; he could not bear even to see anyone downcast, or rest until he had lifted his dejection. Many a man has not shown such love as this even to his own children. And to these things we may trace the beginning of his good fortune. For our part must go first, and then the blessing of God will follow.

That he did show this care and concern we learn from the story. He saw, it says, two eunuchs whom Pharaoh had thrown into prison, his chief cupbearer and his chief baker, and he said, “Why do you look so sad today?” (Genesis 40, verse 7). And not from this question alone, but from the conduct of these men, we can see his worth. For though they were the king’s officers, they did not look down on him, nor in their despair did they refuse his help. They laid open to him their whole secret, as to a brother who could feel for them. [l]

All this I have said to prove that though the virtuous man is in slavery, in captivity, in prison, though he is in the depths of the earth, nothing will be able to overcome him. I have said it to slaves, so that they may learn that even if they have masters who are utter brutes, like this Egyptian, or savage, like the keeper of the prison, they can win their regard; and though their masters are pagans, as these were, or whatever they are, they can soon bring them round to gentleness. For nothing is more winning than good character, nothing more pleasant and delightful than gentleness, mildness, and obedience. A person like this suits everyone. Such a one is not ashamed of slavery; he does not shun the poor, the sick, and the infirm. For virtue is superior and prevails over everything. And if it has such power in slaves, how much more in those who are free?

So let us practice this, whether slave or free, men or women. In this way we will be loved both by God and by people, and not only by the virtuous but by the wicked; indeed by them most of all, for they especially honor and respect virtue. For as those who are under rule stand most in awe of the gentle, so the wicked revere the virtuous most, knowing from what height they themselves have fallen. Since, then, such is the fruit of virtue, let us pursue it and attain it. If we hold fast to it, nothing will be fearsome, but everything easy and manageable. Even if we pass through the fire and through the water, everything yields to virtue, even death itself. Let us, then, be zealous in pursuing it, so that we may attain the good things to come, in Jesus Christ our Lord, with whom to the Father be glory, with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.