For the overseer must be free from all charge [against him] as God's steward; not headstrong, not passionate, not disorderly through wine, not a striker, not seeking gain by base means;
Paul has just told Titus to appoint elders in each town on Crete. This verse names the same man an "overseer" and sets one standard over him: he handles what belongs to God.
The change of word between verse 5 and verse 7 has led some to imagine two ranks of leader. Commentators see one man from two sides: his standing, and his job.
"Elder" expresses the dignity of the person, drawn from the respect due to age. The elder need not be an aged man, but a man of experience. So people used the title even where there was no great age, wherever a man suited the position. "Bishop," or overseer, expresses instead the nature of the office: to take moral account of the saints and to maintain godly order. Oversight, in short, was the constant duty, privately and publicly.
A steward manages another man's property and answers to the owner for it. That picture makes the demand for a clean record reasonable, not harsh.
The expression "steward of God" is a remarkable one. Even in this world, a sensible man of property will not employ a steward unless he has an irreproachable character. The charge is one of great responsibility and honour.
Older translations render the first negative "self-willed" or "headstrong." People often mistake it for backbone.
He must be "not self-willed," or headstrong. It is the grossest mistake to think that self-will implies courage, though it may lead to rashness or even recklessness. Nothing gives such quiet firmness as knowing you are doing the will of God. Then a man can be lowly and patient, but uncompromising… Self-will haughtily disregards both God and man. How shameful in an overseer!
An overseer has to correct people. A short fuse does not add force to correction; it drains it away. The next word in the list covers more than drink.
Again, he must be "not soon angry," not irascible. Scarcely anything weakens authority more than a tendency to explosions of anger. The weight of a rebuke, however just it may be, is easily lost when a man is overcome with angry heat. Calmness gives weight and force to a needed rebuke. The next negation is perhaps figurative. Literally it means not staying long over wine, or being disorderly through it. So it generally comes to mean "not a brawler." Being addicted to wine is certainly ruled out. But even a Christian free from that suspicion is unfit to be God's steward if he is easily heated, noisy and quarrelsome.
The list moves from temper and violence to money. This last fault is no smaller a danger than the others, and it disarms the man in his own work.
Men in authority are quite apt to fall into another fault, but it is unworthy of an overseer. He must not seek gain by base means. He must stand firm against greed for dishonest money. The man called to rule before God among the saints must guard against this debasing evil at least as much as against the sins of violence. If he were faulty here, with what face could he rebuke those sins, as it is his duty to do?
Read together, the five negatives share one root. Each names an appetite or reaction that has taken charge of the man.
Self-will is the strong intention of having one's own way, a most destructive element in the assembly of God. An elder is not to indulge in wine, nor to be a striker — that is, striking back against what he considers injustice. Nor is he to have the sort of character that seeks earthly gain by questionable means. Notice in all of these the necessity of controlling himself: his desires, his temper, his appetite, his resentment against wrongs, his selfishness. In other words, if he is to keep the assembly in order for God, he must certainly know how to control himself.
Titus appointed elders because an apostle sent him to do it. Commentators say no one can make that formal appointment now. Yet men still do the work.
Evangelists and teachers have their place. But we should also value those who work in a simpler, less obvious way. Day by day they devote themselves to strengthen the links of affection and to check the sources of disorder that keep springing up in Christian assemblies. These are the people whom competent authority once appointed as elders, or overseers… And if we see men of such ways and gifts working now, we should respect and acknowledge them. They have the qualities and do the work of elders, though circumstances make their formal appointment no longer possible.
- One man. "Elder" points to weight of experience. "Overseer" points to the work of watching over the saints and keeping godly order. Two names, one person.
- One owner. He is God's steward. No wise owner hands his property to a man of doubtful character. The charge is both honour and responsibility.
- One root. Arrogance, temper, drink, violence and greed are one failure. Something other than God is running the man.
- One test. He cannot keep the assembly in order for God unless he first keeps himself in order. A rebuke from an angry or greedy man carries no weight.
- One legacy. The apostles' appointment has gone, but the character has not. Where a man shows these qualities and does the work, we should recognise him.
but hospitable, a lover of goodness, discreet, just, pious, temperate,
Paul's list turns a corner here. After naming what an overseer must not be, he names what he must be: seven positive marks, from an open home to self-control.
Keeping clear of scandal is only the starting line. One writer explains why a clean record is not enough, and what kind of hospitality this calls for:
The absence of evil qualities is not enough. The assembly of God is the only sphere on earth for the exercise and display of what is divine. To steer clear of the ordinary snares of men in office could never satisfy the mind of God. The overseer was called to be hospitable, without a thought of invitation or repayment in return... It is plain, then, that it was not in the least on the ground of previous acquaintance, or of social equality.
Peter attaches a condition to hospitality. One writer explains why:
Hospitality has a large place in the Scriptures. Peter gives a striking instruction: "Show hospitality to one another without grumbling" (1 Peter 4:9). Why "without grumbling"? Perhaps the apostle, as a married man, knew that hospitality costs money, work and self-sacrifice. Extra food must be bought, sleeping space provided, and extra plates, knives, forks and spoons have to be washed up. So "without grumbling" is a very happy exhortation.
Older translations read "a lover of good men." William Kelly shows the term is wider than people, and names the danger it guards against:
Nor is this all. We read next that the elder was to be "a lover of good" — not merely of good men, but of goodness. This is an important safeguard in far more than hospitality. Self-pleasing might easily creep in otherwise; and indulging self is always the service of Satan. Christ alone shows us truly and fully what good is.
Older translations name the rest of the list "sober, just, holy, temperate." One writer defines each term:
The seven positives of verse 8 are precious... A lover of goodness will be so occupied with good that he will have little time for evil, even in fighting against it. To be sober is to use wise discretion in discernment and action. And "just" is added to this, a righteous, fair character in dealing with others. "Holy" is the character of separation to God, hating evil and loving good. "Temperate" is necessary too — the avoiding of extremes by a well-balanced moderation.
Commentators differ on "holy." The writer above reads it as separation to God. Another finds mercy in the word:
The overseer, it is added in due course as a higher call, must be "pious," or "holy" in that sense. It is not separateness from evil. It means gracious and upright, and it is used this way of Christ in particular, in the Old Testament as well as in the New. It is that character of piety which appreciates God's mercy, and is itself merciful.
The last word in the list has shrunk in modern usage. One writer widens it again, and names what does the checking:
Further, he was to be "temperate" — an expression much narrowed, and so far misapplied, in our day. Self-control not in one respect but in all is its real meaning. It means that every feeling and inclination is checked in the Christian by his sense of God's presence, grace, and fear.
So who does this work today, and can anyone still be appointed? One writer answers both:
We cannot appoint elders now, because we are not apostles, or even apostolic delegates... Evangelists and teachers have their place. But we should also value those who work in a simpler and less prominent way. Day by day they strengthen the links of affection, and hold back the sources of disorder which, as we all know, keep springing up in Christian gatherings... And if we see men with such ways and gifts working now, we should respect and acknowledge them. They have the qualities of elders and do the work of elders, even though circumstances make their formal appointment no longer possible.
- Not enough — avoiding scandal only clears the ground. God's assembly is the one place on earth to display what is divine, so the list turns from "must not" to "must be."
- Open door — this hospitality is for strangers, not for friends or social equals. It costs money, work and self-denial.
- Open heart — "a lover of good" reaches past good people to goodness itself. That love guards service from self-pleasing.
- Ordered life — sober in judgment, just toward others, holy toward God, temperate in every appetite. Four words cover mind, dealings, worship and self.
- Recognised, not installed — no one can appoint elders now. But where these marks show in men serving quietly today, we should respect their work as elders' work.
clinging to the faithful word according to the doctrine taught, that he may be able both to encourage with sound teaching and refute gainsayers.
Titus 1:9 closes the list of qualities Paul gave Titus for appointing elders, and it is the only item about what a man does with the word of God. It raises two questions: what "as taught" means, and why two uses are named — building up and pushing back.
Everything before this verse describes what kind of man an overseer is. This one describes what he grips, and it completes the portrait. The writers below call it "the faithful word," the older wording for the ESV's "trustworthy word."
But there is more. Verse 9 insists on a firm grip on the faithful word, according to the teaching received. This is so that he may exhort by sound doctrine and refute those who contradict it. Notice this trait, because not everyone holds fast to true teaching, even after receiving it. It is the crowning virtue in the overseer's list. The list had already described his moral worth and weight. To complete the picture, there is the keeping of the faithful word. It helps the saints by stirring them up to good, and it stops evil.
The phrase "as taught" points backwards. The elder did not compose his message; he received it, and holding it fast means respecting where it came from.
Those older men whom Titus was to appoint as overseers were to be men who held fast the faithful word. They were to be lovers of the truth. What is more, they were to hold it fast as they had been taught. That is, they were to recognise the authority with which it was first given. They were to respect that authority carefully and be subject to it.
An uncertain grip on the truth is not a private matter. It weakens the work laid on the man.
Such a man must stick firmly to the faithful word. Uncertainty in his own grasp of it, and uncertainty in handling it for others, would weaken to that same degree the task laid on him to carry out. The elder was not to act on his own wisdom. His authority did not come from himself, and not from the people who made up the assembly either. He was God's steward. The Holy Spirit made him an overseer — not over a flock of his own ("my people," as men say, or "my church"), but in "the flock of God."
The verse names two tasks that pull in opposite directions: comfort and correction. One word does both.
The overseer will always meet a clash of circumstances. Two needs then claim his care: the need to encourage some, and no less the need to reprove those who contradict. Both tasks need a single eye. But the faithful word is the weapon that matters most. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, and it can divide as well as wound. The faithful word alone enables the overseer to encourage with the healthful teaching, and to expose those who seek their own things, not the things of Jesus Christ.
The word translated "sound" is not a synonym for correct. It is a medical picture.
The word translated "sound" occurs again and again. It is worth noting that it is the word from which we get "hygienic," so often on people's lips today. It means healthful. Sound doctrine is truly doctrine that makes for spiritual health.
That changes how a man prepares to meet error. He does not become an expert in what is wrong.
Also, the one who would instruct others in the word must himself hold fast "the faithful word" as he has been taught through "faithful men." It is not the knowledge of error that will enable us to meet it, but the knowledge of the truth — "holding fast the faithful word."
The call to teach does not mean the elder must be a public speaker.
They were, moreover, to be "able to teach" — not necessarily as public expounders of the truth, but "holding fast the faithful word."
Formal appointment is no longer possible. The qualities themselves still show up in men.
And if we see men of such ways and gifts working now, we should surely respect them and acknowledge them as the men who have the qualities and do the work of elders. This holds even though circumstances make their formal appointment no longer possible.
- Received — the elder holds the word "as taught." He recognises the authority it came with and stays under it.
- Held — uncertainty about the truth in a man's own mind spreads straight into his handling of it for others.
- Healthy — "sound" means healthful. Such teaching builds spiritual health, and knowing the truth, not studying error, equips a man to meet error.
- Two-edged — one word both encourages and refutes those who contradict. Both jobs need a single eye.
- Recognised — men who carry these marks today deserve acknowledgement, even though no one can appoint them formally now.