bondmen to be subject to their own masters, to make themselves acceptable in everything; not gainsaying;
Paul's instructions to Titus work down through the household — older men and women, then young wives and young men. Now he reaches the lowest rung of society: the household slave. What could a person with no rights, no wages and no freedom add to the Christian testimony?
Notice who Paul does not address in this chapter:
It is remarkable that both in Ephesians 6 and Colossians 3 the address to servants is far more detailed than to any of the other classes. Titus 2 singles out servants for special attention. There is no address to husbands, none to masters, none to children. We do not attempt to explain this, but we cannot help noticing it as a very interesting fact; and it certainly teaches us what an important place is given in Christianity to someone who, in those early days of the Church's history, held the position of a slave. The Holy Spirit took special pains to teach such a person how to carry himself in his most trying place of work. The poor slave might think he was shut out from the service of God. Far from it: he is gently taught that by simply doing his duty as in the sight of God he could adorn the doctrine of God his Saviour, and bring glory to the name of Jesus.
The first word to them is subjection — and to their own masters:
Here again subjection is the prime duty of such a relationship, and so it stands in the foreground — subjection to their own masters. Being taken up, even in thought, with others might only do harm. No saint, no apostle or prophet, is free from the duty of subjection. Christ made its truth and its moral excellence plain to the faithful. He, the Lord of all, showed Himself a man — the pattern of absolute subjection in love and obedience to His Father, the Servant of all. What an example and motive for Christian bondmen!
The demand is sweeping, but not endless:
As the very name suggests, the primary duty of the servant is obedience. Five different letters command this duty. As with children, the obedience demanded is almost unlimited. "Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters" (Colossians 3:22). The only limit lies in their higher obligations to the Lord. Scripture does not say this outright, but it clearly implies it in the words, "You are serving the Lord Christ" (Colossians 3:24). You receive the commands through your earthly masters, but in obeying them you are serving the Lord, because He has placed you where you are.
Pleasing a master in everything is the hardest part of the verse. The temptation is to treat it as unrealistic:
To be well-pleasing in everything is sometimes very hard — whether the difficulty comes from the master's oddities or the servant's own. Satan would love to suggest that in any other circumstances they might obey better; and that it is useless, as they are, to think of being well-pleasing in everything. One's own master might be unpredictable or fault-finding. But the claim of Christ is never lowered. Christ alone, kept before the eyes, enables a servant to be truly subject and to keep going in all things, instead of giving up at times in despair.
The verse ends with a word about the tongue:
"Not answering again." Servants must hold back their words, keeping the tongue under control to avoid quick and hasty speech. Every servant knows how many temptations there are here. Masters may say sharp and even unjust things in a moment of irritation, and the tendency is to reply in the same temper. Once the fire of dispute is lit, it is not easily put out.
The verse speaks to unpaid slaves. It reaches anyone who works for wages too:
Paul tells servants (bond slaves) to be obedient to their masters, and more than this, to please them well in all their conduct and service. If this is to be true of slaves, who received no just payment, how much more so in the case of employees for hire!
These commands have a goal. Verse 10 names it — adorning the teaching of God our Saviour:
The doctrine is beautiful in itself, so beautiful, it might be thought, that it is impossible to adorn it further. Yet it may be. Think of a poor slave who before his conversion was an absolute terror of a man. When his beautiful life works out the doctrine of God and carries it into effect, that doctrine is adorned indeed, and made beautiful in the eyes even of careless onlookers.
- Chosen. The group with no social standing gets the longest instruction in the chapter. Christianity gives the servant an important place, and no slave is shut out from serving God.
- Subject. Subjection stands first, and to their own masters; comparing your lot with someone else's only does damage.
- Limited. Obedience is almost unlimited, stopping only where a higher duty to the Lord begins — and in obeying a master you serve the Lord Christ.
- Silent. Sharp words invite sharp words back; the command guards the tongue before the dispute catches fire.
- Beautiful. A changed life in the humblest job makes the teaching of God our Saviour beautiful, even to careless onlookers.
not robbing [their masters], but shewing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the teaching which [is] of our Saviour God in all things.
This verse ends a short list of instructions for household servants, and it closes with a surprise: their daily honesty can make the gospel look beautiful. But what is "pilfering" (older translations say "purloining"), and how can anyone add beauty to a message that is already God's own?
The people addressed are household slaves, the ones others looked down on. Commentators note that God pays special attention to people in exactly that position.
The apostle is writing to a dear fellow-servant. When he comes to the slaves, he breaks out into one of the finest unfoldings of the doctrine of grace in this letter, or anywhere. If God pays particular attention to any, it is to those whom people generally despised. If God makes much of one, it is because circumstances especially expose that one to be passed by.
The word covers something narrower and more everyday than robbery. One writer finds its meaning in another place where the same word appears.
We are told of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5), who sinned against God by keeping back part of the price of a property they had sold, money they claimed they had given to the Lord. The word translated "kept back" there is the same word given in Titus as purloining. So purloining is not exactly what we call theft. It is the servant taking, for his or her own use, what belongs to the master or mistress. God asks every servant to be faithful in this, and never to take the smallest item without permission. Everything in the house belongs to the master or mistress, and the servant must hold it as a sacred trust.
The opposite of pilfering is complete trustworthiness. It serves the employer, and it serves a higher purpose too.
"Not purloining" — a warning as needed today as then. Too many employees think nothing of stealing small things that belong to the employer. The Christian must avoid this completely, and instead show true fidelity, a dependability the employer can fully trust. This is not only for the employer's sake, but to adorn the doctrine of God.
No one can improve the teaching itself. What changes is how it looks to those watching a life shaped by it.
The doctrine is beautiful in itself — so beautiful, it might be thought, that it is impossible to adorn it further. Yet it can be. Think of a poor slave who before his conversion was a perfect terror of a man. When the doctrine of God is worked out and lived in his beautiful life, it is adorned indeed. It is made beautiful even in the eyes of careless onlookers.
One writer compares the gospel to a dry flower bulb.
Plant that dry-looking root, with neither taste nor smell, in a bowl. Give it proper care. Then watch it send up its glorious spike of flowers and fill the whole house with fragrance. All the beauty that care brings into view was in the bulb already, before anything showed it. So it is with the gospel. To our fellow men it has neither taste nor smell. We who have believed it must live out its blessedness before their eyes, and so adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
What is this teaching that a servant's life adorns? One writer names it in a line.
The doctrine of God our Saviour is THE GOSPEL. It tells us that God is good and does good.
The title itself says something about Christ.
Notice the expression "God our Saviour". It clearly implies that the Lord Jesus Christ is God. Our conduct should be an ornament to the doctrine about Him.
The apostle does not attach a small reason to a small command. He hangs the whole of Christianity on it.
The Spirit of God brings in the glories of another world and throws their light right into the commonest things here below. Nothing else judges them so well. When he tells a servant not to purloin, he gives the whole scope of Christianity as the motive in Titus 2:9-14.
That levels the ground between public ministry and housework.
Here we see that the servant, by obedience, humility and honesty, can adorn the doctrine of God in her own measure. She does it just as truly as an evangelist travelling the world in his high and holy work.
- Placed — God pays special attention to those others pass by. The lowest place is where He displays His grace.
- Trusted — pilfering is not burglary. It is quietly taking what belongs to another. Everything under a servant's hand is a sacred trust.
- Adorned — the gospel cannot be improved, only displayed. A changed life makes it beautiful even to careless onlookers.
- Displayed — to the world the gospel is a dry bulb with no taste or smell. Lived out, it flowers and fills the house with fragrance.
- Weighed — the whole scope of Christianity is the motive for not taking one small item. Honest housework adorns the doctrine as truly as world-wide preaching.
For the grace of God which carries with it salvation for all men has appeared,
Just before this verse, Paul tells household slaves how to live. Then he gives the reason such a life is possible at all. Everything that follows rests on one thing God has done, not on any quality in the people he writes to.
Translators reached for a mild word here. The original is anything but mild.
We are told the English word our translators used in Titus 2:11–13 — "appearing" — is not strong enough. The Greek language, always so expressive, gives the idea of darkness suddenly giving way to bright light. Not so much a star, but a bright sun — the great sun that lights the day. The grace of God now stands in contrast to the dark times before the law was given, when God made His mind known only to a few.
Grace is not a mood or an idea. It appeared because a Person appeared.
The grace of God has appeared, and it appeared in the person of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him He makes His grace known. His finished work is the source of it. It flows from the cross. And this grace comes to man with salvation. It brings salvation, not to a certain class of men, but it brings salvation for all men.
That cross is also what keeps grace from becoming mere leniency.
When God acts in grace, it is never at the expense of His holiness. God is love and therefore acts in grace, but He is also light and therefore acts in holiness. His acting in grace needs a righteous foundation and He has found it in the cross of the Lord Jesus.
Commentators differ on what "for all" belongs to — the appearing, or the salvation it brings.
The margin of verse 11 reads, "The grace of God that brings salvation to all men, has appeared." That reading is better than the one in the text. The point is that now there is salvation for all. And the grace of God which has brought that world-wide salvation teaches us how to live, while we wait for the appearing of the glory.
Either way, the reach is the striking thing. God once made His mind known to a few; this message has no such fence around it.
Grace has appeared. It has appeared, not limited to one people, but to all men. It does not carry promises and blessings for this life; it brings salvation. It comes from God to men with salvation. It does not expect righteousness from men. It brings salvation to those who need it. This is a precious and simple truth. It makes us know God and puts us in our place — but it does so according to the grace that has leaped over every barrier.
"All" describes the character of the message, not a guaranteed outcome for every person.
"Saving to all" is the grace which has appeared. That is its character. But it does not set aside the warning of the same apostle, "not to receive the grace of God in vain" (2 Cor. 6:1), and it does not set aside that the gospel alone offers this grace.
Paul's own pronouns mark the shift, and the next verse narrows the circle.
While His grace presents salvation to all, it is also said to be educating us. The change from "all men" to "us" is important, and we should not overlook it. The one is the universal message of God, which people may or may not receive. The other is the distinct effect, whenever souls receive that message in faith.
Grace does not hand the believer over to another teacher after it saves him.
The grace received becomes teaching in those who receive the salvation it brings… And here, I note, it is "the grace" that teaches, and not something else. It is not man's wisdom, or man's morality, mixing itself with what is divine in his salvation… It is "the grace of God" that teaches him as well as saves him.
Paul gives this message to slaves, the people with the least standing in Roman society.
God's gospel is good news to the highest person on earth no less than to the lowest. As a rule it is preached to the poor, because they are usually the ones within reach. There is no king, no queen, no emperor who is not infinitely indebted to the grace of God, if the heart is opened. But if the heart is steeled against it, the message is one of salvation all the same. How sweet beyond words for those in the painful and trying position of slavery!
- Dawn. "Appeared" is sunrise language — not a faint star, but full daylight after long darkness.
- Person. What rose was not a policy but Christ Himself. The grace flows from His finished work at the cross, where holiness and love meet.
- Reach. Grace leaps over every barrier: not one nation, not one class, but salvation offered to all people.
- Response. The offer reaches all people; the "us" of the next verse is the company who received it by faith.
- Result. The grace that saved goes on teaching — the Saviour is also the Teacher, and no other rule replaces Him.