Titus 2:4

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

Tit_2:4. That they may teach.—R.V. “may train.” The word almost suggests that there was a certain amount of levity amongst the younger wives inconsistent with a profession of Christianity.

Tit_2:5. Keepers at home R.V. “workers at home.” The term in the R.V. comprehends and adds to that in the A.V.

Tit_2:7. Showing thyself a pattern.—Titus was not to be like the scribes and Pharisees of whom our Lord spoke, who say what others should do and do not themselves observe it. In doctrine … uncorruptness.—As befits the doctrine of God our Saviour. There must be no admixture of error. Gravity.—See the adjective corresponding in Tit_2:2 and note.

Tit_2:8. May be ashamed.—“That possibly he may come to feel shame.”

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Tit_2:4-8

Christianity and the Young.

I. Christianity has a message to young married women (Tit_2:4-5).—They are to be discreet and self-restrained in their behaviour; to love their husbands and children, the foundation of all domestic peace and happiness; to be keepers at home, the guardians of the house, and to find their sphere of highest usefulness in the duties of the home circle: whilst thrifty as housewives, they are to be good and kind, not churlish and niggardly; to show love to their own husbands by a dutiful submission; and thus guard the gospel from the reproach which their inconsistencies would occasion. “Unless we are virtuous, blasphemy will come through us to the faith.” To fail in any duty is to discredit the religion we profess.

II. Christianity has a message to young men (Tit_2:6).—The burden of that message is to be sober-minded, self-restrained. Youth is tempted to excess, and it is no easy task to repress its wild impulses and passions. The youth-time that is spent in pleasure and folly will lay the foundation of a premature and suffering old age. Beza, the Swiss reformer, in his last will and testament thanks God that he was brought to know Him at the age of sixteen, and thus, by having the fear of God before him, escaped the pollutions of the world. We talk about a man beginning life at twenty one, but in nine cases out of ten all the questions of eternity are decided before that. The first twenty years of a man’s life, as a rule, mould what his eternity will be.

III. Christianity has a message to young ministers (Tit_2:7-8).—They are to be patterns of good works—lively, diligent, zealous. Their purity and sincerity of motive and aim must be apparent in their teaching; and their speech in public and private must be pervaded by a dignified seriousness, that the adversary of the truth may be put to confusion by the power of the word and the evident sincerity and enthusiasm of the preacher. All the freshness, charm, and romance of youth, its poetry, high-spiritedness, and unlimited capacity for work, should be put into every ministerial duty. Youth is a golden opportunity with which we can buy a rich inheritance of future blessedness and joy. The young minister will never again have the vigour and possibilities of work he possesses to-day.

Lessons.—

1. Religion does not destroy but augments the pleasures of youth.

2. Religion is the guide and guardian of youth.

3. We are never too young to love and serve God.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES

Tit_2:6. Sober-mindedness.

I. Sober-mindedness is a just judgment of things, and this judgment exercised in real effective authority.

II. Must be consciously held as under the sanction and as having the authority of the Supreme Power.

III. Cannot be attained without the person’s forming a sound judgment of his own mind.

IV. Must maintain a systematic strong restraint on the passions, fancy, tempers, appetites.

V. Is quite necessary for the subordinate schemes and purposes of life.—J. Foster.

Tit_2:7-8. The Power of Truth.

I. The power of truth in the preacher.—

1. His teaching will be living and real.

2. Will so preach the truth as to convince others of his sincerity.

II. The power of truth on others.—

1. Will silence criticism.

2. Put opposition to shame and confusion.—F. W.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tit 2:4. Σωφρονίζωσι τὰς νέας, that they may teach the young women to be sober) Titus is enjoined to treat the Cretan women with somewhat greater severity than Timothy was to treat the women of Ephesus, 1Ti 5:2. He himself was to admonish the latter; Titus is to admonish the former, by means of the women who were more advanced in age.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tit_2:4-5. Ἵνα σωφρονίζωσι τὰς νέας κ.τ.λ.] Since σωφρονίζειν must necessarily have an object, τὰς νέας κ.τ.λ. should not, like πρεσβύτας υηφαλίους εἶναι, Tit_2:2, and πρεσβύτιδας, Tit_2:3, be joined with λάλει, Tit_2:1 (Hofmann), but with σωφρονίζουσιν, so that the exhortations given to the young women are to proceed from the older women.

σωφρονίζειν] (ἅπ. λεγ.) is properly bring some one to σωφροσύνη, then amend, viz. by punishment; it also occurs in the sense of punish, chastise; it is synonymous with νουθετεῖν. According to Beza, it expresses opposition to the juvenilis lascivia et alia ejus aetatis ac sexus vitia.

The aim of the ΣΩΦΡΟΝΊΖΕΙΝ is given in the next words: ΦΙΛΆΝΔΡΟΥς (ἍΠ. ΛΕΓ.) ΕἾΝΑΙ, ΦΙΛΟΤΈΚΝΟΥς (ἍΠ. ΛΕΓ.) These two ideas are suitably placed first, as pointing to the first and most obvious circumstances of the ΝΈΑΙ.

Tit_2:5. ΣΏΦΡΟΝΑς ἉΓΝΆς] The latter is to be taken here not in the general sense of blameless, but in the more special sense of chaste (Wiesinger).

ΟἸΚΟΥΡΟΎς (Rec.); Wahl rightly: ex οἶκος et ΟὖΡΟς custos: custos domus, de feminis, quae domi se continent neque ΠΕΡΙΈΡΧΟΝΤΑΙ, 1Ti_5:13. Vulgate: domus curam habentes; Luther: domestic. The word ΟἸΚΟΥΡΓΟΎς (read by Tischendorf, see critical remarks) does not occur elsewhere; if it be genuine, it must mean working in the house (Alford: workers at home), which, indeed, does not agree with the formation of the word. The word οἰκουργεῖν occurring in later Greek means: make a house; see Pape, s.v.

Chrysostom: Ἡ ΟἸΚΟΥῸς ΓΥΝῊ ΚΑῚ ΣΏΦΡΩΝ ἜΣΤΑΙ· Ἡ ΟἸΚΟΥΡῸς ΚΑῚ ΟἸΚΟΝΟΜΙΚΉ· ΟὔΤΕ ΠΕΡῚ ΤΡΥΦῊΝ, ΟὔΤΕ ΠΕΡῚ ἘΞΌΔΟΥς ἈΚΑΊΡΟΥς, ΟὔΤΕ ΠΕΡῚ ἌΛΛΩΝ ΤῶΝ ΤΟΙΟΎΤΩΝ ἈΣΧΟΛΗΘΉΣΕΤΑΙ.

ἈΓΑΘΆς] is rightly taken by almost all as an independent epithet: kindly. Some expositors, however, connect it with ΟἸΚΟΥΡΟΎς (so Theophylact, Oecumenius); but this is wrong, since ΟἸΚΟΥΡΟΎς is itself an adjective. Hofmann joins it with ΟἸΚΟΥΡΓΟΎς, and translates it good housewives (so Buttmann, in his edition of the N., T., has no comma between the two words); but where are the grounds for explaining ΟἸΚΟΥΡΓΟΎς to mean housewives?

ὑποτασσομένας τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀνδράσιν] On ΤΟῖς ἸΔΊΟΙς ἈΝΔΡ., comp. 1Co_7:2. The thought that wives are to be subject to their husbands is often expressed in the N. T. in the same words, comp. Eph_5:22; Col_3:18; 1Pe_3:1. It is to be noted that the apostle adds this ὙΠΟΤΑΣΣΟΜΈΝΑς after using ΦΙΛΆΝΔΡΟΥς. The one thing does not put an end to the other; on the contrary, neither quality is of the right kind unless it includes the other. How much weight was laid by the apostle on the ὙΠΟΤΆΣΣΕΣΘΑΙ may be seen from the words: ἽΝΑ ΜῊ Ὁ ΛΌΓΟς ΤΟῦ ΘΕΟῦ ΒΛΑΣΦΗΜῆΤΑΙ, which are closely connected with ὙΠΟΤΑΣΣΟΜΈΝΑς Κ.Τ.Λ.; comp. Tit_2:10, where the same thought is expressed positively, and 1Ti_6:1. The apostolic preaching of freedom and equality in Christ might easily be applied in a fleshly sense for removing all natural subordination, and thus disgrace be brought on the word of God; hence the express warning. The remark of Chrysostom: ΕἸ ΣΥΜΒΑΊῌ ΓΥΝΑῖΚΑ ΠΙΣΤῊΝ ἈΠΊΣΤῼ ΣΥΝΟΙΚΟῦΣΑΝ, ΜῊ ΕἾΝΑΙ ἘΝΆΡΕΤΟΝ, Ἡ ΒΛΑΣΦΗΜΊΑ ἘΠῚ ΤῸΝ ΘΕῸΝ ΔΙΑΒΑΊΝΕΙΝ ΕἼΩΘΕΝ, is unsatisfactory, because the apostles words are thereby arbitrarily restricted to a relation which is quite special.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tit 2:4 . σωφρονίζουσιν . The only other examples of ἵνα with a pres. indic. in Paul are 1Co 4:6 ( φυσιοῦσθε ) and Gal 4:17 ( ζηλοῦτε ). These may be cases of an unusual formation of the subj., both being verbs in - όω . γινώσκομεν , 1Jn 5:20 , is another instance. Train is the excellent rendering of the R.V. The A.V., teach … to be sober , although an adequate rendering elsewhere, leaves φιλάνδρους εἶναι disconnected. Timothy is bidden (1Ti 5:2 ) παρακαλεῖν … νεωτέρας himself; but this refers to pastoral public monitions, not to private training in domestic virtues and duties, as here.

τὰς νέας : There is no other instance in the Greek Bible of νέος , in the positive, being applied to a young person; though it is common in secular literature. There is possibly a certain fitness in the word as applied here to recently married women, whom the apostle has perhaps exclusively in view.

φιλάνδρους : “This is the chief point of all that is good in a household” (Chrys.). One of the three things in which Wisdom “was beautified” is “a woman and her husband that walk together in agreement” ( Sir 25:1 ).

φιλοτέκνους : “She who loves the root will much more love the fruit” (Chrys.). φιλάνδρῳ καὶ φιλοτέκνῳ is cited from an “epitaph from Pergamum about the time of Hadrian” by Deissmann, who gives other references to secular literature. ( Bible Studies , trans. p. 255 sq .).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

to be sober--Greek, "self-restrained," "discreet"; the same Greek as in Tit 2:2, "temperate." (But see on Tit 2:2; compare Note, Ti2 1:7). ALFORD therefore translates, "That they school (admonish in their duty) the young women to be lovers of their husbands," &c. (the foundation of all domestic happiness). It was judicious that Titus, a young man, should admonish the young women, not directly, but through the older women.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 4. That they may teach the young women to be sober] That it was natural for the young to imitate the old will be readily allowed; it was therefore necessary that the old should be an example of godly living to the young. St. Jerome, taking it for granted that drunkenness and impurity are closely connected, asks this serious question: Quomodo potest docere anus adolescentulas castitatem, cum, si ebrietatem vetulae mulieris adolescentula fuerit imitata, pudica esse non possit? "How can an elderly woman teach young women chastity, when, if the young woman should imitate the drunkenness of the matron, it would be impossible for her to be chaste?"

To love their husbands] The duties recommended in this and the following verses are so plain as to need no comment; and so absolutely necessary to the character of a wife, that no one deserves the name who does not live in the practice of them.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. That they may teach young women temperance That they may be more attentive to duty, he shows that it is not enough if their own life be decent, if they do not also train young women, by their instructions, to a decent and chaste life. He therefore adds, that by their example they should train to temperance and gravity those younger women whom the warmth of youth might otherwise lead into imprudence.

To love their husbands and their children I do not agree with those who think that this is a recapitulation of the advices which elderly women should give to those who are younger for a careful perusal of the context will enable any one easily to perceive that Paul goes on in explaining the duties of women, which apply equally to those who are older. Besides, the construction would be inappropriate, σωφρονίζωσι, σώφρονας εἶναι Yet while he instructs elderly females what they ought to be, he at the same time holds out to the younger the example which they ought to follow. Thus he indiscriminately teaches both. In short, he wishes women to be restrained, by conjugal love and affection for their children, from giving themselves up to licentious attachments, he wishes them to rule their own house in a sober and orderly manner, forbids them to wander about in public places, bids them be chaste, and at the same time modest, so as to be subject to the dominion of their husbands; for those who excel in other virtues sometimes take occasion from them to act haughtily, so as to be disobedient to their husbands.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(4) That they may teach the young women to be sober.—Better rendered, simply, that they may teach (or school) the young women, omitting the words “to be sober.” In Ephesus the representative of the Apostle was directed himself to exhort the younger women; very likely the same charge being given here to the aged women of the congregations was owing to the state of the Cretan Christian, which called not only for more practical and homely, but also for more individual, exhortations. So here this special work was left for the elder women among the faithful to carry out. Such a reformation, not only in the discipline of the Church, but also in the individual life and conversation, as St. Paul desired to see in Crete, would never be brought about by a sermon, or even by many sermons, however eloquent and earnest, from Titus. It would be a matter requiring long time and patience, and would, as observed above, rather follow as the result of patient individual effort and holy example.

To love their husbands, to love their children.—There was evidently in Crete a feverish longing for excitement, for novelty in religious teaching; hence the demand for, and consequent supply of, the “fables” and “commandments of men” spoken of in Tit_1:14. Women as well as men preferred rather to do something for religion and for God, and thus to wipe out past transgressions, and perhaps to purchase the liberty of future licence. They preferred the rigid and often difficult observance of the elaborate ritual, “the tithing of the mint, and anise, and cummin,” to quietly and reverently “doing their Father’s business.’ St. Paul’s method of correcting this false and unhealthy view of religion was to recall women as well as men to the steady, faithful performance of those quiet every-day duties to which God had, in His providence, called them. The first duty of these younger women, St. Paul tells Titus, and which he would have their elder sisters impress on them, was the great home duty of loving their husbands and children. While St. Paul would never have the women of Christ forget their new and precious privileges in the present, their glorious hopes in the future, yet here on earth he would never let them desert, or even for a moment forget, their first and chiefest duties. Their work, let them remember, lay not abroad in the busy world. Their first duty was to make home life beautiful by the love of husband and child—that great love which ever teaches forgetfulness of self.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4, 5. The standard of holy living for young women

4. that they may teach the young women to be sober] A.V. ‘teach to be sober’ (i.e. pure) gives the full meaning of the verb, but not its grammatical force train in purity to be lovers of their husbands, lovers of their children. The verb has in Philo and other authors come to have hardly more than the force ‘school,’ ‘train,’ but surely St Paul is here restoring and raising it. The verb is only here, and the subst. only in 2Ti_1:7, where see note.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To be discreet,.... Or temperate in eating and drinking, so the word is rendered in Tit 2:2 or to be sober both in body and mind; or to be wise and prudent in the whole of their conduct, both at home and abroad:

chaste; in body, in affection, words and actions, having their love pure and single to their own husbands, keeping their marriage bed undefiled.

Keepers at home: minding their own family affairs, not gadding abroad; and inspecting into, and busying themselves about other people's matters. This is said in opposition to what women are prone unto. It is reckoned among the properties of women, by the Jews, that they are "gadders abroad" (x): they have some rules about women's keeping at home; they say (y),

"a woman may go to her father's house to visit him, and to the house of mourning, and to the house of feasting, to return a kindness to her friends, or to her near relations--but it is a reproach to a woman to go out daily; now she is without, now she is in the streets; and a husband ought to restrain his wife from it, and not suffer her to go abroad but about once a month, or twice a month, upon necessity; for there is nothing more beautiful for a woman, than to abide in the corner of her house; for so it is written, Psa 45:13 "the king's daughter is all glorious within".''

And this they say (z) is what is meant by the woman's being an helpmeet for man, that while he is abroad about his business, she is , "sitting at home", and keeping his house; and this they observe is the glory and honour of the woman. The passage in Isa 44:13 concerning an image being made "after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house" is by the Targum thus paraphrased:

"according to the likeness of a man, according to the praise of a woman, to abide in the house.''

Upon which Kimchi, has this note.

"it is the glory of a woman to continue at home, and not go abroad.''

The tortoise, which carries its house upon its back, and very rarely shows its head, or looks out of it, was, with the ancients, an emblem of a good housewife. These also should be instructed to be "good" or "kind" to their servants, and beneficent to the poor, and to strangers, towards whom, very often, women are apt to be strait handed, and not so generous and liberal as they should be:

obedient to their own husbands; See Gill on Eph 5:22, Eph 5:24.

that the word of God be not blasphemed; by unbelieving husbands, who, by the ill conduct of their wives, would be provoked to speak ill of the Gospel, as if that taught disaffection and disobedience to them.

(x) Bereshit Rabba, sect. 45. fol. 40. 3. (y) Maimon. Hilchot Ishot, c. 13. sect. 11. (z) Tzeror Hammor, fol. 5. 4.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

Ver. 4. To be sober] Or wise, teaching them as schoolmasters do their disciples; so the word σωφρονιζωσι signifies. He was a foolish man that said, Μισω σοφην γυναικα, I love not to have a woman wise. (Eurip.) "A prudent wife is of the Lord." Such a one was Abigail, and Aspasia, Milesia, the wife of Cyrus, who was said to be Καλη και σοφη, fair and wise also. (Aelian. xii. 1.) To love their husbands, though old and less lovely, as that famous Valadaura in Ludovicus Vives.

To love their children] And to seal up their love, not by hugging them to death, as apes do their young; but by educating them in the fear and admonition of the Lord, as Bathsheba, Pro 31:1. Plutarch speaks of a Spartan woman, that when her neighbours were showing their apparel and jewels, she brought out her children, virtuous and well taught, and said, These are my ornaments and jewels. Mothers must learn to love their children’s souls, 1Pe 3:4.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That they may teach the young women to be sober - Margin, “wise” - a word similar to that which in Tit 2:2 is rendered “temperate,” and in 1Ti 3:2, “sober.” The meaning is, that they should instruct them to have their desires and passions well regulated, or under proper control.

To love their husbands - φιλάνδρους philandrous. This word occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. In Eph 5:25, Paul directs husbands to love their wives, and in Eph 5:33, the wife to reverence her husband, and here he says that it should be one of the first duties enjoined Son the wife that she should love her husband. All happiness in the marriage relation is based on mutual love. When that departs, happiness departs. No wealth or splendor in a dwelling - no gorgeousness of equipage or apparel - no magnificence of entertainment or sweetness of music - and no forms of courtesy and politeness, can be a compensation for the want of affection. Mutual love between a husband and wife will diffuse comfort through the obscurest cottage of poverty; the want of it cannot be supplied by all that can be furnished in the palaces of the great.

To love their children - Nature prompts to this, and yet there are those so depraved that they have no maternal affection; Notes, Rom 1:31. Religion reproduces natural affection when sin has weakened or destroyed it, and it is the design of Christianity to recover and invigorate all the lost or weakened sensibilities of our nature.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Love their husbands. This is the first lesson he wishes to be given to young women; that they should always manifest a love, an attachment, respect and obedience to their husbands. But it must be a chaste love. Vult eas amare viros suos caste; vult inter virum et mulierem esse pudicam dilectionem. (St. Jerome)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

That they may teach the young women to be sober: young women, especially conversing amongst heathens, are prone to be light and airy, and over frolicsome, following the heat of their youthful temper, and forming their converse after the manner of others; which is a behaviour, though it may suit their youth, yet if they be Christians it will not suit their profession, which calls to them for more gravity: speak to them that are aged to mind them to be sober.

To love their husbands, to love their children: it being natural for young women to love their husbands and children, these precepts seem not so much to concern the things, as the manner of it, to love them as they ought to love them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. They may teach—As Titus was to teach the elder, so the elder must teach the younger. Thus, healthful instruction may be transmitted through many successors.

Love… husbands… children—Unlike the gainsayers and their licentious adherents, let Christian women maintain the pure domestic affections.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Train for teach... to be sober, A.V Train (swfronizwsi); only here in the New Testament, not found in the LXX, but common in classical Greek in the sense of to correct," "control," or "moderate," which is its meaning here. Ellicott renders it "school". (comp. 1Ti_5:14) The A.V "teach to be sober" is manifestly wrong. To love their husbands (filandrouv einai); here only in the New Testament, not found in the LXX, but occasionally, in this sense, in classical Greek. To love their children (filoteknouv); here only in the New Testament, not found in the LXX except in RAPC 4Ma 15:4, but not uncommon in classical Greek.

Vers. 4, 5. Counsels to young women.

Here there are what may be termed "instructions" to the aged women as to the counsels to be given by them to the young women. Such authority does the gospel give to age; such reverence and respect for age does it expect from young women. Nations deteriorate in character whenever youth becomes insolent in its own independence, and resentful of authority.

I SOBRIETY, or wisdom; that calm quietude of heart and mind which is not intoxicated by vanity, or carried away with the sensationalism of pleasure.

II CHASTITY. Alike in thought, in speech, and in manner and conduct. Purity makes queenly women. One stain spoils the most exquisite sculpture. The beauty of marble is its purity, and the beauty of womanhood is chastity.

III HOME-KEEPERS. Making home first of all a center of attraction by its order and cleanliness and comfort; then by its harmonies of peace and love, so that no discordant notes may mar the music of its joy; and then by avoiding gossiping visits, and the excitements of habitual restlessness, and a too great love of shopping, securing the safety of economy and the honor of a wife who weaves" all into beauty and order at home.

IV OBEDIENCE. Not slavish submission to man; for woman is his equal, and "was not," as an old divine says, taken from his feet, to be beneath him, or his head, to be above him; but from his side, to be equal with him." Still, there is the obedience which consists in consulting him, judging and conforming where conscience is not offended to his judgment and his wishes.

All this that "the Word of God be not blasphemed," or its fame injured, which is the true meaning of blaspheme, viz. to blast the fame of it. W.M.S.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That they instruct the young women - These Timothy was to instruct himself; Titus, by the elder women. To love their husbands, their children - With a tender, temperate, holy, wise affection. O how hard a lesson.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Vers. 4, 5. The apostle goes on to specify what more especially should be taught by the elderly female members of the church to the younger sisterhood, not intending thereby to supersede instructions of the same sort by the pastors of the church (comp. 1Ti 5:2), but coming in aid of them, and giving them a point and application which could scarcely be done in public. That they school (The reading σωφρονίζουσι, present indicative (after ἵνα), instead of the regular and grammatical (σωφρονίζωσι, is plainly the best supported, being found in א, A, F, G, H, P; while for the other there are C, D, E, K, L. Two other almost undoubted instances of the same usage with ἵνα in St. Paul’s writings occur in Gal 4:7, 1Co 4:6; also in Joh 17:3. Various modes of explanation have been offered; but perhaps the most probable is, that it is the adoption in a few cases of a faulty construction, which is known to have become somewhat common in later Greek (Winer, Gr. xli. b. 1).) the young women to be lovers of their husbands, lovers of their children; ver. 5, discreet, chaste, workers at home, good, submitting themselves to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. The verb σωφρονίζειν, which rules all that follows, does not precisely correspond to the Authorized Version’s teach to be sober, or the Vulgate’s prudentiam doceant, otherwise there would plainly have been no propriety in the term σώφρονας being afterwards included among the special characteristics. The word, though originally signifying to make discreet or prudent, came often to be used in the more general sense of schooling, or admonishing, with a view to the possession of certain things; and the reason, probably, why the apostle here used it, instead of some word expressive simply of teaching or instructing, was, that on account of the youth of the parties in question, he contemplated the necessity of a kind of authoritative disciplinary treatment from the older to the younger Christian females. The teaching recommended was to be of the more severe and urgent kind. (Hence the distinction made by means of this and another verb in Dio Cassius, p. 4:560: δεῖ τοὺς μὲν λόγους νουτωτεῖν, τοὺς δὲ ἀπειλαῖς σωφρονίζειν.) In the epithets themselves, which mark the different characteristics that were to be the objects of the schooling, there is no proper difficulty; they are all such as especially became young women who were disposed to bring their Christianity to bear on the regulation of their conduct in daily life, and through this reflect honour on their Saviour. In regard to one of them, there is a difference of reading: instead of οἰκουρούς, keepers at home, a number of the best mss. (א, A, C, D, E, F, G) have οἰκουργούς, which means, workers at home, active housewives—undoubtedly a good sense; and the reading is preferred by Lachmann, Tisch., and Alford. Having such support, I hesitate to reject it, though the ancient versions, Ital., Vulg., Syriac, also Chrys., follow the other reading; while Theophyl. and Œcum. join the term οἰκουρούς to the ἀγαθάς, so as to make good housekeepers, economical housewives. This conjunction of epithets, apparently independent, is not to be justified; and the latter expression (ἀγαθάς) must be regarded as indicative of goodness generally, not with reference simply to household management = kindly, benignant. The last characteristic, submitting themselves to their own husbands, naturally winds up the description as by a sort of climax; for a heady and high-minded behaviour here would inevitably spoil the effect of all other qualities; it were utterly inconsistent with a proper conjugal bearing; and so with it as the immediate antecedent, is coupled the great end (negatively expressed) to be aimed at: that the word of God may not be blasphemed. In a measure, however, this must be carried back over the whole description; for in any one respect a behaviour contrary to that recommended would more or less have the effect of bringing reproach on God’s word.

Patrick Fairbairn — An Exposition of Ezekiel (1851), Jonah (1849), and The Pastoral Epistles (1874) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. That they may teach. A special mission is to teach the young women. What they were to be taught follows.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

4. σωφρονίζουσιν. This is the reading adopted by Tischendorf and Tregelles, and it is supported by the strong combination א*AGHP. We have printed it in the text, in accordance with the rules laid down for the direction of editors of the Cambridge Greek Testament (p. v.). But that ἵνα should be followed by the present indicative (see, however, 1Co 4:6; Gal 4:17) seems improbable, and we concur with WH and the rec. text in preferring σωφρονίζωσιν, which is read by אcCD2EKL, the cursives, and the Greek Fathers generally.

4. ἴνα σωφρονίζωσιν τὰς νέας, that (this is the reason why they should be καλοδιδάσκαλοι) they may train the young women, sc. primarily the young married women, as the context shews. The demeanour of Titus himself to these members of his flock would, no doubt, be the same as that recommended to Timothy (1Ti 5:2; see note thereon). See critical note.

The verb σωφρονίζειν is ἄπ. λεγ. in the Greek Bible; see on 2Ti 1:9 and on 1Ti 2:9.

iii. Young wives

φιλάνδρους εἶναι, to be lovers of their husbands. The word does not occur again in LXX. or N.T.; we have in Plutarch (Praec. conj. 38) φίλανδροι καὶ σώφρονες γυναῖκες.

φιλοτέκνους, lovers of their children. The word is not found again in N.T.; we have it in 4Ma 15:4-5 and (coupled with φίλανδροι) in Plutarch (Mor. p. 769).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. καλοδιδασκάλους] here only, “bene docentes,” Vulg.; but better, “bona docentes,” Thd.-Mops., teachers of what is excellent.

ἵνα σωφρονίζωσι] not neuter, “that they may be self-controlled,” τὰς νέας being then Parallel in construction to πρεσβύτας and πρεσβύτιδας (so Calvin, Hofmann, Wohlenberg); for this is scarcely adequate as the climax of the preceding, nor sufficiently parallel to the other final sentences with ἵνα: but active, that they may discipline, train in σωφροσύνη the young women; cf. σωφρον ισμός 2Ti 1:7; Justin M. Apol. ii. I, ὃς ἀν σωφρονίζηται ὑπὸ πατρός: Xen. Œcon. vii. 14, where a wife says to her husband ἐμὸν δʼ ἔφησεν ἡ μήτηρ ἔργον εἶναι σωφρονεῖν, where the meaning is, “to be prudent in household management.”

φιλάνδρους, φιλοτέκνους] Deissmann, Bible Studies, p. 255, quotes an Inscription from Pergamum of the time of Hadrian, Ἰούλιος Βάσσος Ὀτακιλίᾳ Πώλλῇ τῇ γλυκυτάτῃ γυναικὶ φιλάνδρῳ καὶ φιλοτέκνῳ συμβιωσάσῃ ἀμέμπτως ἔτη λ.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They may teach [σωφρονιζωσι] . Better, school or train. N. T. o. o LXX The verb means to make sane or sober - minded; to recall a person to his senses; hence, to moderate, chasten, discipline.

To love their husbands, to love their children [φιλανδρους ειναι, φιλοτεκνους] . Lit. to be husband - lovers, children - lovers. Both adjectives N. T. o. o LXX Filandrov in Class. not in this sense, but loving men or masculine habits; lewd. In the better sense often in epitaphs. An inscription at Pergamum has the following : Iouliov Bassov Otakilia Pwllh th glukutath gunaiki, filandrw kai filoteknw sumbiwsash ajmemptwv eth l, Julius Bassus to Otacilia Polla my sweetest wife, who loved her husband and children and lived with me blamelessly for thirty years.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.