Footnote from The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible, compiler and editor Spiros Zodhiates if anyone reads this note, please be aware I've added some numbered comments after the quoted footnote explaining my non-doctrinal and, I trust, submitted use of the passage. footnote for Titus 2:1-5 See notes on I Tim. 2:9-15; I Cor. 14:34-40. Titus was probably never married. According to church historians, he became a bishop of Crete and lived a celibate life there to an old age. It is interesting indeed that Paul, a bachelor himself, writes to another bachelor and tells him that the aged women should teach the younger women. In v. 4 the English says, “that they may teach the young women to be sober.” In Greek the verb sophronizo (4994) is used. It means “to be sober-minded or to voluntarily place limitations on their own freedom.” And why should the aged women teach the younger women? Because it avoids even the appearance of evil and behooves a preacher not to place himself in the position where he can be tempted while having to deal with young women and their particular problems. So many have stressed erroneously that the same Apostle in the two pertinent passages of I Cor. 14: 34-40 and I Tim. 2:11-12 instructs that women should not teach at all in church. But here in Titus 2:3 Paul instructs the aged women to be good teachers or “teachers of good things.” The word sophronas (4998), the adjective of sophronizo is used in v. 1 and also v. 5. Paul instructs Titus to teach the older men (v. 2) and also older women (v. 3). But when it comes to younger women, he tells him to have the older women whom Titus instructs to be good teachers among younger women. If the prohibition against teaching by women young and old was absolute in I Cor. 14:32-40 and I Tim. 2:11, 12, how could it be that he is instructing Timothy to have older women teach younger women? This surely was in the context of the church. From I Cor. 9:5, we deduce that Paul was circumspect in regard to permitting himself to be found in the company of a sister in the Lord. This was not because he hated women, but because he never wanted to allow himself to give the appearance of evil or fall into temptation. The translation of I Cor. 9:5 says, “Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife?” If we translate gunaika (1135) as “wife” we must find contextual justification to do so. The basic generic meaning of gune is “woman” and when the context indicates it then it means “wife.” If this were to be understood as “wife” then Paul’s meaning would be that he had authority to take around a sister who is the wife of someone else or to take to himself a sister or a wife as if that were an evil in itself. In our opinion Paul means to take around a woman who is a sister in the Lord. Being a sister does not excuse his taking her around because she is a woman and one should be circumspect in his behavior as a servant of Christ as he deals with women. Some ministers who counsel women have found temptation beyond their ability to resist and have shattered their marriages and the marriages of others, not to mention the shame brought on the name of Christ. No servant of Christ should allow himself to be found in such a vulnerable position by teaching or counseling women in private. Strong emphasis should be placed on the counsel of Paul to Titus concerning safeguarding both the young women and men teachers. While a spiritual leader may have the power to do so, it is best to follow Paul’s example and avoid such temptation by appointing older, spiritual women to such tasks. My comments 1. the Bible notes quoted here were from a Bible that became known for its original language help in a church I attended and where I consider I was trained years ago. I had a controversy there of getting upset about women speaking in the church and I had a bad spirit about it. It was an improper cause of mine to express my disagreement there before I had a change of mind (repentance) about Jesus Christ. 2. I was unaware of how directly the editor of the notes in the Bible addressed the issue that I got upset about (where I was wrong and evidently ignorant). 3. I'm not offering this quote as introducing or contradicting any doctrine and do not mean to be objectionable in that regard. 4. The warning or caution expressed regarding men may have some bearing for us--in terms of general understanding--though not saying intended correction by me of others. 5. There is a text problem with the footnote of repeated content as the footnote goes across two pages (continuing substantially on a second page) and also apparently of mention of Timothy perhaps instead of Titus. Even so, the content as I retyped it seems valuable and informative. I did not change the reference to Timothy. 6. I typed this on my laptop computer which has a touchpad nearer me than the keys. I've often, often made substantial typing errors because of inadvertently touching the pad with my wrist or hand while typing. Many times it has selected significant parts of my typing with me not immediately being aware and deleting it when I typed another letter on the keyboard. As I quoted this footnote, I thought that problem with typing may be a little like the problem that is sought to be avoided in the footnote. I didn't mean to! (one could say and yet have done what they had not intended to do)! And yet the mistake was still made; the paragraph was still deleted. The Lord loves you

Posted by John Fullerton at 2025-02-02 19:03:28 UTC