Charles Ellicott Commentary Titus 2:5

"[to be] sober-minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed:" — Titus 2:5 (ASV)

To be discreet.—See Note in Titus 2:2 of this chapter.

Chaste.—Not only in act, but also in look, in speech, in thought, even in dress.

Keepers at home.—The older authorities here, instead of “keepers at home” (domum custodientes, domus curam habentes), read workers at home; the Greek word is not found elsewhere. The sense of the passage is, however, little changed by the alteration.

The meaning is clear, “Domi mansit lanam fecit.” Home duties, cares, pleasures, sacrifices of self—these God-appointed duties ought to fill the mind and the heart of the young wife. There should be no desire, no attempt, to go around to other houses, and so contract idle, gossiping habits. Hofmann thus sums up these directions to the young Christian women of Crete: “Gute Hausfrauen will der Apostel haben.”

Good.—Gracious, kind, thoughtful to others, especially to inferiors.

Obedient to their own husbands.—More accurately, submitting themselves to their own husbands. Women who really love their Master Christ should take care that, as far as it was in their power, the law of subordination in the family to its rightful head should be strictly carried out. In a Church like that of Crete, often made up of divided households where the Christian wife was married to a Pagan husband, such a charge as this was especially necessary.

That the word of God be not blasphemed.—These words refer to all the exhortations from Titus 2:2 and following, but more particularly to those clauses enforcing home duties immediately preceding.

There was, of course, the fear that wives, carried away by religious fervor, might neglect the plainer everyday duties for the seemingly loftier and more self-denying occupations included under the head of religious works. Such failure in everyday tasks would, of course, be bitterly charged to the religion of Christ, and the gospel would risk being spoken evil of, even in circles other than purely Pagan ones.

But the reference extends over a broader area than that occupied by Christian mistresses of households. All, of every rank and age, who think they love the Lord Jesus should remember that the “enemy” is ever watching their words and works; never should those who wear the colors of the great King forget the charge of the King’s Son: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.