John Calvin Commentary Titus 1:6

"if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly." — Titus 1:6 (ASV)

If any one is blameless. In order that no one may be angry with Titus, as if he were too rigorous or severe in rejecting anyone, Paul takes the whole blame to himself. He declares that he has expressly commanded that no one may be admitted unless he is such a person as is described here.

Accordingly, as he testified a little before that he had invested Titus with authority to preside in the appointment of pastors, so that others might allow him that right, he now relates the injunction which he had given, lest the severity of Titus should be exposed to the ill will of the ignorant or the slanders of wicked men.

As this passage presents to us a lively portrait of a lawful bishop, we ought to observe it carefully. However, since almost everything contained here has been explained by me in the Commentary on 1 Timothy, it will be enough at present to touch on it slightly.

When he says that a bishop must be ἀνέγκλητος, blameless, he does not mean one who is exempt from every vice (for no such person could at any time be found), but one who is marked by no disgrace that would lessen his authority. He means, therefore, that he is to be a man of unblemished reputation.

The husband of one wife. The reason why this rule is laid down has been explained by us in the Commentary on 1 Timothy. Polygamy was so common among the Jews that the wicked custom had nearly passed into a law. If any man had married two wives before he professed Christianity, it would have been cruel to compel him to divorce one of them; and therefore, the apostles endured what was in itself faulty, because they could not correct it.

Besides, those who had involved themselves by marrying more than one wife at a time, even though they had been prepared to testify their repentance by retaining only one wife, had, nevertheless, given a sign of their incontinence, which might have been a brand on their good name. The meaning is the same as if Paul had enjoined them to elect those who had lived chastely in marriage and had been satisfied with having a single wife, and had forbidden those who had manifested the power of lust by marrying many wives.

At the same time, a man who, having become a widower by the death of his wife, marries another, ought, nevertheless, to be accounted the husband of one wife. For the apostle does not say that they should choose him who has been, but him who is, the husband of one wife.

Having believing children. Since it is required that a pastor should have prudence and gravity, it is proper that those qualities should be exhibited in his family. For how can that man who cannot rule his own house be able to govern the church!

Besides, not only must the bishop himself be free from reproach, but his whole family ought to be a sort of mirror of chaste and honorable discipline. Therefore, in 1 Timothy, he just as strictly enjoins what their wives ought to be.

He specifies three requirements for the children:

1. They are to be believers; from which it is obvious that they have been educated in the sound doctrine of godliness and in the fear of the Lord.
2. They are not to be devoted to luxury, so that they may be known to have been educated in temperance and frugality.
3. They are not to be disobedient; for one who cannot obtain any reverence or subjection from his children will hardly be able to restrain the people by the bridle of discipline.