Titus 02.01-05 | A Healthy Church part 01 (01. Teachers)

Titus 02.01-05 Paul commands Titus telling him that the teaching is to be sound doctrine. He then gives a description of how the people (older men, older women, young women, young men description & bondservants) in the church are to act.

Paul tells Titus the 06 aspects of A Healthy Church…01. Teachers (Titus 02.01); 02. Older Men (Titus 02.02); 03. Older Women (Titus 02.03-04a); 04. Young Women (Titus 02.04b-05); 05. Young Men (Titus 02.06-08); & 06. Bondslaves (Titus 02.09-10).

01. Teachers (Titus 02.01)

The phrase “1 But as for you…” starting out this chapter indicates a transition from the false teachers w/in the church to Titus.

These false teachers were described by Paul as men who…

Titus 01.16 “16 They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable & disobedient & worthless for any good deed.”

These were men that Paul commanded Titus to expose & severely (or literally sharply) confronted (Titus 01.10-16)!

So the transition of Paul from talking about false teachers & exposing them to commissioning Titus to “1 …speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.”

“1 speak” G2980. lalew laleo lal-eh'-o; a prolonged form of an otherwise obsolete verb; to talk, i.e. utter words:-- preach, say, speak (after), talk, tell, utter. Compare 3004.

The way that the word “1 speak” is written in the original Greek is in the Present tense, Active voice, Imperative mood.

Now what that means is this:

Present tense=The present tense represents a simple statement of fact or reality viewed as occurring in actual time. In most cases this corresponds directly w/the English present tense.

Active voice= The active voice represents the subject as the doer or performer of the action.  e.g., in the sentence, “The boy hit the ball,” the boy performs the action.

Imperative mood= The imperative mood corresponds to the English imperative, & expresses a command to the hearer to perform a certain action by the order & authority of the one commanding. Thus, Jesus’ phrase, “Repent ye, & believe the gospel” (Mark 01.15) is not at all an “invitation,” but an absolute command requiring full obedience on the part of all hearers.

The role of the pastor/teacher is to only speak the Word of God, which is the “1 …things which are fitting for sound doctrine.”

 “1 sound” G5198. ugiainw hugiaino hoog-ee-ah'-ee-no; from 5199; to have sound health, i.e. be well (in body); figuratively, to be uncorrupt (true in doctrine):-- be in health, (be safe &) sound, (be) whole(-some).

Biblical usage…to be sound, to be well, to be in good health

The root word for “sound” is hugies (who-ge-ace), & it is where we get our English word “hygiene”.

“1 doctrine” G1319. didaskalia didaskalia did-as-kal-ee'-ah; from 1320; instruction (the function or the information):-- doctrine, learning, teaching.

-teaching doctrine

This is not something new that Paul is commanding Titus to teach sound doctrine. Here are some of the other verses that Paul has stated this in the pastoral epistles.

1Timothy 06.03 “3 If anyone advocates a different doctrine (G1319. didaskalia didaskalia did-as-kal-ee'-ah) & does not agree w/sound (G5198. ugiainw hugiaino hoog-ee-ah'-ee-no) words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, & w/the doctrine (G1319. didaskalia didaskalia did-as-kal-ee'-ah) conforming to godliness,”

2Timothy 01.13 “13 Retain the standard of sound (G5198. ugiainw hugiaino hoog-ee-ah'-ee-no) words which you have heard from me, in the faith & love which are in Christ Jesus.”

Titus 01.09 “9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance w/the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound (G5198. ugiainw hugiaino hoog-ee-ah'-ee-no) doctrine (G1319. didaskalia didaskalia did-as-kal-ee'-ah) & to refute those who contradict.”

We have seen in the last month the importance of having pastor/teachers who teach sound, healthy doctrine, & sticking only to the Word of God.

Many of us were surprised to see some of the men & women who we exposed as false teachers, whether it was in the Word of Faith movement, Dominion Theology, the Emergent Church or a mixture of all of the above.