The three-year Lectionary that many Catholics and Protestants hear in public worship gives us a great variety of Holy Scripture.

Yet, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

My series Forbidden Bible Verses — ones the Lectionary editors and their clergy omit — examines the passages we do not hear in Church. These missing verses are also Essential Bible Verses, ones we should study with care and attention. Often, we find that they carry difficult messages and warnings.

Today’s reading is from the English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK) with commentary by Matthew Henry and John MacArthur.

Titus 2:1

Teach Sound Doctrine

2 But as for you, teach what accords with sound^[a] doctrine.

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Last week’s post discussed Paul’s words about the bad character of the Cretans of the ancient world as well the equally detestable false teachers that had inveigled themselves among the new Christian congregations on the island.

Of the false teachers, Titus 1:16, the last verse in that reading, says (emphases mine below):

¹⁶ They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

John MacArthur explains the phrase ‘unfit for any good work’ in the Greek manuscript:

There are plenty who teach error and plague the church with weakness and disease as a result.  The pestilence of sin is the result of their useless verbiage.  It says in verse 16 they are “worthless for any good work.” They bring no benefit to the church – they are adokimos is the word – they are tested and found useless.  The word adokimos was used in building.  When a stone was not fit to be put into the building – it had some serious flaw – they would scratch an “a” on it, an alpha for adokimos, and set it aside so no one would pick it up again and use it.  These are people who are useless.

Paul then turns his attention to Titus and says ‘But’ — implying a contrasting connection with verse 16 — his duty is to teach sound, or healthy, doctrine (verse 1).

MacArthur looks at the word ‘sound’:

The word in Greek basically gives us our word hygiene – means “healthy.”  It is used nine times in the pastoral epistles, namely 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus.  And of those nine uses of the word “sound,” five of them appear in Titus.  Five times Paul directs Titus’ attention and ours to the need for spiritual health.  If anything is clear from the pastoral epistles and from Titus it is that the Lord is concerned about healthy doctrine and healthy living.  And they are linked.

In chapter 1, for example, and verse 9 he talks about “sound doctrine,” and then in verse 13, living it out by being “sound in the faith.”  In chapter 2, verse 1, he talks again about “sound doctrine” and living it out by being sound in faith.  In chapter 2, verse 7, he talks about purity in doctrine and its consequent “sound in speech” (verse 8).  So the theme throughout not only Titus but 1 and 2 Timothy is the teaching of sound doctrine and the call for consequent sound living, healthy doctrine which produces healthy living.  That’s crucial.

Now this is all set against the backdrop of unsound doctrine which produces unsound living, or unhealthy doctrine which produces unhealthy Christianity.  Repeatedly in 1 and 2 Timothy and here again in Titus there is a preoccupation with false teachers.  False teachers are noted in chapter 1, you remember, in verse 10 as “rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers.”  They, verse 11, “upset whole families,” they “teach things they shouldn’t teach.”  We find that they turn away to “Jewish myths…commandments of men who turn away from the truth.”  And verse 16 says they “know God” – they say “but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable…disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”  Here you have diseased doctrine which results in diseased living.

The focus of Titus 2 changes from the false teachers to the conduct of the believers.

Matthew Henry’s commentary sums up verse 1 as follows:

Here is the third thing in the matter of the epistle. In the chapter foregoing, the apostle had directed Titus about matters of government, and to set in order the things that were wanting in the churches. Now here he exhorts him,

I. Generally, to a faithful discharge of his own office. His ordaining others to preach would not excuse himself from preaching, nor might he take care of ministers and elders only, but he must instruct private Christians also in their duty. The adversative particle (but) here points back to the corrupt teachers, who vented fables, things vain and unprofitable: in opposition to them, says he, “But speak thou the things that become sound doctrine, what is agreeable to the word, which is pure and uncorrupt, healthful and nourishing to eternal life.” Observe, (1.) The true doctrines of the gospel are sound doctrines, formally and effectively; they are in themselves good and holy, and make the believers so; they make them fit for, and vigorous in, the service of God. (2.) Ministers must be careful to teach only such truths. If the common talk of Christians must be uncorrupt, to the use of edifying, such as may minister grace to the hearers (Eph 4 29), much more must ministers’ preaching be such.

MacArthur gives us more detail on the importance of living a holy life in accordance with biblical doctrine, beginning with this premise:

You can’t just fill people’s head with theology.  You must be truly useful by teaching the required behavior that is consistent with sound doctrine.  Healthy teaching, yes.  And then instruction about healthy living.  You can’t just teach it without forcing the application, to some degree.

The NIV translations use the word ‘teach’ in this verse. However, the KJV and some other translations use the word ‘speak’.

MacArthur explains why ‘speak’ is more accurate:

The first one is the word “speak,” from the Greek verb lale which just means “to talk.”  It’s not the word  kerusso, “to preach.” It’s not the word didaskaleo, “to teach.” It’s just “to talk.”  And it’s a present tense – just “keep on talking concerning things which are suitable as associates of healthy doctrine”; “continually be talking about the kind of behavior that fits the truth.”  And he’s saying to him, “Stay on track; don’t feel any resistance and capitulate.  Don’t get intimidated; don’t slow down; don’t deviate, no matter what resistance you may feel.” As he told Timothy in the prior chapter there, 2 Timothy 4, “the time will come when they won’t endure sound doctrine; they’ll want to have their ears tickled with the things that strike their own imagination.  But you continue to preach and reprove and rebuke and exhort, and do it patiently, and do it with careful instruction.”  Obviously there’s going to be resistance to these calls for holy living, but you must not equivocate.  Keep on talking about these things.

This is about pastoral work, practical work within the congregations rather than from the pulpit:

Help people see the truth face to face, help them apply it in their lives.  And what you’re telling them are those things which are fitting.  The word prep here is used. It basically means “proper” or “seemly,” or “attractive.”  One good old word, “befitting.”  You tell them the things they need to do that fit the doctrine they believe.  It calls for behavior; it calls for action.  It calls for living what is in complete accord with the truth.  And obviously, any student of the Bible knows that it never divorces doctrine from duty …

As Paul writes to the Ephesians, after three chapters of doctrine, he simply says that “I’m going to now urge you therefore to walk worthy of the calling to which you’re called. That’s the calling; here’s how you live.”  In Colossians chapter 3, after two chapters of doctrines, he says “now that you’ve been raised with Christ, seek the things which are above.  Here’s how to live your life.”  In Philippians, after three chapters of dealing with doctrinal issues, he says, “Therefore I’m urging you to live this way,” and he goes through chapter 4 with a list of required behaviors.  This is basic.  This is absolutely central.  The Lord wants churches that know His truth and that live it.  In fact, what other value does the truth have if it isn’t lived out?  He wants a chaste virgin; He wants a pure bride; He wants a holy church.  In fact, in 1 Peter 1:16 it’s clear just how holy: “You shall be holy, for I am holy – be holy yourselves also in all your behavior, be like the Holy One who called you.”  I want you as holy as I am.

If that isn’t clear enough, think of all the hygiene rules we have in the West to prevent people from disease or poisoning. We can apply the same principles to the Church:

Diseased meat is not allowed to be sold in our country. That’s why we have agencies in the government that inspect meat and approve it, because diseased meat can make you sick.  It can even kill.  And so can diseased teaching.  Diseased teaching can make people sick, and it is deadly. 

MacArthur delivered this sermon in 1993. Church growth programmes were taking root at the time. Sadly, 30 years later, they are still going strong.

He explains why church growth techniques do not lead to a healthier congregation:

What then makes a church healthy?  Holy living, the fruit of healthy doctrine.  I can’t emphasize this enough because there are so many options being offered today in building a church.  What the Lord wants has nothing to do with the size of a church. What He wants has to do with the virtue of a church, the character of the church.  As I’ve said through the years, my job is to concentrate on the spiritual depth of the church and let God take care of the breadth of it.  The size is not an issue to me.  The character is.  And what makes a healthy church is not how many programs it has or how much money it has or how big it is, what makes a healthy church is its holy character.  And yet that’s very, very infrequently ever even suggested today in the area of church growth.  It’s just so very important to understand that the Lord is concerned about the quality of a church, not the size of it.  The size of it is all bound up in His own sovereign purpose.  And the size of it – I’ll go a step further and say – is directly related to the virtue of it.  We’re continually told that if we want to build the church we’ve got to come up with technique, strategy, marketing savvy, etc., etc., etc.  That does not concern the Lord. What concerns the Lord is the character of the church – the virtue, the godliness.

MacArthur points out that obedience to doctrine produces personal blessings and affects others positively:

… there’s another key element to be acknowledged in this chapter, and it gives you the feeling of this chapter powerfully.  The commandments that are given here and the standards for behavior that are given here are required. And it is true that if you obey them and I obey them, we’ll be blessed.  But that’s never pointed out in the chapter. That’s just a given.  We know that.  We know that obedience brings blessing. We certainly saw that in the psalm which we read this morning, Psalm 18.  That’s a given. That’s taken for granted. The issue here is not the effect of our holiness on us; the issue here is the effect of our holiness on others.  That’s the issue.  For all that virtue does for me, the compelling issue here is what it does for somebody else.  Obedience to the requirements in this chapter are essential, Paul points out, not only for their own sake – which is a given, for you can then know the blessing and the joy of Christian living – but because it has such powerful effect on others.

When we disobey the precepts in the Bible, we dishonour God. A Christian who embezzles, for example, puts God and His Son in a very poor light indeed. Who would want to become Christian upon finding out about the embezzler? Unbelievers live a purer life. The same goes for Christians engaging in other sins: drunkenness, sexual impropriety, lying and so on.

I will be going into the biblical behaviours from Titus 2 in more detail, but, for now, MacArthur provides us with a summary of why they are essential:

All of this matter of behavior, end of verse 5, is in order that or “for the purpose that the word of God may not be dishonored.”  That’s it.  The first compelling issue here is the honor of the Word of God.  Back in 1 Timothy 5:14, younger widows are instructed to get married and bear children and keep house.  Why?  To “give the enemy no occasion for reproach; for some have already turned aside to follow Satan.” In other words, how you live is going to impact how people view Christianity, and it makes Christianity attractive or turns them away into the path of Satan.  “The Word of God,” he says, “may not be dishonored.”  That’s what holy living produces.  The word here is really the word for “blasphemed” at the end of verse 5, “disdained, rejected, treated as a lie, disregarded, mocked, shunned, ignored.” In other words, how you live will directly determine how people feel about the Word of God.  Amazing.  A Christian wife who is not what she ought to be, a Christian young man who is not what he ought to be, a Christian older man who is not what he ought to be, a Christian older woman who is not what she ought to be is going to give reason for people to blaspheme God’s Word.

You see the world doesn’t judge us by our theology, the world judges us by our behavior, right? And they judge the validity of the Scripture by our behavior. They, they judge whether Scripture is really true and powerful and life-changing by whether it changes our lives.

MacArthur cites an example from his own church in this regard. Sam Erickson is a friend of his and member of Grace Community Church:

I remember Sam Erickson telling me that time some years back that he had invited a lawyer – he was working for a law firm in L.A. – he invited a lawyer to come to church, and he said, “We want you to come because our church teaches the Bible, we have a pastor who teaches the Bible, and I think you’d appreciate it.” And he said, “What church is it?”  And Sam said, “Grace Community Church.”  He said, “Ha”; he said, “I don’t go to any church, but I sure wouldn’t go to that church, the most crooked attorney I know in the city goes there.”  End of discussion.  The Word of God was blasphemed in that man’s life and consequently this man turned his back on the truth.  I mentioned that, by the way, on the following Sunday to our congregation without naming which lawyer it was, and I think 25 lawyers repented.  But that’s the simple illustration of what happens when you don’t live the life – you bring reproach on the truth.  If it’s life-changing truth, then it ought to change your life.  Why should people believe it’s life-changing truth if your life isn’t changed?

This is the thought process going on in an unbeliever’s mind:

As the German philosopher Heine said years ago, “Show me your redeemed life; I might be inclined to believe in your Redeemer.”  The credibility of the Christian gospel is tied to the integrity of the life of those who claim it … 

What do you think the world thinks when they watch Christians – prominent, well-known Christians – and they read about them in the newspaper as adulterers and fornicators and whatever? What do they do? They blaspheme the Lord.  They blaspheme the Word of God by depreciating its power, by mocking it.

MacArthur cites instances of disobedience from the Old Testament which disgusted and angered God. This is one of them:

In Ezekiel 36 … It’s in verse 17, a place to start: “Son of man,” God says to Ezekiel, “when the house of Israel was living in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds; their way was before Me like the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity [or her period].  Therefore I poured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols. And I scattered them among the nations and they were dispersed throughout the lands.  According to their ways and their deeds I judge them. When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned My holy name because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord.’”  You get the picture?  It was bad enough they were so bad in the land, but when they got scattered everywhere they defiled the name of God by the way they behaved and the comment of the nations was, “Look, those are the people of the Lord, so you can see what kind of God He is. He’s either immoral or impotent.  He either doesn’t do anything about it or He can’t” – and His name was dishonored.

Because of the sins of Israel, their crimes were attributed to the influence or the impotence of their deity, their God, so that the pagans were looking at God in blasphemous perspectives. 

This is why every letter that Paul wrote includes verses on how those church members should live their lives. They — and we — are a reflection of what people think about God, Christ and the Bible.

Today, many believers view Christianity — wrongly — as moralistic therapeutic deism, which I wrote about in 2009:

Colin Hansen in his essay called ‘Death by Deism‘  examines what the authors of Soul Searching found when they were researching their book.  Our popular culture has turned the Son of God into a ‘cool parent’ …

Our faith becomes one of no demands, no obligations. What do Boomers and Hipsters think of the Ten Commandments? Commands — orders — or guidelines. It’s always tempting to see guidelines where there are absolutes. We have made Christianity into a drinks-party-cookout-friendly construct: enjoyable.

St Paul did not see Christianity in that light and he would be appalled that so many of us do.

MacArthur says:

That’s why Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:2 and 3, “You are our letter about Christ, known and read by all men.”  You’re the gospel they see; you’re what makes the Word of God believable or unbelievable.

So, when Paul says to Titus, “Here are the standards, older men are to live like this, older women like this, younger women like this, younger men like this, and everybody out in the work place like this, here is the reason: because if you don’t live holy lives, then the Word of God will be mocked and shunned and disregarded and dishonored and thought little of and that constitutes a form of blasphemy.”  You see how much is at stake in the way you live?  And it isn’t just for your own benefit.  We’ve got to get Christianity somehow beyond that, because that’s where we’re stuck right now.  What can Christianity do for me?  And the question is, “What can your kind of Christianity do for everybody else?”  That’s the issue.

He elaborates:

Don’t you think that the opponents of Christianity love it when Christians scandalize the faith?  Don’t they love to pick up the magazines and the newspapers and read about the fornication and the adultery and the fiscal irresponsibility and the thievery and all of the conning that goes on in the fakeries of Christianity and all of the sin and iniquity in leadership? Sure they do.

And I’ll tell you something else, the people in your little world would love those who deny the Lord, who don’t know Christ, who at this point haven’t come to faith in Him – they would love to see you fail significantly so they can justify their unbelief.  They don’t want to see God transform your life and then rebuke them. But that’s exactly what you want to do, you want to make them red faced, you want to make them blush when they criticize because they can’t find anything to criticize.  You see, the issue here is evangelism.  And again I say just to put it in a context, the proper strategy for evangelization is not methodological, it is not some kind of strategy, it is not some kind of marketing technique.  The way we reach the world is through virtue, godliness, holiness, purity of life that makes our faith believable, makes God’s Word believable.

Peter, seeing the very same issue at hand, wrote words that fit right into this same thought, 1 Peter 2:11, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts.”  Don’t get caught in them?  Why?  “Keep your behavior excellent among the pagans, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”  You know what that means?  How can you “glorify God in the day of visitation?” “The day of visitation” is the time when He visits, when He comes.  How can you glorify God in that day?  By receiving Him.  You can only receive Him if you’ve come to know Him.  That’s exactly what Peter is saying.  Let them look at your life, and whereas on the one hand they come to criticize, let your behavior be so excellent that their criticism turns to curiosity, and their curiosity turns to conversion, and they’re there to greet the Lord with you when He comes.  You lead people to the credibility of Christianity and to conversion by the virtue of your life. So stay away from fleshly lusts and let your behavior be excellent.

So the issue here in chapter 2 again is the evangelistic strategy of the church.  We reach the world by holiness, not by technique.

MacArthur talks about the word ‘adorn’ in verse 10, which I will discuss in a few weeks’ time:

… he says on the positive side, verse 10, “We want to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.” This is such a powerful, powerful point …

By the way, that word “adorn” is great.  There’s a hairspray named that, “Adorn,” and that really does speak about what that word means.  It’s from a Greek word kosme, from which we get cosmetic.  It means “to make something beautiful.”  We say a woman adorned herself with jewels, and it was used that way in ancient times.  The word kosme – “to put on cosmetics, to make beautiful.”  In fact, in the Greek, one made kosme out of chaos, and that’s what you ladies are doing, basically.  You’re turning the chaos into the cosmos, the disarray into beauty and order.  Some of you are doing a wonderful job at it as well.  And the true chaos will never be known, I’m sure.  But that is precisely what the word means.  And when we show the order and the beauty of the power of a saving God in our lives, we make salvation beautiful; we make God, as it were, attractive.  And he says you want to do that in all things, “in every respect.”

Here I must digress and show you an old 1963 advert for Adorn, widely seen on television along with dozens of others in the decades that followed. It was — and still might be — one of the top hairsprays in the United States:

You get the picture.

MacArthur concludes with this:

Let me ask you something.  What is our primary message to this world about God?  Are we trying to tell the world that God is omnipotent?  Well, it’s true.  Are we trying to get across to this world that God is omniscient?  That God is omnipresent?  That God is immutable?  Are we trying to get across to this world that God is the creator and the sustainer of the universe?  That God is sovereign? That God is eternal?  Yeah, all of that is true.  What we’re really trying to get the world to understand is that God is a Savior – isn’t that it?  We’re trying to get them to understand that God is there to save them.  And that’s verse 10.  “How can we adorn the teaching about God as Savior in every respect if we don’t look like we’ve been saved?”  I mean, if I tell you about my barber and you look at me and say, “Your hair is a mess,” you aren’t going to my barber.  Now how obvious is that?  …  It doesn’t do me any good to commend something to you that doesn’t show up in my life.  If I am going to adorn the doctrine or the teaching about God as a Savior, then I’m going to have to demonstrate that I’ve been saved.  Saved from what?  Sin, sin.

It’s not an easy thing to do, especially when we are young, dealing with all manner of temptations. It is also not easy when we are trying to climb the corporate ladder, either. I cannot say I have always adorned the Lord. If you have, you are truly blessed.

However, adorn the Lord we must do.

The next two verses of Titus 2 address the behaviour of older members of the Cretan congregations. Students of Paul’s letters will know the instructions well.

Next time — Titus 2:2-3