Titus 2:9-10

Titus 2:9-10

⁹ Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative,  ¹⁰not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.

A quick word about slaves

There are some important things to make mention of concerning slavery in the Roman Empire in Paul's day.  First of all slavery was very common, unlike today in America.  However, as Americans we have a certain image of what slavery is like.  There were commonalities between Roman slavery and the tragedy of slavery that befell our country in the last few centuries.  Roman slaves were produced in a number of different ways.  Someone could be born into slavery, and would therefore be a slave from birth.  Slaves were also taken from the wars and the peoples on the borders of Roman lands.  One could also be acquired as a slave from childhood as leaving a child out to be exposed was a wholly acceptable practice, culturally speaking.  People could take those babies, raise them up and sell them for slaves.  Furthermore if a man got in a great amount of debt he could sell himself, or a family member into slavery if he wanted. 

   There is a reason to draw this distinction.  Slavery was a perfectly acceptable social status, some slaves had a lot of training and education, and we even find instances in History of slaves owning other slaves!  The reason to pay close attention to this is that, though we will hopefully never be slaves, slavery in the Roman Empire seems to have almost more in common with our modern system of employment than the slavery that occurred in American History.  Though there are distinctions that cannot be ignored in our application, there is also so much similarity that it would be a poor interpretation that would disallow application into such a strikingly similar situation.

Verse 9

Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative,

Urge

This word is in italics in the translation here because it is not technically in the text.  We find that the one verb is applied to the clause from the verses we studied last week (“Urge the young men...”).  It is the same word that would more literally translated “to call alongside.”  However, for clarity and conciseness in English the translators chose the word “urge.”

subject

This word for “be subject to” is another word that we saw only a few weeks ago.  It is also used in Titus 2:5.  In Greek it is the word hupotasso and it is a compound word combining the words for “under” and “attach.”  So it has the meaning of attaching one's self to the bottom of something in a supportive, unassuming and uplifting way.  Paul was instructing slaves not to try to rule their masters, but rather to serve them faithfully, and humbly, doing as they were told.  It is of course implicit that they must disobey any order that contradicts the instruction of God. 

            There is a pearl of wisdom here for us today.  So many of us wonder what it is to be a Christian in the workplace.  So often we wonder how we should act and how we should treat our boss.  Understand that  our situation is closer to Roman citizenship than we would think.  We rely on having work to provide ourselves with food and shelter, thus we are, in some way, bound to our particular work and workplace.  So then, what does the Holy Spirit tell us to do?  Stick up for ourselves?  Be self promoting?  Go for the biggest raises? Furthermore, how do we deal with a difficult manager or boss?  Fight them? Try to get them fired? 

            Godly wisdom is this: we will most glorify God, and live out Christ's life in us by supporting and loving our boss, no matter how awful they may be.  Imagine if you make it part of your commitment to make your manager look good every day.  What sort of impact would that make on them?  Especially considering how, by the world's standards there is an implied relationship of dislike or distaste between a manager and his or her inferiors.

            This is not to say that we should let ourselves be abused beyond reason, nor to say that we shouldn't let our manager know what we are thinking, and how we are feeling.  It is, however, to say that if you can't submit to your boss your should transfer or quit.  Or, if you like:  “If you can't submit, you gotsta quit!”  Our job as Christians in the workplace is not to be self-promoting and proud, but to be humble, meek and wise.

Everything

This word is well translated “in everything” or “in all things.”  And that is to be the scope of the servant's obedience.  We should not be constantly looking out for our own rights, or trying to protect our own reputation and pride, but rather it is to be submissive, and supportive in all things.  Once again, Biblical insight would surely tell us that to violate anything we know to go against the will of God is worth standing up about, thus anything that the servant is asked to do that is against the will of God the servant must dissent. 

            In our application of this to our professional lives should show the extent to which we are to support our boss.  We are not to be helping him one minute and then cutting him down behind his back, but in everything.  Furthermore, we are not to do things our own way just because we like to.  We are to be subject in everything.

Well-pleasing

This is a good literal translation.  It is interesting that we label people who are pleasing to their bosses as “kiss-ups” or worse.  This is not what Paul is saying.  We don't need to be boot lickers.  This is just talking about doing the things that will please slave owner, by doing things well, as we are told.  If the demand is impossible or unreasonable then bringing the issue to the table in a respectful, non-offensive way is the need.  This idea, as it carries over to our work application does not mean that we are to be spineless, whimpering toadies.  But rather that we are to be strong, calm confident, peaceful, loving Christians that are making a constant and daily choice, while displaying the wisdom and dignity that is laid out in the verses before.  Everybody should want to have Christians working on their team because they should be the least motivated to lift themselves up, and more likely to want to help others.

not argumentative

This word in Greek is antilego. When broken up into its component parts it is anti (against) lego (speaking or talking).  So this is to say that there is to be no “against talking.”  It means that slaves were to be submissive to their masters no matter how cruel, and when the final word was laid down by the master the servant would do what the master asked. 

  For us today it is hard not be argumentative.  It is hard not to state our case.  When our boss or manager finds something that they think that we did wrong, or that we did do wrong, our first instinct is always to defend ourselves, and the second is to try to blame someone else.  It also seems implicit in this that we should not be haggling and bickering with our bosses all the time, but should submit to correction and rebuke, even if it is unreasonable.

Verse 10

not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.

not pilfering

Slaves in this day were known to be thieves.  It was a long standing running joke, a sort of a stock character, in Greek and Roman theater.  There was always a rude or lazy servant that could be used to poke fun at the master behind his back, or steal things from around the house.  One Roman official even said “Every slave we have is an enemy we harbor.” This was the attitude between the two, an animosity that can be very clearly seen between bosses and employees today!  Pilfering is also a huge problem amongst employees today, it is obviously inconsistent with who we are in Christ, and it is always unacceptable.

Showing

This word “showing” is in the middle voice as we saw last week.  And as we discussed then it is an emphatic choice of tenses.  It should well be translated “showing themselves” to get the idea of how emphatic and involved the showing is.

good faith

This is meant more in the sense of being faithful, and trustworthy, than the idea of showing a good faith in Christ.  This is more concerning the idea of being trustworthy and faithful to both supervisors and managers.  Christian slaves then, as Christian Employees now, must be above reproach.  It doesn't mean that every boss will like us, or support us.  But our position in Christ, as he lives His life out in us, will be shown to be trustworthy and above every accusation.  We must be the type of person, because of Christ's constant work in our lives, that couldn't be seen making an off color remark, or whom the boss feels he or she can leave the store keys with and sleep perfectly well knowing that the keys are in safe hands.

Adorn

We use the word “adorn” in English occasionally.  It means to embellish, or to dress something up.  It can mean to hang beautiful tinsel from a Christmas tree, or used of a pair of earrings or a necklace on a woman.  This is really amazing when you think about it.  Why do we adorn things?  Why do people adorn themselves?  To make themselves?  To make themselves more attractive or noticeable.  So the good conduct and faithfulness, and humility, and submission of the servant will adorn the doctrine (truth about, or teachings about God.) 

            It's amazing to think that we can do nothing to take away from, or add to, our salvation, but by or actions that are simply Christ living out His life in us God sees that as ADORNING the Word of God.  It's as if the Word is made more and more beautiful and amazing as it is lived out in the life of a beliver.

God our Savior

This is an interesting phrase because we find that God is called here, our Savior, which is true, however we more often see Jesus being described as the savior.  Here is further evidence from the Bible concerning the trinity.  So here is more evidence for the well established doctrine of the Trinity.  Here God the Father is given the same title as the Son:  our Savior.