Titus 2:5

"that they may train the young wives to love their husbands, to love their children,"

Key Reflection

In Titus 2:5, Paul instructs Titus and the Christians in Crete to train young wives to embody virtues like love for their husbands and children. This instruction reflects first-century Greco-Roman cultural expectations where women were seen as primary caregivers and educators within the household. By emphasizing love and care, Paul was likely reinforcing traditional roles while subtly encouraging a Christian interpretation of these duties that aligned with the gospel's values of mutual respect and affection in marriage.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Verse 5. To be discreet. The same word rendered in Tit 2:2, temperate, and explained in Tit 2:4. Chaste. Pure--in heart, and in life. Keepers at home. That is, characteristically attentive to their domestic concerns, or to their duties in their families. A similar injunction is found in the precepts of the Pythagoreans-- tan gar gunaika dei oikouren kai endon menen. See Creuzer's Symbolik, iii. 120. This does not mean, of course, that they are never to go abroad, but they are not to neglect their domestic affairs; they are not to be better known abroad than at home; they are not to omit their own duties, and become "busy-bodies" in the concerns of others.

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