men, chosen for their character in the home and loyalty to the truth, and were thus able to

take care of the church of God.

The Apostle now points out these characteristics to Titus and exhorts him to seek for

such and appoint them as leaders. Such leaders must be blameless (verses 6 and 7), the

meaning of which is expanded by the context and the items that follow, the husband of

one wife, and having faithful or believing children, not under accusation of riot or

disobedience. The phrase "the husband of one wife" can be interpreted in two ways:

(1) the opposite of polygamy; (2) only marrying once and having one wife, so that in

the event of the wife's death, the husband must not marry again.  Alford strongly

contends for view (2) though it is difficult to see why a man should be better equipped in

the Lord's work by not marrying the second time, unless the Apostle had the principle of

I Cor. 7: 32, 35 in mind. We know that polygamy was practiced by the Jews at the time

of writing this epistle and it may be this that is what is warned against. The Greek can

bear either meaning, but if the second is the teaching of the passage, then it would

certainly rule out many prominent Christian leaders of the present time.

Verse 6 goes on to stress the character of the home, `having believing children, not

accused of riot or insubordinate'. Paul had also stressed this in his first letter to Timothy.

Chapter 3: 1-7 largely cover the same ground as the context we are considering. An

overseer (bishop) must be `one that ruleth well his own house . . . . . (for if a man know

not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)". The logic

of this is inescapable. The manifestation of truth begins in the home, if a man cannot

shine there, he cannot shine anywhere for the Lord.

It is interesting to notice the words which are common to I Timothy and Titus.

Sophron, `of good behaviour' (I Tim. 3: 2) Sober (Titus 1: 8); me plekten, `no striker'

(I Tim. 3: 3; Titus 1: 7);  hiloxenon `hospitable' (I Tim. 3: 2; Titus 1: 8).  In both

cases "A husband of one wife" is stressed. Hospitality was an important Christian grace

in early times. The church was often found in the house and traveling Christians could

not resort to the houses of the heathen. The need therefore for hospitality on the part of

those called to lead was obvious. This is still an essential part of Christian witness today.

The burden usually falls more on the woman than the man, but in doing this as unto the

Lord, a sister in Christ is rendering a valuable Christian act which is not unnoticed by

Him.  "Do not forget hospitality, for by this some entertained angels unawares"

(Heb. 13: 2). "Use hospitality to one another without murmuring" (I Pet. 4: 9). Any

element of grudging or complaining spoils this important service in the Lord' sight. It

must be done willingly and gladly as unto Him.

The word sophron (sober) and its derivatives form a prominent feature of this epistle.

We tabulate them accordingly:

1: 8. Sober.

2: 2. Temperate.

2: 5. Discreet.