5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you—6 if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination. 7 For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, 8 but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, 9 holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.
Commentary
Vs. 5 “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should
set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I
commanded you—
The Apostle Paul now gets down to business. Telling Titus his being left in Crete was so that he can begin to organize the local assemblies and bring structure to them. First by appointing elders in every city where believers are; for there needs to be Spiritual leadership and guidance for them if they are to grow and become established in the faith. As well there needs to be Godly, mature, discerning men, who know the Word of God, who can not only teach it, but who will rebuke and rebuff all false teachers and the like, and thus keep them and their misleading and erroneous ideas from corrupting the faith of those inside the household of faith.
Vs. 6 “if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination.”
Thus, with the basic groundwork laid out as to what Titus must do, the Apostle Paul now gets to qualifications of those much-needed elders whom Titus is to appoint to oversee the believers there. Now whether these men are referred to as elders, or overseers, or Bishops, is all basically irrelevant, because they all serve in the same basic role as todays church Pastor. These qualifications then that the Apostle Paul gives here are universal. First if a man is blameless, that is, only if his personal life is above reproach can he be considered for church leadership, if not then he cannot! Notice too that there are no Biblical grounds for women leading church assemblies, for that is a God’s Work and Will in creation and redemption (1 Cor. 11:3).
Next the Apostle
says only consider those who are the husband of one wife, thus no divorcees, or
at the very minimum no man who after coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
but then went onto dissolve his own marriage should ever be considered. Now if
his wife left him for any reason except sexual immorality then the sin would be
with her, unless of course he himself had committed adultery, or had been
seriously abusing her, then the guilt for their dissolved marriage would rest
fully on him, or if both were cheating then both would be at fault. In any
case, without going into every case, the point is if he has not been faithful
to his wife, then he should not be trusted to be faithful to Christ, or the
church, or anyone else. That said the husband of one wife does not mean that a
man has to be married to be considered, for there are men who are eunuchs
whether this is physical. or spiritual, whom God has so equipped and set apart
so as not to need a wife. The Apostle Paul himself is a case and example of man
who was not married and yet God gave him the ability to live happily without
wife and children so that his person and life could be dedicated to Him. That
said such men are very few and far between, and so because of sexual
immorality, and all the sexual temptations that church leaders are bound to
face, being the husband of one wife for almost all men seems almost a
pre-requisite. But again, this must be decided on a case-by-case basis.
Finally, the husband of one wife clearly excludes all practicing homosexual men
(or women), or those justifying it, (and thus not calling people to repentance
from it, from all sexual immorality), from having any place in the church’s
leadership, for we are not the world and we do not live by its degenerate values and "morals".
Vs. 6 “…having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination.”
Here the thought is if a man cannot (or will not) keep his own children in line then how can he be trusted to keep and lead the church in a straight course and line. For if he lets his own children run amuck then it’s doubtful, he’ll do much of anything good when those in congregation go astray, or worse start leading others astray. Again, a basic test of one’s leadership abilities is how well does a man rule his own home. For if he doesn’t teach his own children to obey and live by basic Christian tenets, then how can he be trusted to teach, and when necessary, enforce them in the church. Again, a man is known by his children, for they often are the refection of his person’s character.
Vs. 7-9 7 For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, 8 but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, 9 holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.
Once again, the Apostle Paul states that a Bishop must be blameless; that is above reproach both morally and doctrinally; for he is a steward of God, that is he is charged with keeping God’s Word pure, undefiled by the standards and practices of the age. Again, a bishop signifies the local church pastor, or the one who is to lead the local assembly of believers as its primary leader.
“not self-willed”, that is he cannot be headstrong, and be a person who
must have everything their own way, or who will not listen to reason, or will
not receive advice, or correction. For all leadership requires that one have
humility, and know how to listen before coming to conclusions, as well as how
to moderate between differing points of view. Which one cannot do if they only
think leadership entails everyone submitting to their fixed will.
“not
quick-tempered” The Apostle
James says, “Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for
the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (James 1:19-20). A
quick-tempered man often says and does things that are always regrettable, and
thus is a poor example of God’s patience and love.
“not given to
wine” Obviously then if
one has a propensity towards alcohol then they are disqualified. For as
a man charged with leading God’s people, one cannot have a bent
towards drinking alcohol, for there is just too much at risk for the
congregation and himself to be under the influence of alcohol. Therefore, outside
of his occasionally partaking of it with a meal, its use by the Pastor, or church
leadership should largely be avoided.
“not violent”
Obviously any man
who uses violence inside or outside of the home is not fit to lead God’s
people.
“not greedy
for money” This is very important
because this will set the tone for the whole congregation, for if the Pastor is
greedy and is seeking to financially profit from his preaching, or his service,
then the whole congregation is at risk of becoming corrupted.
In verse seven the Apostle Paul dealt with the negative attributes that disqualify a man from God’s leadership service. And so here in verse eight and nine Paul now gives us some wonderful qualities to look for that make for Godly leadership.
“hospitable”,
that is welcoming, friendly, receiving all people without bias, partiality, or
prejudgment. For the church is to be a place where both saints and sinners who
are looking for God can find Him.
“a lover of what is good”, That is he loves to see good things being said and
done, and so he doesn’t secretly or rejoice in hearing of peoples suffering
harm or misery, even if they have wronged or harmed him. For a man who loves
good not only has a sound moral compass, (and thus stays clear of all devious
and questionable activities), but he also has a kind and compassionate heart.
sober-minded, is seeing things as they are, not as one wishes they
were. Sober mindedness then is the ability to rightly asses each and every
situation and to make sound and sensible decisions, for if a person can’t do
that then they should not be leading.
just, fair, honest, just in his interactions with all
people everywhere.
holy, to speaks to his person, his faith, his moral character.
self-controlled,
though a fruit of
the Spirit, this speaks to one’s personal discipline.
Vs. 9 “holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.”
A man who leads in the church must hold fast to the Word of God, to its unchanging truths and commandments, therefore he must be regularly reading and studying it, for only then will he be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who by word or by deed contradict it. For there is no other defense against sin or Satan’s lies than the Word of God!
Scripture Quotations
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