Preparing Our Hearts for Sunday     

As I’ve studied Titus 2:1-10 this week, I am aware that there are some touchy areas in the text, and I found Dr. Daniel Akin’s conclusion to this section particularly helpful. I want to quote him at length here:

The implications of the gospel are for every person and every area of life. In this passage this is demonstrated by the application of “sound teaching” to both men and women, calling them to lives of godliness and discipleship. When we carefully consider the whole of biblical revelation and its implications concerning the issue of the role of men and women in the church and the work of the Lord, several important conclusions need to be affirmed and applauded.

     First, both man and woman are created in God’s image, equal before Him as persons and distinct in their manhood and womanhood.
     Second, differences in masculine and feminine roles both in the home and in the church are ordained by God as part of His good plan for His good creation. This is intended for God’s glory and our good.
     Third, the fall in Genesis 3 introduced distortions into the relationship between men and women with tragic consequences. As it relates to the church, sin leads men toward a worldly love of power on the one hand or to the abdication of spiritual responsibility on the other. With respect to women, sin inclines them either to resist the parameters established by God for their assignments or to neglect the use of their gifts in appropriate and God-honoring ministries.
     Fourth, redemption through the perfect atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ aims at removing the distortions introduced by the curse and the fall.
     Fifth, in the Lord’s church, redemption in Christ gives men and women equal rights and an equal share in the blessings of salvation. These rights and blessings are in perfect accord with the leadership and teaching assignments within the church given only to men. The role of pastor-teacher is an office restricted to men.
     Sixth, the God-given desire to serve the Lord that resonates both in men and in women should never be used to set aside the clear biblical pattern for ministry established by God in His Word. Seventh, billions of persons live without the knowledge of the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. Countless other lost people live within those cultures that have heard the gospel. There are the heartbreak and miseries of sickness, malnutrition, homelessness, illiteracy, aging, drug and alcohol addictions, crime, incarceration, depression, and loneliness. Given this urgent need, no man or woman, boy or girl, having a God-given passion to make God’s amazing grace known in word and deed, ever has to live without a vital and fulfilling ministry for the glory of God and the good of others in this fallen world.
     Every child of God is called to proclaim the gospel to the lost. Every child of God is called to minister the Word. Every child of God is called to help the hurting. Every child of God at some time needs a mentor and is called to be a mentor. For the honor of Jesus and the sake of human souls, let us all be about the business of doing what God created us and saved us to do: His work, His way, and always for the praise of His name. This is God’s assignment for both men and women in the church.

 

Quoted from: Platt, David, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida. Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in 1& 2 Timothy and Titus. Nashville: B & H Publishing Group, 2013. 264-265.