Titus 2:3-5 - Teach older women to be reverent

2:3

Next Paul turns to older women. Once again, their lives are to be an example. There can be a tendency to think that once we get older we can do what we like! This is not so. We are to live as children of God and servants of Christ. So women are to live reverent lives.  It seems that women in Crete were prone to being slanderers and addicted to wine. There are various vices that are common in any society. We need to be careful that we do not follow the sinful ways of the society that we live in. Instead the women were to learn what was good. 

2:4,5

The older women were to teach the younger women how to live godly lives. This included loving their husbands and children.  They were to be self-controlled. Self-control is a quality that crops up a lot in the epistles. Sin leads to a loss of self-control, the Spirit gives us self-control to live godly lives. Sin leads to us wasting our lives. In contrast, a godly woman looks after her household. “To be subject to their husbands”. Some will rile at this command! We should remember that in the kingdom when someone is under authority they actually gain more freedom and more authority. If we are the one with authority we are to use it to enhance the lives of those we have authority over. We should also remember the precious wife of Proverbs 31. She did look after her household, but that was not all that she did! She was an enterprising woman.