Titus 2:1-5 Does the Biblical teaching regarding gender make you uncomfortable?

Jul 06, 2023

This is the sixth lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Titus. In this lesson I'm going to look at chapter two verses one through five and talk about gender distinctions.

In Titus chapter two Paul told Titus to speak things that are fitting for sound doctrine. Then Paul listed various things Titus was supposed to teach. The instructions Titus was supposed to give to men were different than the instructions he was supposed to give to women.

This is a pattern we see throughout the Bible. Throughout Bible history, God made distinctions between male and female, particularly in the law codes that God established over the millennia. Sometimes the rules given to men were different than the rules given to women.

Let's take a look at some of the verses throughout the Bible that teach distinctions between male and female. Then we’ll come back to Titus and look at the distinctions Paul made between male and female in this book. At the end we’ll examine whether we in the 21st century have a biblical view on gender or whether our outlook on the differences between male and female have been corrupted and contaminated by feminism.

Watch the video or scroll down to read a transcript.

Transcript:

Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This is the sixth lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Titus. In this lesson I'm going to look at chapter two verses one through five and talk about gender distinctions.

Let's start in Genesis chapter one. Genesis one is the chapter that tells us about creation. That took place roughly 4000 BC. As part of creation, God created humans. Let's read about that starting in verse 26.

Gen. 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

God created two genders: male and female. There were only two, no more and no less. As you know, Adam and Eve sinned and they were punished for that. We read about their punishment in Genesis chapter three. Let’s start reading at verse 16. Notice the difference between the punishment given to the woman and that given to the man.

Gen. 3:16 To the woman He said,

“I will greatly multiply

Your pain in childbirth,

In pain you will bring forth children;

Yet your desire will be for your husband,

And he will rule over you.”

17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;

Cursed is the ground because of you;

In toil you will eat of it

All the days of your life.

18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;

And you will eat the plants of the field;

19 By the sweat of your face

You will eat bread,

Till you return to the ground,

Because from it you were taken;

For you are dust,

And to dust you shall return.”

The punishment given to the woman consisted of two items. One, she would experience pain in childbirth. Two, her husband would rule over her. Obviously, neither of those were going to be applied to the man.

The punishment given to the man was that he would have to work in order to produce food. When he planted crops, the ground would also produce thorns and thistles that he would have to remove.

Let me briefly go on a little bit of a tangent here. One of the things I find a little bit curious, interesting, and perplexing about feminism is that in the 20th century, when women demanded the right to join the workforce, they were in some ways demanding the right to participate in the punishment that was given to men. I'm not going to say any more about that. That's just something for you to ponder a little bit.

As I said, creation happened roughly 4000 BC. The flood happened around 2500 BC. God established the Israelite nation around 2000 BC. Roughly 1500 BC Moses led the Israelites out of slavery and out of Egypt, and he took them to Mount Sinai to give them the Mosaic Law. Some of the precepts in the Mosaic law also made a distinction between male and female. Let's take a look at that starting in Leviticus 12 verse one.

Lev. 12:1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying:

‘When a woman gives birth and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean for seven days, as in the days of her menstruation she shall be unclean.

Now let’s scroll down to verse five which says,

Lev. 12:5 ‘But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her menstruation;

When a woman gave birth to a son she was unclean seven days. When she gave birth to a daughter she was unclean 14 days. Let's scroll down to Leviticus 27 where we see another distinction between male and female. Let’s start reading at verse one.

Lev. 27:1 Again, the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘ When a man makes a difficult vow, he shall be valued according to your valuation of persons belonging to the LORD. 3 ‘If your valuation is of the male from twenty years even to sixty years old, then your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. 4 ‘Or if it is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels.

The valuation of a male was higher than the valuation of a female. The natural question here is why did males have a higher valuation than females? First of all, God is sovereign so He can do whatever He wants. That's the first answer. But in addition to that, remember that this was before the invention of machinery and so daily life involved a lot of physical labor. If you hired a male and a female to work for you for a day doing physical labor, the male was going to produce a lot more in one day than the female would. That is perhaps why males were valued higher. In physical labor, males were more valuable than females because males were going to produce more work in the same amount of time than females.

After the Israelites received the Mosaic Law, they left Mount Sinai. They were supposed to go into the Promised Land, but they first had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. At the end of that wandering, Moses spoke the following to the Israelites.

Num. 30:1 Then Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel, saying, “This is the word which the LORD has commanded. 2 “ If a man makes a vow to the LORD, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

Num. 30:3 “Also if a woman makes a vow to the LORD, and binds herself by an obligation in her father’s house in her youth, 4 and her father hears her vow and her obligation by which she has bound herself, and her father says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand and every obligation by which she has bound herself shall stand. 5 “But if her father should forbid her on the day he hears of it, none of her vows or her obligations by which she has bound herself shall stand;

Later we read that if a woman was married, her husband could annul her vow.

Num. 30:13 “Every vow and every binding oath to humble herself, her husband may confirm it or her husband may annul it.

We see a very clear distinction between male and female. When a male made a vow, he was obligated. When a female made a vow, either her father or her husband could annul it because she was under the authority of either her father or her husband. In other words, males had more sovereignty and autonomy than females.

The Israelites entered the Promised Land around 1500 BC under the authority of the Mosaic Law. Around 1000 BC the Israelite kingdom was established. Over the next several centuries they were very sinful and so around 600 BC they were exiled. The Old Testament time period ended around 500 BC. That brings us to the first century AD.

During the first century AD Jesus lived on earth and did His ministry. The establishment of the church and the writing of the New Testament took place in the 1st century AD.

Just as the Mosaic law had distinctions between male and female, so too the law code given to us in the New Testament has distinctions between male and female. One of the passages that teaches some of those distinctions is First Corinthians 11. Let’s start reading at verse 3.

1Cor. 11:3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. 4 Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. 5 But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head,

Let’s go down to verse 7.

1Cor. 11:7 For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.

Now let’s go down to verse 9.

1Cor. 11:9 for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. 10 Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

And finally, let’s go to verse 14.

1Cor. 11:14 Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him, 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her?

We see in 1 Corinthians 11 very clear distinctions between male and female.

Now let's go to Titus and see what Paul wrote in Titus about distinctions between male and female. Paul wrote this letter to Titus. Paul told Titus to appoint elders in every city, and then Paul gave the qualifications for elders. Then in chapter two, Paul told Titus to speak what is fitting for sound doctrine. Let's read this passage. As I read this, think about the differences between the instructions given to men and the instructions given to women. Titus two starting in verse one.

Titus 2:1 But you, speak what is fitting for sound teaching. 2 Elderly men are to be sober, serious, self-controlled, and sound in faith, love, and endurance. 3 Likewise, elderly women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not enslaved to much wine, but a teacher of good, 4 in order that they might train the younger women to be loving their husbands, loving their children, 5 self-controlled, pure, workers at home, kind, and submitted to their own husbands, in order that the word of God might not be blasphemed.

Verse two contains instructions for elderly men. Verse three contains instructions for elderly women. The instructions to elderly men are about being sober, serious, self-controlled, and sound. The instructions to elderly women are different. They focus more on what they are not supposed to do. They are not supposed to slander. They are not supposed to be enslaved to much wine.

More importantly, elderly women have a very specific role to train the younger women. The instructions to younger women are things that obviously are not going to apply to younger men. Very specifically, young women are to love their husbands, be workers at home, and submit to their own husbands. Those are instructions that are not given to men. Men are not told to submit to their wives, and men are not told to be workers at home either.

We see here that men and women have both different roles and different rules. Regardless what feminism or our culture says, as Christians, we need to teach these different roles and rules, and we need to live and practice these different roles and rules. Young men have one role in the family. Young women, their wives, have a different role in the family. A husband has authority over his wife.

Let me ask you a few questions. As I went through these verses, did they make you uncomfortable? If so, why? Here's another way to think about it. Do any of these verses seem old-fashioned to you? If so, why?

I believe many Christians are uncomfortable with these verses. They are uncomfortable with this topic. I believe many Christians feel these teachings are old-fashioned. However, the reality is these instructions came from the Creator of the universe. As humans, we need to submit to these rules.

In the 20th century there was a strong push by our culture to minimize, if not eliminate, the distinctions between male and female. There are many people who deny that men are stronger than women. They deny that men and women think and respond differently to events. They deny that men and women have different roles in the family, in church, and in society.

As much as many Christians like to think we’re not influenced by the culture, the reality is the church has been greatly influenced by feminism. The proof of that is the fact that many Christians are uncomfortable with these verses in the Bible that very clearly teach a distinction between male and female.

Let me encourage you to think about your outlook on all of this and ask yourself if your thinking has been affected by feminism. As we look at these verses that teach the differences and distinctions between male and female, are these differences something that you are completely willing to believe, live by, and share with others? Or are they something that you want to hide, minimize, and somewhat pretend do not exist? These instructions on gender came from the Creator of the universe, and we need to submit to them.

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Scripture quotations from Titus taken from a translation by Bible Mountain.

“All other Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

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Titus 2:1-5 Does the Biblical teaching regarding gender make you uncomfortable?

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