Titus 2:4 Young wives (1)

… teachers of the ideal, that they may bring the young wives to a sense of their duty to be fond of their husbands, fond of their children…

“The aged women” received only a few instructions, but for “the young wives” there are seven. That is also understandable because young women are still fully involved in a bustle that is already partly over for older women.

The remarkable thing is that the instructions to the young women would not be taught by Titus himself, but by the old women. As “teachers of good (…) they would make the young women sensible”. Like Timothy, Titus was probably still a young man (2:15; cf. 1Tim.4:12) and therefore less suited to the task. It could also lead to unnecessary chatter. Old women, on the other hand, know from their own experience what young wives need.

Young wives would devote themselves to loving husbands and children. The Greek reads one word here twice: ‘phil-andros’, which is ‘man-loving’ and ‘philo-teknos’, which is ‘child-loving’. It is assumed that the young women are married and have children, which of course is not a law, but it is the rule. The mother’s primary job is at home. She does not bear the burden of “the modern woman” who must be independent and make a career if necessary. Increasingly farther away from home…

Delen: