Titus 1:6 No children under accusation

If anyone is unimpeachable, the husband of one wife, having believing children, not under the accusation of profligacy or insubordinate

No charges could be brought against the senior who Titus had to appoint. He wouldn’t be polygamous either. A third requirement concerns the senior’s family.

In 1Timothy 3:4 and 5, Paul describes the same requirements for a supervisor but also gives reasons. A supervisor who proves unable to manage his own house is disqualified from running the ecclesia as the house of God. If the children under accusation at home (Gr. kategoria > categorical) because of profligate or insubordinate behavior, the aspiring supervisor should first act at home. So it makes sense that Titus should be on the lookout for men who prove themselves able to lead at home.

As in 1Timothy 3, the demands made of the supervisor in Titus 1 are about the children at home. Once they are adults and have left home, their behavior can of course no longer be blamed on the parents. In any case, the point is not that parents are guilty if children do not follow suit. The profile Paul paints is not moralistic or judgmental. It’s about the credibility of the overseer. Or better yet: because of that of “the sound teaching” (:9)!

Delen: