Titus 2:3-5 in a College Context — Part 2
I definitely agree with Matt’s comments on my first post in this series: Regardless of what Paul is asking the younger women to be, each woman should be striving to become one of those “older women.” It seems to kind of make sense, though, that one might first need to develop competency in the younger women’s skills and character areas before (or at least at the same time as) developing the character areas mentioned for the older women. You’re a hypocrite if you are trying to teach someone something you aren’t trying to do, so the younger women’s list can’t be skipped over, in my opinion at least.
So, for the young, unmarried college or post-college woman, how might the “young women” section of Titus 2 apply? The verse lists seven skills or character areas: Love your husband, love your children, be sensible, be kind, be pure, be a worker at home, and be subject to your own husband. I’ll give a few brief thoughts about each that I have come up with in the past few days. I am very interested in the thoughts any of you might have as well. I haven’t researched this thoroughly or looked up a lot of verses to support my ideas, but it’s a start that might turn into a more complete study at some point.
Love your Husband: I can see at least two potential applications of this point, both involving loving those whom a single woman is currently spending the most time. First, as a single woman, loving your roommates and close friends will prepare you for loving your husband should God have you get married at some point. Choosing to love others (especially roommates!) by dying to your opinions and preferences and serving them even when you don’t feel like it will make it that much easier for you to love your future husband the same way. Secondly, whether you do or don’t get married in the future, loving those around you even when it hurts certainly develops more Christ-like character and is a tremendous witness to those around you who don’t know Christ.
Love your Children: Who are the “children” of a single woman? Probably her spiritual children — the women that she is reaching out to, following up, or discipling herself. As the older women teach the younger women the practical ways they can love the women in their lives, they are multiplying themselves and training them to become older women themselves!
Be Sensible: This one seems pretty similar for both the single “younger women” and the married “younger women.” Other translations use words like wise, virtuous and self-controlled in place of sensible. Whether it’s everyday common sense or the wisdom of Proverbs or growth in other character areas (virtues) mentioned in other places in the Bible, it shouldn’t be hard to figure out we ALL have of lot of growth to do in these areas.
Be Pure: This one may actually translate better for the single women. With the struggles and temptations single women face in their relationships with the brothers, striving for purity in thoughts, actions, outward appearance, and even in emotions is a worthy goal.
Be a Worker at Home: For the younger married women, this naturally is focused on the obvious points of keeping a neat, organized house and not allowing interests or duties outside of the house become a detriment to excellence in this area. For single women, I think one could focus on the “worker” aspect. Do you find yourself to be diligent in your job or classwork…or could you be described more often as lazy? I also don’t think it’s a bad thing (especially for single women who desire marriage at some point in the future) to prepare for being a literal “worker at home” in the future by taking opportunities to grow in skills like cooking, cleaning, etc. Whether you are married and doing a lot of it for a large family or you remain single and live in a house, sharing these duties with roommates…these are life-skills you will be using.
Be kind: Again, this one seems pretty much the same for married and single women. Are we looking to show love and empathy to people in need? Do we respond with kind words and actions even when people around us are treating us poorly?
Be Subject to your Own Husband: I think the best parallel here is for the single women to be in submission to their leaders. Whether it is being under the authority of the pastors of the church or being a good follower of one’s ministry team leader, fellowship team leader, or leader in another context, God is calling all of us to grow in our “followership.”
As I said above, this is just a first stab at making this passage relevant to the college context. I welcome any feedback you may have!