Titus 1.9-The Candidate for the Office of Overseer Must Meet Certain Doctrinal Qualifications to be Ordained
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday January 19, 2014
Titus: Titus 1:9-The Candidate for the Office of Overseer Must Meet Certain Doctrinal Qualifications to be Ordained
Lesson # 6
Please turn in your Bibles to Titus 1:1.
Titus 1:1 From Paul, God’s servant indeed an apostle of Jesus, who is the Christ for the purpose of producing faith in God’s chosen out ones resulting in an experiential knowledge of the truth, which is for the purpose of producing godliness 2 resulting in the confident expectation of eternal life, which the truthful God promised before eternal ages. 3 However, He has manifested His message at His own appointed time through the proclamation which I myself was entrusted with because of the decree originating from God the Father, our Savior. 4 To Titus, a legitimate spiritual child on the basis of a mutual faith: Grace resulting in peace from God the Father as well as the Christ who is Jesus, who is our Savior. 5 For this purpose, I left you behind in Crete so as to set in order that which is lacking, specifically, so as to appoint in each and every town elders as I myself commanded you. 6 If and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that any man is of a good reputation, a one-woman man, possessing faithful children, who are not accused of dissipation or rebellion, then you are to appoint them. 7 For it is, as an eternal spiritual truth, absolutely imperative the overseer as God’s steward be of a good reputation, not arrogant, not prone to anger, not an alcoholic, not violent, not greedy 8 but rather hospitable, loving what is divine good in quality and character, sound-minded, righteous, holy, self-controlled. (My translation)
Titus 1:9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. (NASB95)
“Holding fast” is the verb antechomai (ἀντέχομαι), which is used of a believer being devoted to a thing.
Therefore, it refers to the fact that the candidate for the office of overseer must over an indefinite period of time demonstrate that he “holds firmly to” or “strongly adheres to” the faithful Word before he is to assume this office.
The present tense of the verb antechomai is a customary or stative present indicating that the candidate for the office of overseer must demonstrate over an indefinite period of time that he “exists in the state of” adhering to the faithful Word before he is to assume this office.
It also can be classified as a gnomic present indicating that the candidate for the office of overseer must be characterized as firmly adhering to the faithful Word before he is to assume this office.
The gnomic present is also used for a general timeless fact or spiritual axiom indicating that the candidate for the office of overseer must “as an eternal spiritual truth” be characterized as firmly adhering to the faithful Word before he is to assume this office.
“The faithful word” is composed of the adjective pistos (πιστός), “faithful” and the noun logos (λόγος), “word.”
The noun logos means “message” referring to the communication or proclamation of the gospel.
The noun logos is modified by the adjective pistos which means “trustworthy” and is describing the message of the gospel as “worthy of trust.”
It expresses the idea that the message of the gospel is accurate and faithful presentation of God’s message to the entire human race and the facts of history.
The adjective pertains to the fact that the gospel message is worthy of trust or belief and is dependable and implies that it originates from God and is inspired by Him.
“The teaching” is the noun didache (διδαχή), which refers to the content of the apostolic teaching which originates from the Lord Jesus Christ, was inspired by the Holy Spirit and a revelation of the Father’s will and now resides in the Greek New Testament.
It was passed down to the pastors and evangelists in the church.
It refers to the apostles’ teaching concerning the person of Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross as well as His teaching, which are a set of truths or practices to be learned and obeyed by Christians which originate with Jesus Christ, and are inspired by the Spirit and a revelation of the Father’s will.
The word also refers to historical facts concerning the Person and life of the Lord Jesus Christ that are absolutely essential for unregenerate man to know in order to make a rational decision to accept Jesus Christ as Savior or not since the acceptance by faith of His Person and Work results in justification.
“So that he will be able to exhort in sound doctrine” presents the purpose for the qualification that the candidate for the office of overseer must be characterized as firmly adhering to the trustworthy gospel message which is according to the apostles’ teaching.
“To exhort” is the verb parakaleō (παρακαλέω), which means “to exhort” in the sense of authoritatively training the body of Christ through instruction in the sense of communicating the gospel message to them so as to compel obedience in every area of their lives.
This authoritative training through instruction in the gospel would include teaching, reproving, correcting and training with regards to living out in one’s life the righteousness of God (2 Timothy 3:16).
The verb has the idea of “coaching” someone.
It means “to exhort” in the sense of urging the body of Christ to accept sound doctrine by faith which results in obedience to sound doctrine which produces godly conduct and character.
This authoritative training through instruction would also involve encouraging and warning of danger.
“In sound doctrine” is composed of the preposition en (ἐν), “in” and the noun didaskalia (διδασκαλία), “doctrine.”
The noun didaskalia is used in an objective sense and means “doctrine, teaching” and is referring to the content of apostolic teaching.
This term appears often in the Pastoral letters referring to the content of Christ’s teaching and His apostles in contrast to those who taught false doctrine or doctrine that was not in accord with the Lord’s teaching and His apostles (1 Timothy 4:1, 6, 13, 16; 5:17; 6:1, 3; 2 Timothy 3:10, 16; 4:3; Titus 1:9; 2:1, 7, 10).
The noun didaskalia is the object of the preposition en which is a marker of means indicating the means by which the overseer is to exhort the church.
He is to do so by means of sound doctrine.
The verb hugiaino means “to be sound” in the sense of being free from error or falsehood and is used to describe Paul’s apostolic teaching in contrast to those who taught false doctrine.
Like didaskalia which it modifies, this word also appears often in the Pastorals to describe the soundness of the content of the Lord Jesus Christ’s teaching and His apostles in contrast to those who taught false doctrine and were occupied with myths and useless genealogies and being teachers of the Law (1 Timothy 6:3; 2 Timothy 1:13; 4:3; Titus 1:9, 13; 2:1, 2).
Here in Titus 1:9, the word is modifying the noun didaskalia, which refers to the content of Christ’s and the apostles’ teaching.
These two words appear together in 2 Timothy 4:3 and Titus 2:1 and have the same idea as in 1 Timothy 1:10 referring to accepted and authoritative apostolic teaching that is free from error or falsehood since it is inspired by the Holy Spirit and promotes spiritual growth in the body of Christ.
This is in contrast to the false doctrine taught by those who were occupied with Jewish myths and useless genealogies and sought to become teachers of the Law.
“And to refute those who contradict” expresses the idea of presenting evidence from the Scriptures so that the arguments of the opponents are proven wrong.
It is used in context with regards to the false teachers as indicated by Paul’s statements in Titus 1:10-16.
Therefore, the overseer must be able to refute those who oppose sound doctrine in the sense that they are to present evidence from the Scriptures which demonstrate that the opponents’ teaching is proven false and a lie.
Titus 1:9 He must, as an eternal spiritual truth be characterized as firmly adhering to the trustworthy message which is according to the teaching in order that he would be able to exhort by means of that which is sound doctrine as well as to refute those who oppose. (My translation)
After presenting to Titus in Titus 1:6-8, the domestic and personal qualifications, which must be demonstrated over an indefinite period of time by the candidate for the office of overseer before he is to assume this office, the apostle Paul in Titus 1:9 presents doctrinal qualifications.
The first doctrinal qualification is that the candidate is to be characterized as firmly adhering to the trustworthy message which is according to the teaching.
The second qualification stems from the first.
The candidate must be able to exhort the church by means of that which is sound doctrine.
He can only do this if he firmly adheres to the gospel, i.e. the apostolic teaching.
Lastly, the candidate must be able to refute those who oppose sound doctrine.
He can only perform this task if he firmly adheres to the apostolic teaching.
Therefore, this doctrinal qualification that Paul lists here in Titus 1:9 is last but certainly not the least important.
It makes clear that the pastor who is an elder and who holds the office of overseer must have the gift of teaching since it is through the exercise of this gift that he can fulfill the two-fold purpose presented here in this verse.
In fact, 1 Timothy 3:2 makes clear that the overseer must have the gift of teaching since only a man with this gift could fulfill the qualification in this verse of being a skillful teacher (cf. 2 Timothy 2:2).