After laying out teachings for different groups of people (2.1-8), Paul continues to teach on character and conduct and now turns his attention to the workplace.
Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
Titus 2.9-10
Paul calls Titus to teach that those in the employ of others are to be submissive to their own masters. We must remember that this was written at a time when the world looked very different to how it does now, and we must avoid the mistake of retrospectively imposing twenty-first century morals onto the first century world. All that to say, many people at the time and in the place this was written were employed as bondservants, and Christianity was a driving force and factor in moving away from this being the cultural and societal norm.
Part of that came in the fact that Christian communities did not differentiate or segregate based on social status, and so I read, a bondservant could well have been an elder of a church community over their own master. What a wonderful way to break down long-held societal hierachies; living out the truth that all are created in the image of God (Genesis 1.27), and therefore all are equally valuable, dignified, and full of worth.
Paul calls for believers to be model employees, if we are using modern terms, well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith. Simply, be the model employee you would want to hire!
The reason behind this exhortation follows; so that in everything [you] may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
G.Campbell Morgan wrote that,
“The value of a theory is always supremely apparent in the results it produces.”
Simply then, the faith we claim to have and the doctrine we claim to be basing our lives on will be evident in the actions it produces in our lives. At work then, work hard and humbly submit to those you report to, working as if for Christ Himself, and be the employee you would want to hire!
James Travis 