Directors commentary:
I finished a transcript recently for an upcoming message series that we are starting in August called ‘Attractive?’ from the the book of Titus. The title of the series comes from the the second chapter where Paul is talking about demonstrating the way we live in our faith as a way of making it attractive to those who don’t believe. Kinda cool, huh?!
When I do write there is so much research (think: borrowing | creative cut and paste) that I do that it would easy to write about 15-25 pages of material that could run into about an hours worth of speaking…which is what we are trying not to do. So what happens is when I write, I start…I go this direction…then back up…go that direction…stop…re-evaluate…go this way…stop….leave it for a couple of days….review…shampoo…rinse…repeat.
What happens is kind of like in film editing…there is stuff that is left on the floor in the editing room…what is left is the meat or the core of the teaching that needs to be communicated. I know that there are other people/pastors/teachers that have a defined method or process that they have…which is good; I have my own messed up, chaotic method which kinda works for me.
So what I want to do with the left over material is basically give the ‘bonus features’ of the message that didn’t make the final cut. Its not that this is insignificant content – its not that at all. Rather, this is material that had to be cut in order to make it under the 2500 word limit (which equals to about 25-30 minutes worth of speaking.) Whats unique about the ‘Northern Hills‘ model is that usually the message is taught in two venues and the teaching pastors have their own style, delivery and presentation that they bring to the message as well. So how its written is usually how I will say it once I am in the venue, but the other teaching guys will usually add their own ‘wit and charm’ to the message – making it uniquely their own. I love it!
Enough with the preamble get on with the it!
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Greek Culture | Hellenism
The culture that Titus lived on in Crete was a tradition that was known as Hellenism. Very Greek and very humanistic in its outlook. There were several schools of thought that made up this philosophy of life: there were the Platonists, the Aristotelians, the Stoics and the Epicureans…some of these you may have heard of and some you may know. They each had a different interpretation of the world around them.
Hellenism, as a worldview, is based on the belief that human beings are the center of it all and the ultimate source of truth and authority. Here is a quote from one of the Greek philosophers, Protagoras, of that time: “Man is a measure of all things of what is and what is not.”
This worldview provided the foundation for a culture devoted to putting humans and human accomplishments on a pedestal. Alexander the Great conquered the Mediterranean not just to build his empire, but to convert the known world over to his worldview of Hellenism – because he considered it to be superior to all others. His successors had the same agenda, as did the Romans whose empires took over the Greeks.
In this Hellenistic world, Greek language became the language of the educated. Schools were organized according to the Greek model. People would go to libraries to collect and pour over Hellenistic writings. The Greek educational system instilled Greek ideals into entire cultures. Statues of Greek gods and heroes celebrated the ultimate ideal: the human form. Everyone absorbed these man centered values.
For many people in Bible times, this type of learning and human accomplishment was very attractive. Where have I heard that term before…?! Hellenism became so widespread that it touched almost every aspect of human life: culture, art & music, architecture, medicine, etc. Since the human being was the ‘measure of all things’ – people believed that human wisdom is the greatest wisdom.
When looking at the lifestyle of people back then, accumulation of the greatest material things to provide luxury and comfort for oneself was considered the normal pursuit of ones life. Since humans are the greatest of all – to be the best, I mean better than all the rest, was life’s greatest goal. What could be more natural than to get the most out of life for yourself?
The Greeks tried to build their society on their gods. Their gods had some power, but were not so different than the people that worshipped them. After all – they were glorified human beings – gods created in their own image. If you were to take a close look – the foundation they attempted to build, which were their gods, came right from their own imagination. Their gods were not an objective basis for truth or what is right. Their value system had no basis outside of their own desires. With the many gods that any one person could have – they really worshipped themselves as ‘god creators.’ They had nothing but themselves to base society on. Do you want to know what happened to the Greeks back then? Their culture, their society completely collapsed under the weight of its own decay and moral filth.
Artemis
Artemis was, in the Greco-Roman org chart of deities, a minor but important figure. It’s important to take note of the Artemis worship – specifically for those features that apply to the role of women in society. While the culture was male-dominated, their religion was rather maternal. (All life supposedly came from the mother-earth goddess Gaea.)
Followers of Artemis believed that when it came to spiritual things, Artemis gave special blessing and insight to women, by way of the…various natural processes that the female bodies go through that we men simply don’t or will not ever go through. One thing to note to about Artemis: she was not a big fan of men – so much so that according to her legend she specifically requested Zeus to make her an eternal virgin – …didn’t want to mess with the dudes.
The major religion of Paul’s audience was one that attributed special spiritual insight to women, as well as encouraging them to treat their husbands in a way that was anything but respectful – or even cooperative.
So you have Paul and Titus on Crete…and who is the patron deity of the island? None other than Artemis. So when we look at Titus 2 and the instructions given to women – we have a passage that is similar to those found in Colossians 3 and Ephesians 5. Wives are encouraged to love their husbands and their children, be kind and to be workers at home; to be subject to their husbands and to be sensible.
In reading this, it kind of struck me that in every other passage in scripture that talks about a husband and wife relationship, the husband is told to love his wife. Here, we see the opposite? Why?
Maybe in the Cretan culture, the women needed this special encouragement because the male populations of the first century Crete were not so lovable. For most of the culture, specifically the men, they had given themselves over to all sorts of excesses and created for themselves a reputation as the scum of the earth.
Crete
During the time that Paul had written to Titus, things were not much different on the Island of Crete than anywhere else in the Greek Empire, soon to become the Greco-Roman Empire.
The people of Crete had really lost their moral compass and were just lost. Lost is a really good way to describe society in Crete back then. The law and the courts were no longer concerned with justice and righteousness. Rather than seeking justice – things were settled in terms of money. For instance, a crime as serious as rape did not incur a punishment, but a fine.
People were consumed with wealth and they used every means, legal and illegal, to get more of it. Greed or stealing – both worked the same way. Ethics and morals were no longer based on right and wrong, rather, they were defined in terms of a financial gain or loss. If it makes me a profit and brings me greater gain is of more value than what is true.
“Cretans are devoted to riches as bees are to a honeycomb.” – Plutarch
“The Cretans do everything in hope for cash” – Livy
Families were falling apart because relationships had little meaning. Adultery and infidelity is as common as breathing. Marriages were collapsing for any number of reasons – more often than not, people just accepted that marriage was an irrelevant institution and decided against marriage to being with. Children were not considered a blessing, but more of a financial liability or asset. Children were born to parents who neither loved each other nor were committed to each other. Here is the saddest thing: the law even supported a woman’s choice to destroy her unwanted child as long as she followed the rules. On Crete, mothers could choose to leave their children to die, but only if the father did not want the child. When a mother killed an infant without the father’s consent, she was charged a large fine.
In general, honesty was a rare thing and even if someone were honest – they were mocked or laughed at. At that time, military leaders and politicians used their own people for nothing more than financial profit. Greed and dishonesty were just as necessary to business men back then as Blackberry’s are to us today.
“Cretans even consider highway robbery to be an honorable profession” – Cicero
Crete’s major industry was piracy. The northern shore of Crete was a haven for pirate bands that terrorized the Mediterranean.
“The Cretans both by land and sea are irresistible in ambushes, tricks played on the enemy, night attacks, and all petty operations which require fraud” – Polybius
That was life in Crete. That was the society that Paul left Titus in. You can see why Paul wrote that, ‘Cretans are always liars, vicious brutes and lazy gluttons.’ Here is actually quoting one of their own. Paul was not alone in this view – in fact, this was a view held by most first century writers about the society and people of Crete.
Older Women
In Titus 2:3 Paul instructs Titus, the pastor of Crete: “Likewise, tell the older women to be reverent in behavior, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink; they are to teach what is good.” The Greek word that is normally translated “older women” is presbutidas, which is the feminine form of the word normally translated as “elder” when it is describing a man. They would have been older since the Jews would not consider someone to be an elder until the age of 60. Older people were looked to for their wisdom in the pagan world as well. Post-menopausal women had much more freedom in the ancient world as well. In Judaism women were considered unclean during their periods, which disqualified them from religious service during that time of the month. After menopause a women had more freedom in the religious and public spheres—she was no longer unclean, and she was considered wise because of the many years she had lived.
We see this in Anna at the temple in Luke 2—she lived at the temple and prayed everyday. She was probably also a teacher there. The older women are instructed “to teach what is good.” Teach is from didaskolos which is the word Paul uses to describe teaching the Gospel. The young women who were now part of the church had no teaching in morality or how to be wives and mothers. So Paul encouraged the ‘older women‘ to focus their teaching on helping these younger women learn how to cope with all the responsibilities of being a wife and mother in Crete. This teaching probably included how to fend off the false teachers that preyed on them and their families. Paul wanted these young women to know the truth of the Gospel, so they would know when they were being ripped-off for money, and could protect their families from these greedy hucksters.
Note: having lunch with a friend of mine some time ago, we were talking about this particular piece of scripture. The question came up – when you think of false teachers, what is the gender that is usually typecast? We both answered, male. But can the false teachers be female? Good question. Then looking around the landscape of various media stream that are offered on tv, radio, internet…one name that came up that kinda nailed it: Oprah. I won’t go into a long discussion about her, but I will give the highlights. Oprah has been kinda going off the deep end these days with her new age crap that she is pushing. Denying that Jesus is the only way to God “there has got to other ways other than Jesus…” (my paraphrase | see the video here.) I know many women who think Oprah is great and her show is helping other people. But I can’t help but the think of the influence that she has over people who under estimate the underlying message within her spiritual messages. Eighteen to twenty million viewers a day watch her show; 1 to 2 million people listen to her internet classes on ‘course on miracles.’ The path is broad that leads to destruction, its pretty too.
More about this later…
Younger Women
In Crete young, married women tended to be left on their own after marriage. A woman would leave her father’s home and move into her husband and his family’s home. There she was never quite trusted because she was brought into the family, and could still have more loyalty to her birth family. These women were separated from the women they grew up with, and thrown into houses with women who never trusted them, let alone helped them learn how to be wives and mothers. Alcoholism was rampant among young women in Crete who could not handle the pressures and stress of married life. These women were also easy victims for false religious teachers. Secret sects along with the priests of Cybele would insinuate themselves into the domestic sphere through these women, and several made a good living ripping these women off.
There is more…I will let you digest that and bring more after the message series starts. Keep checking back…
