Titus 2:5 Is Not Just A Recommendation

This article is directed toward those who believe and teach the directive given to wives/mothers in Titus 2:5 to be "keepers at home" is not an absolute requirement, but is just a recommendation. By "recommendation" I mean these preachers use Titus 2:5 to teach it is wise and best if a wife/mother can stay at home, but if she "has to," she may work a full-time job outside the home without sinning.

What needs to be pointed out is Titus 2:5 is not just a recommendation; it is a command. The phrase "keepers at home" either has something to do with wives/mothers working outside the home, or it has nothing to do with it. If it has nothing to do with wives/mothers working, then it is misusing the verse to apply it to such. If it does have something to do with wives/mothers working (and I certainly believe it does), then it is not just teaching it is wise or best for her not to work; it is teaching it is a sin for her to work a full-time job outside the home.

Situation ethics (“a wife/mother may work if the family cannot afford for her to stay home”) doesn’t work here any more than it would for a wife/mother selling herself as a prostitute because the family can’t afford for her not to (forgive the extreme parallel). Since "situation ethics" won’t work on this issue any more than on any other Bible issue, this means that even if the family has what they consider to be "financial problems," the wife/mother is forbidden by Titus 2:5 from taking that full-time job outside the home in order to help resolve those problems. Sin is sin; it causes people to be lost (Romans 6:23); and no amount of money (even during "financial troubles") is worth losing your soul over (Matthew 16:26).

So please don’t use Titus 2:5 to preach it is wise for a wife/mother to stay home, unless you are also willing to preach it is a sin (absolutely required) for her to do so. Not only is this a misuse of the passage, but leaving the "out" actually encourages the sin, because everyone always thinks their situation is the one that qualifies. Titus 2:5 is not just a recommendation; it is a command!

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