New Warhorn Media post by Lucas Weeks:
As you were riffing on why faithful women in particular were an encouragement to faithful preaching, I thought of Titus 2. There’s a chiastic arrangement in the “household of God” code in Titus 2:1-8 that has Titus’ charge at the ends, old men and young men inside that, and old women and young women at the center. The women are both at the center and receive more instruction than the men there, with the reasoning “that the Word of God may not be blasphemed”. In the coda to the household code, slaves are addressed extensively and masters not at all, with the accompanying reasoning “that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things”.
Both women and slaves are at the bottom end the hierarchy of those mentioned in these codes, and yet their faithfulness is highlighted as both a defense of God’s Word and an adorning of it in a way emphasized there. In a sinful culture where it seems like just getting the church in battle array is most of the battle, those for whom the temptation to rebel might be the greatest may be the greatest witness in their faithfulness.
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