Myth: “Titus 2:4-5 commands women to obey their husbands, to stay at home, and to love their husbands and children.”

1But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: 2That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. 3The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

4That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. – Titus 2:1-5, written to Titus

The only command in here is to Titus: “Titus, teach the older women (women elders) these qualities, so they can teach younger ones about…”

To compare: You may ask your aunt Lisa to teach your friend Jessica her great recipe for apple pie so Jessica could pass  it on to her sister who liked it , but that is not a command to Jessica’s sister to make apple pie. It is  a “command” to aunt Lisa to talk about her recipe.

Similarly, the most we could conclude from Titus 2:4-5 (on face value) is that love for husband and children, obedience, and house keeping are weapons that Paul finds useful for the arsenal of a Christian woman. It certainly does not command her to devote her whole life, or even a portion of it, to these things.

Even then, some terms are misunderstood. The word translated as obedient (“obedient to their husbands”) is not translated with obedient anywhere else in the Bible. It is hupotasso, usually translated as being subject or submitting.

As for women keeping the house, that is probably not a term for cooking and cleaning as we hear it, but for guarding the house and ruling it. The Greek suggests it, and so does a term like shopkeeper, which is similar to housekeeper .

Women (with husbands and children) should certainly love their husbands and children, but that is part of passages like “love your neighbor (those close by) as yourself”.  This passage does not directly teach it.