Titus 1:8–9—The Bishop’s Virtues and Teaching

Tit. 1:8. But hospitable, a lover of good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled.

“Do you see what a high degree of virtue he requires?” (holy Chrysostom). — “Up to this point the Apostle’s words commanded what a bishop or presbyter must not have; now, on the contrary, what he must have is set forth” (blessed Jerome).

“Hospitable.” “Not merely refraining from profiting at the expense of others, but even spending his own resources on strangers” (blessed Theophylact). “Before all else, hospitality is sought in one who is to be a bishop. For if all desire to hear that word foretold in the Gospel—‘I was a stranger and you took me in’ (Mt. 25:35)—how much more the bishop, whose house must be a common hostel for all strangers? A layman, having received one, or two, or a few—not many—into his home and given them rest, will have fulfilled the duty of hospitality. But a bishop, if he does not receive everyone, is without compassion. And I fear lest—just as the queen of the south, who came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, will condemn the people of the time of the first coming of Christ, and the men of Nineveh, who repented at the preaching of Jonah, will condemn those who out of arrogance and indifference refused to hear the One greater than Jonah, the Saviour—so too many people who have withdrawn from the clerical order but zealously perform deeds which the bishop does not consider his own concern, may not condemn those bishops. Of such people I think John also writes to Gaius: ‘Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, who have borne witness of your love before the Church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well’ (3 Jn. 1:5–6). And truly, speaking by the Holy Spirit then dwelling in him, he even at that time reproved what was to come to pass in the Church afterward, saying: ‘I wrote to the Church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the Church’ (3 Jn. 1:9–10). Truly, one can see this prophecy fulfilled today—in many cities where it happens that bishops or presbyters, seeing laypeople who are hospitable and lovers of good, look upon this with disfavor, as though a layman may not do what the bishop himself does not do. And such laypeople will stand as a condemnation of those in holy orders” (blessed Jerome). Holy Paul everywhere commands hospitality to entire Churches; for this purpose common hostels were established, whose care lay with the bishop. But that he might fulfill this more faithfully and willingly, it was necessary before his election to ascertain whether he had the disposition for it.

“A lover of good.” “So the Apostle names one who is meek (quiet, disturbing no one), measured in all things, and free from envy” (blessed Theophylact). Or “one who distributes all his possessions to those in need” (holy Chrysostom). This requires that he be a zealot for every kind of good work, and above all a benefactor. He bears the care of the poor and the sick, of widows and orphans. The flock supplies what is needed for this; but the bishop or presbyter must have his heart set on works of this kind.

“Sober-minded”—pure from bodily sins, which are possible even within married life, or making sober and seasonable use of the marriage bed, or even abstaining from it altogether, as was later enjoined upon bishops by the Councils. Blessed Jerome writes: “The bishop must also be sober-minded, σωφρονα — as the Greeks say. If even laymen are commanded to abstain from their wives for the sake of prayer, what is to be said of a bishop, who must every day offer to God unblemished sacrifices for his own sins and those of his people? Let us open the book of Kings and find that the priest Ahimelech did not give David and his young men of the showbread until he had asked whether the young men were clean from women—not from another man’s wife, but from their own (1 Sam. 21). And had he not heard that they had had no dealings with a wife the day before yesterday and yesterday, he certainly would not have given them those loaves. But between the showbread and the Body of Christ there is as much distance and difference as between a shadow and a body, between an image and the truth, or between a type of what is to come and what the type prefigures. Therefore, as meekness, patience, sobriety, moderation, freedom from acquisitiveness, hospitality, and love of good must be present in the bishop in a surpassing degree, so too the purity or chastity of the priest must be such that not only is he to abstain from bodily intercourse, but that one who is to celebrate the sacrament of the Body of Christ must have his mind clean of thoughts about a woman and his eye clean of gazing upon her.”

“Just”—that is, “impartial in relation to people” (blessed Theophylact). It is required that he himself wrong no one in his own conduct and that, when it falls to him to adjudicate matters among those in his care, he observe the law of justice without reproach. Blessed Jerome writes: “The bishop must also be just, so that, standing before the people, he maintains righteousness, rendering to each what he has merited, and showing no partiality in judgment. The difference between the righteousness of a layman and that of a bishop is this: a layman may manifest righteousness in a smaller circle, while a bishop must maintain justice in relation to as many persons as he has under his pastoral care.”

“Holy”—that is, “one who stands in reverence before all that is divine, who omits nothing that is obligatory in relation to God” (blessed Theophylact). It befits a bishop to be holy, that is, adorned with every spiritual and bodily virtue. But holiness in the highest sense is when “it is joined with piety and hallowed by reverence toward God and by the dedication of all things to Him” (blessed Jerome).

“Self-controlled.” “Here the Apostle has in mind not merely one who fasts, but one who restrains himself from every passion manifested by the tongue, the hand, or an immodest gaze; for in this self-control consists—in not giving oneself over to any passion” (holy Chrysostom). “The bishop must be self-controlled not only from bodily lust and from embracing a wife, but from all the passions of the soul: not flaring up in anger, not falling into despondency, not being struck by fear, and not being carried away by immoderate joy. Self-control is placed by the Apostle among the fruits of the Holy Spirit. If thus self-control is required of all, how much more of the bishop, who must bear patiently and gently the weaknesses of the weak and the sins of sinners, comfort the faint-hearted, support the frail, render evil for evil to no one, but overcome evil with good” (blessed Jerome).

“What has been said up to this point about the virtues of the bishop pertains to his way of life; what follows pertains to his knowledge” (blessed Jerome).

c) What must a bishop be in respect of his teaching?

Tit. 1:9. Holding fast the faithful word according to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.

“Holding fast,” αντεχομενον — which denotes one who is devoted to the word, one who “is solicitous and careful about it, making it his chief concern” (holy Chrysostom, blessed Theophylact). It is not enough to know and to hold the word of truth; one must prize it as life itself, with a desire that it be honored by all, and with a readiness to defend its honor even to the laying down of one’s life.

“The faithful word.” — By the word is denoted the whole of Christian teaching, which is the word heard by Christ the Saviour from the Father and brought to earth (Jn. 8:26, 14:24), and spread over its face by the Apostles in the power of the Holy Spirit (Mt. 28:19; Jn. 14:26, 16:13). This word is faithful, as having gone forth from God, who is true and faithful in all His words. It is faithful both in what it ordains and in what it promises. God Himself confirmed this faithfulness when He granted by actual deed what the word of the Gospel had promised—first received by faith alone. So “faithful” means true (holy Chrysostom), the very word that went forth from God, exactly as it is, without addition, subtraction, or alteration. But how is one to know that it is such in the man who is being chosen as bishop?

When he holds fast to the word—not to one he invented himself, but to the one he received through instruction, κατα διδαχην. The Saviour says that He was taught by the Father. The Apostles were taught by the Lord the Saviour; all the faithful were taught by the Apostles. This instruction constituted, at the beginning, the norm of Christian knowledge and the witness to its faithfulness. Whoever held fast to this instruction held fast to the “faithful word.” And this is precisely what the Apostle lays down as a law for the bishop: do not give yourself over to speculations; keep what you received; and as you received it, so teach it. “The faithful word,” says holy Chrysostom, “is that which is handed on through faith, having no need of reasonings or investigations.” “Not intellectual proofs are needed, but faithful transmission of teaching” (Oecumenius). And that it may be such, one must hold it in the heart as such, not mixing it with one’s own speculations. “And only such a word will be rightly called good, as the very word of Paul” (blessed Theophylact). “As the word of God is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, so let the bishop show himself to be such, that all he says may be counted worthy of belief and his words may be a rule of truth” (blessed Jerome). And it will be so; let him only not philosophize beyond measure, but transmit as he received and was taught. “What does it matter if he be unskilled in external wisdom? It is not pomposity of speech that is needed, but sound judgments and force of thought” (holy Chrysostom).

“That he may be able.” That is, if he holds fast to the “faithful word according to the teaching,” then he will be able; the first is the condition of the last. Whoever introduces into this word—faithful according to the teaching—something from elsewhere, weakens it, renders it powerless, and himself appears powerless. The power of the bishop’s word lies in its faithfulness to the word according to the teaching. Insist: thus God has taught and commanded it to be held; and your word will be victorious. If you begin to philosophize, you will provoke counter-philosophizing; and from that come only disputes and irritation, and every kind of loss for the knowledge of truth.

“And to exhort with sound doctrine.” Sound doctrine “is that which teaches both true dogmas and right life” (Oecumenius)—the same as the faithful word, which came, was received, and is held by all according to instruction—without any foreign admixture that weakens it and renders it feeble and ineffectual; just as wine diluted with water and corrupted by admixtures is weak, ineffectual, and even harmful. — “Exhort,” παρακαλειν — to implore, to prevail upon, to persuade. The Apostle urges that the bishop must be able to deliver the faithful word to the faithful and to hold these latter in faith to it, calming their thoughts each time they are stirred up by the influx of foreign notions and speculations, through persuasion and argument that the faithful word is only what he hands on—faithful, because it was so handed on and received.

“And to refute those who contradict.” “He must be able not only to protect his own, but also to repel enemies. For if this is lacking, everything may fall into disorder. Whoever does not know how to fight enemies, ‘to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ’ and to cast down speculations (2 Cor. 10:5), let him be far from the teacher’s throne” (holy Chrysostom). “If these adversaries are not refuted and overcome, they can easily corrupt the hearts of the simpler ones” (blessed Jerome).

The Apostle placed teaching at the end in his enumeration of what a bishop must be adorned with—because in a bishop, teaching crowns all other qualities, constituting his distinguishing mark. “The other qualities can be found in subordinates as well—such as blamelessness, raising children in obedience, hospitality, justice, godliness; but what especially distinguishes the bishop and presbyter is that he instructs the people in teaching, about which nothing at all is done nowadays” (holy Chrysostom). “If a bishop’s life alone is holy, then by so living he benefits only himself; but if he is also capable of teaching, then he builds up both himself and others. This passage is directed against those who give themselves over to idleness, laziness, and sleep in the matter of teaching, paying no attention to the fact that the Apostle, after enumerating the qualities of life worthy of a bishop, made a special—imperative—mention, that he must also be capable of teaching” (blessed Jerome). “He who is able neither to fight enemies and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, nor to teach his own, persuade them, and strengthen them, is a false bishop. What most characterizes a bishop is to teach” (blessed Theophylact).