“Keepers of the Home”
I do not envy the position in which our
world has placed women in this generation! The mother who chooses
to stay at home and raise her children is mocked and ridiculed as one with
no ambition or talent. Yet the mother who may be forced to work outside
the home is silently scorned as selfish and negligent of her children.
Both conclusions are unfair generalizations which may or may not be true.
The Christian wife and mother must wrestle with many
difficult choices in our age. They must be obedient to the Word of
God. They must nurture, love and mold their children. They
must use their abilities unto the glory of God. And they must be
prepared to answer the challenges of an ungodly world critical of their
choices. What matters in the long run is not what the world thinks
about our choices but what the Lord thinks.
Key Passage - Titus 2:5
The Holy Spirit through the
pen of the Apostle Paul gave instruction to the preacher Titus to teach
the older women to admonish the younger women—“to be discreet, chaste,
HOMEMAKERS, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God
may not be blasphemed.” (Titus 2:5 NKJV emphasis mine) This,
perhaps more than any other passage in Scripture addresses the issue.
If we can understand what the Lord is commanding in this verse we can go
a long way towards understanding what the Lord asks of wives and mothers
with respect to the home.
The New Testament was originally written in
Greek. Before the age of the printing press all copies of written
material had to be copied by hand. Of the more than 4000 handwritten
manuscripts of the Greek New Testament which have survived there are minor
differences when it comes to spelling or words of similar meaning.
What a translator must decide is which manuscripts to look to for their
translation.
“Keepers at Home”
Of the handwritten copies which contain Titus
2:5 the majority of the manuscripts have the word oikourous meaning—“Watching or keeping the house. II. Staying at home,
domestic the mistress of the house” (Liddell & Scott, Abridged
17th ed. pg. 478). The King James and New King James versions look
to this word in their translations—“keepers at home” (KJV). Going
on the King James alone might lead one to draw the conclusion that the
point is for the woman to “keep” or “stay” at home. However the emphasis
seems to be on the woman’s responsibility to the home. Vincent claims—“The meaning is not stayers at home, but keepers or guardians of the
household” (Vol. IV, p. 342). This word is a compound of oikos
“house” and ouros“a watcher”.
Scholars tell us that this was a common word in the
ancient world. Liddell & Scott claim it carried with it the idea
of one acting as watch-dog (8th ed. p. 1032). In Athens 400 years
before Christ there stood a pagan temple called the Erectheum which housed
the figure of a snake. The snake symbolized security and protection
of the city of Athens. The playwright Aristophanes calls this “the
GUARDIAN (oikouros) Serpent” (Lysistrata 759, p. 212,
252). Four hundred years after Christ a preacher named Chrysostom
used the word to describe a wife’s proper conduct. He writes—“The woman who is KEEPER OF THE HOUSE (oikouros) will be of sound
mind; the KEEPER OF THE HOUSE (oikouros) practices management
of the house; she is not about luxury, nor unnecessary goings-out,
nor will she be occupied with such things of others” (taken from Alford,
Vol. III, p. 416).
Kyle Pope
The Erectheum in Athens
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“Workers at Home”
Instead of the idea of the wife as “keeper of the
house” some manuscripts use the word oikourgous meaning—“working at home” (BAG, p. 561). The American Standard and New American
Standard look to this word—“workers at home” (ASV, NASB).
It also is a compound of oikos “house” but with the word ergon “work” added to it rather than “watcher”.
Scholars tell us this word was less common
in ancient usage. The only example of oikourgous being used
outside of Scripture is that which is found in the medical writings of
a Second Century doctor named Soranus of Ephesus. Concerning one
having female illnesses he writes—“Conduct life as a house-worker (oikourgos)
even sitting-still” (taken from Nicoll, Vol. IV, p. 192). The
verb form of this word is found in the writings of the Second Century Christian
Clement of Rome. In a probable reference to Paul’s teachings in Titus
2:5 he writes—“Ye taught them to keep in the rule of obedience,
and to manage the affairs (oikourgein) of their household in seemliness,
with all discretion” (The Apostolic Fathers, Lightfoot, Vol. II,
p. 272).
Ancient Translations
The only other clues we have regarding the meaning
of what it is that the Lord is teaching us here come from ancient translations.
When translators in the first few centuries after Christ tried to convey
the idea into Latin the translator of the Vulgate (400 AD.) used three
words - domus curam habentes(“having a care of the house” - Rheims-Douay
Version, from the Vulgate). Another early translation was one done
in Syriac (Aramaic). The Syriac version called the Peshitta (400’s
AD) connects this thought with the next word in the text—“ discreet,
chaste, good homemakers, obedient to their own husbands” (Lamsa
Version from the Peshitta).
What Can We Know With Certainty?
Several points
can be ascertained from this information
which can help us define what the Lord is teaching here:
1. Women are given the responsibility to manage and watch over
affairs of the household.
2. This management is to be conducted in subjection and obedience
to the husband.—“The husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ
is the head of the church” (Ephesians 5:23) “Obedient to their own
husbands” (Titus 2:5).
3. This is a serious responsibility. They are the “watch-dogs”
of the family, the “guardians” of the children.
4. This job demands industry, activity and hard work.
They are “workers at home”.
5. Whatever demands may be placed upon her by her circumstances
she must not surrender her responsibility as “keeper of the house”.
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