"The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."
Titus 2v3-5
My husband and I are currently considering what exactly the outworking of these verses is. In particular, what is meant by "keepers at home"? The Greek word is οἰκουρούς. I know that οἰκος means home/house and my Greek-English interlinear new testament translates the word literally as "house workers". I have had a brief search on the internet but presumably it is not a word used in modern Greek as everything I found relating to this word was about Titus 2.
The reason we are particularly considering the outworking of these verses is so that we know how we should be raising our daughter in terms of her expectations of her life as an adult.
(I grew up in a non-Christian family and I was expected to leave home and support myself once I had finished my education. After I left home I worked for two years before training as a teacher. I got married just after my teacher training and we intended that I would work as a teacher until we had children. However in God's providence I was unable to gain a post and although I registered as a supply teacher I only got a few days work in the first year we were married and then I became pregnant and was too ill to work. Looking back I can see lots of reasons why it was better that I was not out at work all day and I am glad that things worked out the way they did. However even within the church the expectation seems to be that the wife would work (by which I mean being in paid employment outside the home) until they have children. I can remember getting really fed up that every Sunday I would be asked, "Have you got a job yet Susan?" as if the most significant part of my life was finding a job.)
So the questions we are considering are:
Does this list apply to all young women?
I would say yes but because it talks about loving their husbands and children it could be argued that it is referring to married women with children. However surely it is important to be taught about these things (e.g. that we should love our husbands and what is meant by this) before we are married rather than after? (Like if you were going to paint a room, you wouldn't just set forth and paint it - you would find out how to do it either by asking experienced painters or by reading a book by someone who knows about it.)
What does "keeper at home" or "house worker" mean?
In our discussions so far we have concluded that being a "keeper at home" or "house worker" means that the woman has the home as her priority. In order for this to be the case she would therefore have to be at home for a significant proportion of her time. Based on Proverbs 31 there is nothing wrong with a woman spending time on things which bring in money but this passage implies that such occupation should not take up too much of her time or take her outside of the home too much as this would prevent her from making the home her priority. Also we concluded that she is to be busy. She is "keeping" the home or a house worker. This means that she will be working hard at the aspects of running a household (such as cooking, cleaning, looking after children etc.) - not spending her days at leisure. Although it is possible to run the household with minimal work (and indeed many people who work outside of the home do) the implication is presumably that it is important enough that a significant amount of time should be spent doing it (and of course one can make a much better job of it if one spends more time). (At this point I want to emphasise that I am not attacking anyone who does work fulltime outside of the home but am looking at this in terms of how we should raise our daughter.)
What are the implications of these verses?
If the verses apply to all women, then presumably we should raise our daughter to expect to stay at home until she is married and we should be teaching her how to "keep" a home. It would be reasonable to raise her to expect to do things which would contribute to the household income (whether that is our household while she is unmarried or her husband's household if she marries) but not to expect a "career".
I would appreciate comments which might help in our understanding of these verses and also if anyone knows of any books or websites which go into this in detail that would be helpful too.
