Titus 1:6 and Children
Polycarp66 at aol.com
Polycarp66 at aol.com
Tue Jan 15 21:28:49 EST 2002
In a message dated 1/15/2002 2:46:02 AM Eastern Standard Time,
iver_larsen at sil.org writes:
> >
> > In Titus 1:6 are found some of the qualifications for being an elder. It
> > says:
> >
> > EI TIS ESTIN ANEGKLHTOS MIAS GUNAIKOS ANHR TEKNA ECWN PISTA MH EN
> > KATHGORIA ASWTIAS H ANUPOTAKTA.
> >
> > The phrase TEKNA ECWN PISTA has been translated to mean "children that
> are
> > believers". Since PISTA is the adjective PISTOS could the
> > translation mean "children that are trustworthy"?
>
> Dear Doug,
>
> I understand you to imply that "believers" is a somewhat misleading
> translation in this context, and I think you are right. If one thinks of
> belief as a personal, inner conviction, then the parents cannot control the
> convictions of their children, although they can do much to lead them
> towards faith, mainly by their example, less by their preaching. What Paul
> is looking for is probably the fact that you can learn a lot about parents
> by looking at the behaviour of their children.
>
>
One does not need to consider the "children" as being literally the flesh and
blood decendents of the parent. The term "father" and "child" were used of
the relationship between a teacher and his disciples. This may be the case
here. Frederick Weidmann ( _Polycarp and John_, Notre Dame, IN: University
of Notre Dame Press, 1999), pp 84-92, makes precisely this point noting 1
Tim. 1.2 and Tit. 1.4 in this regard. The requirement then becomes: What
about his pupils?
gfsomsel
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