What Does Titus 2:3 Mean in the King James?
The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse’s warning against “false accusers” carries the same word English renders “devil” elsewhere, exposing slander as the work of the Slanderer.
THE MEANING
Your maturity has a visible shape here: a life fitted to what is sacred, not marked by slander, and not enslaved to much wine. It is also generative: you pass on what is good through teaching.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the idea that maturity is only the absence of obvious vice: the verse also names teaching what is good as part of its shape.
THE ROOT
διαβόλους
diabolous
GROWS FROM
διαβάλλω
diaballō
To slander or accuse falsely.
The word translated “false accusers” is διάβολος (diabolos), the same Greek word rendered “devil” elsewhere. English separates the accuser from the Slanderer, while Greek lets the shared word reveal their connection.
ALSO GROWS
diabolos: Slanderer; false accuser.
διάβολος
This is the word used in the verse, and elsewhere it names the Slanderer.
diabolē: Slander; accusation.
διαβολή
The related noun makes clear that accusation is an action carried by speech, not just a private attitude.
δεδουλωμένας
dedoulōmenas
GROWS FROM
δουλόω (douloō), from δοῦλος (doulos)
To enslave or bring under a master.
The phrase rendered “given to much wine” literally describes being enslaved to much wine. The verse names a relationship of mastery, not merely a preference or occasional excess.
ALSO GROWS
doulos: Servant; slave.
δοῦλος
The noun behind the verb gives the image of someone placed under another’s authority.
douleuō: To serve; to be enslaved.
δουλεύω
This related verb keeps the verse’s language of mastery visible: wine is depicted as something that can hold a person in service.
ἱεροπρεπεῖς
hieroprepeis
GROWS FROM
ἱεροπρεπής (hieroprepēs), from ἱερός (hieros) + πρέπω (prepō)
Fitting for what is sacred.
“as becometh holiness” in this verse is hieroprepeis. The phrase is more concrete than a general call to respectable behavior: it describes conduct that fits what is sacred. That frame gathers speech, appetite, and teaching into one life oriented toward sacred things.
ALSO GROWS
hieros: Sacred; belonging to sacred things.
ἱερός
This component gives the conduct its sacred setting.
prepō: To be fitting; to be seemly.
πρέπω
This component describes behavior as something suited to that sacred setting.
THE PATTERN
What rules a life becomes audible in speech: the tongue can spread harm or carry wisdom that builds.
She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!THE THREAD
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.Titus uses διαβόλους (diabolous, slanderers), while John calls that figure “the devil” with the related form διάβολος (diabolos, the Slanderer): the English hides their shared Greek word. John joins that word to lying speech; Titus sets against slander the teaching of what is good.
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