What Does Titus 2:6 Mean in the King James?
Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
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 treats a young man’s sound mind as a present capacity, not a quality postponed until age.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to a young man as capable of clear judgment and self-command now. Sober-mindedness is a soundness of mind that does not hand judgment over to every passing urge.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that youth excuses an ungoverned mind or that sound judgment belongs only to the old.
THE ROOT
σωφρονεῖν
sōphronein
GROWS FROM
σώφρων
sōphrōn
Sound-minded; formed from σῶς (sōs, sound or safe) and φρήν (phrēn, mind).
“sober minded” in this verse is sōphronein. The Greek word points to a mind made sound enough to govern itself. It names clarity and self-command, not simply abstaining from drink or suppressing desire.
ALSO GROWS
sōphrosynē: Soundness of mind; self-control.
σωφροσύνη
This noun names the settled quality behind the young men’s call to be sober-minded.
sōphronizō: Teach or train to be self-controlled.
σωφρονίζω
This related verb shows the same sound-mindedness can also be formed and taught, rather than being merely a label.
παρακαλεῖ
parakalei
GROWS FROM
καλέω
kaleō
Call, summon, or invite; παρακαλέω (parakaleō) means to urge or appeal.
“exhort” in this verse is parakalei. The exhortation is a direct appeal to the young man as someone able to respond. The word-family connects the urging with a call, not merely an abstract standard imposed from outside.
ALSO GROWS
klēsis: Calling; invitation.
κλῆσις
This related noun makes the appeal’s sense of address visible: the young man is called into clear judgment.
paraklēsis: Appeal; encouragement.
παράκλησις
This noun from the same family shows exhortation as an appeal that encourages a response.
THE PATTERN
Self-governance gives the inner life order and keeps a person from being carried by impulse.
He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.THE THREAD
But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.Titus’s “be sober minded” and Peter’s “be ye therefore sober” translate forms of σωφρονέω (sōphroneō), the sound-mindedness at the heart of this verse. Peter joins that same quality with watchfulness in prayer, showing it as a readiness for attention.
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