Homilies on Titus 4.3–4.4

By the opponent he means both the devil and everyone who serves him. For when the life shines, and the word is in accord with it, gentle, mild and kind, giving no handle to opponents, the gain is great and beyond words. So there is great need of the ministry of the word—not of any word, but of one approved and blameless, giving no pretext anywhere to those who are looking for one. “That slaves be submissive to their own masters, well pleasing in all things.” Do you see what he said beforehand: “so that the opponent,” he says, “may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us”? So whoever separates wives from husbands on the pretext of continence deserves condemnation, and so does whoever deprives masters of their slaves on this same pretext. Such teaching is not free from blame; it gives a great handle to unbelievers and opens everyone's mouth against us. “That slaves,” he says, “be submissive to their own masters, well pleasing in all things, not talking back, not pilfering, [but showing all] good [faith], so that in everything they may adorn the teaching of God our Saviour.” With good reason, then, he said elsewhere, “as serving God and not men.” For even if you serve your master with goodwill, the motive takes its start from the fear of God. So one who serves him with such fear will obtain the greatest rewards. For if a slave does not control his hand, nor his unbridled tongue, how will the Greek come to admire our doctrine? But if they see the slave practising the wisdom that is in Christ, showing greater self-control than their own philosophers, and serving with great gentleness and goodwill, they will admire the power of the preaching in every way. For the Greeks judge doctrines not from doctrines, but from deeds and life. Let wives and slaves, then, be their teachers through their own conduct. For among them too, and everywhere, it is admitted that the race of slaves is somehow reckless, hard to shape, …, not very apt for the teaching of virtue—not because of their nature, God forbid, but because of their upbringing and the neglect of their masters. For everywhere those who rule them care for nothing but their service; and if they ever take any care of their character, they do this again for their own comfort, so that the slaves may not cause them trouble by sexual immorality or theft or drunkenness. Naturally, then, being neglected and having no one to concern himself with them, they sink into the very pits of wickedness. For if, where a father is in charge, and a mother and a tutor and a nurse and a teacher and companions of the same age, and the very reputation of being free surrounds him, and much else, one would scarcely escape the company of the wicked, what do you think of those who are deprived of all these, who mix with defiled people and associate freely with whomever they wish, with no one concerned about their friendships? What do you think such people will become? That is why it is difficult for a slave to become good. Besides, they do not enjoy any teaching, either from outside or from us; they do not associate with free and orderly men who take great care of their own reputation. For all these reasons it is a difficult and wonderful thing for a servant ever to become useful. When, then, unbelievers see that the power of the preaching has put a bridle on this so self-willed race and made it the most orderly and gentle of all, even if the masters are the most unreasonable of men, they will form a high opinion of our doctrines. For it is clear that the slaves were able to beat off wickedness only after first planting in their soul the fear of the resurrection and of the judgment and of all the other things that we teach about life after death, establishing in their soul a fear to counterbalance the pleasure that comes from evil. So it is not idly or without reason that he speaks so much about them everywhere; for the more wicked they are, the more the power of the preaching is admired. For we admire a doctor when the patient was despaired of, enjoyed no help, could not control his untimely cravings but wallowed in them, and the doctor nevertheless brings him back to health and sets him right. And see what he demands of them: what above all gives the master rest. “Not talking back, not pilfering,” that is, showing great goodwill in what they are entrusted with, being good especially in what concerns their masters, yielding to their orders.

Do not think, then, that I am going through these things now without purpose; for from here on my words are addressed to household servants. Do not look, my good man, at this, that you serve a human being, but that you serve God, that you adorn the preaching; and you will endure doing anything, obeying your master and bearing with him when he is angry and vexed without reason. Consider that you are not doing him a favour but carrying out God's command, and you will bear anything easily. And what I always say, I will say now as well: when we succeed in spiritual things, the things of the present life will follow too. For such a servant, so well-disposed, so gentle, God will not only accept and give a share in those splendid crowns, but the master too who has been well served, even if he is a wild beast, even if he is a man of stone, inhuman and cruel, will praise and admire him and prefer him to all the others, and set him over the rest, even if he is a Greek. And to show that Paul bids the servant show himself such even if the masters are Greeks, I will tell you an example, if you like. Joseph was sold to the chief cook, and he was of another belief, not the Egyptian one. What, then, did his master do? Since he saw that the young man was virtuous, he did not consider the difference of belief, but himself loved and cherished and admired him, and entrusted to him the oversight of all the others, and because of Joseph knew nothing of the affairs of his house. Joseph was a second master, or rather more master than the master himself, since the one did not know his own affairs, while the other knew them better than the master. And it seems to me that afterwards too, when he believed the woman who had made that lawless false accusation against him, he stopped his anger at the prison because he still honoured the righteous man out of his former respect and esteem. For if he had not greatly respected the man and admired him for his earlier services, he would have done away with him at once and driven his sword through his body. “For full of jealousy,” it says, “is [a husband's anger] … enmity, nor will it be appeased by many gifts.” And if such is every man's jealousy, much more was that man's, since he was an Egyptian and a barbarian, and had been wronged, as he thought, by the one he had honoured. For surely you all know that wrongs done by everyone do not sting us alike; the evils done to us by those who have been well-disposed toward us, who have been trusted by us and have trusted us, and who have received many benefits from us, grieve and pain us more sharply and more bitterly than others. He did not reason with himself, nor say, “What is this? I took him as a household slave and gave him a share in everything in the house; I made him free and something greater than myself; and he has paid me back with such a return?” He said none of these things; so strongly did his former respect hold his soul. And what wonder is it if he enjoyed so much honour in the house, when you see what care he enjoys even in the prison? You know how the character of those who are entrusted with prisons is trained to cruelty: they make profit out of others' misfortunes, and those whom others feed in their sufferings these men tear apart, making gains that deserve many tears, being more cruel than wild beasts. For from the very things for which they ought to pity those who have been thrown into prison, they make their profit. And let us not reckon this alone, but also that these same men do not treat all those thrown into prison alike. Some, those who are there on false accusations, … ; others, those who are there for the most shameful and terrible crimes, … So the jailer was likely to be cruel not only by his character but also because of the charge for which Joseph had been thrown in. For whom would the young man not have roused against himself, having enjoyed so much honour and then being suspected of making attempts on his mistress and repaying his benefactor with such a return? Considering these things, then—both the honour the prisoner had received and the deed for which he had been thrown in—would not the jailer have treated the man more harshly than any wild beast? But his hope in God proved stronger than all these things; so well does virtue of soul know how to tame even wild beasts. For by the same gentleness by which he won over his master, he won over the chief jailer too; and once again Joseph was a ruler, and held power both in the prison and in the house. For since he was going to rule as king, it was fitting that he should first learn to be ruled; and while he was ruled he was a ruler, and presided over the house.