经文研读
Titus 1:9 — Holding to the Faithful Word
Titus 1:9 requires an elder to cling to the trustworthy message as it was taught, equipping him to encourage with sound doctrine and to refute opponents.
经文
- 9.堅 守 所 教 真 實 的 道 理 ， 就 能 將 純 正 的 教 訓 勸 化 人 ， 又 能 把 爭 辯 的 人 駁 倒 了 。holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict the gainsayers.
这段经文的意思
The verse sets a doctrinal standard for the overseer: he must cling to the 'faithful word' in agreement with 'the teaching.' The pairing shows that what is to be held is not private opinion but the apostolic instruction itself, received as reliable and transmitted intact.
From that grip on sound doctrine flows a twofold ministry. First, the elder is able to 'exhort in the sound doctrine' — positively building up believers within the truth. Second, he is able to 'convict the gainsayers' — negatively silencing opposition by reasoned rebuttal drawn from that same truth.
The verse treats orthodoxy and orthopraxy as linked: only someone whose convictions are anchored in the delivered teaching can both encourage the faithful and refute those who contradict it. Holding the word is therefore the foundation, not a separate virtue.
背景
Titus 1:5–9 forms a single unit: Paul left Titus in Crete to appoint elders in every city, and verses 6–9 list the qualifications. After character qualities (blameless, temperate, hospitable — vv. 6–8), verse 9 adds the doctrinal requirement, so the elder's life and his grasp of the truth are tied together.
Verses 10–16 then explain why the doctrinal grip is urgent: 'there are many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers' (v. 10) who must be 'stopped' (v. 11). The Cretan self-assessment quoted in v. 12 ('Cretans are always liars...') is endorsed as 'true' (v. 13), and the response is to 'reprove them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith' (v. 13). Verse 9's call to exhort and convict is therefore not abstract — it is the elder's frontline task against this opposition.
常见问题
What does 'faithful word which is according to the teaching' mean?
It points to the apostolic teaching itself, received as trustworthy and held in the form it was delivered. The elder is not to adapt it to taste but to keep it as it was given.
Why does Titus 1:9 pair exhorting with convicting?
Because the elder has two fronts: building up believers within sound doctrine and refuting those who oppose it. Both flow from the same firm grasp of the faithful word.
How does the rest of Titus 1 show why this matters?
Verses 10–16 describe unruly deceivers, especially 'of the circumcision,' who teach what they should not for gain (vv. 10–11, 14). The elder's duty to 'convict the gainsayers' in v. 9 is precisely the corrective Paul then expands in vv. 12–16.