Sense and Sensibility

If you are looking for a Jane Austen book club, you've come to the wrong place! I am just borrowing her imagery to look at the first phrase in Titus 2:5.

Titus 2:3-5: Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be dishonored.

This is part of a larger passage in Titus 2, where Paul commands Timothy to “speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1). The focus here is not on preaching doctrine, but practical instructions for living. In verses 2-10, Paul goes on to give detailed description of fitting, or appropriate behavior for different groups within the church—older men, older women, young women, young men, and slaves.

This instruction is not a list of good ideas for those who want to go above and beyond; these are commands for us so that we will honor God’s word, be a shining testimonies to even our enemies, and make the doctrine of God our Savior appear attractive to others.

The phrase, to be sensible (in the NASB), is also translated to be discreet (KJV), and to be self-controlled (NIV, ESV). As I looked in various lexicons and commentaries, I found all these descriptions:
Of a sound mind, sane, in one’s senses, curbing one’s desires and impulses, self-controlled, temperate
Mature judgment and proper restraint
Common sense and good judgment
A well-balanced, properly regulated mind; discreet and prudent
You can see why the translators had a hard time capturing this concept in a single English word!

To get a better understanding of this concept, let’s look at other places in the Bible where this term is used.

In Titus 1:8 and 1 Timothy 3:2 this is one of the requirements for an elder.

In our context of Titus 2:1-10, this is the only quality required for everyone. In verse 2 older men are to be sensible. In verse 6 younger men are to be sensible. The term in verse 4 which is probably translated encourage or train in your Bible is a form of this same word, literally the older women are to bring the younger women to their senses, implying that the older women are to be sensible themselves. And of course we are looking at it here in verse 5, for the younger women. This quality may seem unimportant, perhaps even a little boring, to us, but it must be important to God if He requires it of everyone. We need to think of it as important as well.

Other forms of this word are used in:
Mark 5:15—After Jesus heals the man possessed with a legion of demons, it says he was in his right mind

Romans 12:3 commands us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment

In 1 Peter 4:7 we are commanded to be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. This verse highlights the spiritual implication of our concept. If we are being sensible, we will realize our dependency on God; it will drive us to our knees.

While this term encompasses the idea of self-control, it is broader than that. A totally different word is used in Galations 5:23.

By looking at the ideas of sense and sensibility from the Jane Austen novel, I think we can see a contrasting picture that will help us understand this biblical concept, and how we can apply it to our own lives. In today’s thinking and language sense and sensibility might seem like synonyms. But in Jane Austen’s day they were opposites. Austen uses these terms to capsulate the two sisters that are central in her story. Sense and sensibility summarize each one’s framework for living. If you’ve ever read the book or seen the movie I want you to picture those two sisters. One is dominated by sense. She seeks to make wise decisions, even when it means restraining her own emotions and desires. It’s not that she doesn’t feel strongly, but she exercises self-control. The other sister is dominated by sensibility—she is totally consumed by what she senses and feels. In modern language, we might describe her as excessively emotional and sensitive. Not only does she not curb her emotions and desires, she eagerly feeds them.

Over the next few posts, I want to look at several areas of life, and paint two pictures--actually, they will merely be preliminary sketches—one of sense, which for our purposes we will embody our biblical concept, and the other of sensibility. As we look at these different areas, look for ways you can put this into practice in your own life.