Titus 1

1-4 5-9 10-16

1-4

Titus was a disciple of Paul not meaning that he thought of Paul as more than a man, but learned under Paul, and was probably brought to Christ by Paul. Titus was a Gentile, Galatians 2:3 “But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.” and traveled with Paul to Crete and was left in Crete, which is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, to continue the work that Paul had started while Paul left for Macedonia to continue his work as the Apostle to the Gentiles. In much like how 1 Timothy was written to Timothy, who was himself left at Ephesus by Paul, Titus is a letter to encourage, warn, and instruct, not only Titus but the Cretans of how to lead and who is to lead the Church. This letter was written between Paul’s first and second Roman imprisonment around 62-64 A.D. Titus is mentioned by name thirteen times in the New Testament in Titus, Galatians, 2 Timothy, and nine times in 2 Corinthians. That Titus does not contain as much doctrinal teaching as some of the other works by Paul says a lot that Paul’s concerns with Titus and the Cretans were not lack of doctrinal knowledge but that almost as soon as Paul left Titus on Crete there were wolves encroaching in with false doctrines, myths, and falsehoods.

1

Verses 1 to 3 are a rapid fire list of identity, qualifications, reasonings, our hope, some of the attributes of God, and our mission in this life. First Paul identifies himself, not only as the writer of this letter but also as a servant of God, the Greek words, doulos theos, with literally means slave of God. As all who are saved and redeemed by the blood of Jesus are, bought at a exceptionally high price of the life of the Son of God, bought and paid for and now we are no longer slaves to sin but happy willing slaves to the Most High God. Then Paul qualify’s himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ, a messenger of Christ, as Paul was miraculously converted and called by Christ himself and charged to be an Apostle, a messenger, to the Gentiles. Next a reason why, for the sake of the elect, Paul, like us, do not know who the elect are but he carries out his mission for their sake, whomever they are. He preaches and teaches the Gospel, the good news to everyone in hopes that some that hear are of the elect, one of the chosen saints of God. So that they will have knowledge of the true gospel of Christ Jesus in godliness.

2

Next our hope, which does not mean a wish, or longing for something that is uncertain, our hope of eternal life is a hope in something sure and guaranteed but has not come to pass yet. And our hope is guaranteed because it is promised to us by God, Paul then give some of the attributes of God and to hammer home how secure our hope is. God who can never lie or be false, can never contradict himself or not follow through on his covenants and promises is the one who has given us this promise. Also God can promise us eternal life because God is eternal and creator of all things, including time, also also this promise was made in eternity past, before the ages began and creation was called into existence by the power of his word.

3

Paul then tells of God’s omniscience and sovereignty and grace, in that at the proper time, when God saw and deemed it the correct moment in time, sent his Son, the second member of the Trinity, Jesus, to be the salvation and redemption of all of the elect, past, present, and future. This is the good news, this is the word of God. This is what is to be preached and is the knowledge of truth from verse one. This is Paul’s mission that he was entrusted with by command from Jesus himself, who is God our Lord and Savior. But this is not just only Paul’s mission, it is our mission as well while we are here on the Earth, spread the Gospel to all nations, tribes, and tongues.

4

This letter is to Titus, and Paul calls him his true child in a common faith. That Paul call Titus his child leads to the belief that Titus came to the faith from the preaching and teachings of Paul and now they hold the same faith, not that there is multiple different faiths to be had, there is just the one faith that all true followers of Christ share. Paul then ends the greetings with “Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.” I like to think that the Holy Spirit is in that too, after all, all of the scriptures were written through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in each of the authors.

5-9

5

Paul says that this is the reason that he left Titus in Crete, so that he would order the church that Paul and Titus started there and appoint elders in each town/church. Paul does not write this just to remind Titus why he is there, I do not think there is any doubt that Paul personally instructed Titus before he left, this is said/written so that the people of Crete would see in Paul’s own hand that Titus was there to continue the work that Paul started. Titus like Timothy was fairly young and Paul either new when he left or learned shortly after that there was opposition to Titus and the true gospel in general. Paul says set in order, correct what was wrong, including doctrine and the church leaders, as we will see more of what Paul means in the next section. But also Titus is to appoint elders in each town that has had a church started in it.

6

From verse 6 to 9 Paul gives the qualifications for the office of elder/bishop/overseer as he did in 1 Timothy 3:2–7 “Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.” Most of those qualification are mirrored here in Titus as well.

Above reproach, an elder must, must be very careful not to put himself into any situation that another person would be able to bring a charge against them. I think we talked at some length about this when we were studying 1 Timothy. Example, last night I went out to dinner with some work colleagues that were in town from Germany, what if while I was eating dinner someone was there who knew me as an elder of this church and I was drinking along with my other co-workers. That person that saw me there would have no way of knowing that I was having one drink or if that was my fifth and I was drunk. Even if I was only having one drink with co-workers I would be placing myself into a situation that may give cause for someone to bring a charge against me. An elder has to live his life always cognizant of this as not to bring doubt or shame to himself, his church, and God.

The husband of one wife. This means a one woman man, if he is married there cannot be any infidelity, if he is single then remain celibate until he is married in accordance with the scriptures. Is a man automatically excluded from office if before he was saved he has been through a divorce or was living in sin, no, but each situation is unique and would require careful though and prayer.

His wife and children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination, this command differs slightly from what is in 1 Timothy. In 1 Timothy Paul phrases it as “with all dignity keeping his children submissive” In the MacArthur Bible Commentary at the beginning of each book as part of the introduction there is a section titled “Interpretive Challenges” that list some of the content of the book that may require some deep thought and consideration. There are only two listed for Titus, this difference in describing the children of an elder from 1 Timothy and what is the blessed hope of 2:13. The Greek word used in 1 Timothy is hypotage, this word is used 4 times in the New Testament and is always translated as some form of submissive, as in submission, submissiveness. The Greek word in Titus is pistos, and is always used to describe or speak of believers and is translated as faithful, believers, trustworthy, or sure. Does this mean that a man cannot be an elder if his children are not saved? Not necessarily, but the wife and children of an elder are just as much a reflection of the elder as the elder is of the church he leads. The elder must be able to lead and teach his own family as an example of his ability to lead the church. No man has the power to save himself, let alone anyone else, including his own children, but he must lead his family correctly and well and this will be reflected in the conduct of his children. His children not being open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination would apply to the older children of the elder, they should be taught well and not be living wild and not listening to sound counsel and reason.

7-8

An overseer or elder is an elected steward of God’s church at the local level and again must be above reproach so Verse 7 list more of the no’s and not’s of the elder while verse 8 speak of the yes’s and do’s. Not be arrogant or quick-tempered, but be hospitable and a lover of good. Not be a drunkard, violent, or greedy for gain, but be self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined, as the church is called to be holy, its leaders even more so.

9

An elder must above all hold firm to the word of God as taught through the scriptures, know and be able to give instruction to those who do not know and also rebuke those who would try and contradict it and spread a false gospel.

10-16

10

In Crete there were many disciples of Satan that were attempting to undermine and destroy the church. Paul calls out the circumcision party by name, these were also known as the Judaizers, they are also mentioned in Acts, Acts 11:2–3 “So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”” These were Jews that said that everyone must still follow the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants, especially circumcision, in order to be saved.

11

Paul does not mince words, he says that they must be silenced. They are teaching false and incorrect doctrine and are upsetting entire families and they are spreading these falsehoods for money, for shameful gain.

12

A poet of Crete, probably Epimenides of Knossos, wrote that the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. Paul uses this quote to describe the false teachers of Crete’s character. Even today calling someone a Cretan is slang for calling someone stupid, vulgar, or insensitive.

13-14

Paul says that this testimony of one of Crete’s own poets is true when describing all of the Cretan opposers of the gospel. He instructs Titus to rebuke them sharply, do not be accepting of anything that they say and give them no place to speak so that the people of the church will be taught correctly and have a good and true knowledge of the faith and not be led astray by those that spread the Jewish myths of the Judaizers or any of the others that do not teach the truth of the Holy Scriptures.

15

To the pure, the redeemed saved saints covered by the blood of Christ, all things are pure through the Holy Spirit in us. But the defiled and unbelieving, to the unsaved and unrepentant, nothing is pure because the heart of man is wicked and vile at its core, both the mind and the conscience of the unbelievers are defiled, rotten and spiritually dead.

16

The false teachers profess to know the truth and know God but they do not teach what is in the bible and deny him with their words and deeds. Paul give a sharp and straight forward assessment of them, they are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work. This is what Titus is facing in his continuation of what he and Paul started in Crete, this is also very similar to what Timothy was facing in Ephesus, and unfortunately the situation has not gotten any better for us in this day and age either. But God is sovereign and in control and will always have a faithful remnant preaching and teaching the true and faithful word of God until the end when Christ returns to gather up his Church.