Titus

Background:

The island of Crete, located off the coast of Greece, was an important harbor location that served all over the Mediterranean. Therefore, Paul believed it was the perfect location to start a network of churches.

While this island was great for spreading the gospel network wise, the culture was horrific. These people were known liars, mercenaries, and the place was full of greed, sexual immorality, treachery, and violence. The nickname given to these people(kretizo) is where we get the word Cretan.

Within the churches the culture had invaded them rather than them making an impact on the culture. The men were lazy gluttons, the women were harlots, and the Christian slaves were fighting against their master authority. Church leaders lived the same ways as these and not only that, but the church had been infiltrated by “the Circumcision” a group of ethnic Jews that believed for you to be truly saved you had to follow Jewish laws.

So Paul is sending a trusted co-worker, Titus to the church in Crete to go and help handle the church by appointing trustworthy leaders and informing the people that as Christians we are called to not war against our culture, but also not to assimilate to it, but to walk through our culture wisely so that Jesus’ name might be glorified in our reputation.

This letter was written around A.D. 62-A.D. 64.

Titus 1

Introduction

V.1-4

V.1-3 Paul starts by introducing himself, stating his audience, states his faith, and his mission.

V.1 One of the ways Paul describes himself, “bond-servant”, which indicates a kind of indentured servitude where Paul is fully committed servant to his master, God.

“Apostle” was an office given to few in the early church and Paul was one of the selected few. This office typically came with higher authorities in the church, generally had greater understanding of the scriptures and Christ’s words, and saw the risen Savior.

“Which is according to godliness” Another stick at the church of Crete for by phrasing that those in the faith live in accordance with godliness, which was contrary to what was happening at that time.

V.2 “in the hope of eternal life” Paul believed in a faith that lead to eternal life

Paul writes this profound statement about God’s nature of truthfulness(“God, who cannot lie”). In Crete they started taking Christ and attributing Him to be equal with Zeus, a Greek god who often deceived to get his way.

“promised long ago” This hints back to the promises given to the Hebrew throughout thousands of years, probably to help make more of a distinction between Zeus and Yahweh.

V.3 “At the proper time manifested, even His word” God’s timing in revealing His Son and His perfect plan was at the perfect time. Many of the qualities of the world at that time led to this being the conclusion with several different advancements and other factors.

“Entrusted” Paul after his conversion(Acts 9:1-19) was entrusted with going to the gentiles with the gospel(Acts 22:21)

V.4 Titus was a beloved co-worker of Paul’s

“Grace and peace from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.” A common greeting Paul gave.

Instructions for Titus

V.5-16

V.5 Paul gives Titus an order to put the church back into order and then appoint elders to oversee the church so that it stays in order. The qualifications include: beyond reproach, husband of one wife, children who believe, not accused of indecent behavior or rebellion, beyond reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not overindulging in wine, not a bully, not greedy for money, but hospitable, loving what is good, self-controlled, righteous, holy, disciplined, holding firmly to the faithful word which is in accordance with teaching, able to exhort in sound doctrine, and refute those who contradict it.

V.6-9 “Beyond reproach” beyond reproach gives the indication of someone who is beyond accusation. We know as Christians it is nigh impossible to never sin again, but what we should look for in an elder is someone who holds to the higher standards of living God has for us.

“Husband of one wife” This does indicate that the elder has to be married, for Paul himself was not married and even states ministry is easier without it(1 Corinthians 7:8-9). We can look through this requirement as being sexually pure. Could mean that evangelicals are better to be married, but heading over a church may require it.

“Children who believe” This indicates children who are in submission to the head of the home, Paul makes reference to this in 1 Timothy 3:4-5 saying, “He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?)”. This does not indicate that if you have children who grow up to be non believers or don’t have children it completely disqualifies you.

“Not accused of indecent behavior or rebellion” This goes back to the whole above reproach of living such a godly life that no one has the evidence to even accuse you of sin.

“Beyond reproach as God’s steward” A steward was one who handled someone else's property for the benefit of their master. Here it applies to a man who holds true to the truths of God in leadership.

“Not self-willed”the definition of self-willed says it is a person who does what they want despite the wishes or orders of someone else. This is important in leadership that a man does what God requests of him rather than what he simply feels like doing.

“Not quick tempered” a man leading should not be ready to break something at every little inconvenience. Patience is an attribute needed in believers and required for eldership, due to ministry having the ability of being very frustrating, especially when dealing with new believers, worldly believers, or non believers.

“Not overindulging in wine” An elder should not be controlled by a substance no matter what that thing is, alcohol happened to be a struggle on the island, but a man who is controlled by vape, drugs, or anything else should be disqualified. Also a man under the influence is not of sober mind, making it hard to make decisions necessary for the church.

“Not a bully” A bully is one that uses their strength to take advantage of the weak. A person in leadership(and men in general) should use their strength to help the weak not abuse them.

“Not greedy for money” Many pastors these days are in it for the money and will try to siphon it out of people no matter how much it takes. Money is needed to survive in our world, but it should not be our priority in the church to make money, but to rather grow the kingdom of God.

“Hospitable” Paul would take up collections and would advocate that the churches support orphans and widows, as Christians we are supposed to be people for the common good, and a leader should be one who advocates to help others.

“Loving what is good” An elder could not love “evil” and be a good leader for Christians.

“Self -controlled” The idea of having ownership over your own self. These days many people go about doing what their feelings and flesh tell them to do, which is usually contrary to the commands of God. Being self-controlled indicates someone who can follow the commands of God despite what they feel like doing.

“Righteous” Morally right or virtuous. An elder should exhibit the qualities we see in Jesus especially concerning that these elders are usually the main representatives for the church.

“Holy” being set apart. In a world surrounded by evil an elder should be one who is involved in the culture, but is set apart by following God in the culture rather than following the culture apart from God.

“Disciplined’ With the same kind of idea with self-control a man should be able to follow the ordinances of God despite other factors.

“Teaching” Part of an elders job is to instruct believers about the words of God and what we should do as Christians, so they should not only have the ability to teach, but should know and practice what they teach.

“Exhort in sound doctrine” Lifting up the congregation with correct understanding of God’s word.

“Refute those who contradict it” Part of elders knowing what they teach is not just to build up the congregation, but also to correct the ones who have incorrect beliefs. This helps to protect the church from falling into ungodliness and perhaps into a different god.

V.10-11 In Crete there were elders who were living and teaching incorrectly which showed the need of those who knew sound doctrine. The main problem there was circumcision(see above). Paul gives an order that these people should be done away with due to them causing family issues, teaching incorrectly, and were teaching for the purposes of gaining money.

V.10 “rebellious men” Men who were living ungodly lives contrary to how God commands us to live.

“Empty talkers” These men taught without understanding the scriptures.

“Deceivers” Going along with Crete’s reputation these people were deceiving people for personal gain.

V.12 Paul mentions a Greek Cretan poet, Epimenides in order to undermine the elders in the church. The quote reads, “Cretans are always liars, vicious beats, and lazy gluttons.” This shows how the elders were acting just like that of the worldly Cretans.

V.13 Paul’s purpose(as should be ours) is to rebuke for the sake of people not just to push them down. When we see believers living ungodly we call it out not as to cast judgement, but to get them back on the right road even if the accountability is done “severely”.

V.14 If these people were sound in faith it would help get rid of the circumcision's belief system and man's self seeking religions.

V.15 Those who are of the faith are not just “pure” on the inside, but also on the outside(deeds). However, unbelievers do not believe anything is pure and their actions will reflect that thus their motives are defiled as well(“Their minds and their conscious”)

V.16 Christians should not believe someone’s eternity simply based on their words. We are called to examine the way they act and if their actions match up with God’s way we can be more confident of their salvation. These people were teachers that were greedy for money and lived ungodly lives. Paul considered these people, "disobedient", “detestable”, and “worthless of every good deed” and we should view them the same.

Titus 2

The New Household

V.1-15

In this section Paul addresses five groups of people: Older men, Older women, Younger women, Younger men, and slaves.

Due to the ungodly living going on at this time in Crete and in their churches, Paul seems it necessary to exhort these different types of people. Upon these five types of people(slaves being more akin to the work force for our modern understanding) holds the reputation of the church(v.5, 8, 10).

V.1-2 Older Men:

The exact age of expectation Paul has here is usually considered 60 years old. He uses the same phrase of “older man” in Philemon v.9 to explain himself at 60 years of age.

Older men carry a weighty responsibility in the church body. Men are men meant to be the leaders of the church helping steer the way the congregation should go. With this responsibility comes wisdom and experience. Older men that have committed their lives to Christ are generally full of dense theology, deep understanding of the word, and sound doctrine.

“Sound doctrine” Doctrine simply means a Christian belief they can be broad or specific(i.e. “The Doctrine of God” or “The Doctrine of God’s Omniscience). Sound means competent or reliable. The way we see Paul use it throughout his epistles gives an idea of truthfulness based on scripture. Therefore “sound doctrine” is beliefs that are based on the truthfulness of scripture.

This should show to us the importance of learning as a believer. Therefore from this text it is not optional to not dig into the Word of God. Men need to learn more about God and His truths so that we might lead and teach other believers.

“Temperate” Moderation in action, word, or thought. The idea of being self-controlled. This was another shot at Crete's behavior considering that whatever fleshly desire their body had they not only indulged, but overindulged. One of the aspects of being a man is to be self-controlled. This applies to several avenues such as food, alcohol, lust, tiredness, football, videogames, anger, and even strength. Having self control helps keep a lot of these things in moderation or prohibition. Another way to look at it is to make sure that there is nothing that has control over you apart from Christ.

“Dignified” Being honorable, respectable, held in high regard. It conveys the idea of being, “beyond reproach”. A man older should be wiser and mature, he should have enough experience that it is hard to find fault in his relationship with God.

“Sensible” Mature not fooling around. When it comes to being older these men have seen things and have worked. It does not indicate a lack of humor or enjoyment of life, but the deep understanding of the world around them and the mission they have as believers.

“Sound in faith” Correct beliefs, having their faith placed in the one true God.

“In love” Men should not be bitter complainers, but strong and compassionate. Apart from love no man can serve the kingdom(1 Corinthians 12-14)

“In perseverance” Carrying your burdens. That despite the hardships of life an older man is someone that can handle the weight of the world and can be loyal to Christ no matter the difficulty.

V.3-4 Older Women:

Older women are to be seen as spiritual matrons of the church.

In the same manner as v.2, the older women are to be honorable, respectable, above reproach.

“Not malicious gossips” The idea of gossiping is spreading rumors, or talking badly about someone behind their back, all for the sake of personal enjoyment. This is also usually fueled by a desire to put others down that are seen as lower.

“Nor enslaved to much wine” The same idea of temperance. Nothing should lord over you or have control over you apart from Christ.

“Teaching what is good” While women are not called to be teachers, coming from the idea of not having authority over another man(teaching in a class usually holds some kind of authority), they are called to teach(there are some settings where women are able to teach other men). This means that women, just like men, are greatly encouraged to be sound in doctrine.

One of women's greatest roles in kingdom work is not just the fact that they have the ability to create life, but that they can teach younger women. Which is something we see in the next section. It is not wise council that a man should mentor a younger woman, but also women are much different from men, so they need to be taught different things, they have different struggles, and different sins, that all require tender care.

V.4-5 Younger Women:

In starting the younger section we see the importance of raising the next generation. Seeing the roles of the first two we understand that those two pillars of senior members will one day be replaced by the younger group they taught.

“Love their husbands” The love within a marriage has such an incredible capacity to glorify God. Your marriage is one of your greatest witnessing tools. More than just that I also think this calls for the encouragement of submission(this does not indicate less value). Submission not in the form of slavery, but of allowing the husband to lead, which is a biblical precedent given all the way back in the Garden. Looking from the lens of that time once we reach the second century ⅔ of the church were women. This could lead to the fact that many women were Christina while their husbands were not and in the same way Paul will speak of bond-servants gives the same encouragement to love their husbands even though they are not of the same faith(1 Corinthians 7:12-16)

“Love their children” Typically women are more emotional than men. This isn’t a bad thing, it is only bad when we are only led by emotion, but the benefit for a woman's stronger sense of feeling is that there is a tenderness and warmth to a woman. This holds very true in the life of a mother. Mothers hold such great impacts on her children’s lives. In fact it is something you can see today. A majority of homes led by just the father are worse off than the ones just led by a mother. The love of a mother is influential, special, and holds great value for a church.

“Sensible” similar to v.2 not foolish but but acting in wisdom and spiritual maturity.

“Pure” With major sexual immorality surrounding Crete, the women needed to know that purity in actions and sexuality is needed within the church. This can be infected by our dress, language, and value systems.

“Workers from home” This does not make it to where a woman cannot work, but it does show that keeping a godly home for her family is the primary responsibility. Women can make money, but the man should be the provider(the family lives off his income 1 Timothy 5:8)

“Kind” not nice, but genuinely caring for other individuals.

“Subject to their own husbands” Submission doe syndicate less value(Jesus was submissive to God), but is a role given to women(God is the head of man and man is the head of the woman)

“So that the word of God will not be dishonored” Women hold a high calling in the church that we see in this text. Older women with the qualities listed teaching women the qualities listed will prevent the word of God from being dishonored. They help hold up His reputation.

V.6-8 Younger Men:

“Sensible” Wise decision making, mature, not foolish

“Example of good deeds” A reputation for doing good(“above reproach”). A young man should be honorable and respectable among others. Recognized as someone trustworthy and responsible.

“Purity in doctrine” At such a pivotal point in their lives, younger men need to have a life led by truth from the scriptures. Especially in such a confusing world.

“Dignified” See above

“Sound in speech” Young men should be honest and integral. This quality helps feed into the others such as an example given, “beyond reproach”. A man that is honest is trustworthy and is often hard to pin something on if he leads a life of integrity.

“Having nothing bad to say” It is the older men and women’s job to teach the younger generation, but it is the younger generations job to uphold the reputation of Christ. It is those that are looked at as the examples.

V.9-10 Bondslaves

Bonds slaves at this time are not the same thing as early American slavery. Roman slavery was not based on race, they were educated, fed, clothed, and taken care of. Slavery was done often to pay off debts being indentured servitude. However this does not excuse the evil of slavery the Roman empire had considering they did not consider these people people, but tools.

“Subject to their masters” in Crete slaves that were believers would often look at their unbelieving master with malice. This however is not what God commands. Slaves needed to be subject to their masters in everything apart from defying God(He is the higher authority). This applies to us today in that whatever authority is in our lives bosses, government officials, etc. Christians are called to obey(unless it goes against God). Christians should be model citizens and for the common good.

“Not argumentative” Christians in general should not be contentious people, if we have deferring views we discuss not argue. In this context if the Master told you to do something you do it, if it went against your belief you didn’t lash out, but calmly stood up for your faith(Let them know with gentleness and compassion, “wise as serpents, gentle as doves”)

“Not pilfering” Stealing is a sin, rather it’s money, time, resources, Christians are called to have no charge against them.

“All good faith” A sense of loyalty towards their masters, or loyalty to the place you work(not that you have to stay there all the time, but that while you work there you give them your best)

“In every respect” Once again it is the responsibility of the workers to uplift the name of God.

V.11-15

V.11 All men are given the opportunity of salvation, they just have to accept it. No race, gender or social status can change that.

V.11-12 God has called us out of the old way of life, and has called us to live a life marked by an inner change.

V.12 We are not saved and that's it, the Christian life is a call to godliness not to whatever you want.

V.13 We are Christians that should be marked by hope. We have hope in a future return of our Lord that He will do away with the things of this world and bring us into a great new one.

V.14 We are freed from the bondage of sin and are saved for good works, not because we have to, but because we want to.

V.15 The three verbs used here call for proclamation, application, and correction by the Word.

The authority we have here that we go by is the Word of God.

Paul's commands to exhort. As we work with believers trying to live godly loves, they need encouragement. It is not something easy that comes overnight.

Titus 3

New Humanity

V.1-11

Paul has been giving instructions based around the interactions within the church, however he now shifts the perspective towards the general public, and their interactions with civil powers and citizens.

Fun Fact: The island of Crete was conquered around 62 B.C. by Rome. The patriotic Cretans did not take to kindly to this overtaking and political tensions had been a constant concern.

“Submissive to rulers and authorities” Paul gives a call to the Crete that they would obey the God given authority(Rom 13:1-3).

While we are called to obey our government there is a caveat that if the government tries to get us to disobey God(Pharaoh's Daughter, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Esther, etc.)

“Good work” Comparing this word into other verses we see that the good works God calls us to do are actions that flow out from the characteristic of God in us(1 Tim 5:10, Titus 2:7, 14; 3:8, 14).

V.2 These were many of the ways the Cretans treated their Roman rulers and Paul is calling them to turn away from that conduct.

V.3 Paul states that these actions represent someone that is, “foolish, disobedient, and slaves” making these actions less desirable.

V.5 He then contrast the previous verse by stating how we are called out of darkness into goodness by the powerful work of Jesus Christ. Stating the process is regenerative, a kind of spiritual cleansing(“washing”) that overtime washes away the ungodliness and brings us into the righteousness of Christ.

V.4-7 Part of our New Humanity is that we are marked by a few things. I think often in our walk with God we forget a few things. Here Paul lists our beliefs and our future hope.

V.4 “appeared” God through a great miracle brought Himself down to earth in flesh(the incarnation). Through this we are able better understand the character and the will of God seen through the life of a perfect Man in the way He lived and taught.

V.5 This perfect God Man lived among us and then sacrificed Himself to take away our sins, then raising three days later He conquered sin and death freeing us from them and regenerating our soul, by the Holy Spirit, to better reflect His righteousness .

V.6 After ascending into heaven He leaves us with the Holy Spirit which guides and corrects in our newfound relationship with God.

V.7 As we live a life given to God we await the future hope of eternal life where we will dwell in the Prescence of God for all eternity.

V.8-11 Paul then commends us to hold true to these things

V.8 Paul says to “insist” on these things. The source of our good works is not obligation or rule keeping, but for the simple love we have for God in what He has done for us.

V.9 rebuke and accountability is necessary in the church, but arguing over petty, secondary things, is worthless and provides no value to the church.

V.10 Division is worse than being right or wrong on the petty issues, and a man who continues in this pursuit is to be ignored.

V.11 People who always have to be right or cause arguments and divisions over small issues is a sign of an arrogant, man full of pride, which is a mark of a non-believer.

Paul’s Final Instructions and Greetings

V.12-15

V.12 Paul promises to send reinforcements

V.14 Zenas and Apollos apparently needed something, so this was an opportunity for Crete to do some good works.

“unfruitful” The Greek word used here, “ἄκαρπος, akarpos” means useless. Christians should not just grow a relationship with God, but the love we have for God should pour out into the love for others.