Reflections on Titus 1

Titus 01 (Contemporary English Version)


1. From Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I encourage God's own people to have more faith and to understand the truth about religion.
2. Then they will have the hope of eternal life that God promised long ago. And God never tells a lie!
3. So, at the proper time, God our Savior gave this message and told me to announce what he had said.
4. Titus, because of our faith, you are like a son to me. I pray that God our Father and Christ Jesus our Savior will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!
5. I left you in Crete to do what had been left undone and to appoint leaders for the churches in each town. As I told you,
6. they must have a good reputation and be faithful in marriage. Their children must be followers of the Lord and not have a reputation for being wild and disobedient.
7. Church officials are in charge of God's work, and so they must also have a good reputation. They must not be bossy, quick-tempered, heavy drinkers, bullies, or dishonest in business.
8. Instead, they must be friendly to strangers and enjoy doing good things. They must also be sensible, fair, pure, and self-controlled.
9. They must stick to the true message they were taught, so that their good teaching can help others and correct everyone who opposes it.
10. There are many who don't respect authority, and they fool others by talking nonsense. This is especially true of some Jewish followers.
11. But you must make them be quiet. They are after money, and they upset whole families by teaching what they should not.
12. It is like one of their own prophets once said, "The people of Crete always tell lies. They are greedy and lazy like wild animals."
13. That surely is a true saying. And you should be hard on such people, so you can help them grow stronger in their faith.
14. Don't pay any attention to any of those senseless Jewish stories and human commands. These are made up by people who won't obey the truth.
15. Everything is pure for someone whose heart is pure. But nothing is pure for an unbeliever with a dirty mind. That person's mind and conscience are destroyed.
16. Such people claim to know God, but their actions prove that they really don't. They are disgusting. They won't obey God, and they are too worthless to do anything good.
    
    

    ---

    
    Paul's letter to Titus has a number of similarities to those he wrote to Timothy. First, Paul had left Titus with the churches in Crete to "set right what was left undone" (1:5) while he went on to other areas of ministry much as he had done with Timothy in Ephesus. His relationship with Titus was also similar to that he had with Timothy: a "true child in our common faith." (1:4)
    
    Another similarity with Timothy was the instruction to appoint elders in the churches. If they were to gain stability they needed leaders who lived among them and gave constant leadership. The qualifications Paul gave Titus to apply to the selection of elders were essentially the same as what he gave Timothy. The need to have leaders of this caliber is obvious. Besides the need to give sound leadership and provide a model for Christian living, the conduct of an elder, who served as "God's manager," was a reflection on God. Damage to the reputation of an elder was/is damage to God’s reputation. There are plenty of current examples of this truth.
    
    A further similarity between the situation with Timothy in Ephesus and Titus in Crete was the presence, maybe even abundance, of false teachers with an agenda. Though the background of the false teachers in Ephesus is not clear, those in Crete were primarily of a Jewish background. Regardless of the background they had in common a rebellious spirit, idle talk, and deception. As for the false teachers in Crete, Paul said they were true to the Cretan reputation for being liars. The saying that had become popular, and is still used, originated with Epimenides, a Cretan poet and philosopher from the sixth century. However the saying was stated originally, it equated Cretans with lying. So by Paul's day, and even today, the term "cretan" refers to lying. Paul said the false teachers lived up to this reputation. They defiled everything with which they came in contact because they themselves were defiled -  both in mind and in conscience. "They profess to know God, but they denied Him by their works." (1:16) This is a truth that is wise to keep in mind. The giving of our trust and acceptance to a spiritual leader should follow our observation of them to see if their works follow their teaching. Paul's qualifications for elders in the church required that their reputation agree with their profession. They should have already demonstrated such behavior and have earned the qualifying reputation.
    
    Elders who qualify are to be capable handlers of the truth. Both in teaching church members and in refuting false teachers. The body of truth is entrusted to them. For the elders in the churches of Crete, this meant handling the truth they received both from Paul's teaching and from scripture.