Titus 1
October 2
Reading: Titus 1
1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior; 4 To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you-- 6 if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 7 For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, 8 but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
10 For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. 11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.
12 One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons."
13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
Like 1 and 2 Timothy, the letter to Titus is a letter from Paul to a person, a pastor. We read about Titus in 2 Corinthians, particularly in chapters 7 and 8. We learn there that Titus was a trusted companion of Paul and that he brought Paul much joy and comfort. Titus was a great friend and a faithful minister of the gospel. Paul calls him “my partner and fellow worker among you.”
After helping Paul in his travels and then at Corinth, Titus was assigned by the apostle to serve as pastor of the young churches on the island of Crete. It was not an easy assignment. In verse 12 we read a saying spoken on the island, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” Apparently, Titus’ experience there is bearing this out.
In the first four verses, Paul uses his greeting to Titus to remind him of the gospel call that they both have been entrusted with. It is uplifting.
Next, in verses 5-11, Paul gets right to the critical issue that is plaguing Titus and the churches on Crete. They are experiencing a leadership deficit and some bad actors are filling the gap. The result is disorder and false teaching. False teachers thrive in disorder and chaos. Paul here gives qualifications for elders/overseers in the church, much like 1 Timothy 3. This is in contrast to the “rebellious men, empty talkers, and deceivers” that he describes in Titus 1:10-11.
We learn in the rest of the chapter that these false teachers are intellectual cousins to the Judaizers that have tormented Paul for years. For their own gain they pretend to be ultra-conservative righteousness promoters. Actually, they are corrupting the truth by their teaching and their deeds.
It is instructive to see how often Paul must confront false teaching and false teachers. Deception brought into the church by people who claim to be Christians is one of Satan’s favorite ways to distract people from the gospel and destroy the truth. False teachers are typically impressed with themselves and love to cause fights. Beware of them.