Introduction

AUTHORSHIP

Paul’s authorship of this letter has never been seriously questioned, nor has the identity of Titus. Because the two men had been longtime associates, Paul’s introducing himself as an “apostle of Jesus Christ” (1:1) was solely for the sake of believers in the churches of Crete who did not know him. This was the next to last letter that Paul wrote.

RECIPIENT

It seems probable that Titus came into Paul’s life during the apostle’s second missionary journey, although, for some reason, Luke makes no mention of him in the book of Acts. We do not know where or how he was converted or precisely when or how he met and became associated with this great apostle. Paul’s calling him “my true child in a common faith” (1:4) suggests that Titus, like Timothy (1 Tim. 1:2), was led to saving faith by Paul. After Paul’s first imprisonment, he took Titus with him to Crete, where the two ministered together for some time. When the apostle departed, he left Titus behind to carry on the ministry (1:5).

Titus had traveled and served with Paul extensively. He was with the apostle in Corinth and is mentioned nine times in Paul’s second letter to the church there. Paul lamented that “when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord, I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother” (2 Cor. 2:12-13). On the other hand, he rejoiced “for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all” (7:13). Titus was not simply Paul’s understudy but was his beloved brother and his “partner and fellow worker” (8:23).

Titus accompanied Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to attend the Council of Jerusalem, during which the issue of Judaizing was settled once and for all (Acts 15; Gal. 2:1-3). Titus, in fact, was Paul’s model of a born-again, Spirit-filled Gentile convert, who had no need to identify himself in any way with religious Judaism, either through circumcision or obedience to the Law of Moses (Gal. 2:3-5). This young Gentile elder was therefore well acquainted with the arguments of the Judaizers that he later had to deal with on Crete (Titus 1:10, 14) and well understood the church’s official position on and arguments against their false gospel.

Because Titus had been associated with Paul for many years before beginning his ministry on Crete, it is unlikely that any of the doctrines and standards mentioned in this epistle were new to him. As noted above, he had spent a year or so with Paul ministering to the church at Corinth, the prototypical problem church of New Testament times. He was twice in charge of gathering a collection from that church for poverty-stricken believers in Jerusalem (2 Cor. 8:6, 22-24). He later returned to continue the ministry there at Paul’s request, delivering the apostle’s second letter to them (2 Cor. 8:16-19). He knew firsthand the trials and disappointments of leading a group of believers who were immature, selfish, factional, and worldly. The very fact that he was entrusted with such assignments indicates Paul’s great confidence in his doctrine, his spiritual maturity, his leadership, his dependability, and his genuine love for those he shepherded. This duty to build churches in Crete that could effectively evangelize the island demonstrates Titus’s commitment to reach the unconverted with the gospel.

MESSAGE

The letter to Titus is much like Paul’s two letters to Timothy and was written for much the same purpose—to encourage and strengthen a young pastor whom he had discipled, in whom he had great confidence, and for whom he had great love as a spiritual father. He was passing the baton, as it were, to those young pastors who were ministering in difficult situations—Timothy in the church at Ephesus and Titus in the numerous churches on the island of Crete. Both men had been carefully trained by this great apostle, both were highly gifted by the Holy Spirit, and both had proven their unflagging devotion to Paul and to the Lord’s work. Both men also faced formidable opposition, from within and from without the church.

This letter was designed to instruct Titus, to instruct the other elders on Crete who ministered under his leadership, and to instruct members in the various congregations. It also served to back up Titus’s leadership with Paul’s authority. Chapter 1 focuses on the qualifications of the church leadership, specifically, their theology and their personal character and conduct. Chapter 2 focuses on the character and conduct of church members among themselves and Chapter 3 on the character and conduct of both leaders and members before the unbelieving world in which they lived and to which they witnessed. All three of those areas of concern are essential to the real purpose of the letter, which was to build strong churches that would be effective in evangelism.

Although the book of Titus is not as doctrinal as some of Paul’s other letters, such as Romans, it nevertheless contains many doctrinal treasures, including some of the cardinal doctrines of the faith, such as salvation by God’s grace alone working through the believer’s faith (3:5-7). Although the letter recounts many magnificent realities of salvation, it is preeminently practical, setting forth the obligations and responsibilities we have as God’s children and fellow heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ (3:7). The letter presents a compact guide to the kind of Christian ministry and personal Christian living that leads the unconverted to salvation.

Titus is an evangelistic letter whose ultimate purpose was to prepare the church for more effective witness to unbelievers on Crete. Paul speaks repeatedly of both the heavenly Father (1:3; 2:10; 3:4) and of Jesus Christ (1:4; 2:13; 3:6) as Savior. One of the purposes for silencing false teachers was to remove the poison of their corrupt ideas and corrupt living, which threatened not only the spiritual life of believers themselves but also the very salvation of those to whom they witnessed. Paul knew that the saving truth of the gospel message falls on deaf ears when those proclaiming it live ungodly lives that show no evidence of redemption. When Christians live in open sin, they can hardly expect unbelievers to heed a message that purports to save men from sin. One of the most compelling testimonies a Christian can give is that of a righteous, holy, self-giving life. It was for that same reason that Paul reminded Christians on Crete that our Lord “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (2:14). And it was for that reason that the Lord Himself commanded, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

God is a saving God, who saves people that they might live godly lives in order that others might also be saved through the proclamation of gospel truth supported by the testimony of transformed lives. God demonstrates His saving power through saved people. Although Paul was speaking in Titus 2:10 specifically of bondslaves, the life of every Christian should “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect. For the grace of God has appeared,” he continues, “bringing salvation to all men” (v. 11, emphasis added).

THE CHURCHES ON CRETE

Crete was located in the Mediterranean Sea, southeast of Greece, southwest of Asia Minor, and north of Africa. The island is some 160 miles long and varies in width from 7 to 35 miles. Because of its strategic location, Crete had long been exposed to Greek and Roman civilization, despite its citizens’ reputation for being “liars, evil beasts, [and] lazy gluttons” (Titus 1:12). Some of the Jews in Jerusalem at Pentecost were from Crete and heard the gospel preached in their own tongue (Acts 2:11). It seems safe to assume that at least some of those who heard were converted, carried the gospel back to Crete, and established fledgling churches in their hometowns. If that is true, there may have been a significant number of Christians on Crete by the time Paul first arrived there.

The churches on Crete were new, immature in the faith, and doubtless small, although their total membership may have been sizable. In order to supervise so many congregations spread across such a large area, Titus obviously would need help, and Paul’s first instruction to this chief elder was to appoint and ordain other elders in each church (1:5). The letter not only was a guide for Titus himself but was a written document that attested his delegated apostolic authority. When Titus faithfully implemented the admonitions of the letter, he did so with apostolic, and therefore divine, authority. His written commission from Paul made clear that any leader or member of the churches who opposed Titus would be opposing Paul and therefore opposing the Lord who commissioned the apostle.

The Cretan churches had attracted “many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision” (1.10), false teachers who not only taught ungodly doctrines but lived ungodly lives. Some of those men may have been among the Jews from Crete who heard the gospel at Pentecost but did not believe. And because this was still a formative time for many, if not most, of the churches on Crete, believers there were especially vulnerable. Even after having the immense privilege of Paul’s personal teaching and example, they continued to need faithful, competent leaders to ground them further in God’s truth and to be models of godly living.