Titus
Titus, a friend and helper of Paul, was left in Crete, a notoriously difficult place to nurture a church. Paul’s letter to Titus gave him practical advice on how to organize and lead a new church.
1 Paul, a servant of Goda and an apostleb of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truthc that leads to godlinessd—2 in the hope of eternal life,e which God, who does not lie,f promised before the beginning of time,g 3 and which now at his appointed seasonh he has brought to lighti through the preaching entrusted to mej by the command of Godk our Savior,l
4 To Titus,m my true sonn in our common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.o
Appointing Elders Who Love What Is Good
5 The reason I left you in Cretep was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appointa eldersq in every town, as I directed you. 6 An elder must be blameless,r faithful to his wife, a man whose children believeb and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7 Since an overseers manages God’s household,t he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.u 8 Rather, he must be hospitable,v one who loves what is good,w who is self-controlled,x upright, holy and disciplined. 9 He must hold firmlyy to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrinez and refute those who oppose it.
Rebuking Those Who Fail to Do Good
10 For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talka and deception, especially those of the circumcision group.b 11 They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole householdsc by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 One of Crete’s own prophetsd has said it: “Cretanse are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”c 13 This saying is true. Therefore rebukef them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faithg 14 and will pay no attention to Jewish mythsh or to the merely human commandsi of those who reject the truth.j 15 To the pure, all things are pure,k but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.l In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.m 16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him.n They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.o
Doing Good for the Sake of the Gospel
2 You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine.p 2 Teach the older menq to be temperate,r worthy of respect, self-controlled,s and sound in faith,t in love and in endurance.
3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderersu or addicted to much wine,v but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger womenw to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlledx and pure, to be busy at home,y to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands,z so that no one will malign the word of God.a
6 Similarly, encourage the young menb to be self-controlled.c 7 In everything set them an exampled by doing what is good.e In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.f
9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything,g to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviorh attractive.i
11 For the gracej of God has appearedk that offers salvation to all people.l 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions,m and to live self-controlled,n upright and godly liveso in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearingp of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,q 14 who gave himself for usr to redeem us from all wickednesss and to purifyt for himself a people that are his very own,u eager to do what is good.v
15 These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.
3 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities,w to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good,x 2 to slander no one,y to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.
3 At one timez we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindnessa and love of God our Saviorb appeared,c 5 he saved us,d not because of righteous things we had done,e but because of his mercy.f He saved us through the washingg of rebirth and renewalh by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on usi generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace,j we might become heirsk having the hopel of eternal life.m 8 This is a trustworthy saying.n And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.o These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.
9 But avoidp foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrelsq about the law,r because these are unprofitable and useless.s 10 Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them.t 11 You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned.
12 As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicusu to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to winter there.v 13 Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollosw on their way and see that they have everything they need. 14 Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good,x in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.
15 Everyone with me sends you greetings. Greet those who love us in the faith.y
Grace be with you all.z