Titus 1:5–16

TITUS’S MINISTRY IN CRETE

⁵The reason I left you in Crete^q was to set right what was left undone and, as I directed you, to appoint elders^r in every town. ⁶An elder^s must be blameless,^t the husband of one wife, with faithful^C children who are not accused of wildness or rebellion. ⁷As an overseer^u of God’s household, he must be blameless, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not an excessive drinker, not a bully, not greedy for money, ⁸but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled, ⁹holding to the faithful message as taught,^v so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching^w and to refute those who contradict it.

¹⁰For there are many rebellious people, full of empty talk and deception, especially those from the circumcision party. ¹¹It is necessary to silence them; they are ruining entire households by teaching what they shouldn’t in order to get money dishonestly. ¹²One of their very own prophets said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” ¹³This testimony is true.^x For this reason, rebuke them sharply,^y so that they may be sound in the faith ¹⁴and may not pay attention to Jewish myths^z and the commands of people who reject the truth.^aa

¹⁵To the pure, everything is pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; in fact, both their mind and conscience^ab are defiled. ¹⁶They claim to know God,^ac but they deny him by their works.^ad They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.^ae