Titus 1

Greeting

1Paul, ^aa slave of God ^band an apostle of Jesus Christ, to build up ^cthe faith of God’s elect ^dand their knowledge of the truth ^ethat leads ^fto godliness, ^g2in the hope of eternal life ^hthat God, who cannot lie, ⁱpromised before time began. ^j3In His own time He has revealed ^kHis message ^lin the proclamation that I was entrusted ^mwith by the command ⁿof God our Savior: ^o

⁴To Titus, ^pmy true son ^qin our common faith.

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. ^r

Titus’s Ministry in Crete

⁵The reason I left you in Crete ^swas to set right what was left undone and, as I directed you, to appoint elders ^tin every town: ⁶one ^uwho is blameless, ^vthe husband of one wife, having faithful ^wchildren not accused of wildness or rebellion. ⁷For an overseer, ^xas God’s administrator, must be blameless, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not addicted to wine, 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, ^yso that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching ^zand to refute those who contradict it.

¹⁰For there are also many rebellious people, full of empty talk and deception, especially those from Judaism. ^a11It is necessary to silence them; they overthrow whole 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. ^b

¹³This testimony is true. ^cSo, rebuke them sharply, ^dthat they may be sound in the faith ¹⁴and may not pay attention to Jewish myths ^eand the commands of men who reject the truth. ^f

¹⁵To the pure, everything is pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; in fact, both their mind and conscience ^gare defiled. ¹⁶They profess to know God, ^hbut they deny Him by their works. ⁱThey are detestable, disobedient, and disqualified for any good work. ^j