Titus 1:5–16

Appointing Elders Who Love What Is Good

1:6–8Ref—1Ti 3:2–4

⁵The reason I left you in Crete^p was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint^a elders^q in every town, as I directed you. ⁶An elder must be blameless,^r faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe^b and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. ⁷Since an overseer^s 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. ⁹He must hold firmly^y to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine^z and refute those who oppose it.

Rebuking Those Who Fail to Do Good

¹⁰For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk^a and deception, especially those of the circumcision group.^{b 11}They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households^c by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. ¹²One of Crete’s own prophets^d has said it: “Cretans^e are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”^{c 13}This saying is true. Therefore rebuke^f them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith^{g 14}and will pay no attention to Jewish myths^h 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