A Commentary on the Book of Titus

Chapter One

Greeting

1:1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

Almost as if he was writing to a stranger, Paul opens this epistle by first identifying himself as a servant (Greek doulos, slave, bond-servant, click here to read more) and an apostle of Jesus Christ who works towards the development and building up of the faith of God’s elect and for them to increase their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness (Greek eusebeian, devotion to God). But Titus was no stranger, it appears that Paul is providing this introduction to give him credibility, so that with this epistle if (probably more like ‘when’) he encounters a trouble-maker, he can show them that he is not acting on his own authority, but that of the apostle Paul’s.

Paul adds to his self-description that his motivation is to present the knowledge of the truth (the gospel message) that leads to one devoting their lives to God with the hope of eternal life, which is assured by God, as He (God) cannot and will not lie, being a plan that began before the beginning of time, just as Paul described to Timothy, “He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” (2 Timothy 1:9, CSB)

This reference to the elect (Greek eklektōn, meaning to chose) should not be considered a reference to the doctrine of predestination (click here for additional information) as noted in verse one by the need for faith, which is required for all believers. Paul regularly used this word (or similar) as a general reference to believers (see Romans 8:33; Colossians 3:12; 1 Corinthians 1:27–28; 1 Thessalonians 1:4).

1:3 In his own time he has revealed his word in the preaching with which I was entrusted by the command of God our Savior:

At a time chosen by God, His plan of salvation was revealed through His Word which Paul was entrusted by God to preach. An often asked question about Jesus is in regard to the timing of His arrival. Why then? While that question can be answered in many ways it would only be speculation, all we need to know is that the plan of salvation began before creation (before the first sin) and became a reality in God’s perfect timing.

1:4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Paul now states who the epistle was addressed to, Titus, someone we know very little about as he is not mentioned in the book of Acts (the Titus mentioned in Acts 18:7 is Titus Justus, a different person). What we do know of him comes from Paul’s second epistle to the Corinthians, his epistle to the Galatians, and his second epistle to Timothy. Paul calls him a true son in their common faith, identifying him as being a fellow believer and one who seeks only the will of God. Paul then greets Titus with grace and peace, which are essential for every believer as provided by God the Father and Jesus our Savior.

Ministry in Crete

1:5 The reason I left you in Crete was to set right what was left undone and, as I directed you, to appoint elders in every town.

Paul tells Titus that he left Titus in Crete to finish some some of the tasks that were left undone and to appoint elders (Greek presbyterous, an old man, an ambassador, a person of responsibility and authority in socio-religious concerns) in every town. Crete is a 160 mile long and 36 mile wide island in the Mediterranean Sea which forms the southern boundary of the Aegean Sea (located approximately 60 miles southeast from Greece and 110 miles southwest of Turkey).

Paul wants Titus to appoint elders in every town on the island. These men would not be chosen by popular vote or by them submitting their own candidacy, it would be Titus’ job to find men of character that comply with the following criteria that Paul lists. This would not have been an easy task since Crete was well known for its many cities. We read that this was the case as early as 800 B.C. when Homer wrote “The Iliad,” as he stated in Scroll 2, Line 645:

The famous spearsman Idomeneus led the Cretans, who held Knossos, and the well-walled city of Gortys; Lyktos also, Miletus and Lykastos that lies upon the chalk; the populous towns of Phaistos and Rhytium, with the other peoples that dwelt in the hundred cities of Crete.^[1]

1:6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, with faithful children who are not accused of wildness or rebellion.

Paul jumps right in and begins to list what we might call qualifications for church leaders. An elder must be (Greek ei estin, to be) blameless (Greek anenklētos, not only unaccusable but unaccused, free from any legal charge, one who cannot be charged of doing anything wrong), the husband of only one wife, with children who are believers and have not been accused of wildness (Greek asōtias, reckless behavior, doing senseless deeds) or rebellion (Greek anypotakta, disobedient to authority). Paul recognized that if a man could not raise godly children then they certainly would not be able to lead a church.

1:7 As an overseer of God’s household, he must be blameless, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not an excessive drinker, not a bully, not greedy for money, 8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled, 9 holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it.

Paul further identifies them as overseers (Greek episkopon, a watchman, one looking down on the one being protected) of God’s households. He once again emphasizes that they must (Greek, dei, a necessity) be blameless (same word used in verse six) except this time it is expressed as an imperative. An overseer is not another title, it is an important role of an elder, which includes: not being arrogant (Greek authadē, being pleased with oneself, belief that they are better than others); not hot-tempered (Greek orgilon, quickly given to anger); not an excessive drinker (Greek paroinon, addicted to wine, habitually drinks alcoholic beverages too much, a drunkard); not a bully (Greek plēktēn, pugnacious and demanding, a violent person); and not greedy for money (Greek aischrokerdē, dishonorable, shamefully greedy for material gain or profit).

But instead, be hospitable (Greek philoxenon, showing hospitality to others without complaining); loving what is good (Greek philagathon, benevolent, loving and practicing what is good); sensible (Greek sōphrona, sober, temperate, godly, being of sound mind); righteous (Greek dikaion, just, conforming to right, pertaining to right, conforming to the rules of God); holy (Greek hosion, unpolluted with wickedness, conformed to God and His laws, separate from the influences of the world); self-controlled (Greek enkratē, denotes lordship and power but under control); and are holding on to the faithful gospel message as they were taught. They have accepted the teaching to be true, have continually learned from the Word of God, and have applied what they learned to their own life. So that they can encourage others to do the same and be competent as well as being confident to refute anyone who argues against God’s truth. Referring to this epistle, Martin Luther noted:

An upright shepherd and minister must improve his flock by edification, and also resist and defend it...Therefore St Paul presses it home upon Titus, that a bishop by sound doctrine should be able both to exhort and to convince gainsayers; that is, to resist false doctrine. A preacher must be both soldier and shepherd. He must nourish, defend, and teach; he must have teeth in his mouth, and be able to bite and to fight. There are many talking preachers, but there is nothing in them save only words; they can talk much, but teach nothing uprightly.^[2]

1:10 For there are many rebellious people, full of empty talk and deception, especially those from the circumcision party. 11 It is necessary to silence them; they are ruining entire households by teaching what they shouldn’t in order to get money dishonestly.

Continuing on the need for sound teaching and the ability to refute those that teach or preach a false doctrine, Paul reminds Titus that there are many false teachers, those who are “full of empty talk” (Greek mataiologoi, idle talk, foolish babbler) and intentional deception. He notes that those from Judaism are particularly motivated to counter their teaching, therefore the need to refute these attacks are even more critical as their teachings are ruining families, as all that they want to do is shamefully make money.

1:12 One of their very own prophets said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. For this reason, rebuke them sharply, so that they may be sound in the faith 14 and may not pay attention to Jewish myths and the commands of people who reject the truth.

Paul quotes the ancient philosopher, Epimenides of Crete,^[3] pointing out that dishonesty has deep roots in Crete. Therefore Titus needs to rebuke them sharply (Greek apotomōs, harshly, in a manner that cuts) so that they may remain sound (Greek hygiainōsin, to be healthy, metaphorically used to refer to pure Christian doctrine) in their faith and to ignore the Jewish myths, the commandments given by those who have rejected the truth of the gospel, and any other false teaching.

1:15 To the pure, everything is pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; in fact, both their mind and conscience are defiled.

This verse is perhaps the most misunderstood verse in this epistle and has become one of the more misused passages in all of Scripture. Before looking at how it is misused, let’s first review what point Paul was making. Here Paul offers insight on how those who are pure (Greek katharois, clean, acceptable to God) that everything is pure, as they know Jesus made them pure (see Acts 10:15). Which means that the Judaizers can’t claim that compliance to the law given to Moses is still a requirement for Christians. But to those who are defiled (Greek memiammenois, morally tainted, polluted) and unbelieving (the gospel), there is no purity, as both their mind (Greek nous, the organ that provides mental perception and apprehension) and conscience (Greek syneidēsis, the faculty to determine right from wrong) have been corrupted. But it is interesting that Paul wrote “to those…nothing is pure,” which could be a reference to others who are not ‘true’ Judaizers (as they would point out that strict compliance to the law was required to be and maintain being clean and pure, and for some they seek even greater purity, a true Judaizer would consider purity as being the highest priority), therefore these are true frauds, a relationship with God is not their aim, just the money they are able to obtain.

Returning to how the first part of this verse is often misused, we see that some believers take “To the pure, everything is pure,” to mean that they are free to do anything they want as they alone will determine what is and what is not pure. Pastor and author Warren Wiersbe addresses this when he wrote:

Titus 1:15 is one of those verses that some ignorant people try to use to defend their ungodly practices. “To the pure, all things are pure” is used to excuse all sorts of sin. I recall warning a teenager about the kind of literature he was reading, and his defense was, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Your heart must be filthy if you see sin in what I’m reading. After all, ‘To the pure, all things are pure.’ ”

To begin with, Paul was refuting the false teaching of these legalists with reference to foods. They were teaching that Jewish dietary laws still applied to Christian believers (see 1 Tim. 4:3–5). If you ate forbidden food, you defiled yourself; but if you refused that food, you became holier.

“It is just the opposite,” Paul argued. “These teachers have defiled minds and consciences. Therefore, when they look at these innocent foods, they see sin, because sin has defiled their vision. But those of us who have pure minds and consciences know that all foods are clean. It is not the foods which are defiling the teachers; it is the teachers who are defiling the foods!”

But this principle must not be applied to things that we know are evil. The difference, for example, between great art and pornography is more than “in the eye of the beholder.” A great artist does not exploit the human body for base gain. For a believer to indulge in sinful, erotic experiences and claim that they were pure because his heart was pure, is to use the Word of God to excuse sin. The application Paul made was to food, and we must be careful to keep it there.^[4]

1:16 They claim to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.

Here Paul notes that these false teachers claim to know God but deny Him in both their actions as well as in their teachings. Essentially teaching that it’s not important as to what you believe as long as you believe in something (some modern-day philosophies mirror that same idea). These teachers were detestable, disobedient to God, and unfit for any good work, especially to teach!

Considerations

Church Leadership

There is debate within Christianity regarding the definition of the terms Paul uses for church leadership. For example some believe that the role of an elder is different than an overseer since Paul in verse seven repeats the requirement for them to be blameless. But as explained above, Paul uses the term ‘elder’ as an overarching job description or title, and overseer as one of the tasks an elder does. In his first epistle to Timothy, Paul noted another role that is often translated as a deacon (Greek diakonous, derivation is unknown, believed by some to mean “in the dust laboring,” a servant). Since Paul does not delineate their job responsibilities, many churches and various denominations have defined roles and qualifications using the same names according to their needs and therefore should not be compared to those listed in any of Paul’s epistles.

Here is a brief snapshot of the qualifications listed for all three:

Refuting False Teaching

Many Christians fail to see the need to learn how to refute other points of view. As a believer we need to know the Word of God well enough to know what pleases God so that we can enjoy fellowship with our Lord. In that regard we should make every effort to study the entire Bible. The more we learn from the Bible the more we can counter false claims against it. The apostle Peter wrote, “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15, ESV, emphasis added). We don’t necessarily need to know everything about other religions or beliefs, but we should be able to recognize an error or a false statement regarding the Bible and point to the truth in the Bible.

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[1] Homer. (1898). The Iliad of Homer. Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original. (S. Butler, Ed.). Longmans, Green and Co. 39 Paternoster Row, London. New York and Bombay.

[2] Luther, M. (1517). Table-Talk of Martin Luther. (No. 400). William Hazlitt, Esq. (Translator). Grand Rapids, MI. Christian Classics Ethereal Library

[3] Also known as Epimenides of Knossos, he was a classical philosopher and poet from Crete. Exact dates of birth, writings, etc. are unknown. This line that Paul quotes is often referred to as "Epimenides Paradox" since he wrote that all Cretans are liars and he was a Cretan then is he also a liar? Do you see the paradox? Using the literary device called a hyberbole he is simply making a point regarding the people of Crete that perhaps they can be characterized as being dishonest.

[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 263). Victor Books.