Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
3 But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
4 To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
5 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:
6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.
12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
14 Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate
The book of Titus was written by Paul to Titus around 64 – 67 A.D. Paul and Titus had been working together for quite a while but it appears that Paul left Titus when they were on the island of Crete.
In verse 1, Paul is telling us who he is. Paul is saying he is a “servant of God”, which actually means he was a bond slave. In the Old Testament it tells us that a bond slave is a person that chooses to remain a slave of his master for life.
Paul also said he is “an apostle of Jesus Christ.” Paul is defending his title as an apostle because he will be giving them instruction to the organized church.
In verse 3, Paul mentions “in due time.” God is such an organized God.
He knows everything that is going to happen in the future and He has known that from the very beginning. Sometimes it seems like all we can handle when things come up is just doing the next thing. I heard Elizabeth Elliott say that years ago and it made such an impact in my life. (This article explains who Elizabeth Elliott was)
When I am going through a trial I just turn to God and remember to rely on Him and just do the next thing.
In verse 4, Titus was Paul's spiritual son. Paul led Titus to have a relationship with God. It is important to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and NOT just believe in religion. Religion will lead us astray but a relationship with God will draw us closer to Him.
In verse 5 Paul tells us that he left Titus in Crete while he traveled on to organize other churches. Crete was a place known to have people that were not really good people. Paul tells us in verse 12 that the people in Crete were liars. But thankfully many of the people of Crete turned to God so Titus was left to organize the churches. Paul says that Titus was to appoint elders or leaders of the church. Unfortunately today a lot of the leaders in the church are not good leaders. We need to make sure that we are following God's word and NOT man's word. When Paul talked about the qualifications of an elder he mentioned more about character and lifestyle over duties or talent. Leaders must be people who love God, do what is good and live God's will in their life daily.
Verse 9 mentions sound doctrine. Do you know how we can have sound doctrine? By studying God's word and applying His word to our life. We all need to read and study the Bible for ourselves. We shouldn't depend on just listening or reading someone's opinion. We need to read it ourselves and apply it to our life and have a constant line of communication between us and God. In see in verse 10 that there are many deceivers of God's word and that is why we need to read the Bible for ourselves! Satan will be in our churches to cause problems by having some people say that some things are okay to do when the Bible clearly says it is wrong and that will lead people astray. It is so sad to me today to see where some denominations and some leaders are saying that it is okay to be a homosexual. It is NOT okay because it does not line up with God's word. That is NOT sound doctrine and it is deceiving to people to think they are okay. They are NOT okay if they are not following God's laws and teachings.