seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
1 Titus 1:1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness— 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, 3 and which now at his appointed season he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,
4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint[a] elders in every town, as I directed you. 6 An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe[b] and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7 Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8 Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
10 For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. 11 They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”[c] 13 This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith 14 and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. 16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.
a. Titus 1:5 Or ordain
b. Titus 1:6 Or children are trustworthy
c. Titus 1:12 From the Cretan philosopher Epimenides
This is from the easy English site.
Titus was a Gentile Christian (Galatians 2:3). Titus had probably become a Christian when Paul taught the good news about Jesus Christ. So Paul described Titus as his ‘true son’. Paul described Titus as a partner and a worker with him (2 Corinthians 8:23).
1 Titus went to Jerusalem with Paul. Paul insisted that Titus need not obey the very strict Jewish laws (Galatians 2:1-4).
2 Paul had to send a severe letter to the Christians in Corinth. (This letter may be 1 Corinthians. But it may be a letter that is not in the Bible.) They were allowing one of the Christians to act in a wicked way. They were not doing anything about it. Titus took the letter. He also helped to sort out the serious situation (2 Corinthians 7:8-15).
3 Titus had a special responsibility. Many poor Christians lived in Jerusalem. Titus had to organise the people in Corinth who collected money for the poor people (2 Corinthians 8:16, 17).
4 Titus had been working with Paul on the island called Crete. (This happened after Paul had been in prison in Rome in Acts 28.) Paul did not have time to complete the work himself. So he left Titus to finish it. Many people considered that the people in Crete had bad characters. Paul was aware of this opinion.
Paul and Titus had visited Crete. The book of Acts did not record the visit. So, it probably happened after Paul had been a prisoner (Acts 28:16). Paul may have visited Crete for only a short time. He did not have enough time to complete his work. But he had told Titus what to do. Therefore, Titus had Paul’s authority to do the work.
Titus had to ‘put everything in order’. He had to organise the church properly. His first job was to appoint elders in every town. ‘Elder’ is another name for a Christian leader. Groups of Christians met in many of the towns in Crete. Each group needed good leaders who were in charge of the Christians. Elders were often older mature men. However, a young man could be an elder if he was a strong Christian. Paul had already told Titus how to appoint elders. So, in this letter, Paul told Titus what qualities elders and leaders should have. These qualities and standards still apply to Christian leaders today.
There were many false teachers in Crete. Many of them were Jews. They probably went to the Christian meetings. But they caused a lot of trouble among the Christians. Many false teachers said that Christians must obey the Jewish rules. For example, they should avoid certain food. They also should wash in a special way before they ate meals. The Jews had accused Jesus’ disciples because they did not obey these rules (Mark 7:1-5). However, the false teachers would not obey God’s word, and they would not obey the church leaders.
The words of these false teachers were not useful. They did not cause people to live a good life. They told false stories. They led people away from God’s truth. The false teachers had a bad effect on family life. They were teaching lies that ruined families. The false teachers taught those things for the wrong reason. They were greedy for money and they wanted to become rich. They did not care about other people. They cared more about money.
Paul said that Titus should stop the false teachers. The word ‘stop’ means to shut their mouth. The false teachers’ lies could have ruined the church.
Even one of their own famous speakers described the people in Crete as bad. His name was Epimenides. He was a teacher and a poet. He lived about 600 years before Jesus was born. He said that:
1 They always told lies. The common phrase ‘to speak like a person in Crete’ meant ‘to tell a lie’.
2 They were as cruel as wild animals.
3 They were lazy people. They ate too much and drank too much wine.
Paul knew this famous phrase about the people who lived in Crete. Paul believed what Epimenides had said. Paul also knew it from his own experience, especially with the false teachers. So Titus had to deal with them firmly. They would continue to cause trouble if they did not know the truth. Paul did not want the false teachers to leave the church. Instead, he wanted them to know the truth about Jesus. Paul did not want Titus to punish the false teachers. He wanted to save them from the lies. Then they would be strong Christians. When someone *ins, we should always try to correct him or her (Galatians 6:1-2).
The ‘Jewish false stories’ are probably the same ones that Titus 3:9 and 1 Timothy 1:4 refer to. Some Jews had made up stories about people in the Old Testament. Then people wasted time as they discussed these false stories.
The ‘commands’ were probably traditions and rules that men had invented. But the men who invented these rules refused to obey the truth. The Jews had made up extra rules about the kind of food that people could eat. They told people what they could touch or do. Jews said that Christians must obey these traditions and rules. Paul listed some of these rules in Colossians 2:16-23 and 1 Timothy 4:1-5. The Jews said that their rules explained God’s laws. But they had made up the rules.
A person who truly knows God will behave in a good way. But the false teachers behaved in a very bad way. This showed that they did not really know God. They declared that they were pure. But they could not do anything that was good. Therefore, they were no use to God or to other people.
Apparently the men on Crete were known to be gluttonous, lazy drunks. Wow....So.... it was Titus's mission to find a guy for every home church on an island and the majority of the men on the island were either drowning under lots of Jewish traditions, rules, regulations, policies and procedures.... or they were gluttonous, lazy drunks. If Paul and Titus threw everyone out of the church that was either tradition laden or gluttonous, lazy drunks.... there would be very few men in the church. So Titus has to work with what he's got.
Titus had to find that "one good man" in each town. I remember when God sent a couple of angels to destroy Sodom and Lot argued that there might be "one good man" left in town.... so God told Lot if He found "one good man" he would spare the town.... but there wasn't one.... Lot was the only one... so God told Lot to get out and he destroyed the town. Now Titus has to find that "one good man" on an island of gluttonous, lazy drunks or tradition laden Jews.
Paul told Titus to look at the family.
All these years I thought the requirement that these men have a good family was putting a lot of pressure on the men. After all, they have to be darned near perfect and they have to keep their family darn near perfect. That's a tall order for a gluttonous, lazy drunk with or without the Jewish traditions of circumcision or sacrificial meat requirements.
Paul told Titus to look at the family.
Paul taught Titus that the family is the key. A good man will naturally have a good family. A good man will love and respect his wife. A good man will lovingly and respectfully keep his kids in line. It's just natural. The wives are just happier when hubby is sober enough to help out with the kids. The wives would be happier when hubby was working and providing for them. Hubby would be happier if the wife was happier. The kids would be happier when the parents were getting along.
For way to long the traditionalists in the church have demanded that the leaders of the church be married with kids. However, I see here, Titus had to find the guy at the local church meeting.... who got the Gospel. Not every Christian in town was a family man. Some were still single... but they had a place in the church too. Titus would look at how he got along with his neighbors. A good man treats his neighbors with respect. He's there if they need him. He's ready to help. Titus would also have to look at the way that good guy treated women.
Women were not like the women of today. It appears that monogamy was taking hold by the time Paul was writing to the churches.... but women were still second class.... well actually in some homes a woman was no better than a slave or a work animal. Women were used by men on the streets. Women were purchased for pleasure. Good women were courted, married, consummated, and then discarded. Titus had to look for a man who treated women and children with respect. After all Jesus loved the little children.
Paul told Titus to look at the family and friends.
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