Key Themes in Titus

Outline

1:1-4 Greetings

1:5-9 Regulations concerning the appointment of elders

1:10-16 A warning against false teachings

2:1-10 Instructions to groups of believers

2:11-15 The theological basis of Christian living

3:1-8 Directions for Christian living

3:9-11 Final exhortations and warnings

3:12-15 Personal requests and greetings

Background and setting

Titus was one of Paul’s converts and a Greek by birth (Gal 2:3). In consequence, Paul could address this letter to Titus, my true son in our common faith (1:4). The first reference to Titus in the New Testament occurs in connection with the controversy over whether Gentile converts needed to be circumcised. The Judaisers were bringing pressure to bear on Paul to circumcise Titus (Gal 2:1), but Paul resisted their pressure and Titus was not ‘compelled to be circumcised’ (Gal 2:3).

After this, it is likely that Titus accompanied Paul on his missionary journeys. He came into prominence in relation to the Corinthian church, so that in the letter of 2 Corinthians he is mentioned nine times by name, always with affection and confidence. Paul entrusted Titus with at least two diplomatic missions to the Corinthians: he carried a letter (which has not survived) to the church and brought a good report back to Paul (2Co 7:6-9), and then Paul sent Titus to Corinth again to receive their love offering for the poorer churches in Judea (2Co 8:6, 16-17). Paul commended Titus to the Corinthians as ‘my partner and fellow worker among you’ and urged them to receive him and his companions with love (2Co 8:23-24).

Later, after Paul’s presumed release from house arrest in Rome, the apostle resumed his missionary travels. It must have been in the course of these travels that Paul left Titus in

Crete, with instructions to complete what had been left incomplete, and in particular to appoint qualified elders in every town to combat the false teachers, to teach the practical realities of Christian behaviour and to remind God’s people of their wider social responsibilities. Towards the end of this letter Paul summoned Titus to join him at Nicopolis for the winter, near the Adriatic coast (3:12). It might have been from Nicopolis that Titus went (probably on a mission) further north along the Adriatic to the coastal area of Dalmatia (2Ti 4:10). There the New Testament loses sight of Titus and later tradition is unreliable. Eusebius, an Early Church historian (c. ad 325), claimed that Titus returned to Crete to become its first bishop and that he died there at a ripe old age.

The authenticity of the letter to Titus as a genuine writing of the apostle Paul has been challenged for more than two hundred years by critical New Testament scholars. The evidence and arguments for Paul as the author remain strong and convincing, however. (For more on the authenticity of the Pastoral Letters of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus, see 1 Timothy, Background and setting, pages 1646-1647.)

Themes and relevance

Paul’s letter to Titus is an especially important New Testament document among Christian leaders who hold responsibility in the church. Although the letter is directed to Titus as an individual, it also looks beyond him to the churches he supervised.

It does not require much imagination to sit down beside Titus and to read Paul’s letter as if it were addressed to us. For the apostle’s instructions to his trusted lieutenant have extraordinary contemporary relevance. We too need to hear Paul’s exhortations:

about the careful selection and appointment of church elders (1:5-9)

about the damaging effects of false teaching (1:10-16)

about the importance of helping different groups to relate duty to doctrine in the home (2:1-10)

about the transforming power of the two appearings of Christ (2:11-15)

about the civic and social responsibilities of the people of God (3:1-2)

about the challenge of self-control (1:8; 2:2, 5, 6, 12) and about the implications for practical good works of God’s salvation (3:3-8).

Further reflection reveals that the three chapters of Titus relate to the three main contexts of Christian living, namely the church, the home and the world, while all three illustrate the vital connection between doctrine and duty.

This blog post is extracted from the study notes of the NIV BST Bible - Osvaldo Padilla's new Tyndale New Testament Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles is a helpful and fresh study of these letters. Below you'll find other recomendations for digging deeper into 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus.