Titus 1
1
1Greetings from Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I was sent to help God’s chosen people have faith and understand the truth that produces a life of devotion to God. 2This faith and knowledge make us sure that we have eternal life. God promised that life to us before time began—and God does not lie. 3At the right time, God let the world know about that life. He did this through the telling of the Good News message, and he trusted me with that work. I told people that message because God our Savior commanded me to.
4To Titus, a true son to me in the faith we share together.
Grace and peace to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Titus’ Work in Crete
5I left you in Crete so that you could finish doing what still needed to be done. And I also left you there so that you could choose men to be elders in every town. 6To be an elder, a man must not be guilty of living in a wrong way. He must be faithful to his wife,#1:6 faithful to his wife Literally, “a man of one woman.” and his children must be faithful to God.#1:6 faithful to God This word can mean “trustworthy” or “believers.” Here, both meanings may be included. Compare this verse with 1 Tim. 3:4. They must not be known as children who are wild or don’t obey. 7An elder#1:7 elder Here, literally, “overseer.” See “elders (New Testament)” in the Word List. has the job of taking care of God’s work. So people should not be able to say that he lives in a wrong way. He must not be someone who is proud and selfish or who gets angry quickly. He must not drink too much, and he must not be someone who likes to fight. He must not be a man who will do almost anything for money. 8An elder must be ready to help people by welcoming them into his home. He must love what is good. He must be wise. He must live right. He must be devoted to God and pleasing to him. And he must be able to control himself. 9An elder must be faithful to the same true message we teach. Then he will be able to encourage others with teaching that is true and right. And he will be able to show those who are against this teaching that they are wrong.
10This is important, because there are many people who refuse to obey—people who talk about worthless things and mislead others. I am talking especially about those who say that men who are not Jews must be circumcised to please God. 11These people must be stopped, because they are destroying whole families by teaching what they should not teach. They teach only to cheat people and make money. 12Even one of their own prophets said, “Cretans are always liars. They are evil animals and lazy people who do nothing but eat.” 13The words that prophet said are true. So tell those people that they are wrong. You must be strict with them. Then they will become strong in the faith, 14and they will stop paying attention to the stories told by those Jews. They will stop following the commands of those who have turned away from the truth.
15To people who are pure, everything is pure. But to those who are full of sin and don’t believe, nothing is pure. Really, their thinking has become evil and their consciences have been ruined. 16They say they know God, but the evil things they do show that they don’t accept him. They are disgusting. They refuse to obey God and are not capable of doing anything good.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Titus 1
1
Greeting
1Paul, # Ac 13:9 a slave of God # Ac 16:17; Rm 1:1; Eph 6:6; Jms 1:1; 1Pt 2:16; Rv 1:1 and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to build up # Or according to the faith of God’s elect # Mt 22:14; 24:22; Lk 18:7; Rm 8:33; Col 3:12; 1Co 1:27-28; 1Th 1:4; Jms 2:5 and their knowledge of the truth # 1Tm 2:4; 2Tm 3:7 that leads # Or corresponds to godliness, # 1Tm 6:3 2in the hope of eternal life # 1Co 15:19; Ti 3:7; Heb 9:15 that God, who cannot lie, # Nm 23:19; Heb 6:18 promised before time began. # Rm 1:2; 2Tm 1:9 3In His own time He has revealed # Jn 21:1; 2Co 4:11; 1Pt 5:4; 1Jn 1:2 His message # Jn 1:1; 2:22; 2Tm 2:15; Heb 4:12 in the proclamation that I was entrusted # 1Tm 1:11; 6:20; 2Tm 1:12,14 with by the command # 1Tm 1:1 of God our Savior: # 1Tm 1:1; 2:3; Ti 2:10; 3:4; Jd 25
4To Titus, # 2Co 2:13; 7:6,13-14; 8:6,16,23; 12:18; Gl 2:1,3; 2Tm 4:10 my true son # 1Tm 1:2 in our common faith.
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. # Rm 1:7; 1Co 1:3
Titus’s Ministry in Crete
5The reason I left you in Crete # Ac 27:7,12-13 was to set right what was left undone and, as I directed you, to appoint elders # 1Tm 3:1-7; 5:17 in every town: 6one # 1Tm 3:2-4 who is blameless, # Col 1:22 the husband of one wife, having faithful # Or believing children not accused of wildness or rebellion. 7For an overseer, # Ac 20:28; Php 1:1; 1Pt 2:25 as God’s administrator, must be blameless, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not addicted to wine, not a bully, not greedy for money, 8but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled, 9holding to the faithful message as taught, # Ac 2:42 so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching # 1Tm 1:10; 6:3; 2Tm 1:13; Ti 2:1 and to refute those who contradict it.
10For there are also many rebellious people, full of empty talk and deception, especially those from Judaism. # Lit the circumcision 11It is necessary to silence them; they overthrow whole households by teaching what they shouldn’t in order to get money dishonestly. 12One of their very own prophets said,
Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. # This saying is from the Cretan poet Epimenides (6th century b.c.).
13This testimony is true. # Jn 8:14 So, rebuke them sharply, # 2Co 13:10 that they may be sound in the faith 14and may not pay attention to Jewish myths # 1Tm 1:4; 4:7; 2Tm 4:4; 2Pt 1:16 and the commands of men who reject the truth. # 2Tm 4:4
15To the pure, everything is pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; in fact, both their mind and conscience # Heb 13:18 are defiled. 16They profess to know God, # Jn 7:28 but they deny Him by their works. # Mk 14:6; 2Co 9:8; Gl 3:10; Jms 2:14-26 They are detestable, disobedient, and disqualified for any good work. # 2Co 9:8
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