A Brief Introduction to the Book of Titus
The
Book of Titus
The
Book of Titus is a letter from the Apostle Paul to a man named Titus who was a
Gentile convert to Christianity (Gal. 2:3).
It was probably written around the same time as first and second Timothy
and share a lot in common with those letters.
They are both letters written to men that Paul had personally trained in
some capacity, and they are both letters instructing those men about how they
should be selecting elders and how they should be running the new churches that
were starting up in these areas. Because
of these similarities the three books together are often called “The Pastoral
Epistles.”
The
Island of Crete
Crete
is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean. The first that we read in the New Testament
of Crete is in Acts 2:11. It was
mentioned here amongst the many other Jews and God fearers who had been in
Jerusalem at the time of Pentecost, when the disciples spoke in tongues and the
Peter gave his great sermon leading more than 3,000 people to believe in Jesus
Christ as their savior. In all likely
hood these people returned to Crete and did not have much of an idea how to
live out this new faith. So when Paul
came through and preached the Gospel there he left Titus to appoint elders at
the churches, and oversee the development of the new churches there.
Prior to this time the Island of
Crete had been run over and conquered a few times. It had been attacked, taken over, or
assaulted by the Dorians early on, later the Greeks, the Persians and the
Egyptians all threatened the island.
Beyond this the island was racked with civil war and internal struggles
that were almost insurmountable. Later
the island became a part of the Roman Empire, but still maintained its
character. The character it maintained
was by no means a good one, though.
The
People of Crete
The
people of Crete were famous for being sly, shifty and cunning. During the years of political, social and
economical difficulty the people of Crete became famous for building ships,
being mercenaries, and being cheats.
There are records of these people praying to their God’s to help lie and
them cheat others with greater skill.
This is a culture that would hear the Gospel and cheer for Judas,
selling out his master for 30 silver coins.
There were even stories around this
time of people who tried to cheat a Cretan, and would up having the whole thing
backfire on them, such that they were STILL cheated by the Cretan. It came to the point where it became a
proverb of the day to say: “You can’t
Cretanize a Cretan!” These were people
who were so morally confused that they thought that the people who were
cheating the system were the heroes.
They would have called the Pirates the hero, or the gangster and not the
Police, or the martyr.
This should call us to examine our
own culture. God called these people OUT
of this culture. He called them to be in
direct contrast to the parts of this culture that surrounded them. Just like the Cretan culture there is much of
every culture that does not honor God, and God calls us to be separated from
that in every way. What does that mean
to us as Christians in this culture now?
These days we try so hard to be “culturally sensitive,” but we must
always remember, as Christians, that we are not of this world!
What
about Titus
Try to
put yourself in Titus’s shoes, knowing this about these people. You are Paul’s friend and you are spending
time with him and he says, “I trust you, why don’t you go out to these cities,
find the believers and tell them to abandon everything about their culture and
live for the Lord.” Titus must have been
thinking: “Yeah, right, easy job! I’ll get right on that!” However, this shows us something about
Titus’s character. He was a “go to guy”
for Paul. He must have been the type of
strong leader that Paul knew could handle the pressure, and be faithful to a
difficult task.
Paul
One
may think that Paul wasn’t a very good friend for sending Titus in on such a
difficult task all alone! But Paul had
good reason to believe that the Gospel was sufficient for the people of
Crete. Paul himself considered himself
to be the worst of all sinners. He was a
persecutor of the Church, and breathing murderous threats against them day and
night (Acts 9:1,2). Paul was a horrible
person. A murderer with a heart filled
with jealousy and hatred, yet God changed him.
Paul saw, firsthand how this powerful Gospel can changes lives, and he
expected that it would do the same thing for the Cretans that it did for Him. Paul doesn’t expect Titus to change them, nor
does he expect them to change themselves.
He expects God to change their hearts, through the Holy Spirit! He is still changing lives in this way, every
day!
Outline*
I. Salutation (1:1-4)
II. Qualification of the Elders (1:5-9)
III. Characteristics of False Teachers (1:10-16)
IV. Godly Behavior for Different Groups (2:1-10)
A. Older Men (2:1-2)
B. Older Women (2:3)
C. Younger Women (2:4-5)
D.
Younger men (2:6-8)
E.
Slaves (2:9-10)
V.
Role of Grace in Promoting Godly Behavior (2:11-3:11)
A.
The educating power of grace (2:11-14)
B.
The gracious behavior (2:15-3:2)
C.
Grace as a motivation for godly living (3:3-8)
D.
Behavior inconsistent with grace (3:9-11)
VI.
Final Instructions and Greetings (3:12-15)
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