Teaching Notes TITUS 1
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Traveling Companion of Paul
Assisted Building Churches on
the Island of Crete
Birth Unknown 1st Century.
Died. 96AD to 107AD on
Crete according to Eusebius
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Appointment of Elders to the Church in Crete
Similar to I
Timothy. Titus and I Timothy
were written about the same time, around 65 AD.
Both deal
with the same general subject: the appointment
of proper leaders: Titus in Crete, Timothy in Ephesus.
The problem with Church leaders and Elders in both
places
very much the same.
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Crete
An island, also known as Candia, SE of Greece, on the
border
seas, about 150 miles long between the Aegean and
Mediterranean
were fertile and 7 to 30 wide. Mountainous, but its valleys
populous and rich; the “island of a hundred cities".
The seat of
an ancient and powerful civilization that had already become
legendary at the dawn of Greek history. Its highest
mountain,
Mt Ida, was famous as the legendary birthplace of the Greek
god Zeus. Home of the
half-mythical lawgiver Minos, son of
Zeus, and of the fabulous Minotaur. The people were akin to
the Philistines, thought to have been identical with the
Chere—
thites, I Sam 30:14. Daring sailors and famous bowmen, with
a
very bad moral reputation.
Concerning the Churches of Crete
Titus was a Greek, who accompanied Paul to Jerusalem, whose
circumcision Paul steadfastly resisted, Gal. 223-5. One of
Paul's
converts, Tit 1:4.
Some years later he appears with Paul in Ephesus, and is
sent
to Corinth to look after certain disorders, and to initiate
the
offering for the poor saints in Jerusalem, II Cor 816,10.
Returning
from Corinth, he meets Paul in Macedonia, and, after
explaining
the situation to Paul, he is then sent back to Corinth,
ahead of
Paul, bearing the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, to pave
the
way for Paul’s coming, and to complete the offering, II Cor
2:3,12,13; 7:5,6,13,14; 8:16,17,18,23; 12:14,18. The fact
that Titus
was chosen to look after the troubling situation in Corinth
indicates that Paul must have considered him a very capable,
wise, and tactful Christian leader.
The next we hear of Titus, some 7 or 8 years later, is in the
Epistle to Titus, about 65 AD. Titus is in Crete. The
expression
"left in Crete", Tit 1:5, shows that Paul had been
there with him.
Paul’s ship, in his voyage to Rome, Acts 27, touched on the
S
shore of Crete, but it is scarcely likely that that could
have been
the time when he left Titus there. The prevailing opinion is
that,
after Paul’s release from his first imprisonment in Rome
about
63 AD, he returned east, including Crete in his itinerary. After
setting the Cretan churches in order, Titus is to be
replaced by
Artemas or Tychicus, and Titus is asked to rejoin Paul in
Nicopolis,
in Western Greece, Tit 3:12.
The last notice of Titus is in II Tim 4:10, where it is said
that
he had gone from Rome to Dalmatia. Evidently he had rejoined
Paul, and was with him when arrested, accompanying him to
Rome. Whether he abandoned
Paul in that dark and lonely hour
because of threatening dangers, or Paul sent him to finish
the
evangelization of the coast NW of Greece, we do not know.
Tradition says that Titus became bishop of Crete, and died
peaceably at an advanced age. [History by Eusebius]
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The False Teachers, Titus 1:10-16. The Cretan churches were beset
with false teachers
who, like those spoken of in II Pet 2 and Jude,
while professing to
be Christian teachers, were “abominable" and
“reprobate”, 1: 16. The quotation
from the Cretan poet, 12, is from
Epimenides 600 B C.
“Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”
The "mouths" of the false teachers were t'o
be stopped, not by
force, but by vigorous proclamation of the
truth, 11. “Whole
houses" probably means whole congregations,
For churches then
met in family homes.
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Overview of the Book of Titus
From The Bible Project
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Paul Ordaining Titus on Crete.
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Titus 1 New International Version
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.
Appointing Elders Who Love What Is Good
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.
Rebuking Those Who Fail to Do Good
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.
Footnotes:
Titus 1:5 Or ordain
Titus 1:6 Or children are trustworthy
Titus 1:12 From the Cretan philosopher Epimenides
Titus 1
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New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Some content adapted from Halley, Henry H., Bible Handbook, Grayson Publishing, Minneapolis, MN. © 1927 - 1959, 1964
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Hugh C. Wood, Atlanta, Georgia
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