To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and
Christ Jesus our Savior. This is why I
left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint
elders in every town as I directed you…But as for you, teach what accords with
sound doctrine.” –Titus 1:4-5; 2:1 (ESV).
Another
of Paul’s “preacher boys,” Titus was mentioned by Paul in Galatians 2:3. He was likely converted under Paul’s
preaching. Not mentioned in Acts, we find in Galatians 2:1 that he went with
Barnabas and Paul to Jerusalem, probably when the hunger relief offering was
taken from Gentile churches to the Christians in Jerusalem. From the tough assignments Paul gave Titus,
we can assume that he was mature and dependable. Paul calls him “partner and fellow worker” in 2
Corinthians 2:1-4. Paul sent him to
deliver the first letter to the Corinth church and to remain there for a while
to help work with some of the problem areas of belief and practice. Sometime in 62 AD, Paul was released from
Roman imprisonment. Although Acts ends
with Paul being there in prison, and does not record subsequent journeys of
Paul, extra-biblical evidence indicates that he and Titus went to Crete and
that Paul left Titus behind to deal with some of the pressing concerns of the
church. Titus’ assignment was to help
the church in these ways:
- Preach God's Word - (Titus 1:1-4) - to preach to the elect the knowledge of the truth
- To Ordain Qualified Leaders (Titus 1:5-9) - “those above reproach” and faithful
- To Silence False Teachers (Titus 1:10-16) - “exhort and convince, and teach sound doctrine
For
a younger minister, Titus’s assignment from Paul at Crete was charged with
heavy responsibility. We
could wish we had more information about this leader of the church in
Crete. He evidently had leadership capabilities or Paul would not have
entrusted Titus with the major tasks he had him working on at Crete. False teachers threatened the church. In the letter we learn that “those of the circumcision party” were
causing trouble. Some of the Jews from
Crete had been in Jerusalem at the day of Pentecost when Peter preached his
great sermon and over 5,000 from all places were converted. Cretans were in that group. They probably went home to Crete telling the good
news and a group of believers formed. But many of the Jewish Christians had a
hard time giving up the theology they had learned while still in the Jewish
faith. One was the belief that
circumcision was still a necessary part of any good Jews’ (or Gentile
believers’) belief system. Another hard
task was finding and ordaining capable persons to lead the churches on
Crete. Qualifications are listed in
Titus 1:6-9. Paul wrote Titus to come
to him at Nicopolis (Titus 3:12). This
town was located on the west coast of Greece.
When Paul was imprisoned for the second time in Rome (an imprisonment
which lasted until his death), he asked Titus to go to Dalmatia (see 2 Timothy
4:10). Tradition holds that Titus was
the first bishop of the church at Dalmatia.
We
can believe that Titus was a bold proclaimer of the Word, a person who worked
well with people and one who could stand firmly while refuting false
doctrine. Such boldness and faithful
witness are needed today. Paul told Titus
to preach at Crete to “renounce
ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and
godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of
the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:12). Let us pray that each of us can be
faithful in all aspects of Christian life and conduct as Paul admonished Titus
and the Cretan Christians to do: “waiting for our blessed hope”—the second
coming of our Lord.
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