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¹ Greeting Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God’s elect and a real knowledge of the truth that accords with godliness,

² in hope of eternal life Paul frankly states his motivation; he wants eternal life, and the only way to get there is to be a slave of God. Since Jehovah the Son endured the cross with a view to the glory on the other side (Heb. 12:2), Paul is in good company. We have the same opportunity. —which life God, who cannot lie, This is one thing that God cannot do, being contrary to His nature. promised before the ages of time How did Paul know this? Presumably it was revealed to him, perhaps when he was caught up to the third heaven.

³ but has manifested by a proclamation of His Word at chosen times, which word was entrusted to me by the command of our Savior God; Paul is plainly claiming to be in the line of those whom God chose down through the ages to proclaim His Word, the implication being that it is a new proclamation, not just an exposition of what has already been written.

⁴ to Titus, a true son in a common faith: Grace, mercy, peace, from Father God and Lord Jesus Christ, I take it that ‘Father God’ and ‘Lord Jesus Christ’ act here as proper nouns. our Savior.

⁵ Qualifications for elders I left you in Crete for this reason, that you should set in order the things that were lacking and appoint elders in every town as I directed you

⁶ —if a man is blameless, a one-woman man, I take it that Paul is speaking of a quality, a kind of person. Many men have only one wife, but have wandering eyes—they would not qualify. having children who believe and who are not open to the charge of being wild or disobedient.

⁷ Because as an administrator under God the overseer If we are going to represent God in an official capacity, we need to be clean. must be blameless; not self-willed, not hotheaded, not given to wine, not a bully, not avaricious;

⁸ but rather hospitable, a lover of what is good, prudent, just, holy, disciplined;

⁹ holding fast the trustworthy Word as taught, so that he may be competent Unfortunately, this competence in the use of God’s Word is in rather short supply these days. both to exhort with the sound doctrine and to correct those who oppose it.

¹⁰ They must face opposition Because there really are lots of rebels, loudmouths and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group,

¹¹ who must be silenced—they are ruining whole households, teaching things that they ought not, and for dishonest gain! Apparently those people weren’t acting out of strong personal conviction, but just for material gain. Pitiful.

¹² One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

¹³ This testimony is true. Nothing like telling it like it is! (Paul hadn’t heard about being ‘politically correct’.) Therefore correct them rigorously, Ingrained habits and cultural characteristics cannot be changed with a single rebuke; Paul is talking about a sustained effort to bring about a change in their attitudes. that they may be sound in the faith,

¹⁴ not paying attention to Jewish fables or to commands of men who are rejecting the truth. Before listening to someone, you need to check out their presuppositions.

¹⁵ To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; in fact, both their minds and their consciences are defiled. I am reminded of Matthew 6:22-23, words of the Sovereign Creator while He walked this earth: “The lamp of the body is the eye. So if your eye is sound your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” Of course we have two eyes, but the Text has “eye” in the singular. I take it that the reference is to the way we interpret what we see (which is our real “eye”)—two people, one pure and one vile, observing the same scene will give very different interpretations to it. “Evil” here has the idea of malignant—aggressively evil. Someone with a malignant mind will give an evil interpretation to everything he sees, and in consequence his being will be filled with unrelenting darkness. That’s what it says here in Titus 1:15; to someone who is defiled nothing is pure. With a defiled mind and conscience such a person is simply incapable of giving a decent interpretation to anything at all in this whole wide world. That’s why Paul goes on to say in the next verse that such a person is disqualified for any good work. Surely, if you are full of evil how can you do good?

¹⁶ They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him, being detestable, disobedient and disqualified for any good work.

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¹ Qualities to be taught Now you, speak the things that suit sound doctrine:

² older men are to be sober, dignified, prudent, sound in the faith, in love and in endurance;

³ similarly older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine, teachers of what is good

⁴ —so that they may instruct the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,

⁵ to be prudent, pure, homemakers, good, Or, ‘good homemakers’. subordinating themselves to their own husbands, so that the Word of God not be maligned.

⁶ Similarly, exhort the young men to be self-controlled, Curiously the young men get only one requirement—self-control.

⁷ in all things presenting yourself as an example of good works: Again, if we are going to represent God in an official capacity, we need to be clean. showing integrity, dignity and incorruptibility in your teaching

⁸ —healthy speech, beyond reproach—so that the opponent may be put to shame, having nothing slighting to say about us. A significant minority of the Greek manuscripts have ‘you’ (as in AV and NKJV), but the majority (including the best line of transmission) has ‘us’. Since Titus’ message and authority derive from Paul, it is properly first person.

⁹ Exhort slaves to subordinate themselves to their own owners, to be well pleasing in all things, not talking back,

¹⁰ not pilfering but showing total trustworthiness, so as to adorn the doctrine of our Savior God in everything. Notice that Paul does not incite slaves to revolt or rebellion. Perhaps it is especially in adverse circumstances that we can ‘adorn’ the doctrine of God.

¹¹ Saving grace For the saving grace of God has appeared for all men,

¹² teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live prudently, righteously and godly in this present age, God’s saving grace has been made available for every one, but most people haven’t heard of it. If they are to hear, we must live godly lives.

¹³ looking for the blessed hope, If we are to live ‘looking’, then we regard it as something that could happen in our lifetime (otherwise there’s no point in ‘looking’). even the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,

¹⁴ who gave Himself for us, so that He might redeem us from all lawlessness Since any ‘law’ that God promulgates derives from His character, I take the point here to be that God wants to deliver us from anything and everything that is not in conformity to His character. and purify for Himself a special people, zealous for good works. There is repeated emphasis on doing what is good, not just professing correct doctrine.

¹⁵ Speak these things, whether you exhort or reprove, with all authority. Let no one disdain you. The problem here could be his youth, but as Paul’s delegate he represents apostolic authority.

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¹ The difference the Gospel makes Remind them The Text just has the pronoun, but the reference is evidently to the Christians in Crete. to subordinate themselves to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,

² to slander no one, to be peaceable, gentle, demonstrating true humility to all men.

³ Because we ourselves were also foolish at one time, disobedient, being deceived, being enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, detestable, Hey, there is hope! ‘Detestable’ is repeated from 1:16, so if people who are now regenerated were once that way, then they can be changed; there is a way out, through the Gospel. (Actually in the Text the terms are different, synonyms, but the point is the same.) hating one another. This description is very up-to-date; it fits contemporary society very well. So those who were saved out of that milieu should be gentle with those who are still in it.

⁴ What a marvelous salvation! But when the kindness of our Savior God and His love toward mankind manifested itself,

⁵ He saved us—not because of righteous deeds that we ourselves had done but according to His mercy, by means of the bath of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, The regenerating and renewing are performed by the Holy Spirit.

⁶ whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

⁷ so that having been justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

⁸ So let’s do good The above is a trustworthy statement and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be concerned to take the lead in good works. I take that to be the normal meaning of the Text—Christians should take the lead in their communities with projects that are for the common good. These things are good and profitable for mankind. If everyone in the world lived according to Biblical principles it would be a much better place! There would be no need for jails, police departments, armies, rehabilitation centers, most hospitals, etc.

⁹ But avoid foolish arguments and genealogies and contentions and disputes about the law, because they are unprofitable and useless. Some people like to argue for the sake of arguing, but the Lord Jesus said we will be judged for every idle word (Mt. 12:36).

¹⁰ Excommunicate a divisive man after a first and second admonition,

¹¹ knowing that such a person has been perverted The passive voice indicates that the person was perverted by an outside force, in this context presumably by Satan; but he went along with the process, allowed it to happen (or he wouldn’t be ‘self-condemned’). So now he is on Satan’s side, and if he refuses to listen to two warnings, he doesn’t want to change. The next best thing is to excommunicate him, not allow him to work within the community. and is sinning, being self-condemned.

¹² Farewell As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to spend the winter there.

¹³ Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way without delay, that they may lack nothing.

¹⁴ And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet pressing needs, that they not be unfruitful. By meeting the needs of God’s servants we share in the fruit of their labors.

¹⁵ All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in faith. The Text doesn’t have “the” faith, just ‘faith’. Perhaps the reference is to those who have never met Paul, but love him anyway. Grace be with you all. Amen.