Titus Chapter 1

Salutation

¹ Paul, servant of God and apostle of Jesus Christ^Messiah for the faith God’s chosen people have, and for the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness and ² hope for eternal life. God our Savior, who doesn’t lie, promised that life before times eternal. ³ Then at an appropriate time, he made the message available by the preaching he entrusted to me according to the commandment of our Savior God. ⁴ To Titus, my loyal son in the faith we share. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Tit 1:1-4

Characteristics of Elders

⁵ I left you in Crete to arrange what still needed to be done and to appoint elders in every city like I instructed you. ⁶ A man needs to be above criticism, faithful to his wife, whose children aren’t accused of reckless living or disobedience— ⁷ because a bishop needs to be above criticism as God’s steward. He must not be stubborn, quick-tempered, addicted to wine, violent, or greedy for dishonest gain. ⁸ He needs to be hospitable, loving what’s good, sensible, just, self-controlled. ⁹ He needs to hold on tight to the trustworthy message he was taught. That way he can encourage people in sound doctrine and show the error of the ones that speak falsely.                                   

Tit 1:5-9

Silencing Disorderly People

¹⁰ There are lots of disorderly people, empty talkers, and deceivers, especially from the Circumcision, ¹¹ that need to be silenced. They overthrow whole families by teaching things people don’t need to do, and they do it dishonestly to make money. ¹² One of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, bad animals, lazy gluttons.” ¹³ That’s true; so reprimand them sharply to make them sound in the faith, ¹⁴ not caught up in Jewish myths and human rules that distract people from the truth. ¹⁵ Everything’s pure to people that are pure; nothing’s pure to people that are not pure. They’ve defiled their minds and consciences. ¹⁶ They claim to know God, but they deny it by how they act. They’re detestable, disobedient, and worthless for doing anything good.                                                                             

Tit 1:10-16