Titus 1

About Titus.

Paul’s Letter to Titus

Purpose

1. To give Titus instruction on the establishment of church leaders on the island of Crete

2. To encourage proper conduct among the believers there

Author

Paul

Date

Likely around AD 63

Setting

Written near the end of Paul’s life, while Titus was on the island of Crete, a place known for its corrupt culture

The church in Crete had many new believers. They lived in a culture with rough behavior and low moral standards. By this time, Paul was an older missionary. He skilfully applied the good news to the spiritual needs and daily lives of the believers in Crete as the church began to grow.

Setting

People from Crete were in Jerusalem at Pentecost when the Christian church began (Acts 2:11). Some of them may have brought the Christian faith back to Crete. But Paul’s letter to Titus suggests that the church there was more recently established through Paul’s ministry (see Titus 1:5).

The New Testament mentions Crete one other time, when Paul traveled to Rome as a prisoner (Acts 27:7–21). During that trip, Paul did not have time for active ministry on the island. Most likely, Paul’s ministry in Crete happened after the events of Acts 28:1–31 (AD 60–62) and before his final imprisonment in Rome, probably around AD 64–65.

Paul had started the churches in Crete without appointing leaders. He had done the same thing earlier during his first missionary journey from Antioch in Syria. Later, he appointed leaders in those churches (see Acts 14:23). In Crete, however, Paul gave Titus, his longtime coworker, the responsibility of appointing leaders.

Paul planned to travel to Nicopolis, a city on the west coast of modern Greece. He wanted Titus to join him there after Artemas or Tychicus arrived in Crete (Titus 3:12). Paul planned to spend the winter in Nicopolis. This suggests that he hoped to continue traveling west in the spring (2 Timothy 4:21). He was probably planning to go to Italy and perhaps Spain (Romans 15:24, 28).

The culture in Crete had low moral standards, and this was influencing the believers in the young church. False teachers were also causing problems, much like those mentioned in 1 and 2 Timothy. Titus needed to organize the churches before Artemas or Tychicus arrived. Most importantly, he needed to appoint elders in every city. After this work was complete, Titus would leave Crete and join Paul.

Summary

The letter to Titus is practical and gives instructions for Titus to follow. Each major section of the letter (1:5–3:11) follows a similar pattern: the command, reasons for the command, and charge.

Paul uses this pattern when speaking about:

• appointing elders (1:5–16),

• proper behavior within the church community (2:1–15), and

• proper behavior in society (3:1–11).

In the first section, Paul emphasizes strong leadership because false teachers were threatening the church. In the next two sections on Christian conduct, Paul explains that the commands are based on God’s grace and mercy.

Date of Writing

Paul probably wrote Titus around the same time as 1 Timothy. Some scholars think Paul wrote these letters and 2 Timothy before his arrest in Acts 21. However, it is more likely that he wrote them after the imprisonment described in Acts 28 (see 1 Timothy Book Introduction, “Date of Writing”).

Situation on Crete

Traditional stories from Crete said that Zeus had once been a human who lived and died on the island. According to these stories, he earned divine status through great accomplishments on behalf of humanity (see study note on 1:12). This idea conflicts with the good news of Jesus Christ. The good news teaches that God came down to humanity in Jesus Christ, “our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (2:13). Salvation comes through God’s mercy, not through human effort or good deeds (3:5).

Comparison with 1 and 2 Timothy

Crete was far from Ephesus, where Paul sent 1 and 2 Timothy. Even so, the churches faced some similar problems. The descriptions of false teachers in Titus 1:10–16 are similar to those in 1 Timothy 1:4–7; 4:1–4; 2 Timothy 3:1–7; 4:3–4.

Still, the situation in Crete was different from the one in Ephesus. The church in Crete was new, while the church in Ephesus had existed for a long time. Crete also had a rougher culture than Ephesus. Because the church in Crete was young, Titus does not mention a list of widows (1 Timothy 5:3–16) or deacons ( Timothy 3:8–13).

The different kinds of false teaching may also explain why Titus does not discuss women teachers (see 1 Timothy 2:11–15). The standards for church leaders (Titus 1:6–9) and for church members (see 2:1–10) may seem less strict because many believers in Crete came from difficult backgrounds and were still growing in their faith.

Finally, Titus does not emphasize guarding the "treasure" of sound teaching, which is an important theme in 1 and 2 Timothy (1 Timothy 1:18; 6:20; 2 Timothy 1:12–14; 2:2).

Meaning and Message

The main message of Titus is that Christians should live in ways that show God’s saving grace. God revealed this grace through the life and work of Jesus Christ.

Believers should treat one another, and people outside the church, in the same gracious way that God has treated them. Christians should make God’s grace visible in the world. In this way, they help spread the good news within their culture and community (2:10–11; 3:2–3, 8; see Matthew 5:14–16).

God invites people to take part in his plan to save humanity. Followers of Christ must actively live out God’s grace. Christian communities should encourage godly living because God’s grace, shown in Christ, teaches people how to live and makes such living possible (Titus 2:1–15).

As individual believers, we must also live rightly in a world shaped by sin and care about the salvation of others. We should remember the kind of lives we once lived and remember how God has treated us with mercy. He has given us salvation and everything we need to live godly lives (3:1–11).

Titus 1:1-4

The beginning of the book of Titus, like that of 1 Timothy (1:1–2), establishes Paul’s authority for his representative.

Titus 1:1

knowledge … that leads to godliness: See 2:11–14; 1 Timothy 6:3.

Titus 1:2

• Believing that they have eternal life enables God’s people to live well now (see 2:11–14; 3:7–8).

• God, who cannot lie: The true God contrasts with popular Cretan ideas (see study note on 1:12). This statement also emphasizes God’s plan of salvation as unchanging (1:1): God can be trusted to fulfill his promises (see Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Romans 3:3–4).

Titus 1:3

• In His own time: The initiative is entirely with God, who fulfills his plan on his own schedule by his own will (see 3:5; 1 Timothy 2:6; 2 Timothy 1:10).

• God our Savior: In Titus 1:4, Jesus is also called “our Savior,” identifying Jesus with God (see 2:10, 13; 3:4, 6).

Titus 1:4

• Titus was Paul’s delegate in dealing with the church in Crete. A delegate is someone who is sent to represent another person.

• my true child: The wording authorizes the delegate (as in 1 Timothy 1:2).

Titus 1:5-16

Strong, faithful leadership was needed in the churches of Crete to address the danger of false teachers (1:10–16). This part of Titus’s task coincides with the larger concern of the letter: to shape a community that bears witness to Christ by embodying God’s grace in its conduct. Compare 1 Timothy 3:1–7.

Titus 1:5-9

• Titus was instructed to appoint leaders in order to complete what was unfinished—that is, to establish the church (compare 1 Timothy 3:1–13). Deacons are not mentioned, possibly because these were new, small churches.

• These leadership qualities might be an accommodation to the newness of these converts and the roughness of their culture. It is assumed that the elders will be male (see 1 Timothy 3:4–5).

Titus 1:5

• Crete was located in the Mediterranean, south of the Aegean Sea. It was an important location for travel and trade by sea, so it had a mix of influences, including a Jewish population. Some from Crete had been at Pentecost (Acts 2:11), but this letter seems to deal with a church in the early stages of development.

• elders in every town: There may have been more than one house church in a given town and possibly more than one elder in a given house church. Clearly, there were churches in at least two towns and the leadership was specific to each town.

Titus 1:6

• the husband of one wife (or faithful to his wife): See study note on 1 Timothy 3:2.

• indiscretion or insubordination (that is, reckless behavior or rebellion): This probably reflects Cretan culture with its low moral standards (Titus 1:12).

Titus 1:7

• A church leader (or An overseer, or A bishop) is a manager of God’s household: See 1:11; 2:2–10; 1 Timothy 1:4; 3:4–5, 12, 15; 2 Timothy 2:20–21.

• These qualities indicate that an elder should not behave like the people in Crete known for their immorality (see Titus 1:12).

Titus 1:9

• The elders had a leading role in teaching the community. This may have been necessary in dealing with the immediate threat to these particular communities (as also in Ephesus; see 1 Timothy 3:1).

• Only with a strong belief in the good news would an elder be able to provide sound teaching. Paul’s specific concerns are addressed in Titus 2:1–3:11, considering the problems mentioned in 1:10–16 and 3:9–11 (see also 1 Timothy 1:10).

• Titus had a similar role (compare Titus 1:13; 2:15; 3:10–11). The local leadership would continue the work Paul and his delegates started.

• Those who oppose it are described in 1:10–16.

Titus 1:10-16

In a native population of troublemakers, Titus would need to lead firmly to rid these Christian communities of corruption and make them healthy in the faith (1:13–16).

Titus 1:10

• rebellious: The same Greek word is used of children in 1:6.

• those who insist on circumcision for salvation (literally those of the circumcision): This probably refers to Jewish Christians. The Greek phrase does not specify whether or not they required Gentiles to be circumcised. The Jewish influence of this false teaching is suggested in 1:14–15 and 3:9.

Titus 1:11

• entire households: This also happened in Ephesus (compare 1 Timothy 4:3; 2 Timothy 2:18; 3:6).

• for the sake of dishonorable gain: Elders must not have this characteristic (Titus 1:7; see also 1 Timothy 6:5–10; 2 Corinthians 2:17; 1 Peter 5:2).

Titus 1:12

• one of their own prophets: This quotation is from Epimenides of Knossos, a philosopher who lived on Crete around the 500s BC.

• liars: This charge was directed specifically at the Cretan claim to have Zeus’s tomb on the island. According to Cretan mythology, the god Zeus was once a mere human who lived and died on Crete. His tomb was said to be there. But Zeus had achieved godhood through his patronage (that is, gifts and benefits) to humans. Some Greek moralists opposed this legend and characterized it as a lie. A quote from Alexandria in the 200s BC reads: “Cretans are always liars. For a tomb, O Lord, Cretans build for you; but you do not die, for you are forever.” One of Crete’s own prophets (Epimenides) thought the same thing. Paul cites his voice of conscience approvingly (Titus 1:13; see Acts 17:28), for the God who does not lie (Titus 1:2) opposes the lies of such myths.

• liars … beasts … gluttons: It was believed that Cretan immorality resulted from their belief about Zeus. Religious lies had led to moral corruption. Paul later counters these vices by presenting the contrasting virtues (positive qualities or behaviors) (Titus 2:12). He urges the Cretans to reach ethical ideals that are praised in human society generally but were absent on Crete, as bemoaned by their own prophet. They would reach these ideals only through the gospel of Jesus Christ (2:11–14).

• lazy gluttons: Cretans were known to do anything for money. They were well-known as mercenaries and as excessive consumers. They were said to feel no shame in their greed (see Philippians 3:19).

• Paul applies the quotation more directly to the current false teachers than to Cretan culture generally. The false teachers carried on this Cretan tradition of immorality based on a lie.

Titus 1:13

• This testimony is true: See study note on 1:12.

• Being sound (or strong) in the faith is here defined as rejecting false teachings (compare 1:9).

Titus 1:14

• Jewish myths: See 3:9; 1 Timothy 1:4; 4:7; 2 Timothy 4:4.

• have rejected the truth: This was apostasy not mere unbelief. Apostasy is when someone abandons or rejects their beliefs. See 1 Timothy 1:6–7.

Titus 1:15-16

These two verses comment on the people of 1:14 and their commands, while transitioning to a discussion on teaching that encourages goodness (2:1–3:11).

Titus 1:15

Compare 1 Timothy 4:3–5.

Titus 1:16

• Sound teaching and godliness are always linked together in the letters to Timothy and Titus (see 1 Timothy 1:7–11; 3:15–16; 5:24–25; 2 Timothy 3:5, 9). Similarly, the ungodly way they live is connected with false teaching.

• any good deed: This contrasts with Titus 3:1.

Aquifer Open Study Notes © 2026 Mission Mutual, an adaptation of the Tyndale Open Study Notes © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.