New Testament

Titus

Titus is a short letter to Paul’s coworker Titus, left on the island of Crete to appoint elders and silence false teachers. Its repeated point is that sound teaching and good works belong together: “the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone” (), and it trains believers to live godly lives as they await “our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (). It is in the Bible as a compact summary of how the gospel shapes leaders, households and public life in a difficult setting.

Author: The letter names Paul (1:1). It shares the authorship debate over the Pastoral Letters: many scholars since the nineteenth century think a later follower wrote it, while others hold that Paul wrote it, perhaps with a secretary, after his release from the Roman imprisonment of Acts 28.
Audience: Titus, a Gentile coworker of Paul (Galatians 2:3), whom Paul calls “my true child in our common faith” (1:4), and through him the believers in the towns of Crete (1:5). The churches were troubled by rebellious teachers, “especially those of the circumcision” (1:10), who spread Jewish myths and human commands (1:14).
When: If written by Paul, around AD 63–65, when he planned to spend the winter at Nicopolis (3:12). Those who see the Pastoral Letters as later usually date it to the late first century.
Where: Crete is a large island south of Greece. Acts records Paul sailing along its coast as a prisoner (Acts 27:7–13) but not a mission there, which traditional readers explain by a later visit after his release.
Genre: Titus is a letter of instruction to a church planter, much like 1 Timothy but shorter. Its instructions are grounded in two compact summaries of the gospel (2:11–14, 3:4–7), each introduced to explain why believers should live as Paul describes. Read the ethical commands and the gospel summaries together; the little word “for” at 2:11 ties them.

Shape of the book

Elders and False Teachers in Crete · ch 1After a full greeting, Paul lists qualifications for elders who can teach sound doctrine and refute opponents, and describes teachers who profess to know God but deny Him by their deeds.
Sound Teaching for Every Household · ch 2Instructions for older men, older women, younger women, younger men and slaves, grounded in the grace of God that has appeared and trains believers to live godly lives.
Good Works in Public Life · ch 3Believers are to be good citizens and gentle toward all, because God saved them by mercy through the washing of new birth; divisive people are to be warned and then rejected.

Themes

Sound Doctrine and Good Works. The phrase “good works” or “good deeds” runs through the letter (, , , , , ). False teachers profess to know God but deny Him by their actions (); Christ gave Himself to purify a people “zealous for good deeds” ().
God Our Savior and Christ Our Savior. The title “Savior” moves between God the Father and Jesus Christ, often in neighboring verses (, , , ). The letter presents salvation as the shared work of Father, Son and Spirit ().
Two Appearings. God’s grace “has appeared” in Christ’s first coming (), and His kindness and love for mankind appeared (). Believers now live between that appearing and “the blessed hope and glorious appearance” still to come ().
Witness Before Outsiders. Again and again Paul gives the reason for his instructions: “so that the word of God will not be discredited” (), so that opponents have nothing bad to say (), and so that slaves “will adorn the teaching about God our Savior” ().
Leaders of Proven Character. Elders must be blameless, faithful in marriage, self-controlled, hospitable and able to teach sound doctrine and refute those who contradict it (). Character and teaching ability go together.

Where Christ is

Titus presents Jesus Christ as “our great God and Savior” whose appearing believers await (), who “gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession” (). Through Him God poured out the Holy Spirit abundantly, so that believers are justified by grace and become heirs of eternal life ().

A People for His Own Possession. Fulfillment. At Sinai God called Israel His treasured possession (, ), and the psalmist hoped the Lord would redeem Israel from all its iniquities (). Paul says Christ gave Himself to redeem a people from all lawlessness and purify them as His own possession (). (; ; ; ; )
Our Great God and Savior. Fulfillment. Through Isaiah the Lord declared that there is no other God, a righteous God and Savior, besides Him (). Most translations, including the BSB, read as calling Jesus Christ “our great God and Savior,” as also does; some render it as the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, naming two persons. (; ; )
The Spirit Poured Out. Promise and fulfillment. Ezekiel promised that God would sprinkle clean water on His people and put a new Spirit within them (), and Joel that God would pour out His Spirit. Paul says God saved us “through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,” whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ (). (; ; ; )

Voices

Jerome. Commenting on , he argued that presbyter and bishop were originally the same office, and that one presbyter was later set over the others to prevent divisions. More from Jerome at CCEL ↗

Reading well, key terms and common misreadings

Read it well

Read 2:11–14 and 3:4–7 first. They are the theological heart of the letter, and the instructions around them depend on them.
Count the uses of “Savior” and notice how the title passes between God and Christ.
Compare 1:5–9 with 1 Timothy 3:1–7. Here “elder” (1:5) and “overseer” (1:7) seem to describe the same office, which many Protestant readers take as one office; Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican readers see the distinct office of bishop as a development already under way in the apostolic era.
In 1:12 Paul quotes a Cretan prophet, traditionally identified as the poet Epimenides. Paul quotes Greek poets elsewhere too (Acts 17:28).
Notice the closing travel notes (3:12–13). Artemas, Tychicus, Zenas and Apollos show a network of workers supporting the churches.

Key terms

Savior σωτήρ (sōtēr) — Deliverer, rescuer. Used of both God and Christ throughout the letter (1:3–4, 2:10, 2:13, 3:4, 3:6).
Appear ἐπιφαίνω (epiphainō) — To shine forth or become visible. God’s grace and kindness have appeared (2:11, 3:4), and the noun describes Christ’s glorious appearing to come (2:13).
New birth παλιγγενεσία (palingenesia) — Regeneration, being born again (3:5). Elsewhere in the New Testament it is used only for the renewal of all things (Matthew 19:28).
Good works καλὰ ἔργα (kala erga) — Deeds that are good and attractive to others. The letter’s repeated goal for believers (2:7, 2:14, 3:8, 3:14).
Self-controlled σώφρων (sōphrōn) — Sensible, sober-minded, in control of one’s desires. The quality is required of elders and urged on every group in the church (1:8, 2:2, 2:5–6, 2:12).
Sound ὑγιαίνω (hygiainō) — To be healthy. Used for sound teaching and for being sound in the faith (1:9, 1:13, 2:1–2).

Easy to misread

Using 1:12 to stereotype a whole people. Paul quotes a Cretan’s own saying to rebuke the conduct of specific false teachers (1:10–13), and in the next chapter declares that God’s grace brings salvation to everyone (2:11). Cretans were present at Pentecost (Acts 2:11).
Setting the washing of new birth (3:5) against grace, or reading it in only one way. Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and many Anglican readers see baptism as the means of new birth here, while Reformed and Baptist readers see the Spirit’s inner cleansing, which baptism signifies. All agree that God saved “not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy” (3:5).
Reading 2:9–10 as approval of slavery. Paul addresses slaves already in that position and gives them dignity as those who adorn the teaching about God; elsewhere he calls slave traders lawless (1 Timothy 1:10) and, on most readings, encourages slaves to gain their freedom if they can (1 Corinthians 7:21).
Treating good works as optional or as the ground of salvation. Titus insists both that God saved us by mercy, not by works (3:5), and that those who have believed God must devote themselves to good deeds (3:8).

Further reading: David Guzik, Enduring Word · Matthew Henry on CCEL · BibleProject overview video