Good works and sound doctrine: Titus

Titus is a short letter from Paul to a younger co-worker whom he had left on the island of Crete (1:5). Titus was a Gentile Christian: Paul took him to Jerusalem as a test case and he was not compelled to be circumcised (Galatians 2:1-3). He appears in 2 Corinthians as Paul's trusted envoy to the church at Corinth, carrying the severe letter and bringing news and a collection (2 Corinthians 7:6-7, 13-15; 8:6, 16-17), and in 2 Timothy 4:10 he has gone to Dalmatia. Crete itself appears in Acts only in passing, when Paul's ship sailed along its coast (Acts 27:7-13). The Christian communities there are not described, and the letter suggests that they were small groups in many towns (1:5) still needing leaders and settled teaching.

Crete had a reputation. Paul quotes a saying from 'one of their own prophets' that Cretans are always liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons (1:12). Ancient writers attribute the line to Epimenides, a Cretan poet-seer, and Paul agrees that the testimony is true as far as it goes. Paul does not use it to insult the Cretans but to show why firm leadership and correction are needed.

The authorship question is the one that applies to all the Pastoral Epistles. The church has long held that Paul wrote Titus. Many modern scholars think a later follower wrote it in his name, citing vocabulary, style, the more developed church structure and the difficulty of fitting Crete into the story of Acts. Defenders suggest that Paul was released from the imprisonment of Acts 28, travelled further, evangelised Crete with Titus, and wrote this letter while on the move, perhaps from Macedonia or Asia, planning to winter at Nicopolis (3:12). The date would be about AD 62-65. The class reads the letter as a letter of Paul and names both views, because the teaching of the letter stands under either.

Titus is a personal letter with an official purpose: it is addressed to Titus but intended to be read in the churches, as the final 'Grace be with you all' (the Greek 'you' is plural) shows. It combines instruction on church order (chapter 1), moral instruction for different groups (chapter 2), and two compact statements of the gospel (2:11-14 and 3:4-7).

The first rule of reading is that the letter keeps joining doctrine to conduct. The phrase 'good works' (kala erga) occurs repeatedly (1:16; 2:7, 14; 3:1, 8, 14), and Paul also speaks of 'sound doctrine' (1:9; 2:1). They are not separate topics. The gospel statements are put at the points where Paul wants to ground the instructions. The 'for' that begins 2:11 and the 'but when' in 3:4 both introduce what God has done as the reason for the life he commands.

The second rule is about the household instructions in 2:1-10. They resemble the codes of Colossians and Ephesians. The purpose is stated in the text: that the word of God may not be reviled (2:5) and that the teaching may be made attractive (2:10). The instruction to slaves in 2:9-10 should be read as part of what the letters say elsewhere about slavery (see Philemon), and not as a defence of the institution.

A third rule is to read the phrase 'our great God and Saviour' in 2:13 by the grammar. Both titles are governed by a single article in Greek, which most scholars take to mean one person, Jesus Christ, called God and Saviour. A smaller group reads two persons, God the Father and Jesus. The class follows the first reading.

1:1-4. Paul calls himself a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth that accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word. The greeting calls Titus Paul's true child in a common faith. In these four verses God is called Saviour and so is Christ Jesus. The title 'Saviour' is used of the Father and of the Son six times in this short letter (1:3, 4; 2:10, 13; 3:4, 6).

1:5-9. Paul left Titus in Crete to put what remained into order and to appoint elders in every town. The qualifications are close to those in 1 Timothy 3: above reproach, the husband of one wife, with believing children who are not accused of debauchery or insubordination. Paul then uses the word 'overseer' (episkopos) as an equivalent of 'elder', which shows that in this letter they are the same office. The overseer must be blameless as God's steward, not arrogant, quick-tempered, a drunkard, violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he can give instruction in sound doctrine and also rebuke those who contradict it.

1:10-16. Many are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, because they upset whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. Paul cites the Cretan saying and tells Titus to rebuke them sharply, so that they may be sound in the faith and pay no attention to Jewish myths or the commandments of people who turn away from the truth. To the pure all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure. They profess to know God but deny him by their works.

2:1-10. Titus is to teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled and sound in faith, love and steadfastness. Older women are to be reverent in behaviour and to teach what is good, training the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Younger men are to be self-controlled, and Titus himself is to be an example of good works. Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything, well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour.

2:11-15. The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. The same grace trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age, waiting for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. The language of 'appearing' (epiphaneia) was used in the Greek world of the visit of a god or the arrival of a ruler, and Paul uses it twice: of grace appearing in the first coming and of glory appearing in the second.

3:1-8. Believers are to be submissive to rulers and authorities, obedient, ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarrelling, to be gentle and show perfect courtesy toward all people. Paul reminds them of what they were: foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration (palingenesia) and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs in hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying, and Titus is to insist on it, so that those who believe may be careful to devote themselves to good works.

3:9-15. Titus is to avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions and quarrels about the law, and to warn a divisive person once and then twice before having nothing more to do with him. Paul will send Artemas or Tychicus and asks Titus to join him at Nicopolis, where he plans to spend the winter. The letter closes with a last call for the church to devote itself to good works, to meet urgent needs and not be unfruitful.

Titus holds the strongest statements about salvation by grace in the Pastoral Epistles. Salvation is not by works of righteousness but by the mercy of God (3:5). It is received through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Spirit, and it results in justification and the hope of eternal life. The Trinity is clear in 3:4-6: God our Saviour, the Holy Spirit poured out, and Jesus Christ our Saviour.

The phrase 'washing of regeneration' is read in two ways. Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Anglican traditions often see here a reference to baptism as the means by which the Spirit gives new birth. Many Reformed, Baptist and evangelical writers read it as the cleansing and renewal of the Spirit that baptism signifies, without taking baptism itself as the cause. The text names the washing and the Spirit together; the traditions differ on how closely they bind sign and reality.

• The second teaching is that grace trains. The same grace that saves instructs believers to renounce ungodliness (2:11-12), so that salvation is joined to a changed life, but in the order of grace first, then works.
• The third is the church as a people for God's possession, who are to be known by good works to outsiders, including in the way they obey rulers (3:1) and live in households (2:1-10). The reputation of the gospel is at stake.
• The fourth is the importance of teaching and of leaders who can guard it.

Titus has two of the New Testament's compressed statements about Christ. In 2:13-14 he is called our great God and Saviour. This line, on the most natural reading of the Greek, calls Jesus God. The passage goes on to say what he did: he gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify a people for his own possession. This draws on Psalm 130:8, where the LORD will redeem Israel from all its iniquities, and on Exodus 19:5 and Ezekiel 37:23, where God's people are his treasured possession and are cleansed. Jesus does for the church what the LORD promised to do for Israel.

In 3:4-7 the loving kindness of God our Saviour appears, and the Spirit is poured out through Jesus Christ our Saviour. The outpouring of the Spirit fulfils the promise of Joel 2:28-29, which Peter proclaimed at Pentecost (Acts 2:17-18, 33). The passage ties the work of Christ to the giving of the Spirit and to justification, so that the heirs have hope of eternal life.

The title 'Saviour' is applied to the Father in 1:3, 2:10 and 3:4, and to Christ Jesus in 1:4, 2:13 and 3:6. The effect is to treat the saving work of Father and Son as one. The Old Testament calls the LORD Israel's saviour (Isaiah 43:11), and Titus does not hesitate to name Christ by the same title.