Chapters
Introduction
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).