Titus

Purpose & theme

Titus is the third of the Pastoral Epistles, a compact and practical letter that Paul wrote to his trusted coworker Titus, whom he had left on the Mediterranean island of Crete to organize the young churches there. Its purpose is stated plainly at the outset: Titus is to “put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town” (1:5). Like 1 Timothy, the letter is concerned with sound doctrine and godly order, but its distinctive emphasis is the inseparable link between what we believe and how we live — between sound doctrine and good works. Again and again Paul insists that the grace of God, rightly understood, produces godly living, and that the goal of gospel truth is a people “zealous for good works” (2:14). Doctrine and life, faith and works, belong together.

The letter addresses the challenges of a difficult mission field. The Cretans had a poor reputation (Paul even quotes one of their own: “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons”), and false teachers were troubling the churches with Jewish myths and empty talk. So Paul directs Titus to appoint qualified elders who hold firm to sound doctrine, to silence the deceivers, and to teach each group in the church — older men and women, younger women and men, and slaves — how to live in a way that “adorns the doctrine of God our Savior” (2:10). The theological heart of the letter is two glorious passages on the grace of God. The first declares that “the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness... to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives,” as we await “our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (2:11-14). The second proclaims that God “saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (3:5). Titus thus holds together, beautifully, salvation by grace and a life devoted to good works.