TITUS 1 — APPOINTING ELDERS AND CONFRONTING FALSE TEACHERS

Titus is the third of the Pastoral Epistles, written by Paul to a trusted coworker who had been left in charge of the churches on the island of Crete. Titus was a Gentile convert who had never been circumcised (Galatians 2:1–3), and he had served Paul as a troubleshooter and delegate, most notably in Corinth (2 Corinthians 7:5–16; 8:6, 16–23). The letter was probably written between Paul's first and second Roman imprisonments, around AD 63–65, after a ministry on Crete that Acts does not describe, and it was likely sent from Macedonia or somewhere on the way to Nicopolis (3:12). Crete was a large Mediterranean island with many cities, and its people had a reputation in the ancient world for dishonesty and indulgence. The churches that had come into existence there were young and disorganized, they lacked established leadership, and they faced opposition from false teachers, some of whom were Jewish believers who promoted ritual observance and speculation. The letter's three short chapters give instructions on church order (chapter 1), on the way sound doctrine shapes every group in the community (chapter 2), and on the connection between grace, good works, and the conduct of believers in society (chapter 3). The central theme, repeated throughout, is that the gospel of grace produces godliness and good works.

Paul's quotation of Epimenides is an example of a feature of his approach to the pagan world: he knew its literature and used it to make a point, as he did in his sermon at Athens when he quoted the poets Epimenides and Aratus (Acts 17:28). The reputation of the Cretans is confirmed by other ancient writers. Polybius, a Greek historian of the second century BC, described the Cretans as greedy and treacherous, and Plutarch used the verb "to cretize" for lying. The use of a pagan source by an apostle shows that Christianity was not ignorant or fearful of the culture around it, though it was not captive to it. The existence of a Christian community on Crete is also supported by later evidence. Dionysius, bishop of Corinth around AD 170, wrote a letter to the church in Gortyn, the capital of Crete, and Eusebius preserves a tradition that Titus served as the first bishop of the island. The remains of an early Christian basilica at Gortyn dedicated to Titus show the local importance of his memory. The overall setting of the letter, a young church struggling with false teaching and lack of leadership, matches what we know about the first generation of Christians. The authenticity of the Pastoral Epistles is accepted by the early church, and in Titus the details about Crete, Nicopolis, Artemas, Zenas, and Apollos are examples of the personal and historical details that point to a real author writing in a real situation.