Titus

3 Chapters

Titus: The Whole Book, Chapter by Chapter

Chapter 1

A Faithful Word Needs Trustworthy Stewards

Titus 1 begins before church organization and ends after religious profession has been put on trial. Paul first joins truth to godliness and hope to the promise of a God who cannot lie, which makes the chapter's later concern with deceptive teachers more than a personnel problem. Titus must appoint elders in every city, but the office belongs to stewards whose household conduct, temper, appetites, hospitality, and grasp of the faithful word all matter. The same households leaders are expected to manage well are being unsettled by vain talkers and deceivers. Even Paul's severe use of a Cretan quotation is aimed at a stated end: that those rebuked may become sound in the faith. The closing lines expose the deepest contradiction. Some profess to know God while their works deny the profession. Titus 1 therefore refuses to let doctrine and conduct travel separately.

One complete chapter pageOpen chapter →

Chapter 2

Grace Becomes the Teacher of an Ordinary Life

Titus 2 takes sound doctrine out of the abstract and walks it through age, household, teaching, and social position. Older men are addressed, older women become teachers of what is good, younger women are formed through those relationships, and younger men receive a concise call to sober-mindedness. Titus does not supervise this from a safe distance. His own works, doctrine, seriousness, sincerity, and speech are part of the instruction. The chapter also speaks directly to enslaved people without disguising their condition as modern employment, while still treating their fidelity as significant to the doctrine of God our Saviour. Then comes the theological center: grace has appeared, and grace teaches. Present life is framed between the saving appearance already given and the glorious appearing still awaited. Christ's self-giving aims at a people who belong to him and are zealous of good works. The chapter's ethics are therefore not an appendix to grace. They are presented as grace's training in ordinary life.

One complete chapter pageOpen chapter →

Chapter 3

Mercy Received, Good Work Maintained

Titus 3 brings the letter's theology into public conduct, memory, controversy, and travel arrangements. Submission to authorities is joined to readiness for every good work, restraint in speech, gentleness, and meekness toward all. The reason is not that believers come from a naturally superior class. Paul includes himself in the former foolishness, deception, lust, malice, envy, and mutual hatred from which the chapter turns. The turning point is God's kindness and love, and salvation is explicitly grounded in mercy rather than righteous works already performed. Regeneration, renewal by the Holy Ghost, justification by grace, and hope of eternal life describe the rescue. Yet the chapter quickly returns to maintaining good works, distinguishing the basis of salvation from the life it produces. Fruitful teaching is then contrasted with endless disputes, and even correction of a divisive person is given a limit. The final travel instructions make the letter's favorite phrase tangible: good works include meeting actual needs so people can continue their journeys without lack.

One complete chapter pageOpen chapter →