Thoughts on Titus – Part 1
TIT 1:1 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
Here are some marks of a true servant of God. What he does and what he believes and what he acknowledges that is true is according to the faith. And the truth that he acknowledges and teaches and follows is after godliness.
Godliness is a life that is lived in careful observance of the laws of God. It is living with love and reverence for God and his commands. Jesus said if ye love me keep my commandments. Love and obedience are tied together.
To walk with godliness means that you are following after and walking in what the Bible teaches. Doing that which is against what the Bible teaches is the opposite and is ungodliness. Paul was a true servant of God and what he did and taught was according to the faith which is defined in the Bible and Paul lived and taught the truth which is defined in the Bible.
There are many people today who claim to be a servant of God. Do not just take their word for it. Examine what they do, how they live, and what they teach. If it does not line up with the Bible, then they are not a servant of God. An example would be many Methodists with their rainbow flags. Or people who teach that you cannot know that you are saved. The examples are almost endless today. The sad reality is that in our day and age there are more false servants than there are real servants of God. To know the difference you need to know the Bible for yourself so that you can discern when someone is teaching error.
TIT 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
There are some things that God cannot do, and one of them is listed in this verse. God cannot lie. It is not that He can resist lying or that He chooses not to lie. No, it is He cannot lie. It is simply not possible. So when God promises eternal life if you believe in Jesus then you can count on it.
1Jo 5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; [and] he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
And not only did God promise eternal life but He did it before the world began. Before creation God knew that man would fall and He had a plan to redeem man. Jesus going to the cross was not an afterthought. It was planned from the very beginning. Jesus knew that He would go to the cross before He created and knowing that did not stop Him from creating. His love for you did not come later. He loved you before He laid the foundations of the earth. He knew the price He would have to pay, but His Love said it is worth it.
We should never doubt the Love of God.
TIT 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
TIT 1:3 But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
God promised eternal life before the world began. And the way that God ordained for that promise to be manifested to the world is thru preaching. Biblical preaching is simply proclaiming what God has said. It is not telling jokes and entertaining stories. Christians were commanded by Jesus before He ascended to proclaim His word to the whole world. Our place is to simply proclaim it. God uses this and He is the one thru His Holy Spirit that makes the truth manifest. God is the one who opens eyes and brings conviction. God is the only one that can work in the hearts of men.
What was committed to Paul and is also committed to all of God’s preachers today is to just simply say what God has already said. Just simply proclaim God’s Word in faith and let God do the real work of making the truth of it manifest to the hearers.
TIT 1:4 To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
The common faith. Words have meanings plural. Not meaning singular. That is why dictionaries have meaning 1 meaning 2 meaning 3. What determines the meaning is the context. The word common can mean common as is ordinary of no superior excellence. Common can mean universal as in belonging to all. Those meanings definitely do not fit the context. Common can also mean something two or more people share. They have the same thing in common. That is the meaning here.
Titus was Paul own son in the faith. Paul was a father figure to Titus in the faith. He cared about Titus and taught him and guided him like a father does his son. And they shared the same faith. Paul says the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. They were both saved. They believed in the same Jesus that saved both of their souls from hell.
The faith that Paul and Titus had in common was the faith in Jesus. The Jesus who existed before time began. The Jesus who created everything. The Jesus who is God manifested in the flesh. The Jesus who was sinless and went to the cross to pay for our sin. The Jesus who rose 3 days later and taught His disciples for 40 days and then ascended back to Heaven and sits on the throne. The Jesus who gave Christians the great commission to get the Gospel to everyone. The Jesus who said He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
And anyone who does not have faith in that Jesus does not share the same faith that Paul and Titus had. Their faith is something else and they do not have faith in common with true believers.
TIT 1:5 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:
The reason Paul left Titus in Crete is clearly given here. There were some people who heard the gospel and had gotten saved. That is great. But after salvation Christians have a life to live and there is work that needs to be done. More people need to be told the Gospel. And the great commission does not stop with getting people saved. It also includes baptizing them and then teaching them all things that Jesus commanded.
And for that to be done well there needs to be some leadership and there needs to be some order. When Paul writes set in order the things that are wanting, that tells us that there is a standard. And they were not measuring up to that standard. If they were up to standard then there would be nothing to set in order.
And to fix that Paul instructs Titus to ordain elders in every city. That means that the leader is the one who is responsible for getting things working like God would have them.
Being the person who is responsible for leading and getting a group of believers to press toward the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus is a huge responsibility.
To lead people to follow a standard that God would have you also have to be following some standards. Do as I say and not as I do never works. In fact you need to be held to a higher standard than those you lead. And that why Paul goes into what the standards are for the leaders of Churches.
These are not suggestions. These are not good tips. These are not a list of some things that might be helpful. These are God’s standards for the job of leading a church.
TIT 1:6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
The husband of one wife. O’ some get mad at this one. If that is you, you are actually mad at God because it is His standard. The pastor of any local church is to be a man. This does not mean that a woman cannot open her mouth in the church house. God had Mary be the one that spoke to a group of Christians and announce that Jesus had risen. A solid Bible study rule is for any matter of faith and practice you need 2 witnesses from the Bible. You also cannot have contradictory witnesses in the Bible.
And since we are in the New Testament age you never bring a practice out of the Old Testament without New Testament authority. So you cannot use Deborah to try to cancel out this New Testament standard of the leader of the church is to be a man. Another witness in the Bible is that every leader that Jesus chose when He walked the earth was male. Every leader that Paul and others chose were also male. There was not one woman chosen to be the leader of a church in the New Testament.
This in no way means that women were not heavily involved. There are many examples and many of them are mentioned by Paul in the end of his epistles. There is also the husband and wife team of Aquila and Pricilla who explained the word of God to Apollos more clearly. Some will take Titus 1:6 and take it too far and teach the error that a woman is not to open her mouth in the church. That is not Biblical. Titus 1:6 is teaching that the pastors and leaders of local churches is to be a man. It is one of the qualifications that God gave for the job.
Another qualification for being a leader in the church is having faithful children who are well behaved. It does not say perfect. If that was the qualification then no one could be a pastor, but a pastor needs to have his children under control.
TIT 1:7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
Blameless does not mean sinless. It does not mean never making a mistake. The context here is that he is blameless as the steward of God. That he is not self-willed. And instead of doing what he wants and pursuing his will the pastor is to be doing what God wants and pursing God’s will.
And that means that the Pastor is to not be quick to anger and not drinking booze and not violent and cannot be given to greed. He cannot be in it for the money.
TIT 1:8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
The pastor needs to actually love people and he needs to be just. That means he judges situations and deals with problems in a just manner. I have seen many Pastors fail in this. They will deal one way with the people in their click and for the same issue judge totally different for those not in his click. This is a real problem in our day.
Sober here is not talking about not being drunk. It is talking about being serious. And he is to be holy. That means separated unto God.
TIT 1:9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
And the Pastor to be qualified must hold fast the faithful word. This right here disqualifies most of the pastors in America. The number of pastors today who do not believe God’s word and hold fast to it is staggering. I have often thought how terrible it must be to have to stand up and preach a Bible that you do not have faith in. Many do just that and some of them are only doing it for a paycheck.
In these verses we have the main qualifications for the leadership positions in local churches. And these qualifications are for both those in the position of pastor but also for any in leadership positions like associate pastor or youth pastors. In another section of scripture you will have qualifications for a deacon and many of the same qualifications listed here also are listed in their qualifications.
Any leadership position in a local church is a very serious matter and should only be done according to the qualifications set by God. After all it is His church. He died for it and He is God and He knows best and He has the right to make the rules.
TIT 1:9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
TIT 1:10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
The word of God is faithful. It can be trusted. My Lord did preserve it as He promised. The KJV is translated from the preserved line of manuscripts. Other translations come from other corrupted manuscripts and have different levels of errors and changes. God does allow man to have a free will and He does allow wicked men to make corrupt translations. And He does allow Christians to have a free will after they get saved and He will allow them to go with corrupted translations. God never promised to destroy corrupt manuscripts. What He promised was to preserve His faithful word. And He has.
And the pastor is to use the faithful word which is what gives us sound doctrine. He is to use the Bible to confront people and convince them of the truth. Vain talkers and deceivers use all kinds of feelings and reasoning’s and strange thinking and deception and lies. The pastor is not to stoop to their level or operate like them. He is to stick with using the faithful word.
False teachers are to be called out and confronted.
TIT 1:11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.
False teachers do a lot of damage and hurt a lot of people. They can and do subvert entire families away from the truth. They teach things that they should not teach. And a motivation here is given for many false teachers. They do it for the money.
TIT 1:12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
TIT 1:13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
The pastor is to rebuke them sharply, but notice the reason. It is not to be mean. The primary reason is so that they might learn and turn from their wicked way and become sound in the faith. If they do repent and get saved and learn that is a wonderful thing. If they do not, then they have been told the truth and people have been warned.
One of the things that false teachers use is the commandments of men and the traditions of men that turn from the truth.
TIT 1:14 Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
The pastor is not to give any credibility to those things. Things like purgatory, last rites, confession to men, buying indulgences, praying to others instead of to God directly. The faithful word of God is the truth. The Bible is sound doctrine. Anything that is taught that goes against God’s word is to be rejected called out and warned against.
TIT 1:15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
To those whose mind and conscience is defiled nothing is pure. To those that do not believe and therefore are lost nothing is pure. They can even be doing all kinds of good things that are in the bible but to no avail. There will be no rewards for it. Why? Because their heart is wrong. Man looks on the outward, but God looks on the inward. If you are living in sin, your mind and conscience are defiled. You need to get that fixed first.
TIT 1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
The Bible is not talking about people here that deny God’s existence. It is talking about people who profess that they know God. They say that they are believers. They say that they have accepted Christ. However, they deny Him. How? It says by their works they deny Him. They deny Him by being abominable, and disobedient. I have met many who claim to be saved but they will not go to church. They are being disobedient because God tells us to go (Heb 10:25). They don’t give, they don’t love others, and they don’t follow God’s command to live a holy life. They touch all kinds of unclean things, like booze, rock music, watching fornication or even being involved in it, ect…
There are others who put on a much better face. But since they are not saved all their works they do are stained with sin and none of it will count. The works they do are abominable because they are done in pride and disobedience to God command to believe repent and accept Jesus as savior. Nothing for them is pure because they do not believe and do not have Christ.
TIT 2:1 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
TIT 2:2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
The Gospel of Jesus and proclaiming it and seeking the lost is job number one. The great commission starts with this. But after seeing someone saved and baptized Jesus then instructed that they should be taught all things that He has commanded. And that would include how Christians are to live.
Men are to be taught to be sober and grave. They are to take life seriously and deal with the issues of life in a serious manner. Everything is not a joke to be laughed off. And men are to be sound in faith and in charity and patience. Charity is Christian love in action. Verse 2 is describing older Christian men who have learned and have seen their faith grow and who are walking with Jesus.
They are to be a walking example for the younger men to look up to and who will endeavor to grow and become what the older men are. Pastors are to preach about this and get their men to understand how Jesus wants them to live.
And the Pastor is also to teach the women how they should live.
TIT 2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
TIT 2:4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
TIT 2:5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
And we see the same thing. The older women are also to be serious about life and they are to be examples that the younger women look up to. The older women are to be involved in teaching the younger women how to be serious about the issues of life and how to love their families.
And an important impact of this is mentioned here. That the word of God be not blasphemed. When the world sees women who talk the talk and say they are Christian but they do not walk the walk it brings shame to the cause of Christ and causes the lost to say horrible things about Christians and about the word of God. How Christians life and how they conduct themselves is actually of major importance.
And Paul does not leave out the young men. He is to be actively involved in teaching them as well.
TIT 2:6 Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
I have seen some pastors who were mainly only concerned about 1 group. One pastor that comes to mind was only superficially concerned with the Old people. His focus and most of all his attention and energy only went to the young. Other pastors hire a youth pastor and put their focus on the married couples. That is not the way God’s word says it is to be. The pastor is to be involved in, concerned about, and teaching all ages how Jesus would have them to live.
Paul has already set forth many of the qualifications of being a leader of a local church and now Paul goes more into how a pastor is to behave.
TIT 2:7 In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,
In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works. In all things and pattern of good works. So a pastor is to be doing good works. And not just a few times a year, it is to be a lifelong pattern. It should be a normal thing that he is doing. When people see him doing good works they should think well that is normal.
It is sad to say but I had a pastor once that said it is not my job and he said it about more than one thing, from soul winner to helping the poor. He thought that his job was to stay in his office and that doing was for those in the pew who were beneath him. It should be fairly obvious that he never really read Titus.
TIT 2:8 Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.
The pastor is to be careful about what he says. He is to carry himself in a way that people have no evil thing to say about him. The enemies of Christ might still say evil things but it is to be all made up in their imaginations. The pastor is to live in a way that no valid evil thing can be said about him.
TIT 2:9 Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;
TIT 2:10 Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
This is not a validation of Slavery. God put commands against that early on in His word. In fact twice in the Ten Commandments alone. Thou shalt not steal. And thou shalt not covet. Making someone a slave breaks both of those.
And God put a death penalty on those who steal men and sell them into slavery.
Deu_24:7 If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from among you.
God clearly calls slavery evil.
TIT 2:9 Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;
TIT 2:10 Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
Verses 9 and 10 are not directed to the evil slave owners. They are directed to the believer in Jesus who had this evil done to him. The instruction to him is to live for Jesus. He is to rise above and walk with Jesus and put on the teaching of Jesus in all areas.
How a Christian lives is very important. And a Christian is to live the way Jesus instructs regardless of even the worst circumstances.