EPISTLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
TITUS
Titles
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1:1 Paul, a servant...and apostle 1:4 Titus...son 1:4 God the Father 1:4 Christ Jesus our Savior 1:5 elders 1:7 an overseer 3:1 rulers |
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Crete
is an island equally distant from the coasts of today's Lebanon and Turkey in
the Mediterranean Sea. It is 156
miles long, and only 7-30 miles wide.
It is quite mountainous, rising to 8,193 feet at Mt. Ida, the
mythological birthplace of Zeus.
Crete was also noted for its fresco painting in cement, embossed
metalwork and stone statues. It had
no temples. The Cretans spent a great
deal of time attacking each other, possibly because they were of so many
varying nationalities. Cretan men
often hired out as mercenary soldiers, sailors, and archers. Paul went to Crete only by accident. Paul and Aristarchus of Thessalonica were
headed as prisoner to Rome (Acts 27:2; Col. 4:10; Philem. 24) aboard a prison
ship, accompanied by Luke ("we" in Acts 27:2) and Titus, possibly
others. They transferred to an
Egyptian ship sailing for Italy. The
November winds were against them (Acts 27:1-5). They veered off course and ended up at Crete. They finally stopped at the harbour of
Fair Havens. Apparently Paul did some preaching the few hours they
were there. Although the Acts account
does not tell about it, Paul said in his letter to Titus, "The reason I
left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished
and appoint elders in every town as I directed you." Paul apparently warned Titus not to try to go with them
to the other harbour because of the ship wreck he knew would come. The ship never made it to the nearby
harbor, but rather was blown out to open sea by a hurricane (Acts 27:9-16)
where it wandered the Mediterranean for two weeks (Acts 27:27), ending in a
shipwreck (Acts 27:41). How Titus
must have prayed. Paul spent two
years in prison (Acts 28:30). Titus was never mentioned in Acts, and yet he worked
closely with Paul. He was a Gentile
(Gal. 2:1,3) converted by Paul (Titus 1:4), possibly somewhere in Galatia,
and went with him to Jerusalem to settle whether or not Gentiles had to be
circumcised (Gal. 2:1-3). He then
went with Paul to Ephesus, and was later sent to Corinth with Paul's letter
to them about their worldly childishness (2 Cor. 7:6-9; 8:6; 12:18). After visiting Corinth, Titus went to
Macedonia to rejoin Paul who had been eagerly looking for him at Troas to
find out how the church at Corinth had received his first letter (2 Cor.
2:12-13 and Acts 20:6-7). Then Paul
sent Titus back to Corinth with his second letter and to collect their
donation for the poor Christians in Judea (2 Cor. 8:6,16-18). It seems the worldliness at Corinth that Titus was able
to get under control was present in Crete also. So Paul told Titus to get that under control too. Paul said the Jewish Cretans were
rebellious, mere talkers, and deceivers (Titus 1:10). "Their own poet" said
"Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons" (Titus
1:12). Indeed Epimenides, had called his people "wild beasts," Livy
attacked their avarice, Polybius their ferocity, fraud and habitual lying. Paul's letter to Titus was written probably as soon as
Paul was released from prison and had gone to Colossae to regroup (Philemon
22). He called himself "an old
man" in his letter to Philemon (v. 9), and he'd just escaped death, but
knew he would die one way or the other in the foreseeable future. He also knew he had to hand more and more
responsibility over to those he'd trained.
He planned to send Artemas or Tychicus to Crete with his letter. Paul asked that Titus now leave and meet
him at Nicopolis, straight north from Crete near Philippi, Macedonia and
today's Bulgaria (Titus 1:12,13). |
1:3 God's "appointed
season" to bring the gospel is an interesting study. Mankind had to prove to itself no law
anywhere could make us perfect. When we
could finally admit that, we were ready for Jesus. Even then, it is still hard to admit.
1:4 Notice, although Paul
identified himself by his title in verse 1, he did not have a title for
Titus. He is just called my true
________________________. Yet church
historians dare to add to this and call him the bishop of Crete.
1:5 Titus was to appoint what
in every town?
___________________________ What
about a separate head bishop? ________
1:6 Must an elder have a
husband or have a wife?
_________________________ His
children must be about how old?
_________________________ His
children also must not be ______________________________ and
_________________________________________
1:7 The word elder is
interchangeable with what other title? _____________________________
Your footnote says this
title is also translated what?
_______________________________
He must not be:
*
*
*
*
*
1:8 Should he be aloof from
the congregation?
_____________________________
1:9 An elder/overseer must
know the gospel well enough he can encourage others and ________________________________________
those who _________________________________ it.
1:10 Within the congregation,
the elders must be able to silence and/or change what kind of people?
*
*
*
1:11 What motives do such rebellious
teachers have?
_________________________________________
1:14 Some will even try to
command Christians to reject the ______________________________
1:16 Such teachers
________________ to know God, but by their ____________________________ they
deny him. Such teachers are
___________________________________, ______________________________________ and
unfit for doing anything _____________________________.
2:2 Notice, there is a
difference between older men with the qualifications spelled out (elders) and
older men who just have lived longer.
The same can be said of servants with the qualifications spelled out
(deacons) and Christians who serve others.
2:3 Older women are not to be
_____________________________________.
2:4 Older women are to teach
who? _________________________________
2:5 Younger women are to be
busy where?
_____________________________________________________
2:2,5,6 What one trait is commanded
of older men, younger women and young men?
2:9,10 Slaves are not to
_______________________________ back to their masters or to
___________________________ from them.
Could this also apply to employees?
__________________
2:11 Everyone has to submit to
someone; but it is not demeaning, for __________________________________________________
has appeared to _______________________.
2:12 What are we to say to
ungodliness? _______________
3:1 What kind of rulers and
authorities are we supposed to be subject to?
___________________________________________
3:2 We are to
_____________________________ no one, but show true
_________________________________ toward ______ men.
3:3 Before being saved, we
were hated and _________________________________ one another.
3:5 God saved us through the
_______________________________________ of rebirth. How do we become a "new (reborn) man?" (See Romans 6:4 & 8) __________________________________________
3:8 Therefore, Christians are
to ____________________________ themselves to doing ____________________.
3:9 We are to avoid
*
*
*
*
because it is
unprofitable and useless.
3:10 What kind of person is the
church to have nothing to do with after two warnings? _________________________________ People who divide the church with their controversies are
_________________________________ and sinful.
3:14 Devoting ourselves to
doing good includes working to provide for one's daily necessities.