Salutation

1 Paul, a servant^[a] of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that is in accordance with godliness, ² in the hope of eternal life that God, who never lies, promised before the ages began— ³ in due time he revealed his word through the proclamation with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior,

⁴ To Titus, my loyal child in the faith we share:

Grace^[b] and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Titus in Crete

⁵ I left you behind in Crete for this reason, so that you should put in order what remained to be done, and should appoint elders in every town, as I directed you: ⁶ someone who is blameless, married only once,^[c] whose children are believers, not accused of debauchery and not rebellious. ⁷ For a bishop,^[d] as God’s steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or addicted to wine or violent or greedy for gain; ⁸ but he must be hospitable, a lover of goodness, prudent, upright, devout, and self-controlled. ⁹ He must have a firm grasp of the word that is trustworthy in accordance with the teaching, so that he may be able both to preach with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it.

Some Sayings of Jesus

17 Jesus^[a] said to his disciples, “Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! ² It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. ³ Be on your guard! If another disciple^[b] sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. ⁴ And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.”

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” ⁶ The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a^[c] mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.