Titus 1
Lexham English Bible
Greeting
1 Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of the chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth that is according to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life which God, who does not lie, promised before eternal ages, 3 but at the proper time has disclosed his message in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the command of God our Savior, 4 to Titus, my true child according to a common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Instructions to Titus in Crete
5 On account of this, I left you behind in Crete, in order that what remains may be set in order and you may appoint elders in every town, as I ordered you. 6 If anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful[a] children, not accused of dissipation[b] or rebellious. 7 For it is necessary for the overseer to be blameless as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain, 8 but hospitable, loving what is good, prudent, just, devout, self-controlled, 9 holding fast to the faithful message according to the teaching, in order that he may be able both to exhort with sound instruction and to reprove those who speak against it.
10 For there are many rebellious people, idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 whom it is necessary to silence, whoever are ruining whole families by[c] teaching things which must not be taught for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 A certain one of them, one of their own prophets, has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true, for which reason reprove them severely, in order that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of people who turn away from the truth. 15 To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but both their mind and conscience are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him, because they[d] are detestable and disobedient, and unfit for every good deed.
Footnotes
- Titus 1:6 Or “believing”
- Titus 1:6 Literally “with an accusation of dissipation”
- Titus 1:11 Here “by” is supplied as a component of the participle (“teaching”) which is understood as means
- Titus 1:16 Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“are”) which is understood as causal
Titus 1
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
I. Address
Chapter 1
Greeting.[a] 1 Paul, a slave of God and apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God’s chosen ones and the recognition of religious truth,(A) 2 in the hope of eternal life that God, who does not lie, promised before time began,(B) 3 who indeed at the proper time revealed his word in the proclamation with which I was entrusted by the command of God our savior,(C) 4 to Titus, my true child in our common faith: grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior.(D)
II. Pastoral Charge
Titus in Crete. 5 [b]For this reason I left you in Crete so that you might set right what remains to be done and appoint presbyters in every town, as I directed you, 6 (E)on condition that a man be blameless, married only once, with believing children who are not accused of licentiousness or rebellious. 7 For a bishop as God’s steward must be blameless, not arrogant, not irritable, not a drunkard, not aggressive, not greedy for sordid gain, 8 but hospitable, a lover of goodness, temperate, just, holy, and self-controlled, 9 holding fast to the true message as taught so that he will be able both to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute opponents.(F) 10 [c]For there are also many rebels, idle talkers and deceivers, especially the Jewish Christians.[d] 11 It is imperative to silence them, as they are upsetting whole families by teaching for sordid gain what they should not. 12 One of them, a prophet of their own, once said, “Cretans have always been liars, vicious beasts, and lazy gluttons.”[e] 13 That testimony is true. Therefore, admonish them sharply, so that they may be sound in the faith,(G) 14 instead of paying attention to Jewish myths and regulations of people who have repudiated the truth.(H) 15 To the clean all things are clean, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is clean; in fact, both their minds and their consciences are tainted.(I) 16 They claim to know God, but by their deeds they deny him. They are vile and disobedient and unqualified for any good deed.
Footnotes
- 1:1–4 On the epistolary form, see note on Rom 1:1–7. The apostolate is the divinely appointed mission to lead others to the true faith and through it to eternal salvation (Ti 1:1–3).
- 1:5–9 This instruction on the selection and appointment of presbyters, substantially identical with that in 1 Tm 3:1–7 on a bishop (see note there), was aimed at strengthening the authority of Titus by apostolic mandate; cf. Ti 2:15. In Ti 1:5, 7 and Acts 20:17, 28, the terms episkopos and presbyteros (“bishop” and “presbyter”) refer to the same persons. Deacons are not mentioned in Titus. See also note on Phil 1:1.
- 1:10–16 This adverse criticism of the defects within the community is directed especially against certain Jewish Christians, who busy themselves with useless speculations over persons mentioned in the Old Testament, insist on the observance of Jewish ritual purity regulations, and thus upset whole families by teaching things they have no right to teach; cf. Ti 3:9; 1 Tm 1:3–10.
- 1:10 Jewish Christians: literally, “those of the circumcision.”
- 1:12 Cretans…gluttons: quoted from Epimenides, a Cretan poet of the sixth century B.C.
Titus 1
New King James Version
Greeting
1 Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and (A)the acknowledgment of the truth (B)which accords with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life which God, who (C)cannot lie, promised before time began, 3 but has in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior;
4 To (D)Titus, a true son in our common faith:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and [a]the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.
Qualified Elders
5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should (E)set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you— 6 if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, (F)having faithful children not accused of [b]dissipation or insubordination. 7 For a [c]bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, (G)not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, 8 but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, 9 holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.
The Elders’ Task
10 For there are many insubordinate, both idle (H)talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, (I)for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 (J)One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. (K)Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not giving heed to Jewish fables and (L)commandments of men who turn from the truth. 15 (M)To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. 16 They profess to (N)know God, but (O)in works they deny Him, being [d]abominable, disobedient, (P)and disqualified for every good work.
Footnotes
- Titus 1:4 NU Christ Jesus
- Titus 1:6 debauchery, lit. incorrigibility
- Titus 1:7 Lit. overseer
- Titus 1:16 detestable
Titus 1
EasyEnglish Bible
Paul says ‘Hello’ to Titus
1 This letter is from me, Paul. I am God's servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. God has sent me to help the people that he has chosen. I teach them to understand his true message and to trust him. As a result they will live in a way that pleases God. 2 They will also be sure that they will live with God for ever. Before the world began, God promised that his people would have life with him. And God never tells lies. 3 God is the one who saves us. Now, at the proper time, he has made his message clear. He has given his message to me so that I can tell it to people. That is what he has told me to do.
4 I am writing to you, Titus. I told you the message about Jesus and now we both believe in him. So you are like my own child.
I pray that God, the Father, and Christ Jesus, our Saviour, will continue to help you. I pray that they will give you peace in your mind.
Titus's work in Crete
5 I left you in Crete so that you could finish certain things. You should make right some things that were wrong. And you should choose leaders of the believers in every town, as I told you.
6 This is what a leader in the church must be like. Nobody should have a reason to say that he has done something wrong. He must be the husband of only one wife. He must have children who respect him. Nobody should say that they enjoy bad things or that they do not obey their parents.[a] 7 A leader in the church serves the believers on God's behalf. Because of that, nobody should have a reason to say that the leader has done anything wrong. A leader must not be proud. He must not become angry easily. He should not like to drink too much wine. He must not be someone who likes to fight. He must not want to get a lot of money for himself. 8 Instead, he must be happy to have visitors in his home. He must want to do good things. He must be careful in how he lives. He must do what is right. He must want to serve God well. He must control himself well.
9 A leader in the church must continue to believe the true message very well. That is the message which we have taught. Then he will be able to teach people what is true and right. He will also show that people who speak against the true message are wrong.
10 I say this because there are many people who refuse to obey their leaders. They speak about useless things and they deceive people. Many of them want the believers to obey all the Jewish rules.[b] 11 You must stop those people from teaching false things like that. They are causing whole families to believe their lies. They teach things that they should not teach. They deceive people because they want people to give them money. 12 Many years ago, there was a certain man who lived on Crete. The people there called him their prophet. Even he said, ‘People who live on Crete are always telling lies and doing wicked things. They are lazy and they eat too much food.’
13 What that man said is true. So you must warn the people there. Help them to believe the true message about Jesus more and more. 14 They must not listen to Jewish stories that are not true, or to human rules. Those things are the ideas of people who refuse to obey God's true message.
15 If someone is clean and good inside, everything is clean and good for them to enjoy. But if someone is not a believer and has an unclean mind, nothing is clean or good for that person. Their minds no longer think properly. They no longer feel guilty when they do something wrong. 16 People like that say that they know God. But they do disgusting things. This shows that they do not know him. They are completely bad. They refuse to obey God. They are not able to do anything good.
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