LETTER TO A TRUSTED FRIEND TITUS LETTER TO A TRUSTED FRIEND

WHO WAS TITUS? A trusted co-worker of Paul’s Mentioned 12 times in NT (9 in 2 Cor.) but never in Acts, so all we know is from Paul’s letters Paul calls him “my true child in a common faith” (1:4) A Greek who remained uncircumcised as a test-case for the gospel (Gal 2:3) Paul left him on island of Crete to strengthen the church (1:5) Apparently later rejoined Paul at Nicopolis (3:12) Went to Dalmatia shortly before Paul’s death (2 Tim. 4:10)

EUSEBIUS’ WORDS re TITUS Eusebius was a 4th-Century church historian; said Titus returned to Crete & served as a bishop there Note at end of KJV (authorship unknown) probably reflects Eusebius’ words: “It was written to Titus, ordained the first bishop of the church of the Cretans, from Nicopolis of Macedonia.” Anachronistic statement, since single-bishop rule did not occur in 1st Century A.D., but was a 2nd-Cent. development Contradicts Paul’s instructions to “appoint elders in every town” (1:5). Paul uses “overseer” (“bishop”) interchangeably with “elder” (1:7)

THE LETTER Cretan church may have been recently established, since no elders/overseers Paul knew Titus faced a big challenge, so wrote to encourage him & to send specific instructions for the church Not certain when Paul left Titus at Crete; only reference to his going there is Acts 27:7, on voyage to Rome Establishment of Cretan church not recorded, but Acts 2:11 may provide a clue. (If so, the church was not of recent origin) Time of writing somewhere between A.D. 61 & 67. Nothing in the letter says Paul was in prison; 3:12 suggests he was not

MAJOR THEMES The importance of leadership as a deterrent to unhealthy doctrine Christian living as a complement to sound doctrine God & Jesus as “our Savior”

LESSONS FOR TODAY Every church needs Godly _________ who will stand against false & foolish teaching. It is the responsibility of every Christian to “____________ the doctrine” by living a Godly life. God’s grace not only _________ us, it also ___________ us. Those who insist on creating ___________ must be dealt with through church discipline.