Titus 1

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

Paul introduces himself as an apostle and writes a greeting to Titus, whom he left in Crete to organize unfinished matters and appoint elders in every town. Paul outlines the required qualifications for these overseers, stating they must be blameless, hospitable, disciplined, and able to hold firmly to the faithful word to refute opponents. He then describes various rebellious individuals and deceivers active in Crete who teach improper things for shameful gain, citing a local prophet's description of the Cretans. Paul instructs Titus to rebuke these disruptive people sternly so they become sound in the faith and ignore human commands and myths. Finally, he contrasts the pure with the defiled and unbelieving, whose minds and consciences are stained and who deny God through their actions while professing to know Him.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, ²in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began. ³In His own time He has made His word evident in the proclamation entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior. ⁴To Titus, my true child in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. ⁵The reason I left you in Crete was that you would set in order what was unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. ⁶An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, having children who are believers and who are not open to accusation of indiscretion or insubordination. ⁷As God’s steward, an overseer must be above reproach—not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not greedy for money. ⁸Instead, he must be hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. ⁹He must hold firmly to the faithful word as it was taught, so that he can encourage others by sound teaching and refute those who contradict it. ¹⁰For many are rebellious and full of empty talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision, ¹¹who must be silenced. For the sake of dishonorable gain, they undermine entire households and teach things they should not. ¹²As one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” ¹³This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sternly, so that they will be sound in the faith ¹⁴and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of men who have rejected the truth. ¹⁵To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled. ¹⁶They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.

Test this chapter

Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.