Titus 1
1. Why is the book of Titus considered pastoral? Answer
2. Who is Titus and what was his relationship with Paul? Answer
3. When did Paul visit Titus on Crete? When did the apostle leave the island and what did he want Titus to do? Answer
4. Why did Paul feel the need to organize the Christians on Crete? Answer
5. How was Titus to select church leaders? Answer
6. Is it necessary for a church leader to be married and have children (verse 6)? Answer
7. Why does Paul call those who are church leaders "stewards of God?" Answer
8. What is a "striker" (verse 7)? Answer
9. What does Paul mean that an overseer ("bishop") should be sober? Answer
10. Who are those "of the circumcision" (verse 10)? Answer
11. How could false teachers subvert whole households (verse 11)? Answer
12. Where did Paul get his quote in Titus 1:12? Answer
13. What is Paul talking about in verse 14? What are the Jewish fables and commandments of men? Answer
14. What is the point being made in Titus 1:16? Answer
Titus 2
15. Titus 2:2 says older men should be "grave" and "temperate." What does this mean? Answer
16. What is "gravity" mentioned in Titus 2:7? Answer
17. What is Titus 2:10 trying to say? Answer
18. Why is Titus 2:11 important? Answer
19. From what Old Testament writings did Paul get the phrase "peculiar people" in Titus 2:14? Answer
Titus 3
20. Why is Titus 3:1 important? Answer
21. What is the point of Titus 3:9? Answer
22. What is a heretic and what does Paul recommended be done with such individuals? Answer
23. Where is Nicopolis located (Titus 3:12)? Answer
Titus 1 Answers
1. The three New Testament books considered pastorals or pastoral epistles are 1 and 2Timothy and Titus. They are given this label as they offer spiritual guidance directly to someone (Timothy / Titus) who had the responsibility of overseeing one or more churches.
These pastoral books contain qualifications for church leaders, the responsibilities overseers had to both God and those they serve, warnings about false teachers and teachings along with what to do about them, and so on.
2. Titus was a gentile (Greek) who likely, at the time of his conversion, lived in Syrian Antioch. Paul's labeling of Titus as "mine own son after the common faith" (Titus 1:4) highly suggests the apostle was instrumental in his becoming a Christian.
Titus accompanied Paul, Barnabas and others from Syrian Antioch to Jerusalem in order to settle the question of whether Gentile converts needed to be circumcised (Acts 15:1 - 2, Galatians 2:1).
During Paul's third missionary journey Titus was charged with delivering both 1 and 2Corinthians to the church at Corinth. The apostle vouched for his close working relationship with Titus when he wrote, "Whether any do enquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellowhelper concerning you . . . " (2Corinthians 8:23).
[Paul's Third Missionary Journey Map]
3. Apostle Paul, after being freed from prison in Rome, visited Titus on Crete in 63 A.D. Sometime before winter, however, Paul left Crete for Nicopolis (Titus 3:12, 15). Before he left he charged Titus to organize the many Christians on the island.
For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city . . . (Titus 1:5).
4. Christians existed on Crete before being visited by Paul or Titus. A group of Jewish Cretans were one of the many peoples who witnessed the amazing events on Pentecost in 30 A.D. (Acts 2:11). Those converted on Pentecost, and afterwards, no doubt spread the gospel on the island. Paul's instruction to anoint elders "in every city" (Titus 1:5) implies believers existed throughout Crete.
[Where Did Early Christians Live?]
The believers on Crete, however, lacked the organization to effectively grow and operate each fellowship "decently and in order" (2Corinthians 14:40). Paul wanted those on the island to be more firmly based on sound doctrine (see Titus 1:9, 2:1) so that they could grow spiritually. He also desired they would be able to better handle the false teachers and heresies that came their way (see Titus 1:10 - 11, 14, 3:9 - 11).
It should also be noted that the tone of Titus 1:5, where Paul felt the need to repeat the basic reason why he wanted his friend to remain on Crete, implies some resistance to this task by Titus.
5. Paul was not charging Titus to unilaterally, like a church hierarchy, pick leaders to serve each fellowship. Rather, like what was done to choose leaders in Jerusalem (Acts 6:1 - 4), Titus was to solicit the input of those Christians who would be served. He was to get recommendations on who had proven to be a mature believer and use that information to appoint leaders.
"Titus was to appoint leaders in every place where there was a group of believers. Probably the entire congregation selected these leaders with the encouragement of Titus. He had the official responsibility, as a representative of Paul, to appoint them to office." (Holman Concise Bible Commentary).
6. Paul's recommendation is that IF a man is married he should only have one wife and IF he has children they should be well-behaved. Titus 1:6, however, is not a prohibition against single, or even widowed, men from serving as overseers.
[Is It Better to be a Single Christian?]
[Being Single: The Forgotten Gift]
Paul himself was certainly not married from at least the time of his conversion (see 1Corinthians 9:5) and we have no record of him ever having children. It would make no sense for Paul to set up qualifications for a leader, such as requiring a man be married with children, which would disqualify his own ministry!
Paul, in fact, goes so far as to state that those Christians who are single and dedicated to serving God have a HIGHER calling than those who are married (1Corinthians 7:7 - 8, 27 - 28)!
7. A steward is someone who is charged to take care of something that does not belong to him. The Christians that compose the church of God belong to him with Jesus Christ the active head of the church. Paul wanted to impress on Titus that leaders were to carry out God's will for his church and not their own!
8. The Greek word translated as "striker" in the KJV of Titus 1:7 means someone who is combative, a brawler, a person who is contentious and quarrelsome.
9. Paul admonishes that not only overseers should be sober (Titus 1:8) but also older men (2:2), young women (2:4) and young men (2:6). The four different Greek words translated as "sober" are sophron (Strong's Concordance #G4998), nephaleos (#G3524), sophronizo (#G4994) and sophroneo (#G4993).
Only nephaleos, used in Titus 2:2 in relation to older male Christians, refers to either abstaining from or rarely imbibing wine. The other three uses of "sober" mean to possess a sound or sane mind and the ability to curb one's desires and impulses.
10. Those "of the circumcision" or circumcision party were Jewish Christians who strongly believed all Christians needed to be circumcised to be saved. Although this issue was debated and settled at the Jerusalem Conference of 49 A.D. (Acts 15), it was still a topic of debate and division fourteen years later when this letter was written.
[What Was the Jerusalem Conference?]
11. False teachers could subvert whole households because believers generally met in people's homes. Christians did not meet in buildings, like many do today, dedicated solely to the worship of God.
12. The quote used in Titus 1:12 was from Epimenides of Crete who was considered a sage and a teacher. He wrote this quote in the 6th century B.C.
13. The Jewish fables Paul is referencing in Titus 1:14 is also mentioned in 1Timothy 1:4. This may be referring to Jewish legends like the origin and propagation of angels, the belief in seven levels or parts of the heavens, or Jewish demonology such as the belief in Lilith, the queen of the demons.
Jesus referred to various "commandments of men" such as the ceremonial washing of hands before a meal or the practice of Corban which released people from supporting their elderly parents (Matthew 15:1 - 9). The Lord roundly condemned Jewish leaders for nullifying God's law by elevating their own traditions to be more binding than Scripture!
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men (Matthew 15:9).
14. Titus 1:16 shows that merely professing the belief in God is not enough! The demons also believe in one God but it does them no good since it is not followed by works (James 2:19, see also verses 14 - 20).
Paul's theme that true Christianity must include good works acceptable to God is repeated several times in this letter (Titus 1:8, 2:7, 14, 3:8, etc.).
Titus 2 Answers
15. The word "grave" used in Titus 2:2 comes from a Greek word (Strong's #G4586) meaning honorable or honest. The King James word "temperate" comes from the Greek (#G4998) meaning someone who has a sane or sound mind.
16. The word "gravity" in Titus 2:7 comes from the Greek (#G4587) meaning a person possessing honesty or reverence.
17. The 1611 English used to write the King James Bible can, for modern readers, prove tough to understand. A more modern translation of Titus 2:9 - 10 regarding the acceptable behavior of Christian slaves is the following.
[Why Is the Bible Hard to Read?]
Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive (Titus 2:9 - 10, NIV).
18. Titus 2:11 contradicts the Gnostic belief that salvation was available only to the enlightened.
19. The concept of a "peculiar people" is first introduced in the book of Exodus. Moses, after the Israelites camped at the foot of Mount Sinai, went up the mountain to talk to God. The Lord then told him to convey the following to his people.
Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine (Exodus 19:4 - 5).
God's goal of making the Israelites a peculiar people on the earth is also reiterated in Deuteronomy 14:2, 26:18 and Psalm 135:4.
Titus 3 Answers
20. Paul wrote to Titus to remind believers to obey civil authorities as Jews, throughout the Roman Empire at this time, were disposed to insubordination (Life and Epistles of St. Paul, pg. 762).
21. Paul warns his friend in Titus 3:9 to avoid discussing certain topics as they are a waste of time and lead to unanswerable questions and unnecessary strife. Paul warns to avoid such controversies in his two other pastoral epistles.
Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do (1Timothy 1:4, see also 6:4).
But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes (2Timothy 2:23).
[What Is Heresy and a Heretic?]
22. A heretic, in the Bible, is someone who promotes heresy. Biblical heresies are teachings that are contrary to the doctrines and beliefs firmly established in the Bible. They are contrary to the "faith once delivered" (Jude 1:3), meaning the truth given by Jesus to the twelve apostles and others (e.g. Paul) he specially inspired in the early New Testament church.
Paul's admonition to Titus is to warn a divisive person twice before entirely avoiding them.
[Roman Provinces in New Testament]
23. The city of Nicopolis was founded in 29 B.C. in a Roman region called Epirus. At the time of Paul's letter to Titus, the Epirus region was a part of the Roman province of Macedonia. Nicopolis itself was located on Macedonia's western shore.