Titus (A Companion of Paul)
There are several questions that this article will attempt to answer about Paul's companion and friend, Titus. Thus the first section is titled:
Titus (A Companion of Paul)
Titus was an early church leader, a trusted companion of the Apostle Paul, and a faithful servant of the Lord. Paul the Apostle is mentioned in several Pauline epistles, including the Epistle to Titus, and according to tradition, he was consecrated as Bishop of the Island of Crete.
Titus was a Gentile (Galatians 2:3) who was led to faith in Christ by Paul (Titus 1:4). He was drawn to the ministry and became a co-worker with Paul, accompanying him and Barnabas from Antioch to Jerusalem (Titus is included in the "other believers" of Acts 15:2). At the Jerusalem Council, Titus would have been a prime example of a born-again Gentile Christian. Titus was living proof that the rite of circumcision was unnecessary for salvation (Galatians 2:3).
Later, Titus went to Corinth to serve the church there (2 Corinthians 8:6, 16-17).
On Paul's third missionary journey, which took place from A.D. 53 to 57, Paul arrived in Troas and expected to meet Titus there (2 Corinthians 2:12-13). Not finding his friend, Paul left for Macedonia. Titus rejoined Paul in Philippi and gave him a good report of the ministry in Corinth (2 Corinthians 7:6-7, 13-14). When Titus returned to Corinth, he hand-delivered the Epistle of 2 Corinthians and organized a collection for needy saints in Jerusalem (2 Corinthians 8:10, 17, 24).
Later, in Crete, Titus appointed presbyters (elders) in every city and remained there into his old age, dying in Gortyna, near the city of Candia (modern Heraklion).
Several years later, Titus and Paul traveled to the island of Crete, where Titus was left behind to continue and strengthen the work. Titus's task was primarily administrative: he maintained sound doctrine and "straightened out what was left unfinished and appointed presbyters (elders) in every town" (Titus 1:5). When Artemas and Tychicus arrived in Crete to direct the ministry, Paul summoned Titus to join him in Nicopolis, a city in the province of Achaia in western Greece (Titus 3:12).
The last mention of Titus in the Bible indicates that he was with Paul during Paul's final Roman imprisonment. From Rome, Titus was sent to evangelize Dalmatia (2 Timothy 4:10), an area which later became known as Yugoslavia and is now called Serbia and Montenegro.
As a Gentile Christian, Titus would have been particularly effective in combating the heresy of the Judaizers. The Judaizers insisted that the Mosaic Law bound all Christians. Usually, the Judaizers honed in on circumcision: Gentiles must be circumcised, they said, in order to truly be saved (see Paul's refutation of this teaching in Galatians 5:1-6 ). Titus knew this teaching well, for the subject had come up in Syrian Antioch, leading to the Jerusalem Council, of which he had been a member.
Titus was a faithful servant of the Lord and a dedicated aide to Paul. Since Paul appointed him to the leadership in Corinth, Crete, and Dalmatia, he must have been trustworthy and dependable. Indeed, Paul calls him "my partner and fellow worker" (2 Corinthians 8:23). Knowing the problematic situations in both Corinth and Crete, we can infer that Titus was an insightful man who could handle problems with grace. Scripture says that Titus had a God-given love for the Corinthian believers; in returning to Corinth, Titus went "with much enthusiasm and on his initiative" (2 Corinthians 8:16-17).
May we have the same zeal for the Lord that Titus showed. Every believer would do well to model Titus's commitment to truth, fervor in spreading the gospel, and enthusiastic love for the church.
The second section is titled "Paul's Life."
Paul, a Greek, has studied Greek philosophy and poetry in his early years.
He seems to have been converted by Paul, after which he served as Paul's secretary and interpreter. In the year 49, Titus accompanied Paul to the council held at Jerusalem on the Mosaic rites.
Towards the close of the year 56, Paul, as he departed from Asia, sent Titus from Ephesus to Corinth, with a full commission to remedy the fallout precipitated by Timothy's delivery of 1 Corinthians and Paul's "Painful Visit," particularly a significant personal offense and challenge to Paul's authority by one unnamed individual. During this journey, Titus served as the courier for what is commonly known as the "Severe Letter," a Pauline epistle that has been lost but is referred to in 2 Corinthians.
After success on this mission, Titus journeyed north and met Paul in Macedonia. The Apostle, overjoyed by Titus' success, wrote 2 Corinthians. Titus returned to Corinth with an enormous entourage, carrying 2 Corinthians with him. Paul joined Titus in Corinth later. From Corinth, Paul then sent Titus to organize the collections of alms for the Christians at Jerusalem. Titus was, therefore, a troubleshooter, peacemaker, administrator, and missionary.
Early church tradition holds that Paul, after his release from his first imprisonment in Rome, stopped at the island of Crete to preach. Due to the needs of other churches, requiring his presence elsewhere, he ordained his disciple Titus as bishop of that island and left him to finish the work he had started. Chrysostom says that this indicates the esteem Paul held for Titus.
Paul summoned Titus from Crete to join him at Nicopolis in Epirus. Later, Titus traveled to Dalmatia. The New Testament does not record his death.
It has been argued that the name "Titus" in 2 Corinthians and Galatians is nothing more than an informal name used by Timothy, implied already by the fact that even though both are said to be long-term close companions of Paul, they never appear in familiar scenes. The theory proposes that some passages—1 Cor. 4:17, 16.10; 2 Cor. 2:13, 7:6, 13–14, 12:18; and Acts 19.22—all refer to the same journey of a single individual, Titus-Timothy. 2 Timothy seems to dispute this, by claiming that Titus has gone to Dalmatia. Paul made a point of circumcising Timothy but refused to circumcise Titus would indicate that they are different men. However, certain manuscripts of Galatians have been taken (by Marius Victorinus, for example) to indicate that Paul did circumcise Titus.
The third section is called "Where Are We?"
Paul wrote his letter to Titus from Nicopolis in A.D. 63, after the Apostle's first Roman imprisonment. Upon leaving Timothy in Ephesus to minister there, Paul accompanied Titus to the island of Crete, where he intended Titus to lead and organize the island's churches in their early years of existence. While the gospel had no doubt spread to Crete soon after Peter's sermon at Pentecost (Acts 2:11), Paul and Titus likely did a good deal of evangelism on the island in the weeks before Paul commissioned Titus to a leadership position there.
The fourth Section asks, "Why is Titus so important?"
Three summaries of the incarnation dot the pages of Titus, providing a framework within which the Christian can view the work of God in the world and individual lives (Titus 1:1–4; 2:11–14; 3:4–7). All passages involve the manifestation, or appearance, of God in Christ, rooting the Christian faith in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Only when God the Son took on human flesh in the person of Jesus was the believer's faith in God made sure. In other words, since God poured out His grace on all humanity, He cleanses His people from their sin and purifies believers for Himself. This grace of God instructs us to live upright and godly lives in this present age (2:11–3:8).
The fifth Section asks another question, "What Is The Big Idea?"
The doctrine of the incarnation in the letter to Titus grounds its message of producing the right living through the careful attention to theological truth. The churches on Crete were just as susceptible to false teachers as any other church, so Paul directed Titus to establish a group of faithful elders to oversee the believers' doctrinal purity and good conduct on Crete. Paul exhorted Titus to "speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine" (Titus 2:1), a clear direction that this should be the young pastor's primary role.
However, Paul also understood that when a body of believers embraces sound doctrine, the result is changed and purified lives that produce "good deeds" (see Titus 2:7, 14; 3:8, 14). God's grace is the motivation for all good deeds. Paul gave instructions to Titus about the roles of specific groups of people—older men, older women, young women, young men, and slaves—and general instructions to all believers about their conduct. Right living was essential because Christ "gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed," saving us "by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 2:14; 3:5).
Now we are finished; however, I have one last question, "How Do I Apply This?"
How seriously do you consider your beliefs about God in the overall scheme of your life? The book of Titus reminds us that our beliefs about God impact every decision we make. Sometimes it is difficult for believers today to see the point of getting all worked up about the person and nature of Christ or the doctrine of the Trinity. However, Paul made it clear that a church that teaches and preaches sound doctrine will see results in the lives of its people. Not only will people be saved from their sins, but God's grace will also motivate them to live out that saving faith with renewed and purified lives.
Many churches today focus more on the form of their worship—music styles, lighting, and building designs—than they do on the content of the faith they mean to proclaim. Moreover, while the form of a church's worship is vital to reaching its community for Christ, without a firm base of sound doctrine, the church will lay its foundation in shifting and sinking sand. Make doctrine a priority in your own life, as well as encourage it in your churches. Nothing is more significant than a solid foundation in Christ. Nothing is more motivational than grace to live a life of good deeds.
