RSV ~ Titus 1 Notes

Tit 1:1 | ISB Notes

Paul: The author (and sender) is always named first, according to the ancient letter format. As a servant, Paul devotes all of himself and his energies to the service of the Lord, and, as an apostle (Rom 1:1), he is commissioned to preach that God is reconciling the world to himself through Jesus Christ (2 Cor 5:18-20).

Tit 1:2 | ISB Notes

God … never lies: Hope that is anchored in God will never be disappointed, for his word is ever truthful, and his promises are entirely trustworthy (Num 23:19; Jn 17:17; Heb 6:17-18). The same cannot be said for the pagan Cretans (Tit 1:12) or for the devil, the father of every falsehood (Jn 8:44) (CCC 214-17).

• Let us bind ourselves to him who is ever true and just in his judgments. He who has forbidden us to lie can much less be a liar himself, for deception is impossible for God (St. Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 27).

Tit 1:3 | ISB Notes

our Savior: A title three times given to God the Father (1:3; 2:10; 3:4) and three times applied to Christ the Son (1:4; 2:13; 3:6). See note on 1 Tim 1:1.

Tit 1:4 | ISB Notes

Titus: A Gentile believer (Gal 2:3) and a devoted member of Paul’s missionary team (2 Cor 8:23). He is never mentioned by name in the Book of Acts. According to the Pastoral Epistles, Titus was in Dalmatia near the end of Paul’s life (2 Tim 4:10), and, according to tradition, he eventually returned to Crete to minister to the churches on the island until his death.

my true child: The spiritual sonship of Titus points to the spiritual fatherhood of Paul. It may mean that Paul converted Titus to the Christian faith, as he had the Corinthians (1 Cor 4:1415), or that Paul ordained Titus to the pastoral ministry, as he had done with Timothy (1 Tim 4:14; 2 Tim 1:6). In Scripture, spiritual fatherhood is connected with the priestly ministry (Judg 17:10) as it passed from fathers to sons under the Old Covenant (Ex 40:12-15) (CCC 1541). See note on 1 Cor 4:15.

Tit 1:5 | ISB Notes

I left you in Crete: Implies that Paul and Titus evangelized the island together before the apostle’s departure. Nothing more is known of this missionary effort.

appoint elders: An essential step in organizing and stabilizing young Christian communities (Acts 14:23). That Titus is charged with this duty indicates that he is already a bishop and thus qualified to ordain others to priestly ministry by the sacramental imposition of hands (1 Tim 5:22) (CCC 1573, 1576). Notice that in this letter, as in the earliest days of the Church, the titles “elder” (Tit 1:5) and “bishop” (1:7) seem to be used interchangeably (Acts 20:17, 28). See notes on 1 Tim 3:1 and 1 Tim 4:14.

Tit 1:6 | ISB Notes

husband of one wife: i.e., married only once during his lifetime. Paul allows younger widows to remarry (1 Tim 5:14). However, he holds prospective clergymen to a more stringent standard (1 Tim 3:2, 12). On possible reasons for this, see note on 1 Tim 3:2.

Tit 1:7 | ISB Notes

God’s steward: A steward is an administrator over the household of another. Paul is suggesting that if a candidate for pastoral ministry is unable to manage his own home and children, he is unfit to oversee the affairs of God’s household, which is the Church (1 Tim 3:15). Titus is to look for men whose family life (Tit 1:6) and personal life (1:7-8) are well ordered and whose zeal for sound doctrine is beyond question (1:9). For a similar list of qualifications, see 1 Tim 3:1-7.

Tit 1:10 | ISB Notes

the circumcision party: Jewish Christian troublemakers in Crete. They adhered to unscriptural myths (1:14), made speculative conjectures about biblical genealogies, and haggled over minor points of the Mosaic Law (3:9). Because their teaching was unsettling the faith of young believers, Titus is authorized to silence (1:11) and rebuke them (1:13).

Tit 1:12 | ISB Notes

Cretans are … gluttons: A quotation from the Cretan poet Epimenides, who lived in the sixth century B.C. He was revered as a prophet by several writers in antiquity (not necessarily by Paul). Cretans were so noted for untruthful-ness that the verb “to Cretanize” meant “to lie or cheat” in Greek literature. Paul apparently thinks their infamous reputation is justified, for he declares that the poet’s proverb is still “true” in his own day (1:13). Paul cites another quotation from Epimenides in Acts 17:28.

• One who is learned in Sacred Scripture accepts the truth wherever he finds it. This is why Paul, on several occasions, refers to the sayings of pagans. It does not follow that all their teaching is approved, but what is good is drawn out and retained. For truth comes from the Holy Spirit, no matter who speaks it (St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Titus 1, 3).

Tit 1:14 | ISB Notes

Jewish myths: Probably legends about biblical heroes that are preserved in Jewish apocryphal writings near the end of the OT period (1 Tim 1:4; 4:7).

Tit 1:15 | ISB Notes

To the pure: Reads like a response to the “Jewish” propaganda in the preceding verse (1:14). If so, perhaps troublemakers were promoting the dietary distinctions between clean and unclean foods (Lev 11:1-47) as well as the non-biblical laws of purity formulated within Pharisaic Judaism (compare the “commands of men” in Tit 1:14 with Mk 7:1-8). Paul insists, however, that because Christians are themselves purified (Tit 2:14), they are not bound to follow the purity legislation of the Old Covenant or of Jewish tradition in general (Acts 10:15; Rom 14:14). Notice that Paul is addressing a misunderstanding about ritual purity and defilement; he is not saying that believers are immune to the pollution of sin.