WWUTT 726 Introduction to Titus?

Paul left Titus on the island of Crete to preach the gospel which produces godliness, to set the church in order, and also to rebuke those false teachers attempting to lead these new Christians astray.

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Introduction to Titus and the Letter’s Background

Thank you, Becky. Well, today we begin a brand new study in the book of Titus. If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there, we'll talk about the background behind this letter, the occasion for writing it, some of those other historical details, and go through the highlights as well.

But why don't we begin first with the text. Chapter one, I'll read through the first four verses. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began, and at the proper time manifested in His Word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior.

To Titus, my true child in a common faith, grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. What an introduction. It is rich with language about God's elect. And we'll talk a little bit more about the details of this beautiful introduction tomorrow.

But in the meantime, why don't we do kind of an overview of the book of Titus here. So Titus, we just read about, actually, at the end of our study in 2 Timothy, Paul had mentioned that Crescens had been sent to Galatia and Titus had gone to Dalmatia.

So this was while Paul was in prison. He was awaiting his martyrdom. 2 Timothy is the last letter that we have, at least from the works of Paul before he was led to his death. And while he was there in a prison cell awaiting his sentence, writing this letter to Timothy, a man named Demas, who had been part of Paul's missionary group, deserted Paul and ran off to Thessalonica because he was more in love with this world.

So Demas was a deserter. But Crescens and Titus were two men that he had work for them to do. So rather than having all of these guys around him, you know, mourning over Paul about to go to his death, he's like, hey, look, we still got work to do for the gospel.

So Luke's going to stay here with me. I'm going to write to Timothy and Crescens and Titus were sent out to do assignments that Paul had for them, likely that the Holy Spirit of God was leading Paul to send them to do.

So Titus is a guy that we've seen mentioned in some of Paul's other letters, most prominently in Second Corinthians. So the Corinthians knew him well, also in the book of Galatians. And it's there in Galatians where we get a little bit more backstory into Titus.

We know that he was a Greek, for example, and he was not forced to be circumcised. Timothy Paul had circumcised because Timothy was going to be with Paul preaching in some of these synagogues and the Jews would receive Timothy if he had been circumcised.

Titus, on the other hand, was not. So he was primarily a missionary to a Greek people. And here in this letter, Paul has sent Titus to the island of Crete. Now, we don't read about that in the introduction that we've read so far, just those first four verses.

It comes next in verse five. This is why I left you in Crete so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. And Crete was just a little bit south of Corinth.

It was an island that was south of the Corinthian peninsula and was even southwest of Ephesus. So you think of it being southeast of Corinth, southwest of Ephesus. It was kind of in a triangle down there toward the bottom on that missionary route across the northern Mediterranean Sea.

In fact, Crete would almost be right in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Now, we don't read about Paul going to Crete in the book of Acts, and that's likely because his trip to Crete would have been during a fourth missionary journey, which would have happened after the events that are recorded in the book of Acts.

So we don't read about his trip to Crete, but that would put the trip that he made there sometime in the mid 60s, since it would have been after Paul's third missionary journey and it would have been between his first and second imprisonments in Rome.

So at the end of Acts, Paul is in prison in Rome, then he's let go, and then he's imprisoned.

Again.

And it was while he was under that second imprisonment that we read the final letter that we just went through to Timothy, 2nd Timothy. But Titus would have been written before 2nd Timothy. It was probably written between 1st and 2nd Timothy.

But in order in canon, there's no reason to have to break up 1st and 2nd Timothy. So you have those two letters together and then you have Titus. Now, since Paul's journey to Crete is not mentioned in Acts and it's not mentioned in any of the other letters from the apostle Paul, this is one of the reasons why critics of this particular letter have said that they don't believe Paul has actually written it.

But that is an argument that is easily refuted. First of all, none of Paul's letters or the book of Acts claims to be comprehensive in its accounts of all of the different places that Paul went sharing the gospel.

So that's one. Number two, the reason why Acts does not mention Paul's trip to Crete is because it took place after the events of the book of Acts. And if there is any letter that Paul wrote after Titus, it was most certainly 2nd Timothy.

And there's no reason for Paul to say in that letter to Timothy that Titus has come back from the island of Crete. So just because Paul doesn't mention it in any of his other letters doesn't mean we have any reason to doubt that Paul is the one who wrote it.

And by the way, I have never read a good or a compelling argument regarding any of the epistles in the New Testament or any of the books in the New Testament. I've never read a good argument that wishes to say that who claims to have written that I can't talk.

I've never read a good argument for doubting any of the of the known writers on that particular.

Letter.

Does that make sense? I think you know what I'm saying. So there's no reason for us to doubt that Matthew wrote Matthew. There's no reason for us to doubt Luke wrote Luke and Acts. There's no reason for us to doubt that Paul wrote Titus.

Any of these arguments that I've read claiming that Paul could not have written this or Peter did not write Second Peter or any of those things, they are unfounded arguments. They've never been compelling to me.

I believe that I've shared this story with you before, but Tertullian wrote about a time when a church elder had composed a pseudonymous work, meaning that he had written something and attributed attributed that work that he wrote to another writer.

In this case, it was the Apostle Paul. He wrote a work that he called the Acts of Paul, and it included a supposed Pauline letter, Third Corinthians. Now, we know that Paul did write another letter to the Corinthians because he mentions even in First Corinthians having written to them before.

But we don't know what's happened to that letter. It's been lost to time. So the two letters that we have surviving are the two that we have in canon, First and Second Corinthians. But this person wrote a letter which he claimed to be a Third Corinthians, but was not actually written by Paul.

Well, this elder who had done that was removed from his office and he was prohibited from ever serving as an elder again. He received a lifetime ban from the Office of Eldership because he had he had done this.

Thing.

He had written this work, which he had attributed to being from the Apostle Paul that wasn't actually from Paul. So because this was the way in which those matters were handled in in such an early period of the church in the in the second and third centuries, we can be confident that a letter such as this was not a pseudonymous work.

It was not written by somebody else and then attributed to Paul. It says it was written by the Apostle Paul. Church history holds firm to that fact that this was written by Paul. And there is not any reason for us to doubt it.

It's the very first word that we have in the letter. Paul identifying himself as the writer and being to Titus, it's definitely to somebody who was trustworthy in Paul's missionary group, whom he had sent to places to continue to do the work of missions where Paul assigned for him to go.

In this particular case, it was to leave him on Crete. So he came with Paul to the island of Crete and then Paul left in there as he went on to go do some other works. And Titus was meant to set those churches in order that Paul had established.

Now, likely there were already rumors that were beginning to surface about some false teaching that was creeping into these places where the gospel had been preached and new Christians had come to believe.

And then the Jews came in and tried to lead those Christians astray because we have some of that talked about here, even in the first chapter, verse 10. There are many who are insubordinate. They are empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.

So Paul approaches the false teaching problems in his letter to Titus a little bit different than he talked about false teaching with Timothy in the letter that we just finished up in Second Timothy, because in Second Timothy, we have names named, OK, we've got Phagellus and Hermogenes, we've got Alexander the coppersmith.

But Paul doesn't name any names in Titus. And there may be a couple of reasons for that. Number one, Paul was not as personally acquainted with the island of Crete as he was with Ephesus, for example, because Paul spent a long time there in Ephesus.

But he was traveling around a lot of the different communities there on the island of Crete before he left to continue missionary work elsewhere. So that's one reason. Secondly, Paul may not be as concerned with who is doing the false teaching as much as he is concerned with the effect that is going to have on those people who are probably listening to it.

So he warns Titus about the empty talkers, those who are insubordinate, those who are deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. So that means it's not just limited to the Jews, but there are others on Crete who would be leading these Christians astray as well.

And some of those would be the Cretans themselves. Those who are the Greeks that live on the island of Crete, as Paul will say of them in verse 12, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons.

So this is just a warning about some of the kinds of people that Titus is going to be facing while he is there on Crete. So it's like Paul has left. And as he as he has commissioned Titus to continue the work there on Crete, he has sent this letter to him to remind him of his work and the assignments that he has.

So then we have some other things that are mentioned about some of these false teachers, like in verse 15, it says to the pure, all things are pure. Well, first of all, in verse 14, we have the mention of Jewish myths.

So that's another indication that there are kind of some Jewish mystics that are trying to lead Christians astray. But then you have those who proclaim to be followers of Christ, but their lifestyle doesn't show that the conversion that they experienced, having heard the message that was proclaimed by the Apostle Paul, their conversion was not genuine because Paul goes on to say in verse 16, they profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.

They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for any good work. And then after Paul says that, after he talks about false teachers, well, I don't want to overlook to one of the most well-known passages from Titus, and that would be the section in which qualifications for elders are given.

And that's in verses six through nine. So whenever we talk about the qualifications for elders and overseers or pastors, you've got two main passages that are discussed. That's First Timothy, chapter three, verses one through seven, and Titus, chapter one, verses six through nine.

Since one of Titus's assignments was to get those churches in order that had been planted and established, he was supposed to appoint plurality eldership in those churches. And so Paul gave him the qualifications for an overseer in verses six through nine.

There were probably some pastors that Paul had already established there, but there needed to be further eldership to be established. And that was going to be one of Titus's jobs. It's not really the occasion for the letter.

It's the section that Titus might be most known for because of our references to qualifications for pastors. But it's not really the reason for why Paul was writing to him. There were other assignments, other things that Titus needed to do in order to establish these churches in sound doctrine.

That was just one of the things that he needed to do. So then in chapter two, when we get to chapter two, when we talk about teaching sound doctrine, how is this going to look in the life of a church?

When a church is following sound doctrine, what does a healthy church look like? And so in Titus, too, what we have is kind of a hierarchy of mentorship. The older men would be mentoring the younger men and the older women would be mentoring the younger women.

And even bond servants are to be submissive to their masters. And then we have a section of scripture. It's really one of my favorite passages in Titus. And that's in chapter two, verses 11 through 15, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

That's one of my favorite descriptors of the church in all of scripture. And then concluding the chapter, Paul says, declare these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

And then in Titus chapter three, we've got a passage that's very similar to something that Paul said to the Ephesians in Ephesians chapter two, verses one through ten. Paul says, starting in verse three, for we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared, he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

That's beautiful. That is gorgeous. Very similar to something we saw, Paul say to the Ephesians in Ephesians two, verses one through ten. But it's there in Titus three, five, that we have the passage that kind of lays down one of the strongest arguments for the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, that conditions the heart to hear the gospel and understand it, convicting the heart of sin and leading a person to repentance and belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, as we kind of come into that argument of regeneration preceding repentance and faith. As Paul continues to give Titus instructions about order within the church, he talks about how those who cause division are supposed to be dealt with.

That's in verses 10 and 11 there of chapter three. And then Paul closes with his usual concluding greetings. So here is kind of the layout of the book of Titus. And let's let's go through some key themes here as we bring this to a close.

The Gospel Produces Godliness

What are those key themes that we're going to see over the course of the letter? Well, first of all, is that the gospel produces godliness in the lives of believers? We've just read that in our greeting in chapter one, and we'll go we'll do like an exposition of the greeting a little bit more tomorrow.

But even in what we've just read, we have seen Paul say that the gospel produces godliness. It accords with godliness right there in verse one. Paul will mention this again in in every chapter and at the start of every chapter in chapter two.

But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. And then what we read in chapter three, verses four through seven, this is godliness that is being produced in the lives of believers who have turned from sin and placed their faith in Jesus Christ after the hearing of the gospel.

So that first key theme, we will see it come back repeatedly in this letter, is that the gospel produces godliness. And then another key theme is that as we are growing in that godliness, it will show in God's people, especially in the church.

So the church is has the overseer as kind of the most influential person who is giving the teaching of God, is shepherding the flock of God according to his word. And then the next most influential person is going to be the older men influencing the younger men and the older women who are mentoring the younger women.

And this is going to be the way that good works are seen in the people of God. And this is kind of like the basics of good works. It will come about in the way that brothers and sisters in the Lord are serving one another within the church.

So that's another key theme that we will see there. And then finally, I think a last key theme is that godliness is contrasted with ungodliness. When you talk about those who believe the gospel and are growing in godliness, this is what they look like.

But those who do not believe the gospel and are then wallowing in their ungodliness here is what they look like. So you see the contrast between the two as well. God's people are expected to behave and act like this.

But those who are still of the world act like this. And the people of God are warned to be careful about those who are still delving into worldly teaching and attempting to lead the flock of God astray.

So there's kind of our overview of Titus and the key themes that we are looking at. And I hope that this is encouraging for you all the more. As we continue our study in this book tomorrow, we're going to come back to that beautiful greeting in those first four verses on Tuesday.

Closing Prayer and Ministry Sign-Off

Let us conclude with prayer, our wonderful God and savior. I pray that you would guide us as we come into another study of another great book in your word, the Holy Spirit speaking through the apostle Paul to his servant Titus and guiding also we who are your disciples, these 2000 years into the future, still being influenced by these words that what would be produced in us would be pleasing and acceptable unto you, that in godliness we would desire to be like our God and savior, and that you would keep us from any false thing, including any lies of the devil that would attempt to lead us astray into unholiness.

But rather, by our adherence to the gospel of Jesus Christ, we would lead upright and godly lives in the present age. Teach us these things as we go in Jesus name.

Amen.

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