New Testament · Letter · book 56 of 66 · 1 min read
The book of Titus
Three chapters on appointing leaders and behaving well in a place with a bad reputation, containing the sentence that makes grace and discipline the same movement.
“not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,”
At a glance
- Chapters
- 3
- Author
- Paul, though authorship is debated
- Written
- Around 63 to 65 AD if by Paul
- Written for
- A colleague organising churches on Crete
- Themes
- leadership, grace that trains, good works, reputation
What it is about
Titus has been left on Crete to appoint elders town by town and to deal with disruptive teachers. The letter is short and organisational, much like 1 Timothy but more compressed.
It is unusually blunt about its setting, quoting a Cretan poet's insult about Cretans and agreeing with it, which has made the passage awkward reading ever since.
Its lasting contribution is chapter 2, where grace is described as the thing that instructs — a sentence that forecloses the argument that grace and effort are alternatives.
Where to start
Chapter 2, from verse 11, which is the theological centre of the letter.
The chapters worth knowing
- Titus 1 — Appointing elders town by town, and the bluntest description of a local population anywhere in the New Testament.
- Titus 2 — Grace as the thing that instructs, which forecloses the argument that grace and effort are alternatives.
What people get wrong about it
That it is only an administrative letter. Its two doctrinal paragraphs are among the most compressed statements of grace in the New Testament, and both are attached directly to how people behave.
Questions
What is the letter to Titus about?
Appointing elders across the churches of Crete, dealing with disruptive teaching, and how a community with a poor local reputation should behave.
What does Titus say about grace?
Chapter 2:11–12 makes grace the subject of the verb: grace appeared, and it instructs us to live soberly and righteously now. It is the clearest statement that grace and discipline are not alternatives.