Paul had left Titus on the island of Crete with an unfinished job: young churches in many towns, no settled leadership, and false teachers already at work. In the first chapter of his letter, Paul tells Titus what kind of men to choose as elders, why sound teaching matters so much, and how to recognize those who “profess that they know God; but in works they deny him.”
A study in Titus 1 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 18 min read
God, That Cannot Lie
“Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour; To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.”
Titus 1:1-4
Paul calls himself first “a servant of God” — literally a slave — and only then “an apostle of Jesus Christ.” His whole ministry exists for two purposes: to bring God’s people to faith, and to bring them to “the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness.” In Paul’s thinking, truth and godliness always belong together. Truth that does not lead to a godly life is not being held rightly; a “godliness” not grounded in truth is not godliness at all. That pairing runs through the entire letter.
And all of it rests on a promise: “eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” Eternal life is not something we possess naturally. It is God’s promise, and God cannot lie. Paul made the same point to Timothy, speaking of grace “given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Timothy 1:9). Salvation was not God’s emergency response to a surprise. It was planned before creation.
“The plan for our redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam. … God did not ordain that sin should exist, but He foresaw its existence, and made provision to meet the terrible emergency.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 22
Titus is “mine own son after the common faith.” Titus was a Greek, a Gentile (Galatians 2:3), and Paul was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. What bound them together as father and son was not blood or nationality, but a faith they shared.
Set In Order The Things That Are Wanting
“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, as I had appointed thee: If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.”
Titus 1:5-6
The book of Acts never tells us that Paul worked on Crete. He sailed past it as a prisoner on his way to Rome, and warned the crew not to leave Fair Havens (Acts 27:8-10). This letter shows that after his release he returned and preached there with Titus, and that when Paul moved on, Titus stayed behind. There were believers “in every city,” but the work was unfinished. Something was “wanting,” lacking. What was missing above all was faithful local leadership.
The first qualification is that the man be “blameless” — not sinless, but with nothing in his life that others could fairly hold against him. He is to be “the husband of one wife,” faithful in marriage. And his home is his first test: his children should be believers, not known for wild living or rebellion. A man who cannot lead his own household with love and order is not ready to lead the household of God (compare 1 Timothy 3:5).
Ellen White warned that choosing leaders is not something to rush.
“It would be well for all our ministers to give heed to these words and not to hurry men into office without due consideration and much prayer that God would designate by His Holy Spirit whom He will accept. … There should not be so great haste in electing leaders as to ordain men who are in no way fitted for the responsible work—men who need to be converted, elevated, ennobled, and refined before they can serve the cause of God in any capacity.”
Ellen G. White · Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 617, 618
As The Steward Of God
“For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.”
Titus 1:7-9
In verse 5 the leaders are called “elders”; in verse 7 the same men are called a “bishop,” an overseer. In the New Testament these are two names for one office: “elder” describes the man’s maturity, “bishop” describes his work of watching over the flock. The idea of a single ruling bishop over many congregations came later, and it is not found in Scripture.
Above all, the elder is “the steward of God.” A steward manages a household that belongs to someone else. The church is not the elder’s property, and its members are not his to command. He will give account to the Owner.
Then Paul gives two lists. Five things the elder must not be: self-willed (insisting on his own way), quick-tempered, given to wine, violent, or greedy for money. And a set of things he must be: hospitable, a lover of what is good, sensible, just, holy, and self-controlled. Most important of all, he must hold fast “the faithful word as he hath been taught,” so that he can both encourage believers with sound teaching and answer those who oppose it.
“The same principles of piety and justice that were to guide the rulers among God’s people in the time of Moses and of David, were also to be followed by those given the oversight of the newly organized church of God in the gospel dispensation. In the work of setting things in order in all the churches, and ordaining suitable men to act as officers, the apostles held to the high standards of leadership outlined in the Old Testament Scriptures.”
Ellen G. White · The Acts of the Apostles, p. 95
Notice how practical and ordinary this list is. There is nothing here about eloquence, education, wealth or charisma. The church’s leaders are chosen by their character, and the character Paul describes is the character of Christ.
Vain Talkers And Deceivers
“For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.”
Titus 1:10-14
Here is why Crete needed strong elders. False teachers were already busy, especially “they of the circumcision” — teachers who insisted that Gentile believers must be circumcised and keep the Jewish ceremonial system to be saved, the same error Paul fought in Galatians. They were upsetting “whole houses,” whole families, and they were doing it “for filthy lucre’s sake”: religion had become their business.
Paul then quotes “a prophet of their own,” a Cretan poet, traditionally identified as Epimenides, who had said his own people were “alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies” — liars, brutes, and lazy gluttons. Crete’s reputation was so bad that the Greeks used “to Cretanize” to mean “to lie.” Paul is not insulting every Cretan; he is saying that the false teachers fit their own culture’s worst stereotype, and that Titus must deal with them firmly: “rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.” Even the sharp rebuke has a healing purpose.
“Sin is to be called by its right name, and is to be plainly laid out before the wrongdoer. In his charge to Timothy, Paul, writing by the Holy Spirit, says, ‘Be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.’ 2 Timothy 4:2. And to Titus he writes, ‘There are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers…. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.’ Titus 1:10-13.”
Ellen G. White · Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 248
What were these teachers offering? “Jewish fables, and commandments of men.” This is the same thing Jesus condemned in the Pharisees: “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). The problem was never God’s law. The problem was human rules and speculations added on top of God’s word and treated as if they were God’s word.
In Works They Deny Him
“Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.”
Titus 1:15-16
“Unto the pure all things are pure” is sometimes quoted as though it meant that nothing is off limits for a Christian, including the foods God called unclean. But look at the context. Paul has just been talking about “Jewish fables, and commandments of men” (verse 14) — man-made rules of ritual purity, such as the rabbinic traditions about washing hands and cups that Jesus rejected (Mark 7:1-13). Paul’s point is that purity is a matter of the heart. Outward rituals cannot make an impure heart clean, and a person whose “mind and conscience is defiled” will find a way to corrupt everything he touches. Paul is not overturning what God Himself said about clean and unclean animals, a distinction that existed long before Moses (Genesis 7:2).
And then the chapter’s sharpest verse: “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him.” It is possible to say all the right words about God and deny Him with one’s life. The false teachers on Crete were doing it for money, and Ellen White saw the same danger in her own day.
“Poor rich men, professing to serve God, are objects of pity. While they profess to know God, in works they deny Him. How great is the darkness of such! They profess faith in the truth, but their works do not correspond with their profession.”
Ellen G. White · Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 681
So the chapter comes full circle. It began with “the truth which is after godliness” and ends with people who profess the truth but deny it by their works. That is why the elders mattered so much. A church is protected not only by men who can explain sound doctrine, but by men whose lives show what sound doctrine looks like.
