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Greeting

 Paul, a servant^[a] 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, ² in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began^[b] 3 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;

⁴ To Titus, my true child in a common faith:

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Qualifications for Elders

⁵ 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— ⁶ if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife,^[c] and his children are believers^[d] and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. ⁷ For an overseer,^[e] as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, ⁸ but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. ⁹ He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound^[f] doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

¹⁰ For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.^[g] 11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. ¹² One of the Cretans,^[h]a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”^[i] 13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, ¹⁴ not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. ¹⁵ To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. ¹⁶ They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

Footnotes:

1. Titus 1:1 Or slave (for the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface)
2. Titus 1:2 Greek before times eternal
3. Titus 1:6 Or a man of one woman
4. Titus 1:6 Or are faithful
5. Titus 1:7 Or bishop; Greek episkopos
6. Titus 1:9 Or healthy; also verse 13
7. Titus 1:10 Or especially those of the circumcision
8. Titus 1:12 Greek One of them
9. Titus 1:12 Probably from Epimenides of Crete

Cross references:

1. Titus 1:1 : See 2 Cor. 1:1
2. Titus 1:1 : See 1 Tim. 2:4
3. Titus 1:1 : 1 Tim. 6:3
4. Titus 1:2 : 2 Tim. 1:1; Heb. 9:15; [ch. 2:13; 3:7]
5. Titus 1:2 : Num. 23:19; 2 Tim. 2:13; Heb. 6:18
6. Titus 1:2 : Rom. 1:2
7. Titus 1:2 : See 2 Tim. 1:9
8. Titus 1:3 : See 1 Tim. 2:6
9. Titus 1:3 : [Rom. 10:14]
10. Titus 1:3 : See 1 Tim. 1:11
11. Titus 1:3 : 1 Tim. 1:1
12. Titus 1:4 : See 3 John 4
13. Titus 1:4 : Jude 3; See 2 Pet. 1:1
14. Titus 1:4 : See 1 Tim. 1:2
15. Titus 1:5 : [1 Tim. 1:3]
16. Titus 1:5 : [Acts 14:23; 2 Tim. 2:2]
17. Titus 1:6 : For ver. 6-8, see 1 Tim. 3:2-4
18. Titus 1:6 : See Eph. 5:18
19. Titus 1:7 : Luke 12:42; 1 Cor. 4:1; 1 Pet. 4:10
20. Titus 1:7 : 2 Pet. 2:10
21. Titus 1:7 : 1 Tim. 3:8; 1 Pet. 5:2
22. Titus 1:8 : [1 Cor. 9:25]
23. Titus 1:9 : [2 Thess. 2:13, 15]; See 1 Tim. 1:15; 2 Tim. 1:13
24. Titus 1:9 : See 1 Tim. 1:10
25. Titus 1:10 : 1 Tim. 1:6
26. Titus 1:10 : See Acts 11:2
27. Titus 1:11 : [2 Tim. 3:6]
28. Titus 1:11 : 1 Tim. 6:5; 2 Pet. 2:3
29. Titus 1:12 : [Acts 17:28]
30. Titus 1:13 : ch. 2:15; 1 Tim. 5:20
31. Titus 1:13 : 2 Cor. 13:10
32. Titus 1:13 : ch. 2:1, 2
33. Titus 1:14 : See 1 Tim. 1:4
34. Titus 1:14 : See Col. 2:22
35. Titus 1:14 : See 1 Tim. 6:20
36. Titus 1:15 : [Luke 11:41; 1 Tim. 4:3]; See Acts 10:15
37. Titus 1:15 : [Rom. 14:23]
38. Titus 1:15 : See 1 Tim. 6:5
39. Titus 1:16 : [1 John 2:4]
40. Titus 1:16 : See 1 Tim. 5:8
41. Titus 1:16 : 2 Tim. 3:8