Paul’s Greeting to Titus

¹ Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, ² in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.³ In His own time He has made His word evident in the proclamation entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior.

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

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

Appointing Elders on Crete

⁵ The reason I left you in Crete was that you would set in order what was unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. ⁶ An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, having children who are believers^* and who are not open to accusation of indiscretion or insubordination.

⁷ As God’s steward, an overseer must be above reproach — not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not greedy for money. ⁸ Instead, he must be hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. ⁹ He must hold firmly to the faithful word as it was taught, so that he can encourage others by sound teaching and refute those who contradict it.

Correcting False Teachers

¹⁰ For many are rebellious and full of empty talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision, ¹¹ who must be silenced. For the sake of dishonorable gain, they undermine entire households and teach things they should not. ¹² As one of their own prophets^* has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

¹³ This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sternly, so that they will be sound in the faith ¹⁴ and will pay no attention to Jewish myths^* or to the commands of men who have rejected the truth.

¹⁵ To the pure,^* all things are pure;^* but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure.^* Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled. ¹⁶ They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.