Titus 1
Good News Translation
1 From Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ.
I was chosen and sent to help the faith of God's chosen people and to lead them to the truth taught by our religion, 2 which is based on the hope for eternal life. God, who does not lie, promised us this life before the beginning of time, 3 and at the right time he revealed it in his message. This was entrusted to me, and I proclaim it by order of God our Savior.
4 (A)I write to Titus, my true son in the faith that we have in common.
May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior give you grace and peace.
Titus' Work in Crete
5 I left you in Crete, so that you could put in order the things that still needed doing and appoint church elders in every town. Remember my instructions: 6 (B)an elder must be without fault; he must have only one wife,[a] and his children must be believers and not have the reputation of being wild or disobedient. 7 For since a church leader is in charge of God's work, he should be without fault. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered, or a drunkard or violent or greedy for money. 8 He must be hospitable and love what is good. He must be self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 9 He must hold firmly to the message which can be trusted and which agrees with the doctrine. In this way he will be able to encourage others with the true teaching and also to show the error of those who are opposed to it.
10 For there are many, especially the converts from Judaism, who rebel and deceive others with their nonsense. 11 It is necessary to stop their talk, because they are upsetting whole families by teaching what they should not, and all for the shameful purpose of making money. 12-13 It was a Cretan himself, one of their own prophets, who spoke the truth when he said, “Cretans are always liars, wicked beasts, and lazy gluttons.” For this reason you must rebuke them sharply, so that they may have a healthy faith 14 and no longer hold on to Jewish legends and to human commandments which come from people who have rejected the truth. 15 Everything is pure to those who are themselves pure; but nothing is pure to those who are defiled and unbelieving, for their minds and consciences have been defiled. 16 They claim that they know God, but their actions deny it. They are hateful and disobedient, not fit to do anything good.
Footnotes
- Titus 1:6 have only one wife; or be married only once.
Titus 1
Complete Jewish Bible
1 From: Sha’ul, God’s slave and an emissary of Yeshua the Messiah, sent to promote among God’s chosen people the trust and knowledge of truth which lead to godliness 2 and which are based on the certain hope of eternal life. God, who does not lie, promised that life before the beginning of time 3 but made public this word of his in its own season through a proclamation with which I have been entrusted by order of God, our Deliverer.
4 To: Titus, a true son in the faith we share:
Grace and shalom from God the Father and from the Messiah Yeshua, our Deliverer.
5 The reason I left you in Crete was so that you might attend to the matters still not in order and appoint congregation leaders in each city — those were my instructions. 6 A leader must be blameless, husband to one wife, with believing children who do not have a reputation for being wild or rebellious. 7 For an overseer, as someone entrusted with God’s affairs, must be blameless — he must not be self-willed or quick-tempered, he must not drink excessively, get into fights or be greedy for dishonest gain. 8 On the contrary, he must be hospitable, devoted to good, sober-mindedness, uprightness, holiness and self-control. 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy Message that agrees with the doctrine; so that by his sound teaching he will be able to exhort and encourage, and also to refute those who speak against it.
10 For there are many, especially from the Circumcision faction, who are rebellious, who delude people’s minds with their worthless and misleading talk. 11 They must be silenced; because they are upsetting entire households by teaching what they have no business teaching, and doing it for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 Even one of the Cretans’ own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons” — 13 and it’s true! For this reason, you must be severe when you rebuke those who have followed this false teaching, so that they will come to be sound in their trust 14 and no longer pay attention to Judaistic myths or to the commands of people who reject the truth.
15 To all who are themselves pure, everything is pure. But to those who are defiled and without trust, nothing is pure — even their minds and consciences have been defiled. 16 They claim to know God, but with their actions they deny him. They are detestable and disobedient; they have proved themselves unfit to do anything good.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.