Titus 1
Worldwide English (New Testament)
1 I am Paul. I am a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I have been sent to God's chosen people so that they will believe and know what is true. This will make them more like God wants them to be.
2 I do this work because then they can hope to have everlasting life. God does not fool people. He promised everlasting life before he made the world.
3 And at the right time he sent men to tell people his word. God, who saves us, trusted me and told me to tell that word.
4 Titus, I send greetings to you. You are my true son because you believe the same way I do. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour bless you, and be kind to you, and give you peace. of Crete. I want you to finish putting things in order. And I want you to choose leaders among the church people in every city as I told you to do.
5 A leader must be a good man, that no one can blame for doing anything wrong. He must have only one wife. His children should believe. They must not live wrong lives.
6 The church leader must be a good man because he looks after God's work. He must not want his own way. He must not get angry or get drunk. He must not fight. He must not try to get rich in wrong ways.
7 But he must be kind to strangers in his house. He must love what is good. He must be wise. He must do what is right. He must live a holy life. He must know how to control himself.
8 He must hold strongly to the true message which he has been taught. Then he will be able to teach other people what is right. And he will be able to answer people who talk against it.
9 There are many people who do not obey God's truth. They talk about things that do no good, and they fool people by it. The Jewish leaders do this very much.
10 You must put a stop to their talking. They stop whole families from believing in Christ because they teach things which they have no right to teach. They teach because they want to get paid for it, even though it is wrong.
11 One of their own prophets said, `The people of Crete are always telling lies. They are like wild, bad animals. They are lazy and want to eat too much.'
12 What he said is true. You must tell them that they are wrong. Tell them to stop it. They must believe what is true.
13 They must not use the old Jewish stories. They must not use the rules which were made by men who do not believe what is true.
14 All things are clean to those who have a clean mind. But nothing is clean to those who do wrong things and do not believe. Their minds and their hearts are full of wrong things.
15 They say that they know God. But what they do shows that they do not know him. They live in a way that God hates. They do not obey. They can do nothing that is good.
Titus 1
Expanded Bible
1 From Paul, a ·servant [slave; bondservant] of God and an ·apostle [messenger] of Jesus Christ. I was sent ·to help [or in the service of; or to bring about] the faith of God’s ·chosen people [elect] and to help them know the truth that ·shows people how to serve God [or leads to godliness/piety]. 2 That faith and that knowledge ·come from [or lead to] the ·hope for [confidence/certainty of] ·life forever [eternal life], which God, who never lies, promised to us before ·time began [L eternal times]. 3 At ·the right [the appointed; his own] time God ·let the world know about that life [L revealed/manifested his word/message] through preaching. He ·trusted [entrusted] me with that work by the command of God our Savior.
4 To Titus [2 Cor. 2:13; 7:6; 8:16; Gal. 2:1–3], my ·true [genuine] child in the faith we share:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Titus’ Work in Crete
5 I left you in Crete [C an island in the Mediterranean southeast of Greece] so you could ·finish doing [organize; straighten out] the things that still needed to be done and so you could appoint elders in every ·town [city], as I directed you. 6 An elder [1 Tim. 3:1–7] must ·not be guilty of doing wrong [be blameless], must ·have only one wife [or be faithful to his wife], and must have ·believing [or faithful] children. They must not be ·known as children who are [accused of being] ·wild [reckless] and ·do not cooperate [unruly; undisciplined; rebellious]. 7 As God’s ·managers [stewards], overseers [C probably the same church office as elder; 1 Tim. 3:1, 6, 7; 5:17] must be ·innocent of wrongdoing [blameless], ·unselfish [not arrogant/self-willed], not ·quick-tempered [easily angered]. They must not ·drink too much wine [be a drunkard], ·like to fight [be violent/a brawler], or ·try to get rich by cheating others [be greedy for gain/dishonest in business]. 8 Overseers must be ·ready to welcome guests [hospitable], love what is good, be ·wise [self-controlled; sensible], ·live right [upright; just], and be ·holy [devout] and ·self-controlled [disciplined]. 9 By holding ·on [firmly] to the ·trustworthy [faithful] ·word [message] just as it was taught to them, overseers can ·encourage [exhort] people with ·true [sound; healthy] teaching, and they can ·correct [reprove; refute] those who are against it.
10 There are many ·people who refuse to cooperate [unruly/rebellious people], who talk about ·worthless [empty; useless] things and ·lead others into the wrong way [deceive others]—·mainly [especially] those ·who insist on circumcision to be saved [or among the Jewish Christians; L of the circumcision]. 11 These people must be ·stopped [L silenced], because they are ·upsetting [misleading; ruining; overthrowing] whole families by teaching things they should not teach, which they do ·to get rich by cheating people [for dishonest gain]. 12 Even one of their own prophets said, “Cretans are always liars, evil ·animals [beasts], and lazy ·people who do nothing but eat [gluttons; C a quote from Epimenides, a poet from Crete (sixth century bc)].” 13 ·The words that prophet said are [L This testimony is] true. So ·firmly [severely; sharply] ·tell those people they are wrong [rebuke/admonish them] so they may become ·strong [sound; healthy] in the faith, 14 not ·accepting [paying attention to; wasting time with] Jewish ·false stories [myths; 1 Tim. 1:4; 4:7; 2 Tim. 4:4] and the commands of people who ·reject [turn their backs on] the truth. 15 To those who are pure, all things are pure, but to those who are ·full of sin [defiled; polluted (with sin)] and ·do not believe [unfaithful], nothing is pure. Both their minds and their consciences have been ·ruined [defiled; polluted]. 16 They ·say [claim; confess] they know God, but their actions show they ·do not accept [deny] him. They are ·hateful people [detestable; abominable], they refuse to obey, and they are ·useless [unfit; disqualified] for doing anything good.
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