Book of Common Prayer

God’s revealed plan

1 From Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus the Messiah, in accordance with the faith of God’s chosen people, and the knowledge of the truth that goes with godliness, ² in the hope of the life of the coming age. God, who never lies, promised this before the ages began, ³ and has now, at the right time, unveiled his word through the proclamation entrusted to me, according to the command of our divine savior.

⁴ To Titus, my true child, according to the faith which we share.

Grace and peace from God the father and Messiah Jesus our savior.

Appointing elders

⁵ This is why I left you in Crete: you are to set straight all the remaining matters, and appoint elders for every town, as I charged you to do. ⁶ Elders must be blameless, the husband of only one wife. Their children must be believers, and must not be open to the accusation of loose living, or being rebellious. ⁷ This is because an overseer, as one of God’s household managers, must be blameless. He must not be stubborn, or hotheaded, or a heavy drinker, or a bully, or eager for shameful gain. ⁸ He must be hospitable, a lover of goodness, sensible, just, holy and self-controlled. ⁹ He must hold firmly to the reliable word which goes with the teaching, so that he may have the power both to exhort people with healthy instruction and to give a proper rebuttal to those who oppose it.

The problems in Crete

¹⁰ There are many, you see, who refuse to come into line—people who speak foolishness and deceive others. This is true in particular of the circumcision party. ¹¹ It’s important that they should be silenced, because they are overturning whole households by teaching things that shouldn’t be taught—and trying to make a shameful living out of it! ¹² One of their own, a native prophet, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil animals, idle guzzlers.” ¹³ This testimony is true! That’s why you must rebuke them sternly, so that they may become healthy in the faith, ¹⁴ paying no attention to Jewish myths and the commandments of people who reject the truth. ¹⁵ Everything is pure to people who are pure. But if people are defiled or faithless, nothing is pure for them; even their mind and conscience are defiled. ¹⁶ They declare that they know God, but they deny him by what they do. They are detestable and disobedient, and useless for any good work.

The lamb and the spirit

²⁹ The next day, John saw Jesus coming towards him.

“Look!” he said. “There’s God’s lamb! He’s the one who takes away the world’s sin! ³⁰ He’s the one I was speaking about when I said, ‘There’s a man coming after me who ranks ahead of me, because he was before me!’ ³¹ I didn’t know who it would be, but this was the reason I came to baptize with water—so that he could be revealed to Israel.”

³² So John gave this evidence: “I saw the spirit coming down like a dove out of heaven and remaining on him. ³³ I didn’t know who it would be; but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘When you see the spirit coming down and resting on someone, that’s the person who will baptize with the holy spirit.’ ³⁴ Well, that’s what I saw, and I’ve given you my evidence: he is the son of God.”