Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Paul exhorts Titus to ordain priests or bishops in every city, declares what manner of men they ought to be that are chosen to that office, and charges Titus to rebuke such persons as withstand the gospel.

1 Paul the servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ to preach the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth, which leads to godliness ² in the hope of eternal life. Which life God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began, ³ but has declared his word openly at the time appointed through preaching, which preaching is committed to me by the commandment of God our Saviour.

⁴ To Titus, his true-born son in the common faith.

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.

⁵ The reason I left you in Crete was in order that you should complete that which was lacking, and should ordain elders in every city as I directed you – ⁶ if any be faultless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not known for running wild or disobedience. ⁷ For a bishop must be faultless, as it becomes the minister of God: not stubborn, not angry, no drunkard, no fighter; not given to the love of money, ⁸ but welcoming toward people and willing to take them in; one who loves goodness, sober-minded, righteous, holy, temperate; ⁹ and such as cleaves to the true word of doctrine, so that he may be able to exhort with wholesome teaching, and to refute those who speak against it.