Titus 1
1Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness— 2a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, 3and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,
4To Titus, my true son in our common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Titus' Task on Crete
5The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint[a] elders in every town, as I directed you. 6An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7Since an overseer[b] is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
10For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. 11They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. 12Even one of their own prophets has said, "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons." 13This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith 14and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. 15To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. 16They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.
Footnotes:
[a] Titus 1:5 Or ordain
[b] Titus 1:7 Traditionally bishop
2 comments:
Titus 1
No Chapter abbreviations here :-).
Very simimlar to things we have read recently. Pretty interesting to here Paul accept a generic statement about an entire group of peolpe. Anyway, more instructions on what is expected for those in places of authority in our churches and standards we should abide by ourselves.
Father, keep us Holy and pure and blameless. We want to praise for the good news about Chloe, and pray that you continue to watch over her and her parents and that her condiditon contiues to improve. Father watch over Ally and crb, er and fam, lt, jrs, timmcd and sheree.
In Christ,
cas
Titus 1:
Paul discusses similar descriptions of what an elder need be in this chapter as he did to the Corinthians and Timothy. This one jumped out at me (Paul would not only amazing to be around because he was such a truly amazing apostle, but also because he could drop jewels like this on you at any time, taking minutes to truly grasp):
15To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.
This has always been a struggle with evangelism for me. Those who live in the fallen world, without already having faith and trust in others thanks to our faith in Christ, can have a hard time listnening or believing the Gospel, because so many things are corrupted in the world around them. It can be very tough for non-believers to accept the church as the answer to their problems when so many peddlers are falsely offering the same benefits. This is why our integrity is absolutely crucial to progress His church, as we have had too many attempting to serve within the church who have done a disservice to the church. They say that Christianity's biggest enemy are Christians, and I think that if we have any chance of successfully progressing the Church, we need to render that statement ancient history. I believe that can only come with time and constant behaviors.
Father, grant us the confidence, strength, and endurance to spread Your amazing word, and to live in Christ constantly. Help us to lean on and support each other that we may accomplish those things only You know we are capable of doing. Please watch over Ally and the baby(Your will, Your timing, but give us patience PLEASE), ER and family, jrs, LT, timmcd6 and fiancee. We ask these things in Jesus' name,
Amen
crb
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