I have wanted to do a study on the book of Titus for some time now. It is a short book - only three chapters but packed with wonderful truths that the Lord would have us know and live by. So my plan here is to go verse by verse and see what it says. Please feel free to leave comments if there is something on your mind - just keeping in mind that I delete comments that are bitter or if a comment is with malice and looking to be argumentative.
So let's begin with Titus chapter 1.
I have posted the verses we are studying at the bottom of the page - Titus 1:1-9
Verse 1 - Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
Paul regards himself to be a servant of God. A servant is not above his master. A servant is willing to be obedient to the instructions that his master gives him. So also, we should consider ourselves to be servants of the Lord Jesus and ready to do our Master's will! God has chosen every person on the planet to be one of His own, but He knows that many will not choose to follow Jesus. To become a part of the family of God we must accept Jesus as our personal Saviour and put all our faith and trust in Him. OnlyJesus can save - no one except Jesus! Jesus is the way, the truth and the life as it says in John 14: 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Verse 2 - In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
God's goal for each of us is to have eternal life with Him in heaven. This verse reminds us that God does not lie. He will always keep His promises!! God is faithful to us always. 2 Timothy 2:13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
Verse 3 But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
It is so amazing to think that God has entrusted us humans to carry forward His Word to our friends and family and to the coming generations. Yet we always must keep our focus on the message of the cross, focus on the message of the Bible and not on the messenger who is preaching the sermon to us. I have looked up to many preachers in my lifetime already, Some have failed to live up to God's standards but the message of the Bible does not fail us. I would encourage anyone who is looking for some good preaching to google James MacDonald or Levi Lusko, or Dr J Vernon McGee, or John Munroe. These are all good teachers of God's Word. We can learn much from their teachings.
Verse 4 - To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Paul is writing this book to Titus. He is referring to him as his son. This means that Paul has been instrumental in helping Titus come to faith in the Lord Jesus. Grace, mercy and peace is given to us by God our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
Verse 6 begins to tell us what characteristics are required for a man to possess in order for him to qualify to become an elder or bishop. The church that I grew up in did have a bishop. He was the one who would officiate at baptism services and also Communion services. He held a special role in the church. Now a days it is uncommon for a church to have elders or bishops. I don't know why as it seems to be an important role in the church. Where there is no bishop, the role of bishop would fall on the lead pastor or group of pastors in the church. A bishop needs to be blameless, this means to have no evil behavior in his conduct. There would be nothing you could find in his lifestyle that you could accuse him of. He is living a good, God honoring life in his private and public life - no hidden dark secrets. He is to be the husband of one wife - this means he is faithful to his wife, he must have only one woman in his life and that is his wife. This indicates sexual purity in all it's fullness. The elder or bishop must have faithful children, if a man is not in good relationship with his children, there is something wrong in the family. A father must first lead his own family in the ways of the Lord before God will call him to lead a church.
Verse 7 - For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
Here we see again that a bishop must be blameless, a repeat of verse 6. So what does it mean to be blameless? We have already pointed out that this means this man would be living a pure God honoring life both in public and in his private life. I looked up the word "blameless" in my dictionary and it means there is no fault in the person. So in the work the bishop is doing there will be only uprightness and he will remember that all he does is done to and for the Lord. Not selfwilled, not soon angry, and not given to wine are self explainitory I think. No striker mean he is not a violent person. He will not physically hurt anyone. Not given to filthy lucre - lucre is money or profits. The bishop is not going to cheat or nor will he be greedy or accept bribes or bets, or gamble etc.
Verse 8 - But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
Basically to be a lover of hospitality means you love people, you enjoy engaging people in deeper conversations and topics over a cup of coffee, you enjoy having people over to your house and try to communicate of the things of the Lord with your guests. As the next part of our verse says, a lover of good men - you love good people. To be sober means to be sensible and discreet and are able to see the serious side of situations. The word just means that you are fair, you are going to be fair in dealing with people, not take the side of a person just because he or she is has a likeable character or is beautiful to the eye. You will be fair and kind as you counsel people. Holy - set apart to the Lord, we are to be pure and holy in all mind, thoughts, attitudes and conduct. Hate the evil and cling to what is good and right in the sight of God.
Temperate - a temperate person is a person who is free from extremes - in food and drink, and also calm and restrained in character.
Verse 9 - Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
The elder or bishop will know the Bible - He will have the Word of God in his heart. He knows the truth of the Word. And since the Holy Word of God is in his heart and mind constantly, he is able to teach and give instruction and encouragement to anyone who is opposing the truth of the Bible. He will not hesitate to challenge the one who is speaking lies or teaching heresy. He can show the the backsliding person the error of his ways and lead him or her back to faith in the Lord. There are many voices out there today who like to contradict Scripture or say that this or that portion should not be in the Bible. God calls the elders and bishops of the church to silence these critics.
That concludes the first of our studies in the book of Titus. Be blessed as you study the book of Titus with me.
For further study on this topic please read my blog post Standards for Shepherds
Titus 1: 1-9
So let's begin with Titus chapter 1.
I have posted the verses we are studying at the bottom of the page - Titus 1:1-9
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| picture from rgbstock.com |
Verse 1 - Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
Paul regards himself to be a servant of God. A servant is not above his master. A servant is willing to be obedient to the instructions that his master gives him. So also, we should consider ourselves to be servants of the Lord Jesus and ready to do our Master's will! God has chosen every person on the planet to be one of His own, but He knows that many will not choose to follow Jesus. To become a part of the family of God we must accept Jesus as our personal Saviour and put all our faith and trust in Him. OnlyJesus can save - no one except Jesus! Jesus is the way, the truth and the life as it says in John 14: 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Verse 2 - In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
God's goal for each of us is to have eternal life with Him in heaven. This verse reminds us that God does not lie. He will always keep His promises!! God is faithful to us always. 2 Timothy 2:13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
Verse 3 But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
It is so amazing to think that God has entrusted us humans to carry forward His Word to our friends and family and to the coming generations. Yet we always must keep our focus on the message of the cross, focus on the message of the Bible and not on the messenger who is preaching the sermon to us. I have looked up to many preachers in my lifetime already, Some have failed to live up to God's standards but the message of the Bible does not fail us. I would encourage anyone who is looking for some good preaching to google James MacDonald or Levi Lusko, or Dr J Vernon McGee, or John Munroe. These are all good teachers of God's Word. We can learn much from their teachings.
Verse 4 - To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Paul is writing this book to Titus. He is referring to him as his son. This means that Paul has been instrumental in helping Titus come to faith in the Lord Jesus. Grace, mercy and peace is given to us by God our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 5 - For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:
Paul is now getting in the business of the day. He says that he has left Titus in Crete for a purpose. Titus needs to help set things in order in the churches here. There is some work here that needs getting done! Paul wants Titus to ordain elders in every city. We can also use the word bishop here in place of elder. In verse 7 the word bishop is used. It would appear that Paul had previously given these instructions and now is reminding him to get the job done.Verse 6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
Verse 6 begins to tell us what characteristics are required for a man to possess in order for him to qualify to become an elder or bishop. The church that I grew up in did have a bishop. He was the one who would officiate at baptism services and also Communion services. He held a special role in the church. Now a days it is uncommon for a church to have elders or bishops. I don't know why as it seems to be an important role in the church. Where there is no bishop, the role of bishop would fall on the lead pastor or group of pastors in the church. A bishop needs to be blameless, this means to have no evil behavior in his conduct. There would be nothing you could find in his lifestyle that you could accuse him of. He is living a good, God honoring life in his private and public life - no hidden dark secrets. He is to be the husband of one wife - this means he is faithful to his wife, he must have only one woman in his life and that is his wife. This indicates sexual purity in all it's fullness. The elder or bishop must have faithful children, if a man is not in good relationship with his children, there is something wrong in the family. A father must first lead his own family in the ways of the Lord before God will call him to lead a church.
Verse 7 - For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
Here we see again that a bishop must be blameless, a repeat of verse 6. So what does it mean to be blameless? We have already pointed out that this means this man would be living a pure God honoring life both in public and in his private life. I looked up the word "blameless" in my dictionary and it means there is no fault in the person. So in the work the bishop is doing there will be only uprightness and he will remember that all he does is done to and for the Lord. Not selfwilled, not soon angry, and not given to wine are self explainitory I think. No striker mean he is not a violent person. He will not physically hurt anyone. Not given to filthy lucre - lucre is money or profits. The bishop is not going to cheat or nor will he be greedy or accept bribes or bets, or gamble etc.
Verse 8 - But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
Basically to be a lover of hospitality means you love people, you enjoy engaging people in deeper conversations and topics over a cup of coffee, you enjoy having people over to your house and try to communicate of the things of the Lord with your guests. As the next part of our verse says, a lover of good men - you love good people. To be sober means to be sensible and discreet and are able to see the serious side of situations. The word just means that you are fair, you are going to be fair in dealing with people, not take the side of a person just because he or she is has a likeable character or is beautiful to the eye. You will be fair and kind as you counsel people. Holy - set apart to the Lord, we are to be pure and holy in all mind, thoughts, attitudes and conduct. Hate the evil and cling to what is good and right in the sight of God.
Temperate - a temperate person is a person who is free from extremes - in food and drink, and also calm and restrained in character.
Verse 9 - Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
The elder or bishop will know the Bible - He will have the Word of God in his heart. He knows the truth of the Word. And since the Holy Word of God is in his heart and mind constantly, he is able to teach and give instruction and encouragement to anyone who is opposing the truth of the Bible. He will not hesitate to challenge the one who is speaking lies or teaching heresy. He can show the the backsliding person the error of his ways and lead him or her back to faith in the Lord. There are many voices out there today who like to contradict Scripture or say that this or that portion should not be in the Bible. God calls the elders and bishops of the church to silence these critics.
That concludes the first of our studies in the book of Titus. Be blessed as you study the book of Titus with me.
For further study on this topic please read my blog post Standards for Shepherds
Titus 1: 1-9
Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
3 But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
4 To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
5 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:
6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
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