to Titus, my own child according to [the] faith common [to us] Grace and peace from God [the] Father, and Christ Jesus our Saviour.
Paul ends his long opening sentence by naming the man he is writing to. He calls Titus his own child, though the two shared neither family nor nationality. Two questions follow: what makes a faith "common", and why Christ carries God's own title of Savior here.
Titus was not a Jew, and Paul did not require him to become one. (Older translations render the phrase in this verse as "my own son after the common faith.")
A Greek convert, Paul's "own son after the common faith." The apostle took him to Jerusalem, but because he was a Greek he was not circumcised. Gal. 2:1-3. Paul describes him to the Corinthian church as "my partner and fellow-helper" on their behalf.
That phrase — "common faith" — spans the Jew and Gentile divide, and every rank inside the church.
So the apostle gives Titus the same title he gave Timothy in his first letter. There it is simply "in faith"; here it is "according to common faith." Both men believed the same truth of Christ — Paul the Jew and Titus the Gentile. There is not only one body, the church; there is also a faith shared by all Christians. The highest in spiritual place, power and authority shares it with the least believer, even a Scythian or a slave, who calls on the same Lord — the Lord who is rich in grace toward all who call on His name.
The word "child" points back to how Titus came to faith — and it fits a letter that deals with one soul at a time.
He is writing to Titus, his true child, as he says — his child just as Timothy was, his child in the faith, since God used him to pass that faith on... Each soul must stand before God for itself. We are not saved in a crowd; we are saved one by one. And all through life, the more simply we deal with God Himself, for ourselves, as if no one else existed, the more fit we will be for fellowship with others.
Grace, mercy and peace each do a different work in a person's circumstances.
Paul calls Titus his "own child after the common faith," because Titus was converted through him. He wishes him grace — the favour of God that lifts a person above all circumstances. Mercy — God's compassion while he is in those circumstances. And peace — the calm of soul to carry him through them.
One word marks the difference between Paul's letters to churches and his letters to individuals.
He wishes the believers in Rome, as in all his letters, grace and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ... When he writes to one person, something else comes in: that person's own weakness and frailty. So the writers of Scripture add "mercy" when they write to a single person. (See the letters to Timothy and Titus, and the Second Letter of John.)
after_note: none
The oldest manuscripts read only "grace and peace" here, so commentators differ over whether "mercy" belongs in the verse. The difference costs the reader nothing.
It is hard, though, to resist the weight of the manuscript evidence. The conclusion would be that the apostle's heart went out to desire "mercy" for Timothy in particular, while he was content to wish Titus "grace and peace," as he usually did when writing to believers at large... But if "mercy" is not stated here, "grace" implies it. Grace is the spring from which mercy flows, and peace is the result always to be desired.
Verse 3 calls God our Savior. Verse 4 gives the same title to Christ, and the letter repeats the pairing.
God saves us to make us His heirs, and it is striking how this letter presents Him as Saviour. It is even more striking that the letter gives the title Saviour to both God and the Lord Jesus, in a way that assures us Jesus is God. In Titus 1, it is "God our Saviour" in verse 3, and "Christ our Saviour" in verse 4. In Titus 3, it is "God our Saviour" in verse 4, and "Christ our Saviour" in verse 6. In Titus 2, it is "our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ" in verse 13.
- Child. Titus was a Greek convert; Paul led him to Christ. So "child" records a real spiritual birth, not a polite title.
- Common. The faith Paul and Titus shared crossed the Jew–Gentile line and levels every rank, from apostle to slave.
- Individual. God saves one soul at a time, not crowds. Souls that deal with Him alone are the ones fit for fellowship.
- Supplied. Grace lifts us above our circumstances. Mercy meets us inside them. Peace carries us through. Where the text omits "mercy," grace already holds it, because grace is its source.
- Savior. Verse 3 calls God our Savior; verse 4 calls Christ our Savior. The letter repeats the pairing until one conclusion stands: Jesus is God.
For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou mightest go on to set right what remained [unordered], and establish elders in each city, as *I* had ordered thee
Paul had passed through Crete and moved on. He left behind young groups of believers and a trusted fellow worker to finish what the visit had begun. It gives Titus two jobs and one limit. He was to finish what was unfinished and to appoint elders town by town. And he was to follow the instructions Paul had already given him.
This one sentence sets the course of the whole letter. One writer reads it as the key to the book's subject:
Here, in Titus, the apostle says plainly that he had left him in Crete to set in order things that were still lacking, and to establish elders in every city... The subject of this book is the walk that suits Christians, in keeping order in their relationships with each other. It is also the great principles on which this walk is founded.
The gap was not a failure. The work in Crete was young, and Paul's visit had been short.
The apostle's stay was short, so some things were still lacking that it could not complete. There was also the need to appoint elders, and that regularly came after the saints were gathered — sometimes long after. This implies that several cities, perhaps many, had assemblies in them, and that elders were appointed in each one later... we know from elsewhere in the New Testament that more than one elder in any given assembly was the rule, and so no doubt it was at Crete.
Verse 5 asks for elders. Two verses later Paul uses a different word for the same men.
Then the apostle states the qualifications needed for anyone who would fill such an office. Here we see that the office of elder and the office of overseer are the same. (Compare verse 5 with verse 7.) The term elder was the title of respect; the term overseer was the one that described the work.
The phrase "as I directed you" is the hinge of the verse. Titus was not acting on his own judgment, and the letter itself was his credentials.
The apostle had committed this task to the proven faithfulness of Titus. He gave Titus his own authority by word of mouth and here in writing. So to reject Titus was to reject the apostle, and therefore the Lord who had sent him. Authority in the assembly of God is a serious thing — a thing that comes from God Himself. It can be exercised through influence by the gift of God, and by officeholders, when God establishes them through instruments He has chosen and sent for this purpose.
What makes a man fit for this charge? One writer points to what Paul leaves out of the list.
Notice a matter of the greatest importance. The apostle does not specify a particular gift as needed for these local charges. Scripture takes marked care to guard against that dangerous confusion, which soon marked Christendom and formed the separation of clergy from laity... A gift and a charge may well be combined in the same person. But in themselves, and for most people who have only one of the two, they are completely different. The gift was one given by Christ to the church, from the greatest to the least, without any human involvement. The charge of "elders" or "overseers" needed more than fitness. It also needed choice or appointment by a competent authority that Scripture defines.
Titus appointed elders because Paul told him to. So can anyone appoint elders today?
Scripture makes no provision for such appointments to continue. We can only see them as a way of establishing the church in its earliest state. Of course, there is no authority now for appointing elders. Yet the saints should still recognise men with the qualifications seen here and in 1 Timothy, valuing their wisdom and experience. Then order can be kept easily, without official appointment.
- Left — Paul left Titus in Crete with a job to finish. His task was to carry on what Paul's own visit had started.
- Lacking — A short visit could not finish the work. Elders often came some time after a group of believers first gathered.
- Labelled — "Elder" is the title of honour, "overseer" describes the job. Verse 5 and verse 7 speak of one and the same man, and one gathering usually had more than one elder.
- Lent — "As I directed you" is the key. The authority was Paul's. He passed it on in speech and in writing, so that refusing Titus meant refusing the Lord who sent him.
- Lasting — Paul's authority to appoint stopped with Titus. The qualities in the list still mark out trustworthy men, and recognising them keeps order where no one can appoint.