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.
if any one be free from all charge [against him], husband of one wife, having believing children not accused of excess or unruly.
Paul left Titus on Crete to appoint elders in every city. This verse sets the entry test: a clear record, one wife, and children who do not disgrace their father.
The first word decides the rest. A man open to blame himself has no standing to correct anyone else.
"If anyone is blameless (or unaccused)." How can he correct others if he is open to blame himself? "Husband of one wife." If married, he must have only one wife. Many people outside Israel had several at the same time, and Jews divorced a wife easily when they preferred another. "Having children faithful, not accused of excess (or loose living), or unruly." Having several wives would bar a man, whatever his fitness in other ways; disreputable children would bar him too.
Paul wrote this phrase into a world where a man could have several wives at once. Commentators read it against that background and note what it does not say.
The overseer had to be blameless, "the husband of one wife." In that day a man could have several wives at once, so the rule for anyone holding office in the Church of God was to have only one wife. It clearly does not mean that a man whose wife had died would be unfit for office if he married again.
There is a line here between being unfit for the office and being rejected altogether.
He must be the husband of one wife. This requirement had special force for those coming out of a pagan background where a man could have several wives. A converted man with more than one wife was not to be rejected, but he was not fit for oversight.
Commentators differ on how far this goes. One writer reads it in full — the children themselves believe — and starts by explaining the two names the letter gives this office.
The office of elder and overseer, we see here, is the same. The term elder was the title of respect; the term overseer described the work… The qualifications listed here are much the same as those given in the instructions to Timothy. But here, where dealing with people who contradict the truth is the prominent thought, Paul reminds Titus that the children of such a man should be believers (v. 6).
Others read it as reliability and order in the home, formed by a father who models order himself.
If a man is to help keep order, he must be a proper example of order in his own life and in his family life. His children were to show that they were subject to order.
Either way, one writer puts it plainly: the father is "clearly held responsible" for the character of his children.
These two words describe children with a loose or defiant reputation. A parallel between two houses explains why it matters so much.
Anyone who would keep order in the house of God must first show that he can keep order in his own house. He must be blameless in his family life — the husband of one wife, with no charge of wild living or defiance against his household.
A man may serve well in public and still fail this test. It does not measure ability. The trouble at home may go back years.
Perhaps this neglect happened before he was converted. Perhaps, after his conversion, he took up the evil idea of leaving the children to themselves, on the faithless excuse that God would convert them sometime if He saw fit… For such an office it was not so much a question of gifts as of moral weight. A man might be a prophet, a teacher, an evangelist — a disorderly wife or children would not cancel his gifts. But he should not be an elder unless he brought up his children with godliness and seriousness.
The family language is not accidental. The list describes a father, because that is the role he is given.
The qualities required in an elder are much the same as in Timothy, above all the family qualities; for the elder is to be a father in the local assembly.
The list exists so someone can apply it. The letter is clear who that was.
As to elders, an apostle chooses them (Acts 14:23), or leaves a representative for a time to appoint them (Titus 1:5-9)… The church is never invited to select them… Paul left Titus in Crete specifically to set in order what he had left undone, and to appoint elders in every city, as the apostle had appointed Titus and no one else.
- Home first. A man must keep order in his own house before he keeps order in the house of God.
- Home tested. One wife and children who are neither loose nor defiant — the two places where a man's real weight shows.
- Home debated. Does the verse ask for children who believe, or children who are reliable and orderly? Commentators differ. Both hold the father responsible.
- Home over gift. Gift cannot cover a disorderly home. Eldership asks for moral weight, not ability.
- Home repeated. The elder is a father in the assembly, and the family he has raised is the proof he can be one.