When was Titus written?

One of the Pastoral Epistles, so called because addressed to an individual servant of the Lord. It was apparently written after Paul's first imprisonment at Rome (when otherwise could he have left Titus at Crete? Titus 1:5), and before his second imprisonment. From whence it was written is not known: its date may be about A.D. 64. The epistle urges the maintenance of good works and order in the church, and states the principles on which they are founded.

After the introductory salutation in which the counsels of God are referred to, and the acknowledging of truth which is according to piety, Paul states for what purpose he had left Titus at Crete: 1, to set in order things that were still left incomplete; and 2, to establish elders in every city, which elders are in Titus 1:7 called 'bishops,' or overseers. The qualifications for such an office are then given: no particular gift is essential, but blameless moral character is indispensable, and soundness in the faith. There were at Crete many deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped.

After Paul's release of his first imprisonment he also came to Crete where he left Titus behind. Paul had asked Titus to order divers matters in the churches there. (Some scientists think it possible Paul left Titus in Crete at the end of his second missionary journey.) Shortly after this Paul wrote his Epistle to Titus around the year 63 to 64 AC.

Much has been written on the date of the First Epistle to Timothy. The question of one or two imprisonments of the apostle becomes important in connection with the date of the First Epistle to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus. Paul was no doubt imprisoned twice, and between the two imprisonments, when he was a free man, the First Epistle to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus were written. If only one imprisonment is maintained, the date of the writing of these Epistles is hopelessly obscure, besides other unexplainable difficulties. Paul reached Rome as a prisoner in the year 61 A.D. and remained there for two years (Acts 28:30). During this time he wrote the Epistles to the Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and to Philemon. In each he speaks of the fact that he was a prisoner. He does not mention himself as a prisoner when he writes the first letter to Timothy. He tells Timothy that he hoped to come unto him shortly. In writing Titus he speaks of spending the winter in Nicopolis (Tit. 3:12). This is sufficient evidence that he was no longer a prisoner. His trusting confidence to be released had been realized (Phil. 1:25; 2:24; Philemon, verse 22). The prayers in his behalf had been answered. For several years he was again at liberty, and Eusebius, a reliable source, states that it was known that Paul went forth preaching again.

The only voyage likely to suit noticed in the Acts, in which Paul could have left Titus in Crete, is that mentioned in [Acts 18:19–22 from Ephesus to Caesarea. On this occasion it need not have caused him one day's delay to have landed Titus. The very school-maps make him pass within sixty miles of the island. But "left" seems to imply that Paul had made some stay there.]

Titus is desired to meet the apostle at Nicopolis,* a city not far from Philippi, where he had determined to winter. Is it not then next to certain that he (Titus) did all the work among the Corinthians (as sent from that city), which is narrated in 2 Cor. 2:12-13; 2 Cor. 7:6-7; 2 Cor. 8:16, etc.? Was he not the intervening messenger between that church and the apostle, pending the latter's hesitancy as to going there himself? I place it then between the two epistles. In like manner, I judge that 1 Timothy was written between the two same Epistles to the Corinthians. In Acts 19:22 Paul sends Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia, whilst he remains in Asia. In Acts 20:1-2 he goes into Macedonia and, as I would suggest this to be the time alluded to, leaves Timothy at Ephesus (1 Tim. 1:3); after which time then he writes 1 Timothy, "Hoping to come to him shortly." (1 Tim. 3:14-15.) They had met before 2 Corinthians was written, because Timothy is conjoined with him in the address. I can only bracket Titus and 1 Timothy, inclining to the opinion that Titus was the later. Very briefly would I advert to the contents of these two letters, as moral evidence that they cannot come much out of the order in which I have placed them. Thus, they are full of directions as to the government of churches, and as to the character of mischief which these two agents of the apostle would be sure to fall in with, whether from fallen human nature itself, or from the bad education it had received; but there is little or no supposition either in the way of prophecy or from individual experience of the rapid declension into which the churches would fall, as is exhibited in 2 Timothy. There is in Titus a direction how to deal with a single heretic, otherwise there are only warnings, as to what everyone, who is in the habit of dealing with his own heart or with those of others, is liable to meet. I cannot assign, then, a later date to either of these epistles, and I think it would be difficult to put that to Titus earlier on account of Apollos.

Paul desired Titus to meet him at Nicopolis, a city in Macedonia. ([Titus 3:12.) It appears from 2 Corinthians 2:12-13 that on one occasion he expected to find him at Troas in Asia Minor, and had to go over to Macedonia after him. (Cp. 2 Cor. 7:5, 13) I know not where to place this voyage — I can find no record in the Acts of this voyage; but he tells us in 2 Corinthians 11:25 that he had then thrice "suffered shipwreck." The salient points in the apostle's life being preserved in the Acts, all else to human eyes left vague.]

We must place in the first rank those whose date is sure: 1 and 2 THESSALONIANS; 1 and 2 CORINTHIANS; the Epistle to the ROMANS, those to the EPHESIANS, COLOSSIANS, PHILIPPIANS, PHILEMON, the last four written during Paul's captivity. The Epistle to the GALATIANS was written between fourteen and twenty years after the call of the apostle, and after he had laboured for some time in Asia Minor, perhaps when he was staying at Ephesus, although it was not long after the founding of the assemblies of Galatia. 1 TIMOTHY was written on the occasion of the apostle leaving Ephesus, at what time exactly is not clear; 2 TIMOTHY must be placed at the close of the apostle's life, when he was about to suffer martyrdom. The Epistle to TITUS is connected with a journey of Paul to Crete, though we do not know when this journey took place (it has been thought that it was perhaps at the time of the apostle's sojourn at Ephesus); it is morally synchronous with 1 TIMOTHY, for it was not God's purpose to give us chronological dates: divine wisdom was not pleased to give this, but the moral order is quite clear, as we already see in the way in which the second epistle to Timothy is connected with the ruin of that the order of which was established by the first.

This epistle, and that to Titus, were written about the same time, the date considered to be 64 A.D., three years before the martyrdom of Paul. Only his second epistle to Timothy is written later, evidently just immediately before his death. The apostle had in his many previous epistles communicated the truth of God so necessary for the saints of God collectively and corporately. But it remains that there must be good, solid instruction to be pressed upon the individual child of God in connection with his responsibilities in fellowship with the assembly, the Church of God. These epistles, therefore, are addressed personally to Timothy and Titus, as was that to Philemon just two years before. (In this, however, Paul had not written as an apostle, but a prisoner of Jesus Christ.) While the unity of the Church of God is a matter of vital importance, as all the epistles to the assemblies bear witness, yet the obedience of the individual is most vital to that unity: a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Moreover, whatever the response of the assembly unitedly may be, the individual is fully responsible still: there is no reason for us individually to be wrongly affected because of wrongs collectively.

There is much that speaks in favour of Paul's release after two years of imprisonment in Rome (as described by the end of Acts) around the year 63 AC. Hints to this effect can already be found in his Epistles to the Philippians (chap. 1:22-26; 2:24) and to Philemon (verse 22). According to the messages in the Pastoral Epistles he then came to Minor Asia, Crete and Greece (compare with 1 Tim. 1:3; 2 Tim. 4:13.20; Tit. 1:5; 3:12). Only hereafter Paul was again taken captive and condemned to death and executed in Rome.

The First Epistle to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus, therefore, have been written between the first and second imprisonment for from these epistles we learn that Paul had been released. We find no mention of chains or bonds. The Epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and to Philemon as well as Second Timothy all mention chains or bonds, which would indicate imprisonment. In 2 Tim. 1:8.12.16-17; 2:9 Paul again is writing of imprisonment and of a trial (2 Tim. 4:6-8). This epistle therefore is the last inspired testimony of the apostle Paul, so to say his spiritual last will.

These circumstances regarding the final part of Paul's life (as seen in the Pastoral Epistles) are not in contradiction with the reports contained in the Book of Acts and to the picture drawn by the remaining epistles but they are to be considered as addition.

As Paul foresaw that he would not live much longer his latter epistles differ from his earlier ones in subject and style. He had already presented, in various and detailed ways, the doctrine of Christ. This is why his last epistles contain more practical messages and directions of assembly life. In doing so the entire truth of Christ, the redemption work and the truth of the assembly (or church) is presupposed (compare 1 Tim. 3:15 with Math. 16:18; 1 Tim. 4:14 with 1 Cor. 12:4.31; Tit. 1:1-3 with Rom. 5:21; 6:23; Eph. 1:3-4).

There does not appear to be enough of external marks to decide when the apostle wrote this Epistle to his genuine child and fellow-labourer. But internally we may gather that it was after the First Epistle and before the Second to Timothy, with which letters it has closer links of connection than with any others. For on the one hand it treats like 1 Timothy of official government; on the other it speaks like 2 Timothy of the hope of life eternal which the God that cannot lie promised before times everlasting. As in the former, it is our Saviour God who commands; it is not the law, but faith of His elect, a common faith.

Before, however, I touch upon 2 Corinthians, it is better to consider the date, or rather order of Titus, who occupies such a place in that second epistle. The letter is addressed to him in Crete, where he had been left by the apostle on one of his numerous voyages.* When written, Apollos was also in the island; indeed, I judge that he may have carried the letter, and by this fact, whether he was the bearer or not, we may be assured that it was written after 1 Corinthians, at which time, as we have seen, Apollos was with Paul. (1 Cor. 16:12.)

After fully four years' imprisonment, partly in Judea and partly at Rome, the apostle is once more at liberty. But we have no particulars as to the character of his trial, or the ground of his acquittal. The sacred historian tells us that he dwelt two whole years in his own hired house; but he does not say what followed at the close of that period. Was it followed by the apostle's condemnation and death, or by his acquittal and liberation? This is the question, and the only certain answer to this question must be gathered chiefly from the Pastoral Epistles. The First to Timothy and that to Titus appear to have been written about the same time; and the Second to Timothy somewhat later.