Titus 1

Paul wrote this letter to Titus, who use to travel with Paul. When they went to Crete, the people they spoke to there were a bunch who were known for lies and bad deeds. After a while, Paul realized he needed someone to take charge of the church there that he trusted. In this letter, Paul discusses how to successfully lead a church, how to serve and how to live a Godly life. He lists many examples of things that the Cretans are doing wrong and offers ways to fix the problem. Here's Chapter 1: http://www.esvbible.org/Titus+1/

Paul's greeting to Titus is a little longer than those in the other letters we have read. In this greeting, Paul talks about what he and God are doing. He says that he has been entrusted with spreading the Good News to all of God's people (who we learned in Acts are all people, not just the Jewish people). Additionally, he is to lead the Christians in faith and knowledge of the truth that leads to a Godly life. All of Paul's teachings are rooted in eternal life, promised to people from the beginning of time. We know that this is the truth because God promised eternal life and told us in the prophets of the Old Testament how He was going to do it. Because ALL of the prophesies were fulfilled by the life of Jesus Christ, it is safe to know, not only assume, that Jesus is the Savior who came so that we may have eternal life. With the extra hope Paul gives us that God never lies as seen throughout not only the gospels but also the Old Testament, where God fulfills many promises, we can safely know that God has given us the ability to attain eternal life, not by what we have done, but by what He has done. God has proven His honesty throughout the generations by spreading His word. At this point, the Good News had been entrusted to Him by the Holy Spirit of the Lord God. He then addresses the letter to Titus and calls him a genuine child of faith. In some of the letter we have read that Paul sends to churches, we have seen him talk about Christians as children of God, and he calls Titus genuine. I personally would love to have this label. We should all strive to be someone so genuine in faith that others see it and speak about it. There should be no doubt in any one's mind that if tomorrow it was against the law to worship God, we would still do it openly. That's the kind of man of faith that Titus is. At the end of the greeting, Paul includes that peace and good will of God are Titus's. We discussed in 2 Thessalonians how big of a deal this is.

Paul reveals that he left Titus in crete to do what was still needed to be done there. Mainly, Paul talks about choosing people to lead the local churches in each of the cities. Spiritual leaders should live the kind of lives that they preach about. There are a few honorable mentions here. The person should have only one wife; therefore, we can see that Mormons are misled and lost in the ways of the Lord. Also, the leader's children should be believers and not be known for a wild or rebellious lifestyle. If a preacher cannot control his own children, then how is he supposed to control a church. In addition, the Christian teachings should be taught to children in households with Christian parents from a very young age. If the message does not come across to these children when the preacher has taught them from childhood, how can he teach a group of people including many h does not know. Finally, if the child lives this kind of lifestyle, it can mean that there is something wrong with the parent or the way it's being taught or maybe not applied at home. It creates double standards that it's okay when the preacher's kid does it but not for the rest of us. He must not drink to much or be violent, stubborn, or irritable. He must not use shameful ways to make money. He should be a hospitable person, love what is good, use good judgement, be fair and moral, and have self control. Most importantly, he must be devoted to the message he teaches because it is only when he does this that he can truly teach it to others and correct them when they're wrong.

At the time, and still today, there are any people who claim to be believers but speak nonsense and deceive people. They are ruining whole families, as you can imagine, and ripping holes in the family of God. One of their own prophets called them liars, animals, and gluttons, and Paul agrees that is a pretty accurate description of the Cretans at the time. Because it is true and people know it, Paul charges Titus to sharpen the faith of the believers and let them know what is correct. They shouldn't listen to Jewish myths or anything that comes from people who reject something written in the truth. Because of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made, everything is clean to a clean person. In Moses's teachings, there were certain things that were clean and others that were unclean, and anyone who did or ate or associated with anything that was unclean had to go through a ritual to clean themselves. Jesus came and overturned all of that. Now, the people who believe in the Good News and what it says are clean and those who don't are unclean and everything they do is unclean. According to Paul, their minds and consciouses are corrupted because they claim to know God and reject what He says. This is worse than not being a believer at all. Thee people are detestable, disobedient, and unfit to do anything good.