The Epistle to Titus
The Epistle to Titus is a book of
the canonic New Testament, one of the three so-called
"pastoral epistles" (with 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy). The
Pastoral Epistles are often considered together, as each
throws light upon the others. It is offered as a letter
from Paul to the Apostle Titus. Its purpose is to
describe the requirements and duties of elders and
bishops.
The author of Titus identifies himself as "Paul, a
servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Scholars
who believe Paul wrote Titus such as Donald Guthrie date
its composition from the circumstance that it was
written after Paul's visit to Crete (Titus 1:5). That
visit could not be the one referred to in the Book of
Acts 27:7, when Paul was on his voyage to Rome as a
prisoner, and where he continued a prisoner for two
years. Thus traditional exegesis supposes that after his
release Paul sailed from Rome into Asia, passing Crete
by the way, and that there he left Titus "to set in
order the things that were wanting." Thence he would
have gone to Ephesus, where he left Timothy, and from
Ephesus to Macedonia, where he wrote the First Epistle
to Timothy, and thence, according to the superscription
of this epistle, to Nicopolis in Epirus, from which
place he wrote to Titus, about 66 or 67.
One of the secular peculiarities of the Epistle to Titus
is the inclusion of text which has become known as the
Epimenides paradox. According to the World English Bible
translation, Titus 1:12-13 reads (in part) "One of them,
a prophet of their own, said, 'Cretans are always liars,
evil beasts, and idle gluttons.' This testimony is
true." The statement by a member of a group that all
members are liars is now a famous logic problem. In this
section of the letter, Paul does not go after the
character of the Cretans but rather makes observations
of their false teachers. He leaves the character
judgment of the people on Crete up to their own prophet.
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