Paul's letter to Titus. Titus was a Greek follower of Jesus who was for years a trusted coworker and travelling companion of Paul. He had helped Paul in a number of crisis situations in the past. In this letter we discover that Paul had assigned him the task of going to Crete, a large island off the coast of Greece to restore order to a network of house churches. Cretan culture was notorious in the ancient world. One of the Greek words for being a liar was "kretizo," "to be a Cretan". These people were infamous for treachery and greed. Most of the men on the island had served as mercenary soldiers to the highest bidder. The island cities were known as being unsafe, plagued by violence and sexual corruption. However, the island of Crete had many strategic harbors. They serviced cities all over the ancient Mediterranean Sea. From Paul's point of view, Crete was the perfect place to start a network of churches. We do not know the details, but somehow these churches came under the influence of corrupt Cretan leaders. They said they were Christians but they were ruining the churches. So Paul assigned Titus with the task of going there to set things straight. This letter provided the instructions. It has a pretty straightforward design. After a brief introduction Paul gives Titus clear instructions about his tasks in the church. He then offers guidance about the new kind of household and then about the new kind of humanity that the gospel could create in these Cretan communities. Paul then closes the letter with some final greetings. Paul opens the whole thing by reminding Titus that his message as an apostle is about the hope of eternal life. That is, the life of the new creation that is available starting now through Jesus the Messiah. This hope was promised long ago by the God who does not lie. This little opening comment introduces an important theme underlying the whole letter. One of the problems in the Cretan churches was that they had assimilated their ideas about Jesus, the Christian God, to their ideas about the Greek gods that they grew up with, specifically Zeus, their chief God. Cretan people claimed that Zeus was actually born on their Island. They loved to tell stories and mythologies about Zeus' underhanded character. He would seduce women and lie to get his way. Paul wants to be really clear: the God revealed through Jesus is totally different than Zeus. His basic character traits are faithfulness and truth, which means the Christian way of life will be about truth also, which will be a real change for these Cretans. Paul then addresses Titus with a two-fold task. He says the first one is to appoint new leaders for each church community, a team of what he calls "elders", mature husbands or fathers whose way of life is totally different from Cretan culture. They are to be known for integrity, total devotion to Jesus, for self-control and generosity, both in their families and in the community at large. These new leaders are to teach the good news about Jesus and replace the corrupt leaders who need to be confronted. That is Titus' second task. Paul identifies the teachers as those of the circumcision. In other words, they were ethnically Jewish Cretans who said that they followed Jesus but, similar to the problems in Galatia, these people demanded that non-Jewish Christians be circumsized and follow the laws of the Torah if they really wanted to become followers of the Jewish Messiah. Paul says that they are obsessed with Jewish myths and human commands. To top it off, they are just in the church leadership business to make money. So Paul, in a brilliant move, pulls a quote from an ancient Cretan poet, Epimenides, who was very frank and honest about the character of his own people. He said Cretans are always liars, vicious beasts, and lazy gluttons. They blur the lines between true and false, between good and evil and they are just in it for the money. So while these leaders claim to know God, their Cretan way of life denies him. They have to be dealt with. This leads Paul into the next section. Because of these corrupt leaders, many Christians in these churches now have homes and personal lives that are a total wreck In three different times, Paul highlights the result of all this: the message about Jesus is discredited. Their non-Christian neighbors now have good cause to make evil accusations. All of this makes the teaching about God our Savior totally unattractive and not compelling to anybody. So Paul paints a picture of the ideal Cretan household that is devoted to Jesus. It would be elderly men and women who are full of integrity and self-control, so they can become models of character to the young people. The young women should not be sleeping around and avoiding marriage, as was fashionable on Crete at the time. Rather, they should be looking for faithful partners so they can raise stable, healthy families. The young men are to do the same. They are to be known as productive, healthy citizens. Christian slaves on Crete were in a unique position. We know that, because of the gospel, they were treated as equals in Paul's church communities. However there was a danger that they would use that equality as license to disrespect their masters and then become associated with slave rebellions, which would further discredit the Christian message. You can see Paul negotiating a fine line here. He believes that the gospel about Jesus needs to prove its redemptive power in the public square if it is really going to transform Cretan culture. That is not going to happen through social upheaval or by Christians cloistering away from urban life. The Christian message will be compelling to Cretans when Christians fully participate in public life, when their lives and homes look similar on the surface because after a closer look, their neighbors will discover that Christians live by a totally different value system out of devotion to a totally different God. That is the difference that Paul beautifully summarizes at the end of chapter 2. He says the value system driving the Christian Way of life is God's generous grace which appeared in the person of Jesus and will appear again at his return. This grace was demonstrated when Jesus gave up his honor to die a shameful death on behalf of his enemies so that he could rescue and redeem them. It is that same grace that calls God's people to say, "No!" to corrupt ways of life that are inconsistent with the generous love of God. Paul then zooms out from the Christian household to a vision of Christians living like new humans in Cretan society. Of all people, Christians should be known as the ideal citizens: peaceable, generous, obedient to authorities, known for pursuing the common good. This is really different from how Cretans grew up. How are Christians supposed to sustain this countercultural way of life? Paul believes the power source is the transforming love of the three and one God announced in the gospel. He explores this with a really beautiful poem. He says God's kindness and love are what saved us, despite ourselves, so that through the Holy Spirit, God washed, rebirthed and renewed people. Through Jesus, He has provided a way for people to be declared right before him. All of his opens up eternal life. That is, a new future in the new creation. This living story is so powerful it can produce new kinds of people. Paul is convinced that Spirit-empowered faithfulness to the teachings of Jesus will declare God's grace all over the island of Crete and all over the world. Paul concludes by promising to send backup for Titus, either Artemas or Tychicus Then he says hello to their common friends. And so the letter ends. The letter of Titus shows us Paul's missionary strategy for churches to become agents of transformation within their communities. It will not happen by waging a culture war or by assimilating to the Cretan way of life. Rather, he calls these Christians to wisely participate in Cretan culture. They need to reject what is corrupt but also embrace what is good there. If they can learn to live peaceably and devote themselves to Jesus and to the common good, Christians will, in his words, "Show the beauty of the message about our saving God." That is what the letter to Titus is all about.
