1 Paul, a servant of Goda and an apostleb of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truthc that leads to godlinessd— 2in the hope of eternal life,e which God, who does not lie,f promised before the beginning of time,g 3and which now at his appointed seasonh he has brought to lighti through the preaching entrusted to mej by the command of Godk our Savior,l
4To Titus,m my true sonn in our common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.o
Appointing Elders Who Love What Is Good
5The reason I left you in Cretea was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint* eldersb in every town, as I directed you. 6An elder must be blameless,c faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7Since an overseerd manages God’s household,e he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.f 8Rather, he must be hospitable,g one who loves what is good,h who is self-controlled,i upright, holy and disciplined. 9He must hold firmlyj to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrinek and refute those who oppose it.
Rebuking Those Who Fail to Do Good
10For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talka and deception, especially those of the circumcision group.b 11They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole householdsc by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. 12One of Crete’s own prophetsd has said it: “Cretanse are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”* 13He has surely told the truth! Therefore rebukef them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faithg 14and will pay no attention to Jewish mythsh or to the merely human commandsi of those who reject the truth.j 15To the pure, all things are pure,k but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.l In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.m 16They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him.n They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.o