To Titus, Paul wrote one epistle. An epistle is simply a letter—in this case a letter from God—for the men who wrote these Bible-letters were inspired of God, and what they wrote is a revelation from Him to us. Now, when we receive a letter from a friend, we begin at the beginning and we read it through to the end, even though we may be interrupted in the middle. If we value it we read it again, and even many times, perhaps. Certainly we ought not to treat God’s letters less well.
“How do you read your Bible?” is a question sometimes addressed to young people, and the answer often received is, “Oh, I just open and read anywhere.” Now, though it may be very nice and even profitable to do this sometimes because all the Bible is good, yet it is far better to study a book or an epistle as a whole and to read it straight through. Thus we may gain some idea of its contents and are more likely to discover what God had in view in preserving for us such a letter or book. We know, for instance, that each gospel presents Christ in a different character, that in Ephesians Paul tells us about the body of Christ, in Philippians he instructs us what the life of a Christian here should be like, Colossians is about Christ the Head of the body, and so on. Let us try and read God’s letters in this way and learn His thoughts in this evil day when men are making much of themselves and trying to ignore His Book and His ways.
But to return to Titus; who was he? He is not named in Acts, but chapter 15 tells us that when Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to consult the apostles about circumcision, “certain others” went with them, and from Galatians 2 we learn that among these “others” was Titus. He was a Greek, and he was not circumcised. Timothy had been circumcised, perhaps because his mother was a Jewess; but Titus was purely Gentile, and Paul would not give up his liberty in Christ Jesus and be brought into bondage to law to please anybody.
It is in Corinthians that we hear the most of Titus. It appears that he was sent to Corinth to find out how Paul’s first Epistle, containing some sharp reproofs, had been received, and that then he was again sent there with the second letter. All this was a source of great anxiety and also great joy, both to the messenger and the writer (2 Cor. 7). Titus was also commissioned to incite them to liberality and to distribution for the needs of others.
The Epistle of Titus somewhat resembles 1 Timothy and was probably written about the same time; but though Titus was converted (1:4) through Paul, he does not seem to regard him with quite the same affection and confidence as Timothy. He left him, however, in Crete, in a position of responsibility (chapter 1). Then he begged him to meet him at Nicopolis (Macedonia), and spend the winter with him, but whether this was accomplished is not known.
From 2 Timothy 4:10 we learn that when Paul was almost alone at Rome, Titus had departed to Dalmatia, whether rightly or wrongly we cannot say. It is said that he went from Dalmatia to Crete where he died at an advanced age.
ML-10/31/1976