Titus 1:5-7
Titus 1:5
"For this cause left I thee in Crete, that you should sent in order
the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed
you."
"for this cause": (toutou carin), "because of this grace",
the grace mentioned in verse 4. Titus is to operate on grace principles
in dealing with the most ungracious mob of Christians in the known world.
(The Greek has the word "grace", while the KJV leaves it out,
probably because the translator thought the reference to v. 4 was obvious.
I think it should be re-emphasized in English. wd ]
"left I thee": "I left you behind"
Paul was Titus's last link to the rational society of grace believers, and
now this link was being cut. He was a missionary in the truest sense of
the word.
"in Crete":
Topic: CRETE
"that you should set in order": (epidiorthow), "to set right;
to correct; to mend a situation" [English cognate: diorama]
This is a situation requiring the exercise of authority. Paul has delegated
apostolic authority to Titus to deal with people who acknowledge no authority.
And Titus is to get things started in the right direction.
"the things that are wanting": (leipw), "the things that
are deficient, lacking, that fall short".
NOTE WELL:
The discussion in this Epistle, of the methods that Titus is to use to correct
the problems among the believers in local churches on Crete, is one of the
most important in the New Testament with regard to solving problems among
believers.
There were many problems on Crete requiring authoritative action: false
teaching, maligning and gossip, cultural clashes, Judaism, etc. The first
chapter uses some extreme language to describe troublemakers and those whose
"mouths must be stopped". As we will see, stopping the mouths
of those who were against sound teaching was equivalent to putting a bit
in a horse's mouth and hauling back!
What is "wanting" on Crete? Everything! And how is Titus going
to go about putting things in order? By Bible teaching -- every day in the
towns and villages of Crete. And he is going to find men of godly character
who would "hold fast the faithful word as they have been taught".
The people lack knowledge and application of Bible principles. Therefore,
there is no faith-rest (trust leading to peace), no orientation to grace,
no knowledge of how to use armor of God, and so forth.
Added to this were the cultural problems peculiar to Cretans, along with
religious problems associated with both false teachers and Judaism.
"and ordain": (kathisteimi), "to appoint, to put in charge,
to set, to approve"
"elders": (presbuteros), literally, "old men"; however,
here referring to maturity from the standpoint of both experience and wisdom.
The next few verses ot Titus make plain what type of person is meant.
(presbuteros) is used in general language to refer to "the older of
the two", or the older of two generations.
Used with definite article (presbuteros) refers to "the ancestors".
However, this group of words did not carry any negative implications such
as loss of powers, etc.
Officials at local city or village councils were called (presbuteroi). They
had administrative and judicial functions. The members were not necessarily
older men. Various texts refer to (presbuteroi) of 45, 35, and even 30 years
of age.
Officers of Jewish synagogues before 70 A.D. were known as (presbuteroi).
Certain members of the Sanhedrin were called (presbuteroi).
The English words "presbyter", "Presbyterian", and "priest"
derive from (presbuteros).
(When I was in my early forties, I had to get new eyeglasses. The doctor
said I had "presbyopia", old man's eyes! Tsk.)
Comment: Christian leadership emerges from the ranks. Most churches in the
New Testament times found their pastors within their own ranks; and the
gift was recognizable by the people in the congregation. This can be compared
with the manner in which deacons were chosen at first. Seven men were chosen
who were obviously controlled by the Holy Spirit; by their fruit they were
known.
"in every city": (kata polis), "according to each city"
Titus's job was to go from town to town, appointing pastors to take care
of the need for "feeding" in each city. He had to identify those
who had the communication gifts and enough doctrinal background to be ready
for training. Then, he had to train them and assign them to their posts.
Note that Titus is not commanded to import pastors. He must find the best
man in each locality, train him, and appoint him.
"as I have appointed thee": (diatassw), "to arrange; to prescribe;
to direct; to command".
Paul had given Titus detailed orders concerning church policy and organization
- a precise and detailed set of plans which took into account the character
of the people. Titus was directed to carry out the plans for organizing
the churches on Crete.
Titus 1:6
"If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children
not accused of riot or unruly."
Titus 1:6-16 contain Paul's directions to Titus regarding basic church order
and discipline. Note the need for firm and authoritative management of the
affairs of the church in Crete.
1:6-9, character and qualifications of elders and bishops
1:10,11, the duty of suppressing those who would teach for money
1:12-14, the evil character of the Cretans which demands stern treatment
and steadfast adherence to the truth
1:15,16, the condemnation of inward defilement and hypocrisy
"if any": In the Greek, a first-class conditional statement, meaning
that the conditional statement is assumed to be true.
Paul assumes that Titus will be able to find those who qualify as elders.
Paul may already have been somewhat acquainted with the people during his
own stay on Crete and noticed that there were some emerging leaders.
The churches on Crete were not necessarily new ones. There had been Christians
on Crete since the Day of Pentecost, some 35 or so years previous.
"blameless": (anegkleitos), the negative prefix with the adjective
meaning "chargeable; open to accusation in court". Hence, this
means, "not chargeable with offense", or, simply, "irreproachable".
Col. 1:21,22, "and you...now hath he reconciled in the body of his
flesh through death, to present you holy and *blameless* in his sight."
1 Tim. 3:10 -- deacons are also to be blameless.
"the husband of one wife": (mias gunaikos aneir), "a one-woman
man"
The pastor must be monogamous. The pastor, if he is married, needs a godly
woman at his side. (I don't think there's any way you can infer from this
passage that a minister may not be divorced.)
A lack of domestic tranquillity in a pastor's household can be the straw
that broke the camel's back. A pastor not only has the same problems that
any other man has; he also has a certain set of problems that go with his
ministry. Pressures in the ministry are great, and failure to have a good
helpmeet and peace in the home can be disastrous in a ministry.
In the ministry, marriage to the wrong woman, such as an unbeliever or immature
Christian, can hinder the ministry, can make waves in the community and
congregation, can cause gossip and stumbling among believers. This passage
is designed to eliminate a source of pressure before it starts.
The pastor needs the type of wife described in Titus 2:4,5; he does not
need the distractions caused by the wrong woman. This verse indicates that
the overseer must have his family life stabilized out and well coordinated
before he enters the ministry.
The pastor also needs to be the type of Christian husband that is described
in the Bible in various passages, as seen in the topic ...
Topic: Christian Husbands
"having faithful children": or, "having children who are
believers", children of Christian faith, rather than, simply, loyal
or respectful children.
Unbelieving children, in their older childhood and teenage years, can be
a source of pressure and great suffering in a pastor's life. They can even
force him out of the ministry; or, as here, keep him from starting it.
Well-behaved, godly children are a great example of the power of the Word
of God. They are evidence that the pastor and his wife have taught the word
in the home consistently and have lived for the Lord before their children.
Topic: Bible Goals in Training Children
"not accused of riot": (kateigoria), "accusation" "categorization",
plus (aswteis), "dissipation, excess, reckless living". Hence,
"not accused of reckless living; not profligate, dissolute, disorderly".
Eph. 5:18, "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is *excess* ..."
READ 1 Peter 4:3-5
"or unruly": (anupotaktos), "insubordinate".
There are quite a number of warnings to children to "honor" their
parents, from the ten commandments to Ephesians 6. The commands to children
are accompanied by a promise "that it may be well with you and that
you may live long on the earth".
This sound rather benign, but it carries some very serious overtones. You
may recall that in Old Testament times among the Jews, older children who
"cursed" their parents or were otherwise implacable were liable
to death by stoning!
And notice in Romans 1, right in the middle of that long list of terrible
sins of those who reject God, is "disobedient to parents".
In the Bible, proper response to parental authority is extremely important.
Keep in mind that the transmission of Bible doctrine and the Christian way
of life from one generation to the next is possible only in stable families.
If parents go astray, they will fail to communicate the Word of God to their
offspring, and there will be serious reverberations in their progeny, the
"sins of the fathers being visited upon the third and fourth generation."
Likewise, if children are negative, disobedient, implacable, they will fail
to receive good teaching and will interrupt the process of the communication
of divine truth to future generations.
Both negative parents and negative children are the worst kind of stumbling
blocks. And there are plenty of examples in Scripture of the Lord taking
swift and severe action against those who hinder the gospel or who cause
unbelievers or weaker brethren to be offended.
Examples are Ananias and Sapphira and Herod, among others. And remember
Christ's admonition not to prevent the little children from coming to him,
and warning that "it would be better that a millstone be hanged around
his neck ... than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble."
All of this emphasizes how important it is in a pastor's family that both
the father (the pastor) and the children be yielded to God's authority.
Titus 1:7
"For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God, not self-willed,
not soon angry, not given to wine, not a striker, not given to filthy lucre."
"for a bishop": (episkopos), "overseer".
This is a word denoting authority; used for someone who is functioning as
a leader; used of persons who have a definite office within a group. This
word was quite commonly used in Greek to refer to temple officials, for
example
Acts 20:28, "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock,
over which the Holy Spirit hath made you *overseers*, to feed the church
of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that
after my departing shall grievous volves enter in among you, not sparing
the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things,
to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch..."
Therefore, in the local church, the bishop was a man with official duties
including teaching and shepherding; in our own parlance, the pastor.
In the meantime, you will have a very enjoyable and blessed study of it
if you will just use a concordance, in English or your own language, and
read all the verses in the Bible on the subject, perhaps organizing them
as I indicated in the previous paragraph.
READ 1 Tim. 3:1-7
"must be": "it is necessary". Therefore, "It is
necessary for a bishop to be...". All of the characteristics below
are necessary qualifications for the overseer.
"blameless": (anegkleitos), [ see above in verse 6 ]
"as the steward": (oikonomos), "an administrator with authority;
the manager of an estate"
"of God": the possessive case, "a steward belonging to God"
"not self-willed": (auqadeis), "stubborn, arrogant".
See 2 Pet. 2:10.
The pastor cannot allow self will, stubbornness, or antagonism toward people
to move him to the place where he is unfair. He is to express grace, even
to those who deserve condemnation. He must be oriented to grace.
The pastor must maintain objectivity. A stubborn, implacable man cannot
do so. The pastor will be criticized, sometimes justly, sometimes not. The
criticism does not necessarily constitute judging or maligning. But criticism
cannot be allowed to cause antagonism on his part, so he must have grace
orientation. Personal feelings or prejudice must never destroy his fairness
in dealing with a situation.
"not soon angry": (orgilos), "not quick tempered" Anger
from a quick temper is mental attitude sin. The pastor must have a relaxed
mental attitude which leads to a quick recovery from anger.
Prov. 14:17, "He that is soon angry deals foolishly..."
Prov. 15:18, "A wrathful man stirs up strife; but he that is slow to
anger appeases strife."
Characteristics of Sinful Anger
These are comments regarding the type of anger that the Bible regards as
sinful.
- Sinful anger comes from the carnal nature. Gal. 5:19-21, "Now
the deeds of the flesh [sin nature] are evident, which are: immorality,
impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts
of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing,
and things like these..."
- Sinful anger is related to foolishness. Eccl. 7:9, "Do not be
quick to be angry in your heart, for anger resides in the bosom of fools."
- The Bible defines a fool as a person without wisdom (asophos). He
may be a genius, but his thinking is from human viewpoint. He thinks and
acts apart from God's standards and controls. The paramount fool (and the
beginning of foolishness) is the person who has "said in his heart,
There is no God."
- Look at Romans 1:18-31 for a detailed description of the results of
deliberately turning away from God. A fool is on a rapid downward slide
towards destruction, both in this life and the one to come. In the list
of terrible sins in this passage which characterize the ungodly are several
which are either causes or results of anger.
- Anger is associated with grieving the Holy Spirit. Eph. 4:30-31, "And
do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day
of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander
be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another,
tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven
you." Notice the contrast here between conditions of anger and the
results of impersonal love.
- Anger is a violation of the Christian's code of conduct as a member
of the Body of Christ. Col. 3:8,9, "But now you also, put them all
aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, {and} abusive speech from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its {evil}
practices"
- Anger hinders effective prayer. 1 Tim. 2:8, "Therefore I want
the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and
dissension."
- Sinful anger is always accompanied by other sins. Prov. 29:22, "An
angry person stirs up strife, and a hot tempered person abounds in transgression."
Anger promotes the sins of gossip, self-righteous judging, maligning, revenge,
complaining, bitterness, and many others. Heb. 12:15, "See to it that
no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing
up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled."
- Sinful anger makes a person his own worst enemy; he brings misery
upon himself. Prov. 22:8, "He who sows iniquity will reap vanity, And
the rod of his fury will perish." The uphappiness comes from many sources:
failure to be occupied with Christ, failure to maintain a relaxed mental
attitude, failure to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, thus, failure to
grow in Christ. Lack of growth means lack of joy, lack of love, lack of
divine viewpoint.
- Anger promotes jealousy and cruelty. Prov. 27:4.
- Anger causes misery for loved ones, friends, and community. Anger
destroys a nation. Prov. 21:19; 22:24; 24:25; 29:22. Amos 1:11, "Thus
says the Lord, "For three transgressions of Edom and for four I will
not revoke its {punishment}, Because he pursued his brother with the sword,
While he stifled his compassion; His anger also tore continually, And he
maintained his fury forever."
Other Comments on Anger
Eph. 4:26 says "Be ye angry, and sin not." or "Although you
may have become angry, stop sinning."
This verse is quoted from Psalm 4, which is about David's righteous indignation
at the revolt of his son Absalom. He is resisting the temptation to become
angry. "Tremble with anger, yet do not sin." He was tempted to
become angry at Absalom because Abaslom had used his position to start a
revolution against his father. But he didn't become angry, he trusted the
Lord (Occupation with Christ), and he asked the army to spare Absalom. 2
Sam. 18:5.
It is possible to respond to unfairness or offense without sin. A person
may sin against you, yet you can remain without sin. You can put the matter
in the Lord's hands, stay in fellowship, and maintain a relaxed mental attitude.
Furthermore, because you stay in fellowship, you are in the best position
to be of service in the situation. You can forgive the other person and
be open to any reconciliation he might offer. You will at least do your
part to keep lines of communication open.
The Bible continually emphasizes that righteousness and graciousness are
to be maintained in the face of unfair treatment.
You cannot build your happiness on someone else's misery. This is what retailiation
tries to do. But you'll never obtain happiness through revenge or by straightening
out the other person. To punish someone else using verbal sins or violence
is a revenge operation; worse yet, it obstructs divine judgment and discipline.
"Judge not, that you be not judged" is intended to warn us to
let the Lord handle matters of sins against Himself. The angry person who
arrogates to himself the position of judge is in a position of compounded
divine discipline himself, worse off than the one who originally caused
the trouble.
Therefore, in our context of the Epistle, the elder who is to be appointed
to a church on Crete must turn matters over to the Lord and maintain a non-judgmental,
objective outlook.
"not given to wine": (paroinos), "not addicted to drunkenness".
This refers to using alcohol as a form of sublimation. The edified man,
mature in Christ, has such happiness (+H) and peace every day that he doesn't
need to sublimate or forget it all.
There are several reasons given in the Bible not to drink wine. First, one
is not to drink in order to get drunk, Eph. 5:18. A person's mind must be
unclouded and always open to the controlling and teaching ministry of the
Holy Spirit.
Then, a person is not to drink if it would be offensive to others, 1 Cor.
10:31; Rom. 14:21. This is the Law of Love superceding the Law of Liberty;
the outworking of impersonal love and burden for the lost and untaught.
Prov. 31:4,5 "It is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong
drink: lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of
any of the afflicted."
It is apparent that any person in a position of social or spiritual responsibility
is not to be given to wine or strong drink, including elders, deacons, and
mature women (Titus 2:3)
"not a striker": (pleikteis), "bully, pugnacious man, brawler"
This is not a reference to self defense. A bully is a man who seeks out
fighting and brawling. But an elder can ruin his ministry by starting a
fight.
"not given to filthy lucre": (aiscrokerdeis), "not eager
for dishonorable profit; not greedy for material gain."
This is a reference to Mastery of the Details of Life by the mature believer
who is no longer part of the "Rat Race" for this world's goods.
When a Christian is a master of the details of life (rather than a slave
to them), he can enjoy the things in his life when he has them, but when
they are taken away, his happiness (joy) is not disturbed, because his joy
depends on God's faithfulness, not on personal possessions, social life,
or status.
The pastorate is not a career. It is not a salaried position (although he
might receive a salary). It is not a job for yuppies, those who are upwardly
mobile, status conscious, world-changers. It is not a track to national
prominence or even local prominence. It is not a position from which a man
can satisfy his ambition, or stroke his lust for approbation, or solidify
his power base.
Summarizing the passage:
Titus 1:5 "Because of this grace I left you behind on Crete that you
should set right the things that are deficient, and appoint elders city
by city as I have directed you."
Titus 1:6 "If there are any blameless, a one-woman man, having children
who are believers not accused of disorderly living or insubordinate."
Titus 1:7 "For an overseer must be irreproachable, as an administrator
with authority from God, not stubborn, not quick-tempered, not addicted
to wine, not a brawler, not eager for material gain,"
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