Book of the New Testament
Papyrus 32
(
c.
AD 200
), with some text from
Titus 1
The
Epistle to Titus
[a]
is one of the three
pastoral epistles
(along with
1 Timothy
and
2 Timothy
) in the
New Testament
, historically attributed to
Paul the Apostle
.
[3]
It is addressed to
Saint Titus
[3]
and describes the requirements and duties of
presbyters
/
bishops
.
[4]
Text
[
edit
]
The epistle is divided into three
chapters
, 46 verses in total.
[5]
Recipient
[
edit
]
Not mentioned in the
Acts of the Apostles
,
Saint Titus
was noted in
Galatians
(cf. Galatians 2:1, 3)
[6]
where Paul wrote of journeying to Jerusalem with
Barnabas
, accompanied by Titus. He was then dispatched to
Corinth
, Greece, where he successfully reconciled the Christian community there with Paul, its founder. Titus was later left on the island of
Crete
to help organize the Church there, and later met back with the Apostle Paul in
Nicopolis
. He soon went to
Dalmatia
(now Croatia). According to
Eusebius
of
Caesarea
in the
Ecclesiastical History
, he served as the first bishop of Crete.
[7]
He was buried in Cortyna (
Gortyna
), Crete; his head was later removed to Venice during the invasion of Crete by the
Saracens
in 832 and was enshrined in
St Mark's Basilica
, Venice, Italy.
[
citation needed
]
Authenticity
[
edit
]
According to Clare Drury, the claim that Paul himself wrote this letter and those to Timothy "seems at first sight obvious and incontrovertible. All three
begin with a greeting from the apostle and contain personal notes and asides", but in reality "things are not so straightforward: signs of the late
date of the letters proliferate".
[8]
There has therefore been some debate regarding the authenticity of the letter.
Opposition to Pauline authenticity
[
edit
]
Titus, along with the two other
pastoral epistles
(
1 Timothy
and
2 Timothy
), is regarded by some scholars as being
pseudepigraphical
.
[9]
On the basis of the language and content of the pastoral epistles, these scholars reject that they were written by Paul and believe that they were written by an anonymous forger after his death. Critics claim the vocabulary and style of the Pauline letters could not have been written by Paul according to available biographical information and reflect the views of the emerging Church rather than the apostle's. These scholars date the epistle from the 80s CE up to the end of the 2nd century, though most would place it sometime between 80 and 100 CE.
[10]
The
Church of England
's
Common Worship Lectionary Scripture Commentary
concurs with this view: "the proportioning of the theological and practical themes is one factor that leads us to think of these writings as coming from the post-Pauline church world of the late first or early second century".
[11]
Titus has a very close affinity with
1 Timothy
, sharing similar phrases and expressions and similar subject matter.
[12]
[13]
This has led many scholars to believe that it was written by the same author who wrote 1 and 2 Timothy: their author is sometimes referred to as "the Pastor".
[14]
The
gnostic
writer
Basilides
rejected the epistle.
[15]
Traditional view: Pauline authenticity
[
edit
]
Other scholars who do believe that Paul wrote Titus date its composition from the circumstance that it was written after Paul's visit to
Crete
(Titus 1:5).
[16]
This visit could not be the one referred to in the
Acts of the Apostles
27:7,
[17]
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 subscription of this epistle, to "Nicopolis of Macedonia",
[b]
from which place he wrote to Titus, about 66 or 67.
The first page of the epistle in
Minuscule 699
gives its title as
'προ? τιτον
, 'To Titus.'
Recent scholarship has revived the theory that Paul used an
amanuensis
, or secretaries, in writing his letters (e.g. Romans 16:22),
[18]
but possibly Luke for the pastorals.
[19]
[20]
This was a common practice in ancient letter writing, even for the biblical writers.
[21]
[22]
Epimenides paradox
[
edit
]
One of the
secular
peculiarities of the Epistle to Titus is the reference to the
Epimenides paradox
: "One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, 'Cretans are always liars'."
[23]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
The book is sometimes called the
Letter of Paul to Titus
, or simply
Titus
[1]
(which is also its most common form of abbreviation).
[2]
- ^
"It was written to Titus, ordained the first bishop of the church of the Cretians, from Nicopolis of Macedonia."?
Authorized Version
subscription after Titus 3:15
- Note: Sources
[
which?
]
that say
Nicopolis
was in
Epirus
are technically correct, but Epirus had become part of
Macedonia (Roman province)
in 146 BCE. In 110 CE under Trajan it became a province in its own right, separate from Macedonia and Achaia. The expression "Nicopolis of Macedonia" in Paul's timeframe is valid.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
ESV Pew Bible
. Wheaton, IL: Crossway. 2018. p. 998.
ISBN
978-1-4335-6343-0
.
Archived
from the original on June 3, 2021.
- ^
"Bible Book Abbreviations"
.
Logos Bible Software
.
Archived
from the original on April 21, 2022
. Retrieved
April 21,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
Moffatt, James
(1911).
"Titus, The Epistle to"
. In
Chisholm, Hugh
(ed.).
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 1031?1032.
- ^
Harris, Stephen L.
,
Understanding the Bible
. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985.
- ^
Titus 1:1?16
- ^
Galatians 2:1?3
- ^
Eusebius
,
Church History
III.4
- ^
Drury, C.,
73. The Pastoral Epistles
, in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001),
The Oxford Bible Commentary
Archived
2017-11-22 at the
Wayback Machine
, p. 1220
- ^
Ehrman, Bart (2011).
Forged
. HarperOne. pp.
93?105
.
ISBN
978-006-201262-3
.
- ^
Raymond E. Brown
.
An Introduction to the New Testament
. New York: Anchor Bible, p. 662, 668.
- ^
Houlden and Rogerson (2001).
Common Worship Lectionary: a Scriptures Commentary
. London: SPCK. p. 18.
- ^
William Paley
Horae Paulinae
(1785)
- ^
Bart D. Ehrman
.
The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings
3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. pp. 385ff
- ^
Harris, Stephen L.
, Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985, "The Pastoral Epistles", pp. 340?345
- ^
Jerome.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II / Volume VI / Prefaces / Prefaces to Commentaries / Titus
. Translated by Philip Schaff – via
Wikisource
.
- ^
Titus 1:5
- ^
Acts 27:7
- ^
Romans 16:22
- ^
George W. Knight, The Pastoral Epistles: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1992), 48.
- ^
William D. Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, vol. 46, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2000), cxxix.
- ^
Richards, E. Randolph. Paul and First-Century Letter Writing: Secretaries, Composition and Collection. Downers Grove, IL; Leicester, England: InterVarsity Press; Apollos, 2004.
- ^
Harry Y. Gamble, "Amanuensis", ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 172.
- ^
Titus 1:12?13
Attribution
[
edit
]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Easton, Matthew George
(1897). "
Titus, Epistle to
".
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.
External links
[
edit
]
Online translations of the Epistle to Titus:
Exegetical papers on Titus:
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