వ్యాఖ్యానం ప్రస్తుతం ఆంగ్లంలో మాత్రమే అందుబాటులో ఉంది. తెలుగు అనువాదం పురోగతిలో ఉంది.
Titus 1 — Set in Order the Things That Are Wanting
Paul writes to Titus on Crete. He left him there to set in order what was wanting and to ordain elders in every city. The qualifications for elders. Sound doctrine to refute the unruly and vain talkers — especially of the circumcision. False teachers must be silenced. The Cretans are characterized — liars, evil beasts, slow bellies — and must be rebuked sharply.
“Set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city.”
— Titus 1:5
- v.1-4 Greeting; hope of eternal life
- v.5-9 The qualifications for elders
- v.10-16 Rebuke against unruly teachers, especially of the circumcision
Three qualifications named first: blameless (no public scandal), husband of one wife (faithful in marriage), faithful children (well-ordered family).
The home life precedes the leadership office. A man who cannot lead his own household cannot lead the church (1 Timothy 3:5). Children's behavior is one of the visible measures of a man's spiritual maturity.
Five negative qualifications. Not selfwilled — not stubborn or contentious. Not soon angry — slow to wrath. Not given to wine — not enslaved by drink. No striker — not violent. Not given to filthy lucre — not corrupted by money.
Five common temptations of leadership are listed. A man may be gifted, eloquent, popular — and still disqualified by one of these. Watch the elder's reactions, his drinking, his finances, his temper. The character measure is in the daily details.
The elder must hold sound doctrine and be able to refute opposition. Both faculties required. Many know the truth but cannot defend it; some can argue but do not hold the truth themselves.
The faithful word as he hath been taught. Sound doctrine is received. Each generation receives from the previous one. The elder is custodian of inherited truth, not inventor of new ideas.
Paul quotes Epimenides, a Cretan poet of the sixth century BC. A devastating cultural assessment from a Cretan himself. Paul affirms it: this witness is true (verse 13).
Sometimes the most accurate critique of a culture comes from within it. The Christian pastor must know the local culture honestly — its strengths and its besetting sins — to preach to it effectively. Paul did not romanticize Crete; he diagnosed it.
Unto the pure all things are pure. A statement against the legalists who were forbidding foods and contacts. The pure heart sees nothing inherently defiling in created things rightly used.
But the corollary is grim: unto them that are defiled... nothing pure. The corrupt mind corrupts everything it touches. A polluted conscience cannot perceive purity even when it stands before it.
The final indictment. The mouth says one thing; the life says another. Profession of God without practice that matches is abominable in the Bible's plainest language.
James 2:18 — I will shew thee my faith by my works. Titus 1:16 stands as the negative version: they profess to know God; in works they deny him. Watch the works, not the mouth. The contradiction unmasks every false teacher.
Examine the leaders you follow against Titus 1:5-9. Not the gifts they advertise but the character listed. Blameless, faithful in marriage, well-ordered family, not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre, lover of hospitality, lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate. Many platforms are filled by men these verses would disqualify. Follow the qualified, not the famous.
The chapter opens with the hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began (Titus 1:2). The whole structure of church leadership is rooted in the unchanging promise of Christ. Sound doctrine, sound elders, sound believers — all converge on the One who is the truth (John 14:6).
Set in order the things that are wanting. The work of bringing structure to what is unfinished. Most churches in their early life need a Titus — someone to set things in order, not to start them but to organize them.
Ordain elders in every city. Not one per cluster of churches but one per city. The early Christian pattern was local, plural eldership in every gathered congregation. The principle still applies.