In this short, urgent letter, Paul charges his trusted colleague Titus to bring order to the church in Crete by appointing qualified elders, confronting false teaching, and promoting sound doctrine.

—Brian Tabb 

Source: Content taken from 1–2 Timothy and Titus: A 12-Week Study © 2017 by Brian Tabb. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

The book is about the gospel at work. Or we could say Titus is about being saved for good. Or we could say the book of Titus is about the organic connection between what is taught and caught, or it’s about the connection between sound doctrine and godly living, faith and practice. They go together. That is, I think, the essential thrust of these 46 verses.  

—Brian Tabb

Source: Tabb, Brian. Interview with Nancy Guthrie. Help Me Teach the Bible. Podcast audio. April 30, 2020. This podcast originally appeared here at The Gospel Coalition.

The reason these false teachers are such a detestable nuisance is in part because they’re unfit for any good work. Why are they unfit for any good work? Because it is the good news which provides the basis for the good deeds. They don’t understand or believe the good news and therefore they are unable to live out the good news. 

—Alistair Begg

Source:Alistair Begg, “Titus: An Introduction” (sermon, April 15, 2012), https://truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/titus-introduction. Copyright Truth For Life. Used with Permission. www.truthforlife.org.

The Bible is clear that God chooses or elects his people for salvation. His sovereign, free choice is determined not by our ethnicity, worthiness, or performance, but by his own love and grace (Deuteronomy 7:6–10; Romans 9:11). The doctrine of election does not weaken the need for preaching and mission but rather enables and motivates gospel ministry. Paul labors as an apostle “for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth” (Titus 1:1; compare 2 Timothy 2:10). Paul freely offers the gospel to all, and the elect respond with saving faith when they hear the Word proclaimed (Acts 13:48). 

—Brian Tabb 

Source: Content taken from 1–2 Timothy and Titus: A 12-Week Study © 2017 by Brian Tabb. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

You say, “Well, wait a minute! You’ve just showed us all these places that say, ‘good works, do good works, do good works.’” Yes, but here’s the distinction. Religion says, “Do good works and God will accept you.” The Christian gospel says, “You are accepted through the one securing work of Jesus. Therefore, because you’re accepted, do these things. So we are not accepted by these good things, but we are accepted in order that we might be doing these things. Paul puts it in a pithy way in Ephesians 2, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10 NIV). 

 —Alistair Begg  

Source: Alistair Begg, “Titus: An Introduction” (sermon, April 15, 2012), https://truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/titus-introduction/. Copyright Truth For Life. Used with Permission. www.truthforlife.org.

With godliness, depending on what our background is in the church, that will probably affect pretty significantly the sort of associations we have with that. It might be a list of things that you don’t do. For Paul, this is a word that he uses. He uses a version of that word twice in this letter. … Godliness is true Christian living. It’s a way of life that pleases God. What he is not talking about is just changing your behavior. This is not behavior modification. This is true spirituality. … It’s true Christian living that pleases God. That’s what he’s getting at with this word “godliness”. And there’s a connection with good works there. Godliness doesn’t necessarily equal good works…but true Christian living that pleases God includes good works. 

This book and other books throughout the New Testament say that there’s an essential connection between your profession of faith and your expression of that faith in how you live. Paul is going to say that that’s true of all Christians. It should be particularly true of Christian leaders. That’s why he gives this profile of elders in [Chapter 1] verse 5.

—Brian Tabb

Source: Tabb, Brian. Interview with Nancy Guthrie. Help Me Teach the Bible. Podcast audio. April 30, 2020. This podcast originally appeared here at The Gospel Coalition.

Don Carson has observed that the lists of qualifications, summarized with “above reproach,” are “remarkable for being unremarkable.” There is no requirement here for particular achievements in formal education, world-class intellect or oratory, or manifest giftedness above the common man. Rather, these qualifications are the sort of traits we want to be manifest in every Christian. What we’re looking for in our pastor-elders, in essence, is normal, healthy, model Christianity. 

—David Mathis  

Source: By David Mathis © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org.

God never lies. Our world is full of half truths. But our God is completely truthful; he “never lies” (Titus 1:2). He is not fickle or unfaithful, unlike human beings (2 Timothy 2:13; Numbers 23:19). God promised and has now revealed the way of eternal life for his people through the preaching of the apostles (Titus 1:2–3). Therefore, believers—and especially overseers—should hold firm to God’s “trustworthy word” as the foundation of their lives (Titus 1:9). 

—Brian Tabb  

Source: Content taken from 1–2 Timothy and Titus: A 12-Week Study © 2017 by Brian Tabb. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

We can “make the teaching about God our Savior attractive” (Titus 2:10 NIV). To think that we in any way can beautify the wonderful gospel simply by how we live! But just as we put a frame on a picture to enhance its beauty and make it more conspicuous, so we must adorn and make more beautiful the gospel of Christ. … Be so faithful in your attitudes and obligations in life that critics of your religion will be silenced (see Titus 2:8). Make others say, “If this is what Christ can do for you, there must be something to your religion.”  

—Henrietta Mears  

Source: This content is from What the Bible Is All About, written by Henrietta Mears. Copyright © 1953, 2011 by Gospel Light. Copyright assigned to Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Against the tendency in our culture to privatize faith, these expectations of the apostle remind us that God does not intend for us to live our faith alone, i.e., in isolation from others. Though wonderful personal benefits accompany our relationship with Christ, his interests are not restricted to any one person. Our lives touch others and as a necessary consequence either communicate good or ill—more or less of Christ. A mark of maturity in believers is their sense of responsibility for others in the church community.

—Bryan Chapell

Source: Content taken from 1-2 Timothy and Titus: To Guard the Deposit © 2012 by R. Kent Hughes and Bryan Chapell. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.