The Epistle of St Paul to Titus (Book of Titus)

The Epistle to Titus, in the Vulgate Epistola ad Titum, is a book of the New Testament and one of the fourteen Epistles of St Paul. In our Bibles it stands between the Second Epistle to Timothy and the Epistle to Philemon. With the two letters to Timothy it forms the group called the Pastoral Epistles, because it is written to a shepherd about his flock. It has three chapters and 46 verses, yet the Church has drawn from it her rule for choosing bishops and priests, one of the plainest New Testament statements of the divinity of Christ, a classic text on Baptism, and two of the Epistles she sings at Christmas.

Author: St Paul the Apostle

The letter names its author in its first words: "Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of the elect of God" (Titus 1). The writer has preached in Crete and left Titus there, "as I also appointed thee." He plans to winter at Nicopolis and names his companions, Artemas, Tychicus, Zenas the lawyer and Apollo (Titus 3).

The Church has always received it as Paul's. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1912) gathers the witnesses. Eusebius counted the Pastorals among the books accepted by all. St Clement of Alexandria speaks of them; Theophilus of Antioch quotes them as "Divine word"; and St Irenaeus "quotes them as St. Paul's." St Polycarp and St Ignatius knew them early in the second century. Tertullian was astonished that the heretic Marcion had rejected them, and the article concludes that "their rejection was a thing hitherto unheard of." The Muratorian Fragment also ascribes them to Paul.

On 12 June 1913 the Pontifical Biblical Commission answered that, on the strength of the Church's tradition, it must be held as certain that the two Epistles to Timothy and the one to Titus were written by the Apostle Paul himself and have always been reckoned among his genuine and canonical letters. It added that the arguments drawn from their style and vocabulary, from the errors they oppose and from the state of the hierarchy they describe do not weaken this judgment. Many modern scholars have since doubted Paul's authorship on these grounds; the Catholic Encyclopedia answers that tests of this kind, if fatal to the Pastorals, would condemn letters that no one disputes.

Who was Titus?

Titus was a Gentile convert whom Paul calls "my beloved son, according to the common faith" (1:4). He went up to Jerusalem with Paul and Barnabas, and Paul would not have him circumcised: "But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Gentile, was compelled to be circumcised" (Galatians 2). He was Paul's envoy to the troubled Church of Corinth, and his return brought the Apostle comfort: "God, who comforteth the humble, comforted us by the coming of Titus" (2 Corinthians 7). He returned there for the collection for Jerusalem (2 Corinthians 8), and later went to Dalmatia (2 Timothy 4).

The Catholic Encyclopedia records that "Titus continued after St. Paul's death as Archbishop of Crete, and died there when he was over ninety." His feast in the 1962 calendar falls on 6 February; his life is told in our article on St Titus, bishop of Crete.

Date and place of writing

Challoner's preface to the Douay Bible says that Paul, "having preached the faith in the island of Crete," ordained Titus bishop and left him there, and afterwards, "on a journey to Nicopolis... wrote this Epistle to Titus." He dates it "about thirty-three years after our Lord's Ascension," that is, the mid-sixties of the first century.

This places the letter after Paul's release from his first Roman imprisonment, with which Acts ends (Acts 28). The Pontifical Biblical Commission (1913) held that the Pastorals were written between Paul's release from that first captivity and his death, and the Catholic Encyclopedia judges that in the years 63-67 "there was ample time to visit Crete and other places and write I Tim. and Titus." St John Chrysostom observed that Titus was written before 2 Timothy: in the later letter Paul is in prison and near his end, "but here, as free and at liberty," since he is free to choose where he will spend the winter.

Crete and its first Christians

Crete is the large island south of Greece. Cretans were among the pilgrims who heard the Apostles on Pentecost, "Jews also, and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians" (Acts 2), and Paul's ship to Rome put in at "Good-havens, nigh to which was the city of Thalassa" (Acts 27). Its young Church was troubled by teachers "of the circumcision" spreading "Jewish fables" (1:10-14). Paul quotes one of their own poets: "The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slothful bellies" (1:12). St John Chrysostom names the poet: "It was Epimenides who said this, himself a Cretan," just as at Athens the Apostle had quoted the Greek poet Aratus (Acts 17).

Summary of Titus, chapter by chapter

Paul writes to give Titus authority and a programme: put the churches of Crete in order, appoint worthy priests, silence false teachers, and teach every class of believer to live in a way that honours the Gospel. Each chapter takes one part of that task.

Ordaining priests and silencing false teachers (chapter 1)

After a solemn greeting on "the hope of life everlasting, which God, who lieth not, hath promised before the times of the world," Paul states his purpose: "For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and shouldest ordain priests in every city" (chapter 1).

He gives the qualities of the men to be ordained: "For a bishop must be without crime, as the steward of God: not proud, not subject to anger, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre: but given to hospitality, gentle, sober, just, holy, continent." He must hold fast "that faithful word which is according to doctrine," so as to "exhort in sound doctrine, and to convince the gainsayers." The chapter ends with the false teachers, who "profess that they know God: but in their works they deny him."

Sound doctrine for every state of life (chapter 2)

"But speak thou the things that become sound doctrine" (chapter 2). Paul gives counsel to aged men, aged women, young women, young men and servants, and to Titus himself: "In all things shew thyself an example of good works." He grounds it all in Christ's two comings: "For the grace of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men; instructing us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, and justly, and godly in this world, looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Titus must teach this "with all authority."

Christians in the world, saved by grace (chapter 3)

The faithful must be "subject to princes and powers," ready "to every good work," and gentle toward all men, remembering what they once were (chapter 3). "But when the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour appeared: not by the works of justice, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, by the laver of regeneration, and renovation of the Holy Ghost." Those who believe must "be careful to excel in good works." Titus must avoid "foolish questions, and genealogies," and shun the obstinate heretic "after the first and second admonition." Personal instructions and greetings close the letter.

Themes and the Catholic reading of Titus

The priesthood and the apostolic succession. Titus receives his charge from an Apostle and hands it on to others by ordination "in every city." The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that in these Epistles Timothy and Titus act with apostolic authority and appoint deacons, priests and bishops, and St John Chrysostom remarks that Paul gave each church its own pastor so that each might be better cared for. Here is the Church's hierarchy at work in the apostolic age, received by men who were made "stewards of God" (1:7); see our article on Holy Orders.

"The husband of one wife." The words in 1:6 have been used against priestly celibacy. Challoner's note on the same phrase in 1 Timothy 3 gives the Catholic reading: "the meaning is not that every bishop should have a wife (for St. Paul himself had none), but that no one should be admitted to the holy orders of bishop, priest, or deacon, who had been married more than once." Chrysostom adds that the verse also answered the heretics who condemned marriage, since it shows that a married man might be raised to the priesthood. The rule forbids a man married more than once; it does not require that a priest marry. The Vulgate's word "continent" (1:8) points the same way.

The divinity of Christ. "The great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (2:13) names Christ Himself as the great God. St John Chrysostom pressed the words against the Arians: "Where are those who say that the Son is inferior to the Father?"

Baptism and justification. The Council of Trent draws on this chapter. In its Decree on Justification (Session VI, chapter 7) it teaches that justification "is not remission of sins merely, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man," so that the sinner "may be an heir according to hope of life everlasting" (3:7). In Session XXI (chapter 4) it calls little children "regenerated" through "the laver" of Baptism (3:5). We are saved "not by the works of justice, which we have done, but according to his mercy." Grace comes first and is not earned. But the same chapter twice insists that those who believe must "excel in good works," for faith without works cannot save. Our articles on Catholic Baptism and on faith without works treat this doctrine at length.

The heretic. Challoner's note on 3:11 explains why the heretic is "condemned by his own judgment": "other offenders are judged, and cast out of the church, by the sentence of the pastors... Heretics, more unhappy, run out of the church of their own accord."

Famous verses and chapters from Titus

Titus 1:15. In Titus 1: "All things are clean to the clean: but to them that are defiled, and to unbelievers, nothing is clean." The Council of Florence echoed it in its Decree for the Jacobites (1442), teaching that the Mosaic distinction of clean and unclean foods has passed away and that, among Christians who believe "that to the clean all things are clean," no kind of food is to be condemned.

Titus 2. The most searched chapter: counsel to old and young, women and servants, and Titus 2:11-14 on "the grace of God our Saviour" and "the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2).

Titus 3:5. "He saved us, by the laver of regeneration, and renovation of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3), the Pauline twin of "unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost" (John 3).

Titus 3:10. "A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid" (Titus 3).

Titus in the canon and in the liturgy

Titus has the same name and the same three chapters in Catholic and Protestant Bibles, so a reader of the King James or the NIV will find it in the same place. It was never disputed among the faithful: the Councils of Rome (382), Hippo (393) and Carthage (397), the Council of Florence and the Council of Trent (Session IV, 1546) list it among the fourteen Epistles of St Paul. Written in Greek, it came to the Latin Church in the Vulgate, from which our Douay-Rheims Bible was translated. The Douay keeps the Vulgate's "priests" in 1:5 and "the laver of regeneration" in 3:5.

At Christmas the Church reads from this Epistle more than from any other. In the 1962 Roman Missal, Titus 2:11-15, "the grace of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men," is the Epistle of the Midnight Mass of Christmas and of the Octave of the Nativity on 1 January. Titus 3:4-7, "the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour appeared," is the Epistle of the Mass at Dawn; the third Mass, during the day, reads Hebrews. Our article on Christmas, the Nativity of Our Lord explains these three Masses. In the Roman Breviary the Epistle is begun at Matins on the Thursday of the fifth week after Epiphany and finished on the Friday, after the letters to Timothy and before Philemon. Follow these days in our liturgical calendar and in the Breviary.

How to read the Book of Titus

Read it at one sitting, then again slowly, with 1 Timothy beside it, since the two letters share their counsels on bishops, priests and sound doctrine; then 2 Timothy, Paul's last letter, written in chains. At Christmas, read Titus 2 and Titus 3 in the Latin beside the English, as the Church sings them. For a fuller study, the classic commentaries are St John Chrysostom's six homilies on the Epistle, St Jerome's commentary and the lectures of St Thomas Aquinas. The Apostle's whole life is told in our article on St Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote the Book of Titus?

St Paul the Apostle, who names himself in the first verse and writes as the one who preached in Crete and left Titus there as bishop. The Church has always received it as his, as St Irenaeus and Tertullian attest. In 1913 the Pontifical Biblical Commission confirmed that the Pastoral Epistles were written by Paul himself, although many modern scholars have questioned this since the nineteenth century.

When was the Book of Titus written?

In the mid-sixties of the first century, after St Paul's release from his first Roman imprisonment and before his last captivity. Challoner's Douay preface dates it "about thirty-three years after our Lord's Ascension," and the Catholic Encyclopedia places it within the years 63-67. It was written before 2 Timothy, while Paul was still free.

What is the Book of Titus about?

It is Paul's instruction to Titus, bishop of Crete. Titus must ordain worthy priests in every city, rebuke false teachers, and teach old and young, women and servants to live soberly, justly and godly. All of this rests on the grace of God that appeared in Christ, who saved us "by the laver of regeneration."

What is the main message of the Book of Titus?

Sound doctrine must bear fruit in a good life. Titus is to "speak the things that become sound doctrine" (2:1), and the Church he governs is to be ruled by worthy priests and kept from false teachers. Saved by God's mercy and not by our own merits, Christians must "be careful to excel in good works" (3:8).

Is Titus a book of the Bible?

Yes. The Epistle to Titus is in the New Testament of every Catholic and Protestant Bible, listed among St Paul's Epistles by the Councils of Rome, Hippo and Carthage and defined as canonical by Trent in 1546.

Where is the Book of Titus in the Bible?

In the New Testament, among the Epistles of St Paul, after the Second Epistle to Timothy and before the Epistle to Philemon. It is the third of the Pastoral Epistles. You can open it here at Titus 1 or browse every book from the Bible index.

How many chapters are in the Book of Titus?

Three chapters and 46 verses, the same in the Douay-Rheims, the Latin Vulgate and Protestant Bibles.

Is Titus mentioned in the Book of Acts?

No. Titus is never named in the Acts of the Apostles. He appears in 2 Corinthians, Galatians, 2 Timothy and the Epistle addressed to him, and his journey to Jerusalem with Paul and Barnabas (Galatians 2:1-3) is commonly identified with the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15.

Who were the Cretans in the Book of Titus?

The people of Crete, the large island south of Greece, where Paul had preached and left Titus to organize the Church. Some Cretans had heard St Peter on Pentecost (Acts 2:11). The young Church there was troubled by Jewish-Christian teachers "of the circumcision," and Paul turns against them a famous line of the Cretan poet Epimenides about his own people.

Read the whole Epistle to Titus verse by verse, Latin and English, in the Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app.

Sources. The Epistle to Titus, Latin Vulgate and Douay-Rheims (Challoner revision, 1749-1752), with Challoner's preface and notes (Titus 3:11; 1 Timothy 3:2); Acts 2, 15, 17, 27, 28; John 3; Galatians 2; 2 Corinthians 7-8; 2 Timothy 4; St John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to Titus; St Jerome, Commentary on the Epistle to Titus; St Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Epistle to Titus; St Irenaeus, Against Heresies; Tertullian, Against Marcion V; Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History; Council of Florence, Decree for the Jacobites (1442); Council of Trent, Session IV (1546), Session VI, Decree on Justification, ch. 7 (1547), and Session XXI, ch. 4 (1562); Pontifical Biblical Commission, response on the Pastoral Epistles (12 June 1913); The Catholic Encyclopedia (1912), "Epistles to Timothy and Titus"; Missale Romanum (1962); Breviarium Romanum (1962).