1-4I, Paul, am God's slave
and Christ's agent for promoting the faith among God's chosen people,
getting out the accurate word on God and how to respond rightly to it.
My aim is to raise hopes by pointing the way to life without end. This
is the life God promised long ago—and he doesn't break promises! And
then when the time was ripe, he went public with his truth. I've been
entrusted to proclaim this Message by order of our Savior, God himself.
Dear Titus, legitimate son in the faith: Receive everything God our
Father and Jesus our Savior give you! A Good Grip on the Message 5-9I
left you in charge in Crete so you could complete what I left
half-done. Appoint leaders in every town according to my instructions.
As you select them, ask, "Is this man well-thought-of? Is he committed
to his wife? Are his children believers? Do they respect him and stay
out of trouble?" It's important that a church leader, responsible for
the affairs in God's house, be looked up to—not pushy, not
short-tempered, not a drunk, not a bully, not money-hungry. He must
welcome people, be helpful, wise, fair, reverent, have a good grip on
himself, and have a good grip on the Message, knowing how to use the
truth to either spur people on in knowledge or stop them in their tracks
if they oppose it. 10-16For
there are a lot of rebels out there, full of loose, confusing, and
deceiving talk. Those who were brought up religious and ought to know
better are the worst. They've got to be shut up. They're disrupting
entire families with their teaching, and all for the sake of a fast
buck. One of their own prophets said it best:
The Cretans are liars from the womb, barking dogs, lazy bellies. He
certainly spoke the truth. Get on them right away. Stop that diseased
talk of Jewish make-believe and made-up rules so they can recover a
robust faith. Everything is clean to the clean-minded; nothing is clean
to dirty-minded unbelievers. They leave their dirty fingerprints on
every thought and act. They say they know God, but their actions speak
louder than their words. They're real creeps, disobedient
good-for-nothings. |