Let’s start with an important question. Have you ever read Titus?
Be honest.
If you’ve been following the Come Follow Me Curriculum you probably haven’t read Titus.
The Come Follow Me manual from 2023 doesn’t include many quotes from Titus and the manual from 2019 didn’t have any. I don’t know what the previous manuals pulled from Titus, but I’m guessing it wasn’t much.
Titus is often lumped together with the two letters to Timothy and Philemon. Which makes sense – they are very similar. They are written by Paul to specific people trying to build the church in the first century.
But just because a book in the Bible is similar to another book in the Bible doesn’t mean it should be glossed over.
Timothy gets most of the air time in the manual so I’m going to focus this lesson plan on Titus. This is partially to shake things up and also because Titus is deeply personal to me. A week and a half ago I wrote a long post about why I love the book of Titus. You can read it here.
The short version is that two years ago I read the book of Titus with a Bible Study group. I learned how to really dig into the scriptures while reading that book. I’ll be sharing some of the things I learned while I participated in that slow study of Titus.
Let’s start with context.
Whenever I teach I find it helpful to take a minute and make sure my class has a good idea of the basic time, place, and people involved in the lesson. Here are some examples of questions and answers that you can work with to give context as you prepare your lesson or study on your own.
Since this lesson plan is focusing on Titus I’m only going to answer these questions regarding Titus. You might find it helpful to answer these same questions regarding Timothy and Philemon during your own study.
What is the style of this book? It’s important to know that like most of the books in the second half of the New Testament, the book of Titus is a letter. This isn’t a narrative. It’s directions and advice and opinions from one person to another.
Who wrote this letter? Paul wrote the letter. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ. Sometimes I feel bad for Paul. He was trying to hold an international church together with mostly letters. Letters that were delivered by volunteers.
Who is this letter written to: The letter was written to Titus. Paul knew Titus and had served with him. Titus is mentioned in other parts of the New Testament. In 2 Corinthians 9:17 Paul describes him as “very earnest.” In that same chapter in verse 23 Paul says that Titus is “my partner and fellow worker for your benefit.” This was a letter to a particular person, not a group of people. That makes it fairly unique among the letters that we have in the New Testament. However, it would have also been read by the members in Crete.
Where was Titus: Titus was serving as Bishop in Crete. (Other translations for the word Bishop are Elder, Pastor, or Overseer.) Crete is an island south of Greece. It’s the largest Greek Island and the 5th largest island in the Mediterranean. It’s long and skinny. It’s about as long as the state of Massachusetts. You can see how it was in a good strategic location in the Mediterranean.
The Greek poet Epimenides was from Crete and said of his own people, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” Paul quotes that in verse 1:12 and adds the line, “This testimony is true.” He wants Titus to help teach the Christians of Crete to abandon their cultural traditions and become people of God.
When was this letter written? The letter was probably written around the years 62-64 AD. Many scholars assume the letter was written between Paul’s first and second imprisonments in Rome. Paul was either in Nicopolis in Macedonia or he was intending to go there soon because he asks Titus to meet him there.
What is the theme of the letter? Paul writes to encourage Titus, to give him instruction, and to remind him of the Gospel.
Specific Teachings in Titus
Titus is a short letter. In the LDS version of the King James Translation the book barely takes up 3 pages. Yet I still feel like one week is not enough time to really dig the text to deeply explore many of the topics that Paul brings up.
But I’m going to try. I’m going to go through several different topics in the order they appear in the letter. If you are teaching a class you can pick a few of these to explore. If you are going through this on your own or with your family you can go through one or two topics a day.
God that cannot lie (Titus 1:2) – I mentioned in the context section that Cretans were described as liars. Paul is quick to explain that God cannot lie (KJV) or God who never lies (ESV). What does it mean to you that God never lies?
Qualifications for Bishops (Titus 1:5-9) – It might be helpful to think of Titus as something of the Stake President of Crete. Stake President wasn’t really an office in 1st century Christianity. But I think the comparison helps us understand what Titus’ role was in Crete. Paul is instructing him to “set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city.” The word for elder is also translated at bishop or overseer. It could also mean pastor. So to be somewhat anachronistic, Titus is acting as the stake president and is in charge of appointing bishops over every ward (city) in Crete.
Paul gives him a list of things to look for in the men that he appoints. You can read the list in chapter 1 verses 6-9. He also counsels about the people Titus should avoid ordaining as elders. These are talked about in verses 10-16.
These verses are specifically about men and offices of the priesthood. But the council in the verses could easily apply to women and their callings. Think about the role of a Relief Society president. It is just as important for her to “give instruction in sound doctrine and also rebuke those who contradict it” (ESV 1:9)
As you read through these verses, think about how these qualifications (and things to avoid) impact the quality of leaders in the church. How does the atonement of Jesus Christ help us become the type of people listed in these verses?
Advice for Christian Living (Titus 2:1-10) – In this section Paul is contrasting the life of Christians with the way that most people on Crete (and throughout the Roman Empire) lived.
These verses could be seen as a minefield in our modern day. There are some parts that we could pick over with a critical eye. And yeah, there are some problem parts. Paul says that wives should be “submissive to their own husbands.” (vs 5) He counsels bondservants to be submissive to their masters. (vs 9). These verses have been used to justify things like domestic violence and slavery. So what are we supposed to do with these verses in 2023?
Here are a few things that help me with these verses.
- Assume good intent. I think Paul was giving the best advice he could for the time he lived in. I don’t think Paul hated women. In fact when he talks about specific women you can tell that he respected them deeply. (Take a look at how he praises Timothy’s mother and grandmother in 2 Timothy 1:5.)
- This advice was actually very counter-cultural. Much of what Paul is talking about in these verses would have been very different from what was expected from Roman culture in Greece. I highly recommend reading Beth Alison Barr’s book “The Making of Biblical Womanhood.” She digs into this concept deeply in a chapter about how Paul was actually giving women more rights and respect than they had in Roman culture.
- A revolution of the heart rather than physically. Jesus spoke of freeing captives, but didn’t free anyone physically. Instead he offered a spiritual freedom. Paul continues with that theme. He focuses on the bond servant’s heart rather than their physical state.
- Focus on the bigger picture. The concept behind these verses is highlighted in verse 7. “Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teachings show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned.” (ESV Translation) Paul gives some advice about what that may look like, but overall he’s concerned that people be good examples of what Christ has done in their hearts.
This shows up as older and younger men being self controlled rather than full of rage. Older women mentoring younger women rather than seeing them as sexual rivals. Bond servants as well pleasing rather than lazy.
Everything they do is to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. Adorn means to make something more beautiful or attractive. So by behaving more respectfully toward each other they would show that there was something different about Christians.
Does your behavior show that you are a Christian? In what ways is being a Christian counter-cultural in this century?
The Doctrine of God our Savior (Titus 2:11-14) – Paul’s been alluding to teaching pure doctrine throughout this letter and here he does the same thing. I love this section. The leader of our bible study gave us this as a handout and it’s been hanging on my fridge for the past two years. The way it is written on the handout makes it look more like poetry than prose. I wrote it here the way I’ve read it for the last two years.
For the grace of God has appeared Bringing salvation For all people, Training us to renounce Ungodliness And worldly passion, And to live self-controlled Upright And godly lives in the present age, Waiting for our blessed hope The appearing of the glory Of our great God And Savior Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for us To redeem us from all lawlessness And to purify for himself A people for his own possession who Are zealous for good works. Titus 2:11-14 ESV Translation
I highly recommend putting these words where you can read them often and pondering over them. How do these words help you understand your relationship with Jesus?
More Advice for Christian Living (Titus 3:1-2) – Paul gives advice for how to interact with people in verses 1-2 of Chapter 3. He says, “to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto men.” KJV Translation
Is this a way that we naturally interact with people? (If you are like me the answer is no.) How can the atonement of Jesus Christ help you change into the type of person who is able to show meekness unto other people?
More Doctrine of God our Savior (Titus 3:3-7) – I’m going to give you another long passage of scripture because it’s another chunk of beautiful doctrine.
For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
But after the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing and regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior;
That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
(Titus 3:3-7)
That’s from the KJV it’s also nearly identical in the ESV. In our Latter Day Saint tradition we aren’t used to talking much about grace. But that’s what Paul is talking about here.
Paul is reminding us that we were foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
God came to us and changed us through grace because of his mercy, his kindness, his love. It wasn’t because we did anything right. (Paul just reminded us what we were like and it was not good.) It was because God loved us. And because we have been justified by his grace we can be heirs of eternal life.
How does that knowledge change how we interact with other people? How does it change how we feel about God’s love for us?
What about good works? (Titus 3:8) – After all that talk about Grace you may be wondering where Good Works come in. Don’t our works count for anything?
Paul does bring up good works. But the way he talks about them is different than we are used to talking about works in our Latter Day Saint traditions. We are going to need to dip our toes into a new way of thinking about this particular bit of theology. Before we get to what Paul says I want to ask you a question.
Do we do acts of service because we want to receive blessings? Or do we do acts of service because we have already received blessings?
This isn’t just cute semantics. This is a way of thinking that can really impact how you view good works.
We often make the false assumption that by doing good works we can make Jesus love us better or at the least we can make him happier with us. (Think about all the times you hear parents tell their children things like, “Heavenly Father is happy when you are reverent.”) And if we have God’s favor then that leads to more blessings right?
But that’s putting the cart before the horse. Good works actually come about BECAUSE we have been blessed by God’s unconditional love, mercy, kindness, etc. We have experienced a change of heart by the atonement of Jesus Christ. Because of that change of heart we are more willing and able to go about doing good.
With that in mind lets look at what Paul tells Titus. After his beautiful words about grace he says, “those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good work.” He talked about grace and then he talks about good works because that’s the order of the relationship between the two.
He’s also talked about good works in relation to the way that Christians should live their lives. He’s not giving a laundry list of things that you need to do to be a Christian. He’s giving a list of examples of things that you do because you are a Christian.
So how does this change in thinking affect your everyday life? Are you helping people because you want to make God happy? Or are you helping people because you know that God loves you and has redeemed you?
Conclusion
Maybe it’s just me, but Paul’s letter seems a little rushed at the end. He drops in some advice about church discipline and then jumps right into some details about future traveling.
But even in those quick end verses Paul brings up some points of how Christians should be living their lives. In verse 13 he is talking about Zenas the lawyer and Apollos. We can infer that these were the two people who brough the letter. He gives the instruction “to see that they lack nothing.” This meant that the Christians should make sure these volunteer letter deliverers should be fed and have their needs met before they continued traveling.
In verse 14 he says “And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.” In light of his earlier talk about good works this is not something Titus and the people should be trying to do of their own strength. This is something they should be doing through the help of Jesus. This is something they should be doing because they are Christians. Taking care of others is how they can show that they are different than non-Christians.
So how can we do the same thing? Paul has been talking about being good Christians in contrast to non-believers and deceivers for three pages. Did we learn anything from what he said? How can Jesus help you “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled upright and godly lives in the present age?” I hope you spend some time thinking about those questions.
Titus is a small book compared to the rest of the Bible. It’s tucked between other small books of the New Testament. It’s easy to gloss over – especially in a curriculum that expects you to read and study four of Paul’s letters in one week. But if you take the time to dig into Titus you will see that it’s full of advice and doctrine that is relevant to your life.
I hope that if you’ve never read Titus before you will want to read it now.
