1 This letter is from me, Paul. I am God's servant. I am an apostle of Jesus Christ. God has sent me to help the people that he has chosen. I help those people to believe God more completely. I help them so that they will understand the true message about Christ completely. So then they will know the things that they should do to make God happy.
2 As a result of this true message, those people will hope certainly that they will live with God always. God has promised that his people will live with him always. He promised that before the world began. And God always says only things that are true.
3 Then, at the proper time, God caused people to know what he had promised. God's servants started to tell his message to people. And God, our Saviour, has given this work to me also. He has said that I must tell his message to people.
4 I am writing to you, Titus. I told you the message about Jesus and now we both believe in him. So you are like my own child. I pray that God, the Father, and Christ Jesus, our Saviour, will continue to help you. I pray that they will give you peace in your mind.
Ordain Elders in Every City
5 I asked you to stay on Crete so that you could do certain things. Some things there are not as they should be. You must cause those things to become as they should be. Also, you must choose leaders of the believers in every town, as I told you.
6 A leader must do what is good. So then, nobody can say anything bad about him. He must be the husband of only one wife. His children must be believers. They must always do what is right and proper. Everyone should know that a leader's children always obey him.
7 A leader has authority for God's work on God's behalf. So, nobody should ever be able to say anything bad about him. A leader must not think that he himself is very important. He must not always be causing other people to do what he wants. He must not become angry easily. He must not be a drunk. He must not be a person who likes to fight. He must not want money so much that he does wrong things to get it.
8 Instead, he must be happy to have visitors in his home. He must really want to do good things. He must rule himself well. He must do what is right. He must want always to make God happy. He must always do what is proper.
9 A leader must continue to believe strongly the true Christian message, as we taught it. So he will be able to teach true and right things to people. So then, he will help people to believe Christ more strongly. A leader like that will also be able to speak to people who argue against the Christian message. So, those people will know certainly that they are wrong.
10 There are many people who refuse to obey anyone. They teach false things that are worth nothing. They want people to believe those false things. They certainly include the teachers who want to circumcise all Christian men. [1]
11 You must not let those people teach those false things. They are teaching things that they should not teach. So, they are causing whole families to stop believing the true message. Those false teachers' purpose is bad. They are teaching only because they want people to give them money.
12 Many years ago, one great teacher who lived on Crete spoke like this about his own people. ‘People who live on Crete are always doing bad things. They are always saying things that are not true. They are like dangerous wild animals. They are lazy and they eat too much food.’
13 What that man said is true. So, you must speak to those people who believe false things. Tell them very strongly that they are wrong. Tell them, so that they may believe the true Christian message.
14 They must stop listening to those Jewish stories that are not true. They must stop listening to people who have refused to believe the true message. They must stop obeying the human ideas that those people tell them.
15 For people who have clean spirits and minds, everything is clean and good. But for people who have dirty spirits and minds, nothing is clean or good. The same thing is true about people who refuse to believe God's true message. Those people cannot think good thoughts. Even their consciences have become like something dirty.
16 Those bad people say that they know God. But they do bad things that God hates. So, everyone can see that those people do not really know God. They refuse to obey God and they are unable to do anything good.