he
English versions) and widows (v.).

Warnings against disobedience towards masters, vain disputations,
covetousness, and a wrong use of wealth--concluding with a direct
appeal to Timothy (vi.).

{203}

THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TITUS

[Sidenote: The Author.]

This is exactly the kind of letter which we should expect to be written
by a writer of strong individuality addressing a disciple entrusted
with the duty of ruling a Church threatened by the same troubles as the
Church which was under the supervision of Timothy. It is attributed to
St. Paul by Irenaeus, and is amply supported by other early writers.

[Sidenote: To whom written.]

"To Titus, my true child after a common faith" (i. 4). Titus was
converted by St. Paul (i. 4), and was an uncircumcised Gentile (Gal.
ii. 3). He must have been converted at an early period in the
apostle's career, for he was with Paul and Barnabas on their visit from
Antioch to Jerusalem in A.D. 49. He was therefore present during the
great crisis when the freedom of the Gentiles from the ceremonial part
of the Jewish law was vindicated. It is suggested by Gal. ii. that
Titus was personally known to the Galatians, and possibly he was
himself a Galatian. Titus was prominent at another important crisis.
When the Church at Corinth was involved in strife, Titus was sent
thither. His efforts were attended with success, and he was able to
report good news on returning to St. Paul in Macedonia (2 Cor. vii. 6,
7, 13-15). He carried the Second Epistle to the Corinthians to
Corinth. We hear no more of him until the period when this Epistle was
written. After St. Paul's release from his first imprisonment, Titus
was with him in Crete, and was left by the apostle to direct the
affairs of the Church in that island (Tit. i. 5). It is plain that the
tact and wisdom which he had shown at Corinth had not failed him in the
interval, and that St. Paul still regarded him as a worthy delegate and
a true evangelist of the gospel of peace.

[Sidenote: Where and when written.]

The similarity to 1 Timothy makes it almost certain that Titus was
written about the same time, and before 2 Timothy. {204} The apostle
is expecting to winter at Nicopolis, probably the Nicopolis in Epirus.
The letter was therefore possibly written from Greece. It seems from
iii. 13 that Zenas, a former teacher of the Jewish law, and Apollos,
had occasion to travel by Crete, and St. Paul takes the opportunity to
se