After having considered 2 Timothy, the next pastoral letter attributed to Paul that must be considered is the letter to TITUS. Like Timothy, Titus was an important associate of Paul. According to Galatians 2:3, he was a Gentile convert, probably a God-lover who was with Paul in Jerusalem in the late 40s or 50s. In the second letter to the Corinthians, he was an important mediator in Paul’s conflicted relationship with the Christ-community in Corinth in the mid-50s.

In the letter, Titus is on Crete, the largest of the Greek islands. The reason is that the putative author Paul had left Titus there so that he “should put in order what remained to be done, and should appoint elders in every town”. The letter is about the need for order and the appointment of authorized leaders – in short, it is about institutionalization.

The author negatively stereotypes the inhabitants of Crete: “’Cretans are always liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons.’ That testimony is true”. So, Titus is told, “Teach what is consistent with sound doctrine”

The letter to Titus combines characteristics of 1 and 2 Timothy. The author calls Titus “my child,” just as he did Timothy, and thus passes Paul’s mantle to a later generation. It is concerned with “sound doctrine”. Like 1 Timothy, it is practical and   pastoral. It includes a list of special qualifications for bishops and directions for what to teach older men and older women, younger women and younger me, and slaves.

Slaves are “to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect; they are not to talk back, not to pilfer, but to show complete and perfect fidelity, so that in everything they may be an ornament to the doctrine of God our Savior.” If the counsel is directed to Christian slaves of non-Christian masters, it makes sense. But if the text presupposes that there are Christian masters of Christian slaves, it is very different from the radical Paul of the seven genuine letters.

Finally, like 2 Timothy, the letter commissions Titus to continue what Paul has been doing. It is about Paul’s legacy perhaps a half century after his death.

According to 2 Corinthians, Titus was with Paul on his third missionary journey; there is, however, no mention of him in Acts. Besides being the bearer of Paul’s severe letter to the Corinthians, he had the responsibility of taking up the collection in Corinth for the Christian community of Jerusalem.

The letter is only three chapters long. Why not read it?