Volume IV
The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Titus.
With John Brown’s marginal references, notes and reflections · Vol. IV, p. 451
This epistle, as well as the two preceding to Timothy, chiefly contains directions for those in the ministerial office. Titus, to whom it was written, was a Gentile, early converted to Christ, perhaps by Paul's ministry. Being found faithful and diligent in the improvement of his spiritual gifts and evangelical trusts, Paul left him in Crete—now Candia, a large island in the Mediterranean Sea—as an evangelist, to put in order the affairs of that infant church.—In this epistle he directs him to appoint proper officers, who might, by their life and doctrine, confute the judaizing preachers and wicked heathens, ch. i.; and to recommend, by his example and instruction, a truly religious behaviour to Christian professors in every station, answerable to that grace of the gospel which they had heard and experienced, ch. ii. iii.
[Of Titus nothing is certainly known than that he was a Greek, and one of Paul's early converts who frequently attended him in his' journeys, ch. 1. 4; Ga. 2. 3; 2 Co. 2. 13; 7. 6, 7, 13, 15; 8. 16, 23; 12. 18; neither is there any certain record of the time when, or the individual by whom, Christianity was first introduced into Crete. But it is probable it was introduced at an early period; for, on the day of Pentecost, there were Cretians present, Ac. 2. 11, who would naturally carry with them the account of what they had seen and heard, and thus, either prepare the way of the gospel, by the excitement of curiosity and inquiry, or actually found the church which Titus was now instructed more perfectly to organize. Nor is there any account of Paul's labours in the island, except the bare fact of his visit, which may be inferred from this epistle, ch. 1. 5, though Luke mentions that he touched at the Fair Havens and Lasea on his voyage to Rome. It may therefore, with considerable probability, be inferred that Paul's ministry in Crete was subsequent to his first imprisonment at Rome, and previous to his second, about A.D. 64. It is evident that Paul must have found the inhabitants of the island considerably advanced in the knowledge of the gospel, or that his own ministry had been crowned with much success. But it appears that, from some cause unknown, he was hurried away, and was necessitated to leave Titus behind to assist in completing the apostolic organization of the infant churches. Titus is represented, in ecclesiastical records founded upon early traditions, to have continued in Crete till the age of 94, and to have died and been buried there. The epistle contains references to De. 7. 6; 14. 2; Is. 29. 13; Eze. 36. 25; Ac. 10. 45; Ro. 3. 20; Ep. 5. 2; 1 Ti. 3. 2; 2 Ti. 1. 9; He. 9. 14; 1 Pe. 2. 9. C.
After his release from his first imprisonment from Rome Paul made a missionary tour among the various churches both in Europe and Asia. It was towards the close of this tour that he visited, apparently for the first time, the island of Crete. He did not remain long; and he left Titus there to complete the work of ecclesiastical organization which he had commenced. From Crete Paul appears to have travelled through the western part of Asia Minor, and then through northern Greece, on his way to Nicopolis, in Epirus, where he had determined to spend the winter. He wrote this epistle when on his way to Nicopolis, and probably about A.D. 66. P.]