- 1.5 Titus had to organize the churches of Crete with leaders in every city.
We do not know if the title overseer (in Greek, episcopos, from which comes bishop) was given to all these elders or presbyters, or if the title was reserved for those with executive duties. After a while, there was only one bishop in charge of the entire community. After the apostles’ death, bishops served as their representatives and ruled the Church with the same authority.
What Paul says here about the requirements for a presbyter or bishop is the same as what we have in 1 Timothy. We may note the following:
– Married only once (v. 6). Obviously, it is not necessary to be married, but as men of a certain age, usually married, were the ones who were consecrated, Paul is here considering the frequent case of Christians who had been divorced and remarried several times while they were still pagans.
– He must be blameless (v. 6), not he alone but his family as well. His fitness to preside is essential to his vocation, and the community will not accept him if his background gives an unfavorable witness.
– He must be hospitable (v. 8). The Church is communion more than an organization. Everyone must be welcomed and feel at home in the house of the presbyter or the bishop. He must also welcome the brothers and elders from other districts to assure unity and communion among different communities. The human balance in this bishop is then part of his vocation: he cannot be a man of uneven character whose interventions could wound, whose authority ignores the elementary rules of social contact and respect of persons: although known for their faith, Church leaders are often reproached for not knowing how to act in a human way.
Verses 12-16 are a cautionary measure against the return to a religion of practices and abstinences inspired by Jewish law. To the pure, everything is pure (v. 15): in the spirit of Matthew 15:11 and Romans 14:20. That will never mean to say that our intentions (our intentions are always pure!) justify our actions. That would be to forget that the tree (the desire urging us to act) is judged by its fruit; these cannot be justified if they are contrary to the will of God manifested in the law.
- 2.1 Here is a reminder of the duties of the faithful according to their situation in life. In the society of the time, far simpler than ours, all was reduced to slaves or the free, men or women, young or old. In our age, it would be necessary to ask people to look more closely at their responsibilities in life.
There is insistence on our duty to bear fruit: the following paragraph will say that if Christ has sacrificed himself for us, such a sacrifice must not remain fruitless.
The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all (v. 11). Here Paul returns to the essence of the Christian message: it is a gift of God and so it must produce the fruit of goodness and reconciliation and draw people away from the self-centeredness which paralyzes them.
He gave himself for us (v. 14). As in Ephesians 5:25 and 1 Corinthians 11:25, Jesus’ sacrifice is primarily to purify those who become his people. In fact, it is by looking at Jesus that, little by little, we let go of what is evil and violent in us.
Teaching us to reject an irreligious way of life (v. 12). God brings us to purify our motives and our hearts.
– Responsible, because the practice of Christian living brings us to a more serious attitude.
– Just with others by being primarily just with God.
– Serving God: this means first of all being sincere with God.
- 3.1 Speaking to the first Christian generation, Paul had underscored the transformation of the one who has been converted: becoming Christian involved breaking away from the past. In the following generation, while the Church was being established in various provinces of the Roman Empire, the hope of an imminent return of Christ began to decline. Thus, if the Church is called to last; the Christian needs to appear, first of all, as a model of an ordered and just life. Since obedience was then the pillar of the family and social life, this letter insists that the believer must obey from the heart in every aspect that is not opposed to his faith.
In the teaching of the New Testament, it will be easy to speak of contradictions, or opportunism: here, social loyalty and family virtues; or else ignoring one’s father and mother. Actually, they are not contradictory: obedience coming from the heart as long as there is no opposition to the will of God, but a complete rejection of dependence when a human authority presumes to replace God, disregarding the conscience and rights of a person.
What remains here is an insistence on social virtues; it was the same in 2:5; 2:10 and also 1 Timothy 2:2 and 2:11.
- 8. Possible translations for the word Paul uses here are “sects” or “heresies” (v. 10): they are two aspects of a Greek word that means “selection.” Instead of accepting the faith as the Church transmits it, a heretic chooses what seems most important to her and what she likes the most. She rejects part of the message and leaves the Church taking with her disciples to form her own group. In preferring her own judgment to the doctrine of the Church, she loses the in-depth faith attitude; she destroys unity and condemns herself, even though she keeps a major part of the message.