Titus Historical Background | Why was Titus written? 

That's wonderful to hear. Stay tuned as we'll keep making these for the whole Bible. Thank you Rolando!

That is great to hear. Blessings Rene!

You are very welcome. Thank you for commenting, and blessings to you, and those with you in beautiful Rio!

That is wonderful to hear. Thank you for your comment! Blessings!

Thank you! Blessings!

Our pleasure! 😊

Thank you. Titus 3 is such a rich chapter. Blessings!

Thank you for commenting! You are correct, Paul does instruct them to appoint elders in (1:5ff), which is a specific leadership position in the church. We chose the word 'leaders' in the video, as we felt that it also incorporated Paul's instructions to the older men and the older women in chapter 2. But as you mentioned, it is very important in both the ancient church of Crete, and in our churches today that there are elders who can both teach and model the Truth. Thank you for your comment! Blessings!

@@TheBibleEffect Shalom

Thank you! 😊

Thank you, Repentman! Blessings!

Amen! Thanks Grant!

Thank you for letting us know!

We unfortunately have no record of the identity of Titus' father. We do know that he must have been Greek, but beyond that we have no information. Titus was a close companion of Paul's for a long time, however he is never given the title of apostle. Blessings!

A very good question, Greg. The only time that we see Paul in Crete before his Roman imprisonment is in Acts 27:8. During this visit though, he was a prisoner on his way to Rome, and on top of that, their stay was very short. This does not seem to match with how Paul describes leaving Titus behind in Crete to appoint elders in all the towns (assumedly the towns where churches had been established), in Titus 1:5. Also, in writing Titus Paul is not a prisoner as he was after his Acts 27 visit (for two years), but is free with plans to spend the winter in Nicopolis (Titus 3:12). We cannot find in the Acts account of Paul’s missionary work, any time when these conditions would be met. For this reason, it seems most likely that Paul was released from his Roman imprisonment, and in this time he went to Crete, and the events of this letter occurred. Thank you for your very good question Greg. Please let me know if you have any more questions. Blessings!

@@TheBibleEffect thanks for the very detailed response and the appropriate amount of deductive reasoning. When do you suppose Paul went Illyricum? Luke seems to have missed that trip, and since Paul wrote Romans before he visited Rome, it should have taken place during the time Luke covers in Acts. What is the likelihood that Luke missed more than just Illyricum in Paul's itinerary? If Paul had a 4th missionary journey, in addition to Crete and Nicopolis, where else did he go? And is the reference in Titus the only hard evidence we have for a 4th missionary journey?

@@gregmorrison1869 I love your questions Greg! Paul clearly was in Illyricum, as he tells us as much in Romans 15:19. However, as you mentioned, Luke doesn’t record this visit in Acts. In Acts, Luke gives us a tremendous account of Paul’s missionary journeys, but it is not an exhaustive of all that Paul did, and where he went. For instance, in 2 Corinthians, Paul records a quick visit to Corinth while he was in Ephesus, that is not recorded in Acts (2 Cor 2:1). For this reason, it would seem possible that Paul visited Illyricum during his 18-month stay in Corinth, which was during his second missionary journey (early AD 50’s). We can’t know for sure, but we do have a longer timeframe, with not a lot of details given. Though the distance between Corinth and Illyricum is fairly significant, his stay must not have been for Luke to omit it. Another option is that he visited Illyricum towards the end of his third missionary journey, in the time period covered briefly in Acts 20:1-6 (referred to as “those regions”). This would put the date as around AD 56/57, and shortly before the writing of Romans. Going back to the original discussion on Paul’s visit to Crete, it is also possible that it is an unrecorded trip, however a trip of this size (including his wintering in Nicopolis), does make this a much tougher fit into the Acts account. As for Paul’s alleged fourth missionary journey after his release from his Roman imprisonment, it is difficult to fully recreate. The books of Titus, 1 Timothy, and 2 Timothy are usually used to recreate this time (and possibly even his planned visit in Philemon 22, which would have been Colossae). These books are quite difficult to fit into the chronology that we get from Acts, and so many scholars place them into this fourth missionary journey. This would mean that after his release, he eventually made his way to Crete followed by Nicopolis (likely in Achaia). According to the Timothy epistles, he also spent time in Macedonia and Asia Minor, including Ephesus. There is an early tradition, that seems to come from Clement, that Paul also made his way to Spain. Writing towards the end of the 1st century AD, Clement writes that Paul ‘reached the farthest bounds of the West’ (1 Clement 5:6), which would appear to be Spain. However, it begins to get difficult to place Paul in all of these places, and still bring him back to Rome for his martyrdom around AD 65, considering his release from prison was around AD 62. In any case, we know that Paul was not sitting around after his release from prison, but was happy to pick up right where he left off. I hope that long answer helps! Blessings!

@@TheBibleEffect thanks again for such a thorough and detailed response. I'd always assumed that a visit to Colossae must have come in connection with the 3rd missionary journey and Paul's long stay on Ephesus. Perhaps even passing through on the inland journey from Antioch to Ephesus. I'm most familiar with Acts and not as much the details of Paul's epistles as they relate to his itinerary. Thus I'd never heard of the trip to Crete following his Roman imprisonment until I saw this video. I'd always regarded the idea of a trip to Spain as more likely wish fulfillment. But I have to admit I'm surprised at the idea of his visit to Crete and a fourth journey. I'd regarded the abrupt ending of Acts to be indicative of Paul's imminent martyrdom and a sign there wasn't much more to tell. I really appreciate your willingness to engage and indulge my questions. One last question? Do you think Galatians 2 refers to Acts 15, Acts 11 or something else? And v.11 when he rebukes Peter to his face, was that before or after his visit to Jerusalem?

@@gregmorrison1869 It does seem quite likely that Paul did visit Colossae on his third missionary journey, likely during his extended time in Ephesus as you mentioned. But, his comment in Philemon seems to suggest that he had plans to return to Colossae upon his release, which would be a much later visit. Of course, some scholars propose an Ephesian imprisonment that was not mentioned in Acts, though this is a larger discussion that is probably more of a distraction to us here. There are a large number of scholars who do believe that Paul was executed at the end of his first Roman imprisonment. However, this does present some other challenges, such as placing Titus, 1 Timothy, and 2 Timothy into Paul’s travels, not to mention the generally positive feeling of Paul’s chances of release at the end of Acts. On top of this, the early church fathers all seem united on Paul’s release and martyrdom during Nero’s persecution, which began in AD 64. Regarding Galatians 2, this is an ongoing discussion amongst many scholars, and good arguments are made for both an early date and a late date for the writing of the book. In our Galatians background video, we approached it from an early date, though good Biblical scholars would place the writing later. An early date for Galatians then views the meeting in chapter 2 as pre-dating the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15. The Acts 11 meeting is a possible candidate, but this could easily be a meeting unmentioned in Acts. The same could be said for Paul and Peter’s interaction, as Acts doesn’t seem to cover this occurrence. I know many of these are not questions we can definitively answer, but hopefully this helps you. Blessings!

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Satan is relentless in his attacks against God's people. This is why it is imperative that we make sure we have a firm foundation in the Word. Blessings Ricky!

@@TheBibleEffect amen to that