This introduction to the book of Titus was given at the Grace Church Guildford Big Weekend away on 4-6 February 2022.
Open your Bibles to the book of Titus. How did that feel? You see, in many ways, a Christian opening their Bible should feel like a child opening a box of chocolates: overcome by indecision, we should be unable to pick which book to turn to, for we know that they will all taste so sweet. It’s not hard to imagine different biblical books being like different chocolates. If you pick the toffee penny of Isaiah, although it is sweet to your taste, you also find yourself having to expend a lot of time chewing your way through it. However, this evening my task is not to tempt you to choose a toffee penny like Isaiah, but rather the much easier to digest, but equally sweet, book of Titus.
Why turn to the book of Titus? Well, by answering that question, I hope to not only get you excited and orientated for studying the book this weekend, but prepare you to for delve deeper into it in the months and years to come. This weekend, we only have the time for me to show you the trunk of the book as it were, the central arguments of each chapter. However, I promise if you return to it, and run along all its branches, like squirrels you will find many acorns that will sustain you through any winter. In about five minutes, Emily, Corrie and James are going to come up and read through the book for us all in one go. It doesn’t take long, and will allow us to get a sense of the whole before we dive into the first chapter tomorrow morning. However, before they do, I want to give you five reasons I think you should not only study the book of Titus, but make it one of the biblical books that you know back to front.
1. Context
You see, Titus is one of three Pastoral Epistles (alongside 1-2 Timothy), placed near the end of the New Testament. Put simply, this means that of all the books in the Bible, they are written to an audience most like ourselves: Christians living after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. This is of course true of all the letters in the New Testament. However, these three letters were likely written in the final years of Paul’s life, as the age of the apostles was coming to its close and our current age beginning. This means that applying the teaching of Titus to your life is almost as simple as reading what it says and directly doing it! We can draw a relatively straight line from the instructions given in Titus to the our own lives today. There is no need to contemplate complicated questions about covenants or the connection between Israel and the Church. No, if Paul was to sit down to write a letter to us here today, it would probably look a lot like this one. For like Titus and the Christians on Crete, we are also part of a local church living between Christ’s two comings. When you turn to Titus, the bridge of interpretation between the text and today is about as short as it ever gets in the Bible.
2. Concision
Secondly, Titus has an intense brevity to it. With only 36 verses, many chapters in the Bible are longer than this whole book! As we will see, it only takes 7 minutes to read. If you are looking for a manageable study, Titus is a great option. Or if you want to achieve the feat of memorising a whole book of the Bible, learning 36 verses is achievable for all of us!
3. Coverage
While the letter is short in size, it is substantial in what it says. For within its three brief chapters, Paul manages to cover almost every major Christian doctrine in some shape or form. The doctrine of God’s Word, of God’s attributes, of the person and work of Christ, of the work of the Holy Spirit, of man and sin, of salvation (justification, sanctification, glorification), of the church and of Christ’s return are all referenced. If you want a concise yet comprehensive summary of Christianity in one book, then look no further than the book of Titus. As it touches almost every theological topic, by becoming familiar with, or even memorising it, you can use it as a kind of touch point for any question you have. Is God’s Word true? Yes, Titus 1:2. Is Jesus Christ God? Yes, Titus 2:13. What is our relationship with government? See Titus 3:1. In Titus you can find a basic foundation, a starting place, for almost every major Christian doctrine.
4. Change
The book of Titus not only teaches us a lot of theology, it also shows us how to apply this practically in our lives. There are few short books as rigorous in application as Titus. It tells us how we should live as individuals, church members, family members, employees in the workplace, and as citizens in the public square. We are going to see again and again, Titus teaches us theology, but how that teaching is to transform us. Titus repeatedly returns to that theme. That the gospel leads to godliness, that the truth transforms us. Indeed, as we will see, that connection between the gospel and godliness, or truth and transformation, is the beating heart of the book. If you are looking to learn how Christians are progressively changed, how the gospel should generate godliness and good works in your life, turn to and take up the book of Titus.
5. Christ
Finally, and most important of all, you should turn to the book of Titus, for there is much of Christ in it. Three times, once in each chapter, Titus tells us of Jesus Christ our Saviour. When it does so in the second and third chapter, it is part of two sections, which are really two long sentences, that summarise our salvation and our Saviour in stunning ways. Indeed, Titus gives us some of the greatest glimpses into the Gospel that we have in all of Scripture. We should not only value it for its practical instructions, but also for its beautiful descriptions of both our salvation and our Saviour.
Perhaps these five reasons are why so many Christians and churches have turned to Titus again and again over the centuries. Indeed, in August 1555, around 1500 years after Titus first read this letter, John Calvin stood and read it out to his congregation in Geneva. As he began a series of sermons from the book that would last several months, Calvin commented to them: ‘This letter is as necessary for us today as it ever was.’ Well 500 years have passed since Calvin came to that conclusion, yet I am confident that its usefulness has not diminished over the centuries. I trust you will find the same as we study it over the coming days.
ALEXANDER ARRELL