Paul, a servant of God1, and an apostle of ‘ISA2 AL-MASIH3, according to the faith of God’s chosen ones, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, 2in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began; 3but in his own time revealed his Word in the message with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Saviour; 4to Titus, my true child according to a common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the LORD ‘ISA AL-MASIH our Saviour.
5I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking, and appoint elders in every city, as I directed you; 6if anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, who are not accused of loose or unruly behaviour. 7For the imam must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain; 8but given to hospitality, as a lover of good, sober-minded, fair, holy, self-controlled; 9holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict those who contradict him.
10For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for dishonest gain’s sake. 12One of them, a prophet of their own, said,
“Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and idle gluttons.” 4
13This testimony is true. For this cause, reprove them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14not paying attention to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. 15To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. 16They profess that they know God, but by their works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.
- 1:1 God, English translation of theos. It is the Greek equivalent of elohim and eloah (Hebrew) which are related to allah (Arabic) and alaha (Syriac), all of which translate as “God,” and refer to the one true God. ↩︎
- 1:1 ‘ISA – The names ‘ISA (Arabic), ISHO (Syriac) and JESUS (Greek, IESOUS) are all derived from the Hebrew name YEHOSHUA, which means “YAHWEH saves.” (YAHWEH is God’s personal name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”) ↩︎
- 1:1 AL-MASIH – an Arabic title equivalent to the Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Greek), all of which mean the Anointed One, that is, God’s Chosen One. In ancient times, divinely-appointed kings, priests and prophets were anointed with oil to signify their appointment to office. All of them point ahead to God’s ultimate Anointed One, the Messiah, AL-MASIH. Al-Kitab unanimously points to ‘ISA Ibn Maryam as the only person worthy to bear the title AL-MASIH. He is the one whom God sent into this world to save people from sin, and to usher in God’s Kingdom at his Second Coming. ↩︎
- 1:12 Quoting the Cretan poet/philosopher Epimenides who lived in the 6th century BC. Epimenides was highly regarded by the people of Crete and even credited with making predictions that came true.
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