About This Book

Titus is Paul’s practical letter to a trusted co worker labouring among young and fragile churches. Its purpose is not abstract theology, but healthy church life, the kind that grows when leaders are qualified, teaching is sound, and everyday believers learn to live in a way that fits the gospel. Paul is deeply aware that false teaching does not only distort doctrine, it corrodes households, disrupts congregations, and undermines witness, so he writes with a clear strategy, appoint faithful elders, silence deceivers, and train the whole church in godliness.

The letter moves with sharp simplicity. Paul begins by grounding everything in God’s saving promise and then charges Titus to establish proper leadership in every town, insisting that elders must be marked by character, ability to teach, and firmness against error (ch.1). He then turns to the congregation, older and younger, men and women, servants and masters, showing that the gospel trains a people for self control, good works, and public credibility (ch.2). At the heart of the letter stands a bright gospel summary, salvation by grace, renewal by the Spirit, and a hope that reshapes life now (ch.3). Paul closes with instructions about good works, wise priorities, and avoiding the draining cycle of quarrels and divisive people. The burden is clear, the church adorns the gospel when truth is taught well and life is shaped accordingly.

Titus trains the church to hold fast to sound teaching, so that grace produces a people eager for good works.

Preach Titus by keeping the link between doctrine and life explicit. Press the gospel engine in ch.2 to ch.3, and then show how it drives leadership, discipleship, and everyday integrity.

Structure of the Book

Titus is short, but it is tightly organised. This outline is designed to help you plan a series that keeps doctrine and discipleship together.

1. Gospel foundations and the task in Crete
   Paul’s apostolic purpose, God’s promise, and Titus’s mission, ch.1
2. Appoint elders and confront destructive teaching
   Qualifications for leaders and the need to silence deceivers who ruin households, ch.1
3. Teach what accords with sound doctrine
   Discipleship for older and younger believers, and training the church for self control and faithfulness, ch.2
4. Grace that saves also trains
   The gospel as the basis for holy living and good works, ch.2
5. Public life, gospel humility, and good works
   Submission, gentleness, and a life shaped by God’s mercy and renewal, ch.3
6. Wisdom in conflict, mission priorities, and final instructions
   Avoiding quarrels, handling divisive people, and giving attention to practical ministry needs, ch.3

Key Themes

• Sound doctrine and sound living, truth is not merely believed, it is embodied in a life that fits the gospel.
• Church leadership and character, elders must be trustworthy men whose lives and teaching protect the flock.
• False teaching and its fruit, error produces moral decay and relational damage, not merely disagreement.
• Grace that trains, saving grace does not leave us unchanged, it trains us for self control and godliness.
• Good works as witness, the church is to be eager for good works, not to earn salvation, but to display it.
• Household discipleship, older believers teach the younger, and the gospel shapes ordinary relationships.
• Public credibility, Christians are to live attractively, with gentleness and integrity in a suspicious world.
• Hope of eternal life, future hope steadies present obedience and keeps ministry priorities clear.
• Unity and wise boundaries, divisiveness must be resisted, and fruitless controversies refused.

Recommended Commentaries

Titus may be brief, but it requires careful handling because it sits at the intersection of theology, church order, and discipleship. A reliable commentary helps you read the qualifications for elders and the instructions for households in their gospel context, and it can also help you judge how to apply themes like false teaching, submission, and good works with wisdom and proportion in your setting.

• The Message of 1 Timothy & Titusby John R.W. Stott, Score: 8.8

  A dependable, gospel-rooted guide to the Pastoral Epistles that combines faithful exposition with pastoral insight.

• Thessalonians, Timothy, and Titusby Simon J. Kistemaker, William Hendrickson, Score: 8.4

  A richly informed and pastorally sensitive volume that blends sound exegesis with practical guidance for ministry.

• Titusby John MacArthur, Score: 8.3

  A concise and useful exposition of Titus that highlights its pastoral priorities and offers sound guidance for those teaching the letter.

Browse all Titus reviews

Extra help is often most valuable in ch.1 on elder qualifications and false teachers, and in ch.2 to ch.3 where the relationship between grace, good works, and public witness must be preached without moralism and without softness.

Preaching and Teaching Helps

Titus is ideal for shaping church culture, but it can be mishandled if preached as mere leadership technique or moral improvement. Keep the gospel centre bright, then apply with calm realism.

• Make ch.2 to ch.3 the theological centre, let the grace of God and the mercy of regeneration drive every command.
• Preach leadership as protection, elder qualifications are not a checklist for pride, but God’s care for the church.
• Address false teaching without obsession, show its relational and moral fruit, then keep the main focus on healthy truth.
• Handle household instructions pastorally, teach dignity, patience, and mutual responsibility, and avoid flattening complex situations.
• Teach good works carefully, emphasise that they flow from salvation and serve witness, not self righteousness.
• Model wise boundaries, Titus offers clear counsel on avoiding quarrels and dealing with divisiveness, which many churches need to hear with clarity and gentleness.

This Book in the Story of Scripture

Titus belongs to the era when the risen Christ is building his church through the apostolic gospel. It shows that the church is not only gathered by grace, it is also shaped by grace, trained to live as God’s renewed people in the midst of ordinary society. In the wider storyline, Titus sits downstream of Christ’s finished work, applying the saving mercy of God to the everyday life of congregations, leaders, households, and public witness.

The letter strengthens assurance by grounding salvation in God’s kindness and renewing work, not in human merit. It strengthens holiness by showing that grace produces disciplined lives and eager service. It strengthens mission by insisting that the church’s conduct should commend the gospel, and that a community marked by humility, integrity, and good works becomes a bright sign of the coming kingdom.

Because God has saved us by mercy and renewed us by the Spirit, the church can live with self control and good works now, awaiting the hope of eternal life in Christ.