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Welcome to another installment of “Well That’s Interesting” (you can find the first post with a detailed explanation of the series here, or bookmark this page to keep track of the whole series).

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The book of Titus is one of the Apostle Paul’s shortest letters, in which he passes on instructions for godly living and church functioning to one of his young pastoral apprentices. Yet despite the letter’s relative brevity, it has one of Paul’s longest salutation sections. While it is not uncommon for Paul to introduce some doctrine or a sort of theological table of contents in his letter openings, this one is notably rich. You’ve likely heard us say before that the biblical authors wrote every word with intention. What better place to take note of that than in the introduction to a letter; a section that I’m sure more than a few of us have been tempted to just skim through on occasion. So with all that said, let’s look at the introduction of Titus 1.

Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, ² in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, ³ but at the proper time revealed His word in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior;

⁴ To Titus, my true son in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Titus 1:1–4 NASB

Normally I like to break shorter passages like these down verse-by-verse. But given that these verses really flow into each other, especially in this translation, today we’re going to note some of the different themes and ideas that show up in this text. Specifically we’re going to look at three: Identity and Responsibility, God’s Character, and Salvation.

Identity and Responsibility

The theme of identity shows up as early as the first couple words of this letter. Paul starts out by noting characteristics about himself: “Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ.” The idea of being a servant or slave is one that comes up numerous times throughout Paul’s letters. Interestingly, however, Paul usually attaches his servitude to Jesus. Here he makes it clear that he is God’s servant. We’ll see a bit later why Paul may have made this distinction. By stating his servitude to God, Paul is demonstrating his humility, while also making clear his loyalty to God the Father. He then refers to himself as an “apostle of Jesus Christ” which, apart from denoting his authority and status, also lends information to his purpose. That is to say, one isn’t likely to refer to themselves as an apostle if they are not engaging in apostolic actions.

In the second half of the verse he explains those actions and clarifies his purpose: “for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness.” Herein lies the reason I titled this theme “identity and responsibility”, because in this introduction, and throughout this letter, the two are linked. That is to say, because of who someone is, there are actions that person ought to take. I’ve talked about this idea before in other posts: because we are saved by God (part of our identity), we ought to be obedient to him (part of our responsibility). Later in the letter Paul gives Titus specific responsibility instructions for different people groups, just as here in the first verse he explains his own. Part of his responsibility as an apostle is, again, “for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness.” We’ll come back and look at those points specifically later on as well.

We can see a bit more of this in verse 3 when Paul talks about being entrusted with a proclamation of God (an interesting word that conveys both identity and responsibility); but for now, let’s skip down to verse 4, when Paul starts talking about Titus’ identity. There is a lot contained in the short reference to Titus as “my true son in a common faith”. While this is likely indicative that Titus came to faith under the preaching of Paul, it conveys more than that. By connecting Titus’ identity with his own, Paul is using his authority as God’s slave and Jesus’ apostle to vouch for Titus’ role and authority. Picture the respected family business owner who wants their son or daughter to be treated with the same respect as themselves (only without the messiness of nepotism). Even God himself did something similar in the gospel accounts, when he said, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17; 17:5; Mark 1:11; 9:7; Luke 3:22; 9:35).

What makes this even more interesting is that Paul calls Titus his son “in a common faith”, which points to their unity despite coming from vastly different backgrounds; Paul being Jewish and Titus a Greek. Later in the letter, Paul is going to address some issues that Titus’ church is having with false teachers promoting the idea that converted Gentile Christians needed to follow Jewish laws and customs. By connecting himself with Titus “in a common faith”, Paul makes it clear that their responsibility is based on their unified identity in Christ, and not the ways in which they are different. This connects right to the next theme we are going to address, which is all about God’s character.

God’s Character

While I noted the distinction Paul made in opening his letter as a bond-servant of God and apostle of Jesus, what we see throughout the progression of the salutation is a declaration of the unity between the Father and Son. But before we get to that, we see Paul emphasizing the trustworthiness of God’s character, particularly in verses 2 and 3. In two short verse, he writes that God: 1. Cannot lie, 2. Promised eternal life, and 3. Revealed his word (bringing proclamation of the access to the fulfillment of that promise) at the proper time. I find it incredibly encouraging how these three statements work together. The promise of eternal life sounds great only if you can trust the one making the promise. Well, Paul makes it clear that God, the promiser, cannot lie. And then if that’s not enough (even though it should be), he demonstrates the way that God revealed himself in his word, almost as proof of what has already been stated.

Then to wrap it all up together, I love this simple statement: “at the proper time”. If I’m being honest, when it comes to God’s trustworthiness, the thing I probably wrestle with the most is his timing. I take comfort in knowing that even people like David often cried out “How long, oh Lord?”, but more comforting still are these four words from Paul, emphasizing God’s perfect, sovereign timing.

Yet one of the most important declarations that Paul makes about God comes from the way he ends both verse 3 and 4 with “our Savior”. You’ll notice that verse 3 says “God our Savior”, whereas verse 4 is “God our Father and Christ Jesus our Savior”. The meaning is clear: while Jesus is not the Father, he is God. While this may seem obvious to those who are believers, Jesus’ divinity and identity has been an issue of contention since his miraculous conception, and it continues to be a stumbling block to salvation to this day. It’s very probable that the false teachers that Paul addresses later in the letter misunderstood Jesus’ identity, and this was Paul’s way of once again making his stance known from the outset. And once again, this will be quite relevant as we move into our third theme: salvation.

Salvation

The third theme we’re going to look at in this introduction is salvation. There’s a concept we talk about in the church when it comes to salvation, “salvation in all three tenses”. That is to say, for those who have believed in Christ for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life, we have salvation past, present, and future. We have been saved (which we call justification. The moment you trusted in Jesus for salvation;), we are being saved (which we called sanctification. Being made into the image of Christ and growing in our pursuit of holiness. A continual process until Christ comes again;), and we will be saved (which we call glorification. That wonderful hope we have for the future, where all things are made new and perfection is restored).

If you notice, in the first two verses of our passage today, Paul basically walks through these three stages. Let’s look at them again:

Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago

Titus 1:1–2 NASB

“For the faith of those chosen of God” refers to justification, that is salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Part of Paul’s responsibility as an apostle is to share the message of saving faith in Jesus. “The knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness” alludes to sanctification, the salvation process by which every believer is grown and transformed. It’s hard to pursue godliness if we don’t know what godliness looks like, and so we pursue truth as it is revealed in God’s word. Finally, “the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago” reminds us of our coming glorification, when Christ comes again, giving us new bodies, a new heaven and a new earth. It is an assurance of eternal salvation that comes from the God of trustworthiness, whose timing is perfect.

This is the message that Paul has been entrusted to proclaim; the same message he, in turn, entrusts to Titus as his “true son in a common faith.” It is a message of “grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.”

Why Does it Matter?

I’m going to keep this section short and sweet today, by simply referring back to my alluded-to rational in picking this passage for study this week. I purposely picked a passage that is easy to overlook, skim through, or perhaps even skip entirely. “Oh it’s just his introduction!” one might say. Yet as we’ve seen here, every word of these short four verses is intentional, chosen with purpose, and rich with connection. Now, with that being said, I wouldn’t necessarily say that Titus 1:1–4 is about identity and responsibility, about God’s character, or about salvation. But what you find when you study the rest of this letter is that there are sections about each of these topics. So in many ways, by taking some time to understand the introduction, we are given something of a road map as we progress through the book, knowing clearly what Paul is seeking to address, and keeping an eye out for it. It’s an important reminder that ALL scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16).