
{1}1{/}

{R}_{I}1_{/}From Paul, servant of God, apostle of Christ Jesus, at the 
service of God's chosen people, so that they may believe and reach 
the knowledge of truth and godliness.
[=]_{R}_{I}2_{/}The eternal life we are waiting for was promised from the 
very beginning by God who never lies, {R}_{I}3_{/}and as the appointed 
time had come, he made it known through the message entrusted to 
me by a command of God, our Savior.
{R}_{I}4_{/}Greetings to you, Titus, my true son in the faith we share. 
May grace and peace be with you from God the Father and Christ 
Jesus our Lord.

{N}ON THE ELDERS OF THE CHURCH{/}

[\u0095]_[=]_{I}5_{/}I left you in Crete because I wanted you to put right 
what was defective and appoint elders in every town, following my 
instructions. {I}6_{/}They must be blameless, married only once, whose 
children are believers and not open to the charge of being immoral 
and rebellious. {R}_{I}7_{/}Since the overseer (or bishop) is the steward 
of God's house, he must be beyond reproach: not proud, hot-headed, 
overfond of wine, quarrelsome or greedy for gain. 
[=]_{I}8_{/}On the contrary he must be hospitable, a lover of what is 
good, wise, upright, devout and self-controlled. [=]_{I}9_{/}He must 
hold to the message of faith just as it was taught, so that, in 
his turn, he may teach sound doctrine and refute those who oppose 
it.
[=]_{I}10_{/}You know that there are many rebellious minds, talkers of 
nonsense, deceivers, especially the party of the circumcised. 
{I}11_{/}They have to be silenced when they go around disturbing whole 
families, teaching for low gain what should not be taught. {R}_{I}12_{/}A 
Cretan, one of their own prophets has said, "Cretans: always 
liars, wicked beasts and lazy gluttons." {I}13_{/}This is true. For 
this reason rebuke them sharply if you want them to have a sound 
faith {R}_{I}14_{/}instead of heeding Jewish fables and practices of 
people who reject the truth.
[=]_{I}15_{/}To the pure everything is pure; to the corrupt and 
unbelieving nothing is pure: their minds and consciences have been 
defiled. {R}_{I}16_{/}They pretend to know God but deny him with their 
deeds. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing 
anything good.

{N}LIVE AS RESPONSIBLE PERSONS{/}

{1}2{/}

[\u0095]_{I}1_{/}Let your words strengthen sound doctrine. [=]_{I}2_{/}Tell the 
older men to be sober, serious, wise, sound in faith, love and 
perseverance. 
[=]_{I}3_{/}The older women in like manner must behave as befits holy 
women, not given to gossiping or drinking wine, {I}4_{/}but as good 
counselors, able to teach younger women to love their husbands and 
children, [=]_{I}5_{/}to be judicious and pure, to take care of their 
households, to be kind and submissive to their husbands, lest our 
faith be attacked.
{I}6_{/}Encourage the young men to be self-controlled. {I}7_{/}Set them an 
example by your own way of doing. Let your teaching be earnest and 
sincere, [=]_{I}8_{/}and your preaching beyond reproach. Then your 
opponents will feel ashamed and will have nothing to criticize.
[=]_{I}9_{/}Teach slaves to be subject to their masters, and to give 
satisfaction in every respect, instead of arguing. {R}_{I}10_{/}They must 
not steal from them but be trustworthy. In this way they will draw 
everyone to admire the doctrine of God our Savior.
{R}_{I}11_{/}For God Savior has revealed his loving plan to all, 
[=]_{R}_{I}12_{/}teaching us to reject an irreligious way of life and 
worldly greed, and to live in this world as responsible persons, 
upright and serving God, [=]_{R}_{I}13_{/}while we await our blessed hope 
- the glorious manifestation of our great God and Savior Christ 
Jesus. [=]_{I}14_{/}He gave himself for us, to redeem us from every 
evil and to purify a people he wanted to be his own and dedicated 
to what is good.
[=]_{I}15_{/}Teach these things, encourage and reprove with all 
authority. Let no one despise you.

{1}3{/}

[\u0095]_{I}1_{/}Remind the believers to be submissive to rulers and 
authorities, to be obedient and to take the initiative in doing 
good. {I}2_{/}Tell them to insult no one; they must not be quarrelsome 
but gentle and understanding with everyone.
[=]_{I}3_{/}We ourselves were once foolish, disobedient and misled. We 
were slaves of our desires, seeking pleasures of every kind. We 
lived in malice and envy, hateful and hating each other. {R}_{I}4_{/}But 
God our Savior revealed his eminent goodness and love for 
humankind [=]_{R}_{I}5_{/}and saved us, not because of good deeds we may 
have done but for the sake of his own mercy. He gave us rebirth in 
baptism and renewed us by the Holy Spirit [=]_{R}_{I}6_{/}poured over us 
through Christ Jesus our Savior. {R}_{I}7_{/}By the grace of God we were 
made holy and now we hope for everlasting life, our inheritance.
[\u0095]_{R}_{I}8_{/}This is the truth. I want you to insist on these things, 
for those who believe in God must excel in good deeds; that is 
what matters and is profitable to us. {R}_{I}9_{/}Avoid stupid arguments, 
discussions about genealogies and quarrels about the Law, for they 
are useless and unimportant.
[=]_{I}10_{/}If anyone promotes sects in the church, warn him once and 
then a second time. If he still continues, break with him, 
{I}11_{/}knowing that such a person is misled and sinful and stands 
self-condemned.
{I}12_{/}When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, try to come to me at 
Nicopolis as soon as possible, for I have decided to spend the 
winter there. {I}13_{/}Do your best to send Zenas the lawyer and 
Apollos on their way soon, and see to it that they have everything 
they need. {I}14_{/}Our people must learn to be outstanding in good 
works and to face urgent needs, instead of remaining idle and 
useless.
{I}15_{/}All who are with me send greetings. Greet those who love us 
in the faith.
Grace be with you all.

