1:1 Paul, a slave of God and apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God’s chosen ones and the recognition of religious truth,
1:2 in the hope of eternal life that God, who does not lie, promised before time began,
1:3 who indeed at the proper time revealed his word in the proclamation with which I was entrusted by the command of God our savior,
1:4 to Titus, my true child in our common faith: grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior.
1:5 For this reason I left you in Crete so that you might set right what remains to be done and appoint presbyters in every town, as I directed you,
1:6 on condition that a man be blameless, married only once, with believing children who are not accused of licentiousness or rebellious.
1:7 For a bishop as God’s steward must be blameless, not arrogant, not irritable, not a drunkard, not aggressive, not greedy for sordid gain,
1:8 but hospitable, a lover of goodness, temperate, just, holy, and self-controlled,
1:9 holding fast to the true message as taught so that he will be able both to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute opponents.
1:10 For there are also many rebels, idle talkers and deceivers, especially the Jewish Christians.
1:11 It is imperative to silence them, as they are upsetting whole families by teaching for sordid gain what they should not.
1:12 One of them, a prophet of their own, once said, "Cretans have always been liars, vicious beasts, and lazy gluttons."
1:13 That testimony is true. Therefore, admonish them sharply, so that they may be sound in the faith,
1:14 instead of paying attention to Jewish myths and regulations of people who have repudiated the truth.
1:15 To the clean all things are clean, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is clean; in fact, both their minds and their consciences are tainted.
1:16 They claim to know God, but by their deeds they deny him. They are vile and disobedient and unqualified for any good deed.