1 1 I, Paul, am writing this letter to you, Titus. God appointed me to be his servant and to be an apostle who represents Jesus Christ. God appointed me in order that I might teach those whom God has chosen to be his people to correctly believe in him. He wants me to teach them the true teachings about God, in order that they will learn to behave ◄in a godly manner/in a manner that pleases God►. 2 As a result of my doing these things, his people confidently expect that God will cause them to live forever. God, who never lies, promised before he created the world that his people would live forever. 3 Then at the time that he chose, he revealed to us his message. Specifically, God our Savior gave this message to me, and he trusted me to proclaim it to people. 4 Titus, I am writing this letter to you because you are like a true son [MET] to me because I led/helped you to believe the same teachings about Christ that I do. ◄I pray that/May► God our Father and Christ Jesus our Savior will continue to act kindly toward you and cause you to have inner peace.
5 When I asked you to stay on Crete island, I wanted you to do these things: Teach the believers what they need to know so that they can understand correctly the spiritual matters about which some are teaching wrongly. Appoint elders in the congregation in each town in the manner in which I told you to do.
6 When you appoint men as elders, you must choose men whom no one can justly accuse of habitually doing what is wrong (OR, whom everyone speaks well of). Specifically, appoint men who have been faithful to their wives. Appoint men whose children faithfully obey them. Do not appoint men whose children habitually do all the things that their bodies urge them to do, or who refuse to obey their parents. 7 Leaders of the congregation must be men who, as everyone knows, habitually do what is good (OR, whom no one can justly accuse of doing what is wrong), because it is on God’s behalf that they will direct/serve the congregation. Specifically, they must not be arrogant/proud. They must not easily become angry. They must not be men who drink much alcohol. They must not be men who ◄act violently/fight► when they are angry. They must not be men who are ◄greedy for/strongly desire to get► money. 8 Instead, they must be ones who welcome and take care of guests. They must ◄be devoted to/like to do► what is good. They must do what God considers to be right. They must be ◄holy/completely dedicated to God►. They must be men who do what their minds tell them is right to do and not what their emotions/desires urge them to do. 9 They must firmly believe in the message about Jesus Christ exactly as I/we(inc) taught it, in order that they might be able to teach the believers what is correct and to urge them to follow it well. If they firmly accept our message, they will be able to convince those who oppose what is correct that they are wrong.
10 I say this because there are many people who oppose the correct teachings. They refuse to obey people who have authority over them, they talk ◄on and on/without stopping►, saying what helps no one, and they deceive people. The Jewish believers [MTY] who insist we must obey all the Jewish rituals are especially doing this. 11 You and the leaders whom you appoint should prevent such people from teaching the believers. They are causing whole families to stop believing in the correct teachings [MET] by means of their teaching people wrong ideas/teachings. They are teaching people only in order that people will give them money, which is very shameful for them to do. 12 A man from Crete island whom they consider a prophet said, “My fellow Cretan people are always lying to one another! They are like dangerous wild animals [MET]! They are lazy and always eat too much food [SYN]!” 13 The words that this man said about the Cretan people are still true, especially about their being liars. So, rigorously convince/show those Cretan believers that those false teachings are wrong. Tell them to firmly believe in the correct teachings. 14 Teach them that they should no longer listen to the stories that the Jews ◄made up/invented►. Especially they should refuse to obey those who reject our true teachings, because those people are teaching things that only come from human beings, not from God. 15 Believers should reject what they teach about food, because no food that we eat can make us unacceptable to God if we are pure in our ◄inner beings/hearts►. But if people are evil and they do not trust in Christ Jesus, there is no ritual that can make them acceptable to God. Such people’s way of thinking has been ruined {Such people have ruined their way of thinking}, and they do not even feel guilty when they do what is evil. 16 Even though they claim/say that they know God, by what they do they show that they do not know ◄God/his true teaching►. They do not obey God, and they are unable to do anything that he considers to be good. So God considers them to be absolutely disgusting!
2 1 But as for you (sg), teach the believers what agrees with the correct teachings. 2 Specifically, tell the older men that they should control themselves ◄in all situations/whatever happens►, that they should behave in such a manner that all people will respect them, and that they should control what they say and do. And tell them that they should firmly believe in the correct teachings, that they should sincerely love others, and that they should always be steadfast. 3 Similarly, tell the older women that they should behave ◄in a reverent manner that shows that they are devoted to God/in a manner that honors God►; specifically, they should not ◄slander others/talk evil about others►, and they should not ◄be drinking much/habitually drinking► alcohol. Tell them that they should teach the younger women what is good, 4 in order that they may love their husbands and their children. 5 Older women should teach younger women to control what they say and do and to be pure in every way, to be good workers at home and submissive to their own husbands. The younger women should behave like this in order that no one will speak against the message about God. 6 As for the younger men, similarly, urge them to control themselves in all that they say and do. 7 You yourself must continually do what is good in order that others will see how they should behave. Teach the believers sincerely and seriously; 8 teach what is correct and what no one can justly criticize. Do this in order that when the believers conduct their lives in a proper manner, anyone who opposes ◄us/our message► will be disappointed because there will be nothing bad that they can justly say about us. 9 As for slaves, specifically, urge them to be submissive to their masters in everything. They should please their masters; specifically, they should not ◄contradict/refuse to obey► their masters. 10 They should not steal things that belong to their masters. Instead, they should always be completely honest/reliable and thus show their masters that their masters can completely trust them. They should behave like this in order that as a result of all the slaves conducting themselves well, people will realize that the teachings about God our Savior are very desirable.
11 The believers should behave in a good manner, since God did for us what we did not deserve, sending Jesus Christ to earth in order that he might save all people [PRS]. 12 God teaches/tells us [PRS] how to stop doing what he dislikes, and to stop desiring the things that ◄ungodly people/people who habitually do things that do not please God► desire [MTY]. He wants us to control our behavior and to do what is right and to do what pleases him while we live in this present age/time. 13 Do not forget that we are waiting expectantly for that which will make us very happy indeed [MTY]! We are expectantly waiting for our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, to come gloriously! 14 He is the one who willingly gave himself ◄to die/as a sacrifice► on our behalf to set us free from all sinful behavior! He wants ◄us to get rid of all our evil behavior/to make our lives pure► [MET]. He wants us, who are his very own people, to be people who are eager to do what is good.
15 Teach the believers these things! Urge them to do them! Correct those who do not obey them! As you do this, you have my full authority; so do not allow anyone to disregard you!
3 1 Remind the believers that they should submit to all those who rule them or have authority over them, and that they should obey them. They should be ready to do anything that is helpful. 2 They should never say bad things about anyone, they should not quarrel with people, they should be patient when others ◄irritate them/do things that they do not like►, and they should always treat all people as important.
3 Remind your congregations about these things because formerly we believers ourselves were also foolish, just like all people who do not believe in Christ are now. We did not obey ◄God/God’s message►. We let others deceive us. We ◄spent all our time doing/continually did► what is evil and could not stop ourselves from doing all the things that our bodies liked [DOU]. We were ◄envying others/desiring to have what others have►. We were causing people to hate us and we were hating one another. 4-5 Even though we were behaving sinfully like this, God our Savior acted kindly and lovingly to us [PRS], and saved us! He did this, not because we did things that are right, but just because he wanted to be merciful to us! He washed us inwardly and gave us a new way of living as a result of the Holy Spirit changing us inwardly. 6 Because we trusted in Jesus Christ our Savior, God put the Holy Spirit within us in order to wonderfully change us. 7 He wanted to erase the record of our sins even though we did not deserve that, and he wanted us to receive all that God desires to give us. These are the things that we confidently expect to receive when we live with him eternally.
8 These words that I have written are trustworthy. So, I want you to confidently teach the things that I have written about in this letter to those who have trusted in God, in order that they will be constantly devoted/attempting to do deeds that are good and helpful for others.
These teachings are beneficial and profitable for all people, 9 but there are people who foolishly dispute/argue with you, wanting you to believe senseless ◄myths/stories that came from your ancestors►, stories in which there are ◄genealogies/lists of your ancestors’ names►. They argue and quarrel with you, ◄insisting/telling you► that you must obey the Jewish laws. ◄Stay completely away from/Do not talk with► them, because arguing about such things is not profitable for anyone. It is completely worthless! 10 Those people, by teaching things that are false, are causing others ◄to turn away from/to quit believing► the true teachings. You must warn them that God will judge them if they continue doing that. If they do not stop, warn them one more time. If they still do not stop, then no longer have anything o do with them. 11 You will know clearly that such persons have deliberately ◄turned away from/quit believing and obeying► the true teachings. They know that they are doing what is sinful, but they deliberately keep on doing it.
12 I expect to send either Artemas or Tychicus to you. As soon as one of them arrives, ◄make every effort/try hard► to come to me quickly at Nicopolis city, because it is there that I have decided to go and stay during the stormy/winter season. 13 As for Zenas ◄the lawyer/the expert in the law► and Apollos, when they are ready to leave Crete Island, help them as much as you can in order that they may have everything [LIT] that they need as they travel. 14 Moreover, our fellow believers also should learn ◄to devote themselves to doing/to constantly do► good deeds for people who need help in order that they, our fellow believers, will live very useful [LIT] lives.
15 As I finish this letter, everyone who is with me ◄says that they are thinking affectionately about you/wants me to send greetings to you►. Tell those who are there who love us and believe as we do that we ◄are thinking affectionately about/greet► them. I pray/desire that our Lord Jesus Christ will continue to act kindly toward all of you.