This week, as we are approaching the end of the liturgical year, we dip into four short letters: the Letter to Titus (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday), the Letter to Philemon (Thursday), the Second Letter of John (Friday), and the Third Letter of John (Saturday). The Letters to Titus and Philemon come last in the body of the Pauline Letters, because they are the two shortest. Philemon consists of only one chapter and is more of a personal note to a friend.
Paul sees himself as an “apostle”, one of those specially and personally commissioned by Christ himself, even if he is not one of the Twelve and was “born out of time” into the Christian faith. He describes his mission as being to lead those chosen by God to faith and a knowledge of the truth that brings one to “true religion”, that is, a true relationship with God, coupled with the hope of eventually enjoying that life without end that God promises to his people.
The Letter to Titus is the third of the so-called “Pastoral Letters” because they consist largely of pastoral advice to Paul’s colleagues, Timothy and Titus. They are the only Pauline letters addressed to individuals rather than to a church. There is a good deal of dispute as to whether they really were actually Paul’s work because they clearly deal with a period following Paul’s imprisonment in Rome at the end of Acts of the Apostles. Some hold that Paul was released from that imprisonment and went on another pastoral mission that included Crete, where Titus was left in charge. Others hold that such a mission is pure speculation, contrived to fit the awkward fact that another anonymous writer likely authored the three Pastoral Letters. Their argument is that the Pastoral Letters share a common style quite unlike that of letters known to have been written by Paul. This theory would date the Pastoral Letters around the year 100, long after Paul’s death. If Paul did write them, they would belong to a period around 65 AD.
Whatever the truth, Titus was certainly one of Paul’s most important collaborators. Strangely, Titus is never mentioned in Luke’s Acts of the Apostles, but his name occurs 13 times in other books of the New Testament. He played a very important role in restoring peace to the church at Corinth, where it seems Paul had made himself very unpopular.
Yesterday’s reading consists of the opening address of the letter, and then sets the qualifications for the appointment of elders and overseers to lead the communities. The writer begins by calling himself the “servant of God”. In other letters Paul always refers to himself as the “servant of Christ”. James, in his letter, uses both phrases. The author also speaks of “God our Savior”, one of three times in this Letter when the Father is called “Savior”. Jesus will also be referred to as “Savior” three times.
He then greets the addressee of the letter, Titus, wishing him the traditional “grace and peace” from God the Father and Jesus Christ the Savior. Titus is called a “true child of mine,” for it was through Paul’s ministry that Titus was converted to Christianity, “the faith that we share”. In the Letter to Philemon (to be read on Thursday), Onesimus also is called a son by Paul.
As the body of the letter begins, Titus is given his instructions. By saying that he had left Titus behind in Crete, the author seems to imply that they had both been there together, although the Acts of the Apostles does not record any such visit by Paul, except as a stop off point on his way to Rome as a prisoner. It is an open question as to whether Paul did go there after being released in Rome, or whether it is simply an invention of the writer. In leaving Titus in Crete, Paul was simply following his usual custom by leaving someone in charge of a church he had evangelized. He saw himself as a “sower” of the seed, leaving it to others to look after the growing crop and bringing in the “harvest”.
Titus’ main mission was to appoint elders in every town where there was a Christian community. There could be several elders in one community. The connotation of “elder” is that of an older, mature person who wins the respect of the community. They were appointed by the apostles, or their representatives, by the imposition of hands, demonstrating that their powers derived from God. Elsewhere we will see reference to “deacons”, which points to a person in a serving capacity (not the leader) and which was, at first, applied to those who gave practical assistance to the elder.
Paul then gives a list of qualifications expected of an elder, or church leader:
- a man of irreproachable character,
- married only once,
- his children are Christians and well behaved and not likely to be a source of scandal in the community,
- never arrogant,
- not a heavy drinker or a violent person,
- not concerned with making money (especially out of his position),
- someone who is hospitable and ordered to all that is good,
- sensible, moral, devout, and disciplined,
- having a clear understanding of the central and unchanging core of the Christian message, which will enable him both to give sound and solid teaching and refute those who question it.
A few comments on the above qualifications:
Clearly the elder is seen as a man and not a woman. This was probably the only possibility in the culture of the time. Whether it is an argument against women priests in our Church today continues to be an acute issue.
A husband of one wife seems to exclude any form of polygamy or anything except a purely monogamous relationship. It does not necessarily exclude a bachelor, or a widower, nor remarriage by an elder whose first wife had died (although Paul told the Corinthians that it is more desirable not to marry again). Since elders, by definition, were chosen from among the older men of the congregation, Paul assumed they would already be married and have children. The most likely meaning is simply that a faithful monogamous married life must be maintained.
The requirement that the children (and presumably the wife) also be Christian was most likely that the whole family would give witness to the Gospel. After all, what kind of a Christian leader could not lead his own family members to Christ?
Self-disciplined: possessing the inner strength to control one’s desires and actions. Given that the people of Crete had a notorious reputation for all that was gross and immoral, the elder had to give an outstanding example of a person free from such behavior. To make that point, Paul refers to it five times in two chapters.
The emphasis on sound doctrine is a central theme of all the Pastoral Letters and reflects concerns about various divergent teachings, specially forms of Gnosticism, which were then current in the post-Pauline period. The word “sound” occurs eight times in these letters but is never used in any of the other Pauline letters.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!