Knights of Columbus Beaver Valley Chapter Electronic Books

The New Jerusalem Bible with Apocrypha
Titus

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Chapter 1

¹From Paul, servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ to bring those whom God has chosen to faith and to the knowledge of the truth that leads to true religion, ²and to give them the hope of the eternal life that was promised so long ago by God. He does not lie ³and so, in due time, he made known his message by a proclamation which was entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour. ⁴To Titus, true child of mine in the faith that we share. Grace and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Saviour.

The appointment of elders

⁵The reason I left you behind in Crete was for you to organise everything that still had to be done and appoint elders in every town, in the way that I told you, ⁶that is, each of them must be a man of irreproachable character, husband of one wife, and his children must be believers and not liable to be charged with disorderly conduct or insubordination. ⁷The presiding elder has to be irreproachable since he is God's representative: never arrogant or hot-tempered, nor a heavy drinker or violent, nor avaricious; ⁸but hospitable and a lover of goodness; sensible, upright, devout and self-controlled; ⁹and he must have a firm grasp of the unchanging message of the tradition, so that he can be counted on both for giving encouragement in sound doctrine and for refuting those who argue against it.

Opposing the false teachers

¹⁰And in fact there are many people who are insubordinate, who talk nonsense and try to make others believe it, particularly among those of the circumcision. ¹¹They must be silenced: people of this kind upset whole families, by teaching things that they ought not to, and doing it for the sake of sordid gain. ¹²It was one of themselves, one of their own prophets, who said, ^{*[Attributed to the Cretan poet Epimenides.]} 'Cretans were never anything but liars, dangerous animals, all greed and laziness'; ¹³and that is a true statement. So be severe in correcting them, and make them sound in the faith ¹⁴so that they stop taking notice of Jewish myths and the orders of people who turn away from the truth. ¹⁵To those who are pure themselves, everything is pure; but to those who have been corrupted and lack faith, nothing can be pure-the corruption is both in their minds and in their consciences. ¹⁶They claim to know God but by their works they deny him; they are outrageously rebellious and quite untrustworthy for any good work.

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Chapter 2

Some specific moral instruction

¹It is for you, then, to preach the behaviour which goes with healthy doctrine. ²Older men should be reserved, dignified, moderate, sound in faith and love and perseverance. ³Similarly, older women should behave as befits religious people, with no scandal-mongering and no addiction to wine-they must be the teachers of right behaviour ⁴and show younger women how they should love their husbands and love their children, ⁵how they must be sensible and chaste, and how to work in their homes, and be gentle, and obey their husbands, so that the message of God is not disgraced. ⁶Similarly, urge younger men to be moderate in everything that they do, ⁷and you yourself set an example of good works, by sincerity and earnestness, when you are teaching, and by a message sound and irreproachable ⁸so that any opponent will be at a loss, with no accusation to make against us. ⁹Slaves must be obedient to their masters in everything, and do what is wanted without argument; ¹⁰and there must be no pilfering-they must show complete honesty at all times, so that they are in every way a credit to the teaching of God our Saviour.

The basis of the Christian moral life

¹¹You see, God's grace has been revealed to save the whole human race; ¹²it has taught us that we should give up everything contrary to true religion and all our worldly passions; we must be self-restrained and live upright and religious lives in this present world, ¹³waiting in hope for the blessing which will come with the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus. ¹⁴He offered himself for us in order to ransom us from all our faults and to purify a people to be his very own ^{*[Ex 19:5]} and eager to do good. ¹⁵This is what you must say, encouraging or arguing with full authority; no one should despise you.

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Chapter 3

General instruction for believers

¹Remind them to be obedient to the officials in authority; to be ready to do good at every opportunity; ²not to go slandering other people but to be peaceable and gentle, and always polite to people of all kinds. ³There was a time when we too were ignorant, disobedient and misled and enslaved by different passions and dissipations; we lived then in wickedness and malice, hating each other and hateful ourselves. ⁴But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour for humanity were revealed, ⁵it was not because of any upright actions we had done ourselves; it was for no reason except his own faithful love that he saved us, by means of the cleansing water of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit ⁶which he has so generously poured over us through Jesus Christ our Saviour; ⁷so that, justified by his grace, we should become heirs in hope of eternal life. ⁸This is doctrine that you can rely on.

Personal advice to Titus

I want you to be quite uncompromising in teaching all this, so that those who now believe in God may keep their minds constantly occupied in doing good works. All this is good, and useful for everybody. ⁹But avoid foolish speculations, and those genealogies, and the quibbles and disputes about the Law-they are useless and futile. ¹⁰If someone disputes what you teach, then after a first and a second warning, have no more to do with him: ¹¹you will know that anyone of that sort is warped and is self-condemned as a sinner.

Practical recommendations, farewells and good wishes

¹²As soon as I have sent Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to join me at Nicopolis, where I have decided to spend the winter. ¹³Help eagerly on their way Zenas the lawyer and Apollos, and make sure they have everything they need. ¹⁴All our people must also learn to occupy themselves in doing good works for their practical needs, and not to be unproductive. ¹⁵All those who are with me send their greetings. Greetings to those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

The Beaver Valley Chapter of the Knights of Columbus graciously thanks Duquesne University and Father Sean Hogan, C.S.Sp. for sponsoring our Knights of Columbus Beaver Valley Chapter web page.