Titus 3 Study Notes

3:9 As elsewhere in the letters to Timothy and Titus, the exact nature of these debates and quarrels is not clear (e.g., 1:10-14). The point is that these disputes were worthless.

3:10-11 A divisive person who refused to repent and change after being confronted showed himself to be twisted by sin; thus, he was self-condemned. See Mt 18:15-17 for Jesus’s description of the stages of church discipline.

3:12-13 Apparently Paul had not decided which of the two men to send to Crete to replace Titus, or when. Before that, Paul was sending Zenas and Apollos through Crete, perhaps with this letter. Nicopolis was a port city about two hundred miles northwest of Athens.

3:14 Having emphasized the importance of good works throughout the letter and having just called for the assistance of fellow laborers (v. 13), Paul paused once more to emphasize the importance of good works. The opportunity to assist Zenas and Apollos was another example of how Titus could be involved in “good works.”

3:15 The plural greeting grace be with all of you appears odd in a letter addressed to an audience of one (Titus), but it shows Paul’s awareness (and likely his intention) that the letter, though written primarily to Titus, would be read to the entire congregation.