The dates both of the visit to Crete and of the composition of the letter are uncertain. The organization of the Church is so little advanced that it might easily fall within the period covered by the Acts ; and it is possible that the visit may be that of Ac 27' (l/cavoO xp^"""), and that this letter was written early in the Roman imprison- ment (so Bartlet, Apostolic Age, p. 182) : but Titus is not mentioned as being present at the time of Ac 27, and the surest indication for the date of the letter is its likeness to 1 Tim. ; so that probably both the visit and the letter fall after the release from the Roman imprisonment [see 1 TiM.].
ii. Analysis.—
I'A Salutation (with special emphasis on the writer's own
apostleship and on the conmion faith). l»-3". Advice to Titus. A. 1^16. Seed o/ appitijiting proper ministerg.
Reminder of Paul's past instructions to appoint presby.
tera (»). Importance of high moral character in an overseer (*^. that he may (a) strengthen the sound teaching, (o) refute the oiiponents of it (9). I>e8cription of these opponents, as inHui)ordinate, quib- bling, money-making, caring for fahk-H and comniand- mente of men, forgetting the ^reat (."Iiristian truth — * AU things pure to the pure,' — mconsistent and worth- less fioio). B.SI-S". Sketch of iht true fealunt i^f the Chrittian character ichicft Titxit it to eiyfoTM. (a) For ChrUtiaru among Oievuelvcg (2*-'^) ; for the elder men and women, for the younger women and men, for Titus himself, and for s'lavcs,— all are to live a life true to the sound teaching : (1) in order to avoid giving offence to the iieathcn world around (0-«. 10); (2) because the saving grace of God and Christ's atone* ment have trained us to rise above sin, and live an attractive lite (>>■'*). '*) For Christians in rflation tc tht otiter vorld (3*-8) : («) subordination to authority (i) ; (fi) gentleoeas to all men (*).
Reason — God's loving-kindness to us has raised nfl from the old heathen lite of hatred to a new life of right- eousness ; so that believers in God are bound to set an example of noble and useful lives (3-8).
(c) For Titus himself.— He is to avoid foolish questionings (»), and to reject from the Church a 'heretic' who refuses to listen to his admonition (10- ^1).
Personal message about his own movements (*2. IS),
Final word of advice to those who obey him at Crete 0*X
Salutation (I'X
Like 1 Tim., it is essentially a private letter of instructions, probably never intended to be read aloud in the churches at Crete, though a word of "reeting to the whole Church (or pos.sibly only to Titus and his helpers) is added (3"). The main stress is throughout on character, on a useful fruitful life, as the outcome of a wliulosome teach- ing; and (as in 1 Tim.) each section ciilmin.atcs in an important doctrinal statement — 1" 2""" 3^"', the last saying being called ' faithful' [vurbs 6 X67os).
iii. Literary Dependence. — One Christian saj'ing is quoted (ttio-tAs o XAvos, 3'), and one line of Kpimenides (1"). The OT is never appealed to in direct quotation, but its language is consciously used in l"=Is 29" (cf. Mt 15», Mk V, Col 2--), 2« = Is 52» (cf. Ro 2-", 1 Ti 6'), 2"=Ps 130*, Dt 14^ cf. Ezk 37^ (cf. 1 P 2\ .■?« = Jl 31 (cf. Ac 2"- ^) ; all of them passages which belong to the common stock of early Christian writers, and half of which are used in the Pauline Epistles.
Reminiscences of our Lord's teaching may be foundinl">( = Mk7", Lkll"),3»(=Jn35), 3"'{ = Mt 18'°'"), but are not such as to iniply literary de- pendence on the written Gospels. The same is true of points of similarity with 1 Peter, which are very slight : P-" = 1 P 5'-"S 3' = 1 P 2", S''"' = 1 P P-». (But see Bigg, International Critical Commentary on 1 and S Peter, p. 21, who would regard 1 Peter as older than and as having influenced this Epistle). There are more verbal points of contact with the earlier Pauline Epistles ; cf.
l'-< with Ro 1' 16=«-".
P» „ „ 14»>.
2'« „ Gal P(?).
3» „ Ro 13'.
3» „ Eph 2^ 1 Co 6»-".
3' „ „ 2«5^. But they all suggest the same mind dealing with the same subject at a different time, rather than a different writer borrowing from literature.
The relation to 1 Tim. and, in a less degree, to 2 Tim. is more complex. As compared with 1 Tim. the purpose is the same, and the structure is the same ; the warning against false teachers form- ing a framework in which the rules about organi- zation and character are inserted ; in the same way each section culminates in a doctrinal climax. There is also verbal similarity of a marked type. Cf. Tit I'-'withlTil''. ]»-» ^1-7
II * II II "^ .
Ill '10 o Ti 3«
II * t* ti ••» — -* I •» •
01-9
07
II 4".
2'J. 10
1. 6'.
gu
1. 20.
QIS
„ 4'»5«>6'.
3'
2 Ti 2-' 3".
3»
„ 1".
3"
1 Ti 4' 6", 2 Ti 2'«-
In nearly every case there is a freshness of treat- ment whicli is against the theory of deliberate borrowing ; even in 1''", the most continuous instance of similarity, there are changes (e.q. the omission of ^i; vtOipi'roii, 1 Ti 3°) which are suitable to the circumstances of a comimratively new Church, and this list of req^uiremcnts may easily have been drawn up in a written form by St. Paul for frequent use, and be jiartly indebted to Jewish or Gentile lists of ollicial ret|nirements (cf. 1 TiM.). The more complex organization and the fullei