Titus

Williams(i) 1 Paul, a slave of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to stimulate faith in God's chosen people and to lead them on to a full knowledge of religious truth, 2 in the hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, promised ages ago 3 but at the proper time made known as His message through the message that I preach with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Saviour; 4 to Titus, my genuine child in our common faith: be spiritual blessing and peace from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour. 5 I left you in Crete for this express purpose, to set in order the things that are lacking, and to appoint elders in each town, as I directed you -- 6 each elder must be above reproach, have only one wife, and his children must not be liable to the charge of profligacy or disobedience. 7 For as God's trustee a pastor must be above reproach, not stubborn or quick-tempered or addicted to strong drink or pugnacious or addicted to dishonest gain, 8 but hospitable, a lover of goodness, sensible, upright, of pure life, self-controlled, 9 and a man who continues to cling to the trustworthy message as he was taught it, so that he may be competent to encourage others with wholesome teaching and to convict those who oppose him. 10 For there are many insubordinate people, mere talkers with nothing to say, but deceivers of their own minds, especially those of the circumcision party, 11 whose mouths must be stopped, for they upset whole families by teaching things they ought not to think, for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 One of them, a prophet of their own countrymen, has said, "Cretans are always liars, wicked brutes, lazy bellies." 13 Now this tendency is true. So continue correcting them severely, that they may be healthy in faith, 14 by ceasing to give attention to Jewish myths and to the commands of men who turn their backs on the truth. 15 To the pure everything is pure, but to the impure and unbelieving nothing is pure, but their very minds and consciences are impure. 16 They profess to know God, but by their actions they disown Him; they are detestable, disobedient, and useless for anything good.