We will now do the last of the so-called Pastoral Epistles. Titus had been with Paul a long time. When Paul left Antioch to go to Jerusalem, Titus went with him (Gal 2:1-3). Titus was also a Gentile, and in Galatians Paul notes that the Jerusalem leaders did not insist on Titus being circumcised. Interestingly enough, Titus is not actually mentioned in Acts, but does get mention in the rest of the NT (2 Corinthians as well as here and Galatians).
Titus was based on Crete. Now while Crete is a holiday destination now, in those days it was a moral cesspit, being infamous for its dishonesty, gluttony and laziness (see 1:12). It is interesting that Titus is leading a church there. This sort of place is precisely where the church is meant to be, for Jesus came to save sinners.
Paul starts his letter in typical fashion, reminding Titus of his apostleship and servanthood. His purpose is to further the faith of God's people, or more precisely "God's elect". Now we can get into silly debates about predestination if you want to, but let's instead take the positive and usefulness out of this verse. God has chosen to save some people. So even in the moral cesspit that was Crete at the time, God has people whom He has chosen to save. So we may look at our own society and at times despair, instead God's sovereignty should encourage us, for there are people in this society whom God has chosen to save. In Muslim communities and lands there are people whom God has chosen to save.
So God's sovereignty is a motivation to evangelism, and a motivation to building up the church. For though the people are referred to as the "elect", this does not mean that what we do does not matter. Precisely the opposite is true. It means that Paul and Titus had work to do.
God decided all this before time began. Again, this is a motivation to even more effort on our behalf.
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