Not mentioned in theActs of the Apostles,Saint Titus was noted inGalatians (cf. Galatians 2:1, 3)[5] where Paul wrote of journeying to Jerusalem withBarnabas, accompanied by Titus. He was then dispatched toCorinth, Greece, where he successfully reconciled the Christian community there with Paul, its founder. Titus was later left on the island ofCrete to help organize the Church there, and later met back with the Apostle Paul inNicopolis. He soon went toDalmatia (now Croatia). According toEusebius ofCaesarea in theEcclesiastical History, he served as the first bishop of Crete.[6]
According to Clare Drury, the claim that Paul himself wrote this letter and those to Timothy "seems at first sight obvious and incontrovertible. All three begin with a greeting from the apostle and contain personal notes and asides", but in reality "things are not so straightforward: signs of the late date of the letters proliferate".[7] There has therefore been some debate regarding the authenticity of the letter.
Titus, along with the two otherpastoral epistles (1 Timothy and2 Timothy), is regarded by some scholars as beingpseudepigraphical.[8] On the basis of the language and content of the pastoral epistles, these scholars reject that they were written by Paul and believe that they were written by an anonymous forger after his death. Critics claim the vocabulary and style of the Pauline letters could not have been written by Paul according to available biographical information and reflect the views of the emerging Church rather than the apostle's. These scholars date the epistle from the 80s AD up to the end of the 2nd century, though most would place it sometime between 80 and 100 AD.[9] TheChurch of England'sCommon Worship Lectionary Scripture Commentary concurs with this view: "the proportioning of the theological and practical themes is one factor that leads us to think of these writings as coming from the post-Pauline church world of the late first or early second century".[10]
Titus has a very close affinity with1 Timothy, sharing similar phrases and expressions and similar subject matter.[11][12] This has led many scholars to believe that it was written by the same author who wrote 1 and 2 Timothy: their author is sometimes referred to as "the Pastor".[13]
The first page of the epistle inMinuscule 699 gives its title as'προς τιτον, 'To Titus.'
Recent scholarship has revived the theory that Paul used anamanuensis, or secretaries, in writing his letters (e.g. Romans 16:22),[15] but possibly Luke for the pastorals.[16][17] This was a common practice in ancient letter writing, even for the biblical writers.[18][19]
One of thesecular peculiarities of the Epistle to Titus is the reference to theEpimenides paradox: "One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, 'Cretans are always liars'."[20]
^Bart D. Ehrman.The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. pp. 385ff
^Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985, "The Pastoral Epistles", pp. 340–345
^George W. Knight, The Pastoral Epistles: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1992), 48.
^William D. Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, vol. 46, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2000), cxxix.
^Richards, E. Randolph. Paul and First-Century Letter Writing: Secretaries, Composition and Collection. Downers Grove, IL; Leicester, England: InterVarsity Press; Apollos, 2004.
^Harry Y. Gamble, "Amanuensis", ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 172.
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