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Topic:
Persons Of The Bible -- Titus
The name "Titus" is a Roman praenomen, or given name, which
is of unknown meaning, possibly related to Latin titulus "title of
honour" or "honorable."
The account of the life of Titus from Easton's Bible Dictionary…
Titus was with Paul and Barnabas at Antioch, and accompanied them to
the council at Jerusalem (Gal. 2:1-3; Acts 15:2), although his name
nowhere occurs in the Acts of the Apostles. He appears to have been a
Gentile, and to have been chiefly engaged in ministering to Gentiles;
for Paul sternly refused to have him circumcised, inasmuch as in his
case the cause of gospel liberty was at stake. We find him, at a later
period, with Paul and Timothy at Ephesus, whence he was sent by Paul to
Corinth for the purpose of getting the contributions of the church there
in behalf of the poor saints at Jerusalem sent forward (2 Cor. 8:6;
12:18). He rejoined the apostle when he was in Macedonia, and cheered
him with the tidings he brought from Corinth (7:6-15). After this his
name is not mentioned till after Paul's first imprisonment, when we find
him engaged in the organization of the church in Crete, where the
apostle had left him for this purpose (Titus 1:5). The last notice of
him is in 2 Tim. 4:10, where we find him with Paul at Rome during his
second imprisonment. From Rome he was sent into Dalmatia, no doubt on
some important missionary errand. We have no record of his death. He is
not mentioned in the Acts.
The account of the life of Titus from Smith's Bible Dictionary…
Our materials for the biography of this companion of St. Paul must be
drawn entirely from the notices of him in the Second Epistle to the
Corinthians, the Galatians, and to Titus himself, combined with the
Second Epistle to Timothy. He is not mentioned in the Acts at all.
Taking the passages in the epistles in the chronological order of the
events referred to, we turn first to (Galatians 2:1,3) We conceive the
journey mentioned here to be identical with that (recorded in Acts 15)
in which Paul and Barnabas went from Antioch to Jerusalem to the
conference which was to decide the question of the necessity of
circumcision to the Gentiles. Here we see Titus in close association
with Paul and Barnabas at Antioch. He goes with them to Jerusalem. His
circumcision was either not insisted on at Jerusalem, or, if demanded,
was firmly resisted. He is very emphatically spoken of as a Gentile by
which is most probably meant that both his parents were Gentiles. Titus
would seem on the occasion of the council to have been specially a
representative of the church of the uncircumcision. It is to our purpose
to remark that, in the passage cited above, Titus is so mentioned as
apparently to imply that he had become personally known to the Galatian
Christians. After leaving Galatia., (Acts 18:23) and spending a long
time at Ephesus, (Acts 19:1; 20:1) the apostle proceeded to Macedonia by
way of Troas. Here he expected to meet Titus, (2 Corinthians 2:13) who
had been sent on a mission to Corinth. In this hope he was disappointed,
but in Macedonia Titus joined him. (2 Corinthians 7:6,7,13-15) The
mission to Corinth had reference to the immoralities rebuked in the
First Epistle, and to the collection at that time in progress, for the
poor Christians of Judea. (2 Corinthians 8:6) Thus we are prepared for
what the apostle now proceeds to do after his encouraging conversations
with Titus regarding the Corinthian church. He sends him back from
Macedonia to Corinth, in company with two other trustworthy Christians,
bearing the Second Epistle, and with an earnest request, ibid. (2
Corinthians 8:6,17) that he would see to the completion of the
collection. ch. (2 Corinthians 8:6) A considerable interval now elapses
before we come upon the next notices of this disciple. St. Paul's first
imprisonment is concluded, and his last trial is impending. In the
interval between the two, he and Titus were together in Crete. (Titus
1:5) We see Titus remaining in the island when St. Paul left it and
receiving there a letter written to him by the apostle. From this letter
we gather the following biographical details. In the first place we
learn that he was originally converted through St. Paul's
instrumentality. (Titus 1:4) Next we learn the various particulars of
the responsible duties which he had to discharge. In Crete, he is to
complete what St. Paul had been obliged to leave unfinished, ch. (Titus
1:5) and he is to organize the church throughout the island by
appointing presbytery in every city. Next he is to control and bridle,
ver. 11, the restless and mischievous Judaizers. He is also to look for
the arrival in Crete of Artemas and Tychicus, ch. (Titus 3:12) and then
is to hasten to join St. Paul at Nicopolis, where the apostle purposes
to pass the winter. Zenas and Apollos are in Crete, or expected there;
for Titus is to send them on their journey, and to supply them with
whatever they need for it. Whether Titus did join the apostle at
Nicopolis we cannot tell; but we naturally connect the mention of this
place with what St. Paul wrote, at no great interval of time afterward,
in the last of the Pastoral Epistles, (2 Timothy 4:10) for Dalmatia lay
to the north of Nicopolis, at no great distance from it. From the form
of the whole sentence, it seems probable that this disciple had been
with St. Paul in Rome during his final imprisonment; but this cannot be
asserted confidently. The traditional connection of Titus with Crete is
much more specific and constant, though here again we cannot be certain
of the facts. He said to have been permanent bishop in the island, and
to have died there at an advanced age. The modern capital, Candia,
appears to claim the honor of being his burial-place. In the fragment by
the lawyer Zenas, Titus is called bishop of Gortyna. Lastly, the name of
Titus was the watchword of the Cretans when they were invaded by the
Venetians.
Derived from Easton's and Smith's Bible Dictionaries
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