An Alphabetical Analysis
Volume 5 - Dispensational Truth - Page 131 of 328
INDEX
TITUS
The
Purpose
of
the
Epistle
Exhibited
The movements of the apostle from his conversion as recorded in Acts 9
until his two years' imprisonment recorded in Acts 28, can be traced with
comparative ease, but from the close of the Acts his movements can only be
conjectured (see 2 Timothy for proofs of an interval between the two
imprisonments, pp. 149 -158).  We know that he was hopeful of release and
that he had asked Philemon, a member of the church at Colosse (Col. 4:9;
Philem. 22), to prepare him a lodging; Timothy had been left at Ephesus (1
Tim. 1:3) and Titus at Crete (Titus 1:5).  While some commentators make the
imprisonment of 2 Timothy fall within the period covered by the Acts of the
Apostles, we have not found it possible to accept this and believe that after
a period of freedom Paul was again apprehended, this time to suffer martyrdom
for the faith.  During this interval of freedom we believe he visited many of
the assemblies, and wrote the first epistle to Timothy and the epistle to
Titus.  It is this epistle to Titus that awaits our attention.  The structure
of the epistle is simple, and while doctrine finds a place as we might well
expect, it is introduced to strengthen the apostle's appeal for godliness of
living, or `good works' rather than for its own sake, and a fair amount of
space is devoted to the exposure of an incipient Gnosticism, which is also
exposed in the first epistle to Timothy and which forms the dark background
against which these pastoral epistles are set.  The structure in its simplest
form is as follows: