Welcome to the 10-Minute Bible, where we study one book of the Bible in 10 minutes. Well, give or take 10 minutes. In this session, we're going to look at the book of Titus. As you've heard me say many times in this series on the 10-Minute Bible, in order to understand any book of the Bible, you basically need to understand three things. The first is the subject. which is simply the answer to the question, what is the author talking about? The second question you need to answer is, what is the structure of that book? In other words, how does the author develop that subject? As I've often pointed out, in a secular book, you can get some idea of where he's going by looking at the table of contents. Well, the books of the Bible do not have such, but a study Bible will give you an outline, and that's some idea of what that particular author thinks the author of the book is doing, but that can be helpful. The third thing is what I call the situation, and this is what I think is particularly important, that in virtually every book of the Bible, not all, but in virtually all, The author has spoken on that subject to that audience for a reason. That is, something has come up, and so you need to ask, why is that author speaking to that original audience on that subject? In other words, what's the purpose? Now, there are three elements to the situation, the author, the recipients, and the purpose. But if you understood that, you'd go a long way in understanding that book of the Bible. Now, with those three things in mind, the subject, the structure, and the situation, let's look at the book of Titus. What is the subject? Well, I think it's very clear, and as far as I know, virtually everybody agrees with this, that what Paul is doing in the book of Titus, is telling Titus how to set the church in order, which might just be another way of saying get it organized. So the subject is church order. The structure is an ancient letter, except in this case, there is no thanksgiving and there's no prayer. Paul just has a salutation, which is a part of an ancient letter. and he jumps into the body of the book. And speaking of the body of the book, it really is organized around three commandments. And then each of those commandments has a reason why you should do that particular commandment. In other words, this book is well organized. It's as well organized as any of Paul's books. So let's talk about that structure. There's a salutation where Paul identifies himself as the author and Titus is the recipient with a greeting. And then in chapter one, verse five, starts the body of the book. And as I mentioned a minute ago, there are three commands. The first is ordain elders. As a matter of fact, he says in chapter one, verse five, set in order. And then the first command is ordain elders. And then he immediately gives the qualifications for an elder. Then in verse 10, it begins with the word for, and that as you've heard me say many times, is going to give you a reason or an explanation or an illustration of what I've just said. And it's simply unmistakable in this case that he's saying, ordain elders. And the reason is there are some stepping out of line and the elders need to correct that. So that's the first command and reason. The second command begins in chapter two, verse one, And he says, speak the things that pertain to godliness. So the first thing Titus is to do is to ordain elders. And the second, and then in his own teaching, he's to promote godliness. Then he deals with older people, older men, older women. He deals with younger people, younger women, younger men. He talks about Titus, and then he talks about slaves. So Paul breaks down the congregation into those subgroups of various types of people. At the end of chapter two, He gives the reason for doing that. Verse 11 starts with the word for, and the idea is, for the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness. That's the reason why you should speak godliness and teach about godliness to each of these groups in the church. So once again, there's a command and a reason. Then the third command is in chapter three, verse one, and he is to remind them to do good works. And that's only the first two verses. Then in verse three, once again, he gives a reason for the command. And in this case, it's because you've been saved by grace and mercy, and therefore you should do good works. Now, I just think that's a gorgeous little structure. Is gorgeous a good word for that? It's just a well-organized book. Three commands, ordain elders, speak about godliness, remind them of good works, and in each case, there is clearly a reason why you should obey that command. The book closes with a conclusion in verses 8 to 11 in chapter 3, and then, as was typical of ancient letters, there's personal greetings and a benediction. All right, the subject is order, church order. The structure is an ancient letter, and in the body, three commands. What is the situation? Well, the author, is Paul. Now, as I've pointed out when we got to 1st and 2nd Timothy and now Titus, these were written after the book of Acts. So after Acts 28, we can piece together what happened. And if we do that, we conclude that Paul went to Ephesus, then he went to Macedonia. He says that in 1st Timothy, which means he was probably going back to Philippi. Then he went to Crete and that's where he left Titus to set things in order. The date of Titus is 62 AD. The recipients, of course, are the recipient is Titus and of course the churches on the island of Crete. They simply needed organization. Now, the Jewish teachers had come in and were teaching, or I should say, teaching false doctrine. They were misinterpreting the scriptures. And if you heard 1 Timothy, it's the same kind of thing. They were going to the genealogies, they were constructing fables, then they were coming up with commandments of men. Only in this case, Paul adds, and they were doing it for money. And he says, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. They needed instruction in godliness and good works. So that's the situation of what's going on in this book. So the purpose is to instruct Titus and impart some personal information, which he does in the latter part of chapter three. So if I were going to sum up the book, I would say the overall message is simply set things in order in the churches. If I were going to make a practical application of that, I would say it's put things in order by ordaining elders who are to see to it that the word is taught and the word that produces godliness and good works. That really ties this book together. The elders are to see to it that the word is taught that produces godliness and good works, which is the exact opposite of what some were doing in the church at the island of Crete. So that statement, I think, sums up the book. Good works. coming out of a godly life.