Elders in Crete

Titus 1:5-6

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you…

Paul’s primary task was to preach the gospel so that the elect of God might hear and trust in Christ and be edified in the knowledge of God and holy living. Once Paul planted a church, he would appoint overseers to continue teaching the apostolic and prophetic word before moving on to a new mission field. However, it seems that Paul left Crete before he could ordain elders for the churches he planted there, as our verses today tell us. Paul’s mission to Crete, recorded in Acts 27, is never described in detail and his visit occurs in a period too short to allow for extensive evangelization. So, Paul visited Crete again after being released from the Roman imprisonment described in Acts 28. On this visit, Titus was with Paul and Titus was left to perform the necessary task of appointing elders. A 16th century theologian writes, “Churches cannot safely remain without the ministry of pastors, and that consequently, wherever there is a considerable body of people, a pastor should be appointed over it.” Crete, being a center for the sea trade in the Roman Empire, was particularly important for the Cretan church to be well-organized, with structures in place to keep it from doctrinal and ethical contamination. People throughout the empire would first hear of Christianity from their own travels to Crete or from the many who sailed through its ports, and this initial impression would have a lasting effect upon world missions. So, Paul instructs Titus that he wants elders to be “above reproach,” although the need for personal holiness is ultimately based on God’s call for us to be holy as He is holy, as Leviticus 11:45 tells us. Being “above reproach” is not perfection but honesty regarding personal sin and corresponding evidence of repentance. No one is perfect until they are glorified, but all of us must constantly strive to turn from sin. An early church theologian, Augustine of Hippo, notes that Paul does not say “‘If anyone is without sin.’ For if he were to say this, every person would be rejected, no one would be ordained.” The qualification for being a church leader, even for being a Christian, is repentance, a continual admission of one’s sin, a turning to Christ for forgiveness, and an endeavor to set right what one has made wrong.

Source: S C Ball May 12, 2024


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