Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness—in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, and which now at his appointed season he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior, To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Titus 1:1-4

Who is this Titus?   We just studied the letter of Jude (meaning “Jew”) and now we have before us a letter written by a man named Titus, a rather common Roman name.

We know that Titus and Paul were very close brothers who worked together to further the Gospel and to make it clear that Christ’s salvation is for all nations, tribes, cultures and so on.  The fact that Paul and Titus were fellow laborers and very close friends angered the traditional Jews because Titus was never circumcised to make him, so to speak, a Jew. Paul resisted the pressure to have Titus circumcised.  I recall that Paul, earlier on, insisted on having Timothy, whose mother and grandmother were Jews, to be circumcised.  I am convinced that Paul encouraged that because he wanted Timothy to be an example for all Jews.  Now, he is against having Titus undergo the Jewish rite.

As I see it, Paul believes that the Gospel is for all peoples, and they can come into the fullness of God’s salvation directly, without any regard for Judaism.  As churches were planted all around the Mediterranean Sea, non-Jews flowed into their fellowships.  Paul knew that the same salvation was just as much available to them as to the Jews.

The belief that many of the Jewish Christians at the time was that the proper way was to become a Jew and a believer.  That mold is now being broken by Paul and Titus is an example of the fact.

I believe that many believers of Jewish background were astounded that Paul could write, Titus, my true son in our common faith.  I am impressed with the word, son, a true son, not a second-class one.  This is possible because they, Paul and Titus, had a common faith.  That made them brothers in the faith, a law-abiding Jew and a Gentile in every sense of the word.

Today the Jewish element in the church is important but minimal.  The truth stands – all believers are true sons of God in our common faith.  This common faith is not a common culture.  It is new kingdom on the earth, the Kingdom of God that supersedes all human loyalties.  That is the power of the Gospel.

So Titus and Paul shared the Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.  Brothers made so by the Blood of Christ, their elder brother!