The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 

Titus 1:5

As I read Paul’s words of counsel to Titus, I am reminded that Titus is a Greek and that Paul is undoubtedly a Jew, and the situation that is being discussed is on the Greek island, Crete, where some Jews obviously settled as traders and where small Jewish communities were established.  I note that Paul did not visit the island himself until his last trip, some think his fifth, before he was killed.  So, the churches there on the island were on their own, so to speak, for thirty or more years.  We have no record of any apostles visiting Crete during that time.

This is not the first mention of Crete in the New Testament.  Some Cretans were in Jerusalem at the Feast of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell with power on the believing group in Jerusalem. Acts 2.  When the Cretans who believed in Jesus returned home they probably started fellowships.

It was on his final trip around the Mediterranean before his final imprisonment that led to his death that Paul visited Crete together with his partner in mission, Titus.

Stepping back, we are amazed that the churches pushed on in the island for years, probably on their own. That is most commendable.  But Paul sought to help them by encouraging Titus to help them to work on their core beliefs and on leadership issues.  Titus was not a Cretan, he was from Asia Minor, but he, in some way or other, maybe through the leadership of Paul, found himself as a key person in the development of the churches on Crete.

We gather from all this that the churches on the island suffered some from the lack of good leadership through the years.  Paul wanted to be of some help so he encouraged Titus to spend some time helping the churches on the island as he was compelled to return to Rome, his final trip.

I am amazed at two things, first that the churches started and grew there with very little assistance from the apostles for an amazing 30 or so years, and that Paul, in his final trip, did the work of an apostle by assuring the Cretan churches that they are a part of the growing body of believers in the world – that they had a place.

This is the background that will help us to understand more fully the context of this wonderful, rather short, letter that Paul wrote to Titus.