Preface

Among the companions of Paul, Titus was the most experienced man; for this very reason he was ordained by Paul as bishop of the island of Crete, and he was entrusted with the ordination and judgment over many bishops. To him, as one perfectly experienced, is entrusted by this epistle the task of setting right what remained unfinished, which Paul writes to him before his imprisonment, when he was still at liberty. For nowhere here does he mention trials. Therefore it seems to me that this epistle precedes the second epistle to Timothy, for that one he wrote at the end of his life. He constantly mentions here the grace by which we are saved, knowing that it serves as a great consolation. Whoever remembers what he was before and what gifts and grace he was afterwards deemed worthy of, will apply every effort not to anger his Benefactor. He also attacks the Jews, but do not be surprised if he reproaches an entire people. He does this not to insult them, but out of love for God and fervent zeal, just as Christ also repeatedly rebuked the scribes, not for His own sake, but because they were leading others to destruction. The Apostle writes a brief epistle, so that even by this he might teach us of the virtue of Titus. For he did not need lengthy discourses, but only a certain reminder.