1 I, Paul, am writing this letter to you, Titus. God appointed me to be his servant and to be an apostle who represents Jesus Christ. God appointed me in order that I might teach those whom God has chosen to be his people to correctly believe in him. He wants me to teach them the true teachings about God, in order that they will learn to behave ◄in a godly manner/in a manner that pleases God►. 2  As a result of my doing these things, his people confidently expect that God will cause them to live forever. God, who never lies, promised before he created the world that his people would live forever. 3 Then at the time that he chose, he revealed to us his message. Specifically, God our Savior gave this message to me, and he trusted me to proclaim it to people. 4 Titus, I am writing this letter to you because you are like a true son [MET] to me because I led/helped you to believe the same teachings about Christ that I do. ◄I pray that/May► God our Father and Christ Jesus our Savior will continue to act kindly toward you and cause you to have inner peace.

5 When I asked you to stay on Crete island, I wanted you to do these things: Teach the believers what they need to know so that they can understand correctly the spiritual matters about which some are teaching wrongly. Appoint elders in the congregation in each town in the manner in which I told you to do.

6  When you appoint men as elders, you must choose men whom no one can justly accuse of habitually doing what is wrong (OR, whom everyone speaks well of). Specifically, appoint men who have been faithful to their wives. Appoint men whose children faithfully obey them. Do not appoint men whose children habitually do all the things that their bodies urge them to do, or who refuse to obey their parents. 7 Leaders of the congregation must be men who, as everyone knows, habitually do what is good (OR, whom no one can justly accuse of doing what is wrong), because it is on God’s behalf that they will direct/serve the congregation. Specifically, they must not be arrogant/proud. They must not easily become angry. They must not be men who drink much alcohol. They must not be men who ◄act violently/fight► when they are angry. They must not be men who are ◄greedy for/strongly desire to get► money. 8 Instead, they must be ones who welcome and take care of guests. They must ◄be devoted to/like to do► what is good. They must do what God considers to be right. They must be ◄holy/completely dedicated to God►. They must be men who do what their minds tell them is right to do and not what their emotions/desires urge them to do. 9 They must firmly believe in the message about Jesus Christ exactly as I/we(inc) taught it, in order that they might be able to teach the believers what is correct and to urge them to follow it well. If they firmly accept our message, they will be able to convince those who oppose what is correct that they are wrong.

10  I say this because there are many people who oppose the correct teachings. They refuse to obey people who have authority over them, they talk ◄on and on/without stopping►, saying what helps no one, and they deceive people. The Jewish believers [MTY] who insist we must obey all the Jewish rituals are especially doing this. 11  You and the leaders whom you appoint should prevent such people from teaching the believers. They are causing whole families to stop believing in the correct teachings [MET] by means of their teaching people wrong ideas/teachings. They are teaching people only in order that people will give them money, which is very shameful for them to do. 12 A man from Crete island whom they consider a prophet said, “My fellow Cretan people are always lying to one another! They are like dangerous wild animals [MET]! They are lazy and always eat too much food [SYN]!” 13 The words that this man said about the Cretan people are still true, especially about their being liars. So, rigorously convince/show those Cretan believers that those false teachings are wrong. Tell them to firmly believe in the correct teachings. 14  Teach them that they should no longer listen to the stories that the Jews ◄made up/invented►. Especially they should refuse to obey those who reject our true teachings, because those people are teaching things that only come from human beings, not from God. 15  Believers should reject what they teach about food, because no food that we eat can make us unacceptable to God if we are pure in our ◄inner beings/hearts►. But if people are evil and they do not trust in Christ Jesus, there is no ritual that can make them acceptable to God. Such people’s way of thinking has been ruined {Such people have ruined their way of thinking}, and they do not even feel guilty when they do what is evil. 16 Even though they claim/say that they know God, by what they do they show that they do not know ◄God/his true teaching►. They do not obey God, and they are unable to do anything that he considers to be good. So God considers them to be absolutely disgusting!