a Christian teacher, and companion and fellow-labourer of St Paul. He was of Greek origin, but was converted by the apostle, who therefore calls him his own son in the faith. He was one of the persons sent by the Church of Antioch to Jerusalem to consult the apostles, and it was not judged necessary that he should receive circumcision (Acts xv. 2; Gal. ii. 1). After a time we find him in company with Paul at Ephesus, whence he was sent to Corinth, where he was well received, discharged with discretion the task confided to him, and declined to suffer the Church to defray his expenses. He then proceeded to Macedonia, and at Philippi rejoined his master, who had vainly been expecting him at Troas. He was then employed by Paul in preparing the collection for the poor saints in Judea, and, as an incident of this mission, became the bearer of the second epistle to the Corinthians. On a subsequent journey, Titus was left by the apostle in Crete, to establish and regulate the churches in that island, and he was still there when he received the epistle from St Paul which bears his name. He is therein desired to join the apostle at Nicopolis; and it is presumed that he did so, and afterwards accompanied him in his last journey to Rome, whence he was sent into Dalmatia. Tradition states that Titus eventually returned to Crete, and died there at an advanced age.

The genuineness of Paul's Epistle to Titus is attested by a large body of evidence; and seems never to have been questioned, except by the heretic Marcion, and that upon the most frivolous grounds, until, in recent times, it was attacked by Eichhorn and De Wette. The objections of the German critics are founded chiefly upon the difficulty of ascertaining the proper date of this epistle, and upon minute peculiarities in its style and sentiments; objections of so slight a nature, that it is unnecessary to enter upon any examination of them here. The task which Paul had committed to Titus, when he left him in Crete, was one of no small difficulty. The character of the people was unsteady, insincere, and quarrelsome; they were given to greediness, licentiousness, falsehood, and drunkenness, in no ordinary degree; and the Jews who had settled among them appear to have even gone beyond the natives in immorality. Among such a people, it was no easy office which Titus had to sustain when commissioned to carry forward the work Paul had begun, and to set in order the affairs of the churches which had arisen there, especially as heretical teachers had already crept in among them. Hence Paul addressed to him this epistle, the main design of which is to direct him how to discharge with success the duties to which he had been appointed. For this purpose the apostle dilates upon the qualifications of elders, and points out the vices from which such should be free (ch. i.). He then describes the virtues most becoming in aged persons, in the female sex, in the young, in servants, and in Christians generally (ch. ii.). From this he proceeds to enjoin obedience to civil rulers, moderation, gentleness, and the avoidance of all idle and unprofitable speculations (ch. iii. 1-11). He then invites Titus to join him at Nicopolis, commends to him certain brethren who were about to visit Crete, and concludes with the apostolic benediction (ver. 12-15).