TITUS

Lectionary text: Galatians 2:2-3 - I went up in response to a revelation. Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain. ³But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 

Of Gentile stock was Titus, born and raised quite possibly                    

in Antioch, where he met Paul, who some believe to be
the person who converted him to Christianity.
For in the letter that Paul later wrote to Titus, he
refers to Titus as his faith child, and it’s plain to see
that Paul had confidence in Titus, for he pointedly
chose Titus to go with him and with Barnabas to see
the elders at Jerusalem, who did with Paul agree
that Titus, though he was a Gentile, did not have to be
subjected to the ritual of circumcision.  The
decision was for Paul, therefore, a major victory.
T. later was dispatched to Corinth, where apparently

abuses in the church were causing Paul anxiety.
Paul waited word from Titus, and he wondered what would be
the outcome of his work at Corinth. Paul was hoping he
would rendezvous with Titus at Troas.  Unhappily,
when Paul arrived from Ephesus, Titus was not there. The
apostle went from there to Macedonia, where he
was joined by Titus, who arrived from Corinth finally
with good news from the church there that pleased Paul tremendously.
Paul then sent Titus back to Corinth with the letter we
refer to as Paul’s second letter to that church (but see
what commentaries have to say, for there were at least three).
We hear no more of Titus until after Paul was free
from his first prison time in Rome. Tradition has it he
wrote Titus then from Rome in sixty-five-or-six C.E.
The letter was intended to encourage him, for he
had been assigned the difficult responsibility
of supervising all the Cretan churches. Certainly
that shows again the confidence Paul had in Titus. We
can see that Titus played a role in Christian history.
Although he figures prominently in Paul’s letters, he
is not referred to even once in Acts, amazingly!