The genuineness of this Epistle 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 Eichborn and De Wette. But their objections are of such a nature that it is unnecessary to enter upon any examination of them here.
It has been supposed, on apparently good grounds, that the apostle wrote this epistle at Ephesus shortly after he had visited Crete (), and when he was about to spend the winter in Nicopolis (). From the close resemblance between this epistle and the first epistle to Timothy, we are naturally led to conclude that both must have been written while the same leading ideas and forms of expression were occupying the apostle's mind.
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 (Titus 1).
He then describes the virtues most becoming in aged persons, in the female sex, in the young, in servants, and in Christians generally (Titus 2). From this he proceeds to enjoin obedience to civil rulers moderation, gentleness, and the avoidance of all idle and unprofitable speculations (). 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 ().
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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