22.8

Titus: A Biographical Sketch (Box 22.2)

Titus was a gentile Christian, possibly from Antioch, who was brought to Jerusalem by Paul and Barnabas as a sort of test case for the church in deciding whether gentile converts to Christianity needed to be circumcised (Gal. 2:1–3). The extent of his involvement with Paul’s subsequent missionary work is unknown, but Paul did come to regard him as a “partner and co-worker” (2 Cor. 8:23), and he appears to have been with Paul during portions of what is called the third missionary journey.

In the mid-50s Paul sent him from Ephesus to Corinth, carrying a painful letter that Paul had written to that church. He was successful in mediating a reconciliation between Paul and the congregation, and he brought Paul news of this in Macedonia (see 2 Cor. 2:4, 13; 7:6–8, 13–15). Later, Titus would return to the Corinthian church as one of the agents responsible for administering the offering Paul was collecting for Jerusalem (2 Cor. 8:6, 16–18, 23; 9:5; cf. 12:18). We know nothing else for certain, though there are references in the Pastoral Letters to Titus conducting ministry in Dalmatia (2 Tim. 4:10) and in Crete (Titus 1:5).