Titus had been left on an island to minister to people so uncouth that the word "cretan" remains pejorative to this day. The churches of Crete were plagued by lying, gluttony, laziness, and insubordination. It may be that the virtues Paul encourages throughout the letter are deliberate contrasts with the vices present in the congregation. If so, the Cretan Christians also struggled with such sins as womanizing, arrogance, being hot tempered, drunkenness, violence, greed, slander, and argumentativeness. These are Titus' counselees. Cretans, in the metaphorical sense, are not unique to the ancient world. Such a list paints a vivid and familiar picture of the people in every age who live chaotic lives and whose many vices reinforce one another. How does one council a Cretan? Paul sets out a plan for Titus.
Paul begins the letter by explaining how his work is connected to the eternal promise of God, namely, to bring eternal life to his people. The labor of Paul's ministry was dedicated to helping people to lay hold of that promise through faith and repentance (Titus 1:1,2 ESV). Paul did not set out to accomplish these things solely through preaching or individual interactions, but also by strategic appointment and teaching of people who would further the same ends. Titus himself is a case in point.
The Christian counsellor should see himself in a similar light and encourage his counselees to view him as a coworker for their sanctification. Though he has not received an apostolic commission directly from the risen Christ, he is nonetheless one laboring to stir up the saints to exercise their faith and live a life of holiness according to the truth. Aside from merely following Paul's example, setting the context in this way provides honesty, direction, and weightiness to counseling. Keeping faith and good works central may seem self-evident in a church context, but it is a different mentality than the clinical, therapeutic one that a counselee may be expecting if the context is more formal. While improved psychological wellness or increased self actualization may occur as byproducts, they don't constitute the guiding principle. Being explicit about this at the beginning gets the hearers pointed in the right direction. That direction is not arbitrary, but flows out of the eternal councils of God, bringing a sense of gravity and wonder to the work.
Paul's strategy was not to have Titus reform whole communities one by one through good preaching and home visits. Instead, he had Titus set up elders in each congregation who were exemplars of the faith in positions of authority. These could not be people who were living the wild life. Towner clarifies the meaning of several of the qualities that Paul lists, most of which relate to the way the elder treats other people. Among these, the elder is not to "ride roughshod" over others, to exhibit an "explosive lack of control", engage in drunken violence, or be looking for dishonest ways to make money. Rather, he should open his home to others, love what is "inherently good", treat people fairly, and control his appetites.1 Though not necessarily elders, all counsellors, even informal ones, ought to strive toward these virtues since their work still involves shepherding to some extent.
No matter how individualistic modern society becomes, people continue to model their own behavior primarily on that of other people. Weight loss programs, exercise programs, AA, and other group counselling efforts have long recognized that, at a practical level, people need other people to help them change their thinking and behavior. Not everyone has an equal opportunity of being a role model though. Those who are put in positions of authority and honor are more likely to serve as patterns for the rest of the community.
Another implication for church counselling, especially in larger churches, is to invest precious, limited counselling time in the strong as well as the weak. Keeping informal leaders sound in the faith and trained such that they can help others, multiplies the number of people who can receive good counsel. Also, it keeps practical examples of right living before the eyes of the whole congregation, which may bear more fruit than many individual counselling sessions. These people are not to be distant models merely, but to deliberately percolate these things through the congregation. The author of Hebrews expects that the members of a mature church will be teaching one another (Heb 5:12). Here too in Titus, Paul's vision for churches is that the people will be influencing one another. The role of the elders is to prepare people to serve one another in this way (Eph 4:12).
Virtue is the plane on which most of Paul's instructions are given in this letter. He is not dealing with the gritty impossible details of moral dilemmas nor high impractical abstractions. The Christian virtues are the target. Since the Cretans seemed to be beginning their Christian life with very few moral underpinnings, it is interesting to see what virtues Paul chooses to set before them. This will be instructive to the Christian counsellor who is wondering where to begin when talking to the modern Cretan.
In Paul's introduction to the book, he speaks of the "knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness" (Titus 1:1). Towner points out that godliness implies a "balance of faith and conduct."1 Right living flows from the gospel, but the manifestation of this truth requires knowledge. That is, there is some practical know-how needed. This is illustrated most clearly in 2:3,4 where Paul says that the older women should "teach what is good and so train the young women to love their husbands and children" The content of the teaching here is meant to be very practical, not primarily doctrinal. The older women are to be passing along the skills and know-how of godly conduct in the household.
It is not enough for a counsellor to say, "he more disciplined" , "stop being lazy", or "control your tongue". If one is a Cretan among Cretans, it may be hard to even imagine what such a life might look like, much less how to progress toward it. This book identifies two supports. First, there is the example of the leaders. Even before any obvious helping even takes place, the counsellor is first a model of right living. He ought to manifest the virtues in which the counselee is weak. If he does, his mere example will be a help before any attention is directed to the specific problem at hand. His example teaches the how of virtue. This is why Paul often calls for imitation of himself and others (1 Cor 4:16, 11:1, Phil 3:17, 1 Thess 1:7). Secondly, there is the teaching or counselling part. It is not the Sunday morning sermon by the pastor. It is the brother showing another brother how he can be more disciplined. It is the sister showing a sister how to care better for her children. It's the counsellor showing a couple practical ways to love and serve one another.
Chapter three gives instructions to the church members generally, as opposed to being addressed to a specific group. Though most of the instructions directed to specific groups of people are clearly ideals for every Christian, these more general instructions are perhaps more fundamental in some sense. When a person comes to a counselor with many simultaneous problems and shortcomings, it can be difficult to know where to begin.
Paul begins with obedience to the government. This makes sense since the government is typically the enforcer of the lowest level of morality such as restraining murder and theft. Even the endless minor laws are usually somehow procedural to the major ones. Modern "Cretans" have often had some encounters with the judicial system. As a counsellor, a good place to begin is by encouraging and helping counselees to order their lives in such a way that they can follow the civil law.
Secondly, counselees should be shown how to do good works. It may be tempting to want counselees to demonstrate a quiet period of significant victory over sin first. Yet one does not get the sense from this text that there needs to be significant reform prior to engaging in good works. Paul's instruction to the Ephesians was that the one who was just recently stealing should immediately seek the good work of giving instead (Eph 4:28). This is too fundamental a part of the Christian life to delay. While counseling will often involve confronting difficult problems, this ought to be an area of joy where devotion (Titus 3:14) and zeal (Titus 2:14) are encouraged.
Third, the Cretans need to treat one another with love by not speaking badly of one another, not quarreling, being gentle, and showing courtesy. Such things certainly take a lifetime, or perhaps resurrection, to master, but they are the key points to confront early on and make progress in where there is constant chaotic bickering. While the tongue is most difficult to tame, it also provides feedback which is objective and immediate – helpful factors for cultivating self-control. Hendrikson points out that demonstrating the gentleness which Paul mentions, involves, "yielding personal advantage".3 This insight suggests that by confronting the external behavior of speech, the heart is inevitably confronted as well.
Paul lists many other virtues that are to be specifically practised by older men, younger men, older women, younger women, and slaves, but the quality of self-control is repeated several times. Addressing self-control should likely form a key goal in a discipling or counselling context once some of the more egregious issues are somewhat in hand. Saarinen understands this to be the "basic virtue of moderation"1 while Hendrikson defines it as "of sound mind, discrete, sane."4 Perhaps the modern term "balanced" captures both ideas.
Though the book of Titus is immensely practical, the virtues and commands Paul gives are rooted in the gospel. It was not enough for him that this be true ontologically. It was imperative that his hearers understand the link between the gospel and right living. This is instructive for all counsellors, each of whom will likely naturally tend toward one pole or the other. Paul's example should be followed in a constant dance between the theory and practice of the Christian life.
It may sound noble or pious to obey on account of God's mere command, but better than this is obedience out of a knowledge and experience of God himself. Paul says that God was gracious, kind, and loving to all kinds of people and to those who were foolish and disobedient (Titus 2:11, 3:4). The Christian imitates his God by showing love and kindness to his brothers and sisters despite their foolishness or disobedience. Since God did not discriminate between people in bestowing salvation, so the Christian must not, especially if it would involve putting himself before others. Thus the whole book of Titus is an extended explanation of how to live out Jesus' parable of the unforgiving servant. The benefit to the counselee in making such connections could be profound. The desire to be like his God is close to the heart of every Christian and may bear the fruit of sanctification where striving for bleak obedience would struggle.
Besides imitating his God, there are also more visible reasons for the believer's obedience. Mounce points out that there is a reason for obedience given at the end of the address to each group. These are: that the word of God not be blasphemed, that opponents not be able to bring an accusation, and that the gospel be adorned.6 Each of these three things have to do with the reputation of the kingdom of God – another thing which will ignite the godly passion of a believer. A counsellor can legitimately encourage a counselee to abandon his sin or pursue godliness not only for the sake of his personal walk with God, but also for the sake of the reputation of God and his people.
Following the example of Paul, the counsellor ought to see himself as serving God's eternal purposes by stirring up his brothers and sisters to right living as well as right doctrine. Godly persons ought to serve as leaders and models to those who are leaning so they can see and imitate what godliness looks like in practice. The goal for each counsellor is not that he should be the sole distributor of truth, but that knowledge of right living should percolate through the congregation as each person counsels his neighbor. Though the commands of God must always be taught clearly, counselees also need to be shown the how of obedience. In this, fellow believers serve both as examples and as helpers who walk alongside giving counsel and practical help to those seeking to bring their lives into conformity with godliness. Some of the first virtues toward which each counsellor should encourage his counselee are submission to the government, zeal for good works, and control of the tongue. Counsellors must remember that the goal for counselees is not merely obedience, but a living imitation of his God, or, as Paul says, "knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness" (Titus 1:1). Thus biblical doctrine and theology must always play an integral role in the giving of good counsel.
1 Philip H. Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2006), 689-690. 2 Towner, Letters to Timothy and Titus, 684. 3 William Hendriksen, Thessalonians, Timothy and Titus (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1979), 387. 4 Risto Saarinen, The Pastoral Epistles with Philemon & Jude (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2008), 182. 5 Hendriksen, Thessalonians, Timothy and Titus, 348. 6 William D. Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, vol. 46 (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000), 407.Hendriksen, William. Thessalonians, Timothy and Titus. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1979.
Mounce, William D. Pastoral Epistles. Vol. 46. Word Biblical Commentary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000.
Saarinen, Risto. The Pastoral Epistles with Philemon & Jude. Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2008.
Towner, Philip H. The Letters to Timothy and Titus. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2006.