Passage

Titus 1.9

Book: Titus · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

7. For the bishop must be blameless, as God's steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; 8. but given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled;

9. holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict the gainsayers.

For there are many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision, 11. whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. (Titus 1:7-11, ASV)

WEB

7. For the overseer must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain; 8. but given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober minded, fair, holy, self-controlled;

9. holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict those who contradict him.

For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11. whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for dishonest gain’s sake. (Titus 1:7-11, WEB)

KJV

7. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; 8. But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; ^{men: or, things}

9. Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. ^{as: or, in teaching}

For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: 11. Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. (Titus 1:7-11, KJV)

YLT

7. for it behoveth the overseer to be blameless, as God's steward, not self-pleased, nor irascible, not given to wine, not a striker, not given to filthy lucre; 8. but a lover of strangers, a lover of good men, sober-minded, righteous, kind, self-controlled,

9. holding, according to the teaching, to the stedfast word, that he may be able also to exhort in the sound teaching, and the gainsayers to convict;

for there are many both insubordinate, vain-talkers, and mind-deceivers, especially they of the circumcision 11. whose mouth it behoveth to stop, who whole households do overturn, teaching what things it behoveth not, for filthy lucre's sake. (Titus 1:7-11, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul, who names himself "a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ" in the opening verse. The phrase doulos theou, servant of God, is unusual for him; he normally writes servant of Christ.
Audience: Titus, a Gentile co-worker whom Paul had declined to have circumcised (Galatians 2:1-3), addressed as "my true child after a common faith."
Location: Written to Titus on Crete, where Paul had left him "that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city." Paul's own location is not stated; he mentions only an intention to winter at Nicopolis (Titus 3:12).
Time period: Traditionally dated to about AD 62 to 66, after a first Roman imprisonment. Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles is disputed in critical scholarship, on vocabulary and church-order grounds; the letter presents itself as Paul's.

Theological reading

The elder holds tou kata tēn didachēn pistou logou, the faithful word according to the teaching, and the purpose clause gives two verbs that must both hold: to exhort in sound doctrine and to convict the gainsayers. Encouragement without refutation leaves a congregation undefended; refutation without encouragement produces the harshness the letter elsewhere forbids. The word held is received rather than generated, which is why the qualification is holding rather than devising.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G3056 - logos, logos, Strong's G3056

Quoted in

Concepts:

Apologist
Lesson 1.1, What is Apologetics, via Titus 1.6-9
Lesson 1.2, The Biblical Charge, via Titus 1.6-9
Lesson 1.3, A Brief History of Apologetics, via Titus 1.6-9
Lesson 5.1, The Apologist-to-Evangelist Transition, via Titus 1.6-9
Pastor, via Titus 1.5-9
Teacher

Guides:

01 Foundations, via Titus 1.6-9

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.