An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 231: A Christian Bishop Should Be A Humourless Anti-Semite. Apparently (Titus 1-3)

Titus 1-3
A Christian Bishop Should Be A Humourless Anti-Semite. Apparently.

Welcome to another instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Bible version).
In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the King James Bible, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/2F8f9JT
For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP

And now:

Titus 1
“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;”

We’ve heard of Titus a few times, where Paul has often sent his regards to Titus in prior letters. I’ve got a feeling sometimes Titus was with Paul as well, but he usually gets spoken well of.

Here, Titus would appear to be given the bishopric of Crete for his troubles, being in Paul’s eyes a goodly man, “the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly” and “a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate”.

What’s interesting here is Paul’s disdain for the Jews, singled out particularly amongst the unruly and godless that Titus needs to watch out for in Crete –“there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision” who are a little too fond of the “filthy lucre”. Paul also warns Titus against “giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth”. One wonders what he means by “Jewish fables” – does this now include all of the Old Testament (which it could). He’s come a long way from persecuting Christians in the name of Judaism, now he’s flipped a 180. Not an uncommon psychological phenomenon I guess.

Something else stood out for me in this chapter, or rather it pinged a niggling notion in my head. Paul talks of “eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began”. But did He?

Genesis 3:22 says “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.” In other words, God banished Adam and Eve specifically because He did not want them to live forever because, already knowing good and evil, they would, it looks like to me, become a rival to Him – “lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life”.

Titus 2
“The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things”

Everybody has to be serious, and sober, and discrete, and obedient. Wives must be “chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands”. Servants must be “obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again”.

To be honest, it all sounds a bit grim, everyone living “soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” just in case Christ turns up – “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”.

Titus 3
“Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work”

Paul sets forth some more actions of a good Christian, most of which we’ve seen before (obedience, humility etc.). What does strike me of interest here is that Paul notes that salvation doesn’t come through the actions of the Christian, but “according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost”. It’s a given property, not an earned one (unless one counts acceptance in belief as an “action”).

However, Paul also notes that “good works” should still be done because “These things are good and profitable unto men”. Which, as far as I can see, doesn’t need some kind of mystical transformation to be true or not, and neither by the looks of it does Paul. So doing good deeds is an additional extra, not a pre-requisite of being a Christian.

Then there’s the sign off, with our old friends Artemas and Tychicus getting a mention again.

And … that’s about it for Titus. It’s an interesting document, I suppose, in that it demonstrates the establishment of a church hierarchy. In terms of the theology, there’s not a lot new.

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