Titus 3

¹² When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. ¹³ Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. ¹⁴ And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful. ¹⁵ All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

Literaryhub.com has posted an article listing some of the more interesting conclusions to letters written by people you might (or might not) have heard of. They are worthy hearing!

“I’m scared,” (Raymond Chandler, 1945, in a letter in which he expressed the fear that his cat, Taki, had developed mind control.)

“With truest wishes for your health and happiness believe me,” (Bram Stoker, author of Dracula)

“Sincerely, later,” (Jack Kerouac, in a letter to Marlon Brando)

“Adieu, adieu, adieu!” (Mark Twain, in “a furious letter to a huckster who tried to sell him an ‘Elixir of Life’ which claimed to cure diseases of which two of his children had died.”)[1]

I love these kinds of lists! It is interesting to see how people of earlier times ended letters and the stories behind them.

Paul ends his letter to Titus in an interesting way and there is a story behind it too. At first glance, it looks like a combination of the mundane and the pastoral, but Paul was a man on a mission and we can be sure that no detail was wasted!

Personal matters of the Apostle.

Paul begins his conclusion with personal matters. These matters include instructions and the names of some of those in Paul’s party.

¹² When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. ¹³ Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing.

Paul asks Titus to come to him in Nicopolis, where he intends to spend the winter. Craig Keener has helpfully given us a bit of the likely travel itinerary that lies behind these instructions.

Nicopolis was on the Greek side of the Adriatic coast, about two hundred miles east of Italy…Apparently wishing to go on to Rome, Paul is going to leave Asia, cross Macedonia and wait in Nicopolis for Titus, who is to come up from Crete after receiving Paul’s message. Sea travel was not possible during winter, so Paul would wait there (see comment on 2 Tim 4:21). Titus later walked northward to minister in Dalmatia (2 Tim 4:10), where some work may have been initiated before (Rom 15:19, referring to the same region). Because Paul later sent Tychicus from Rome to Timothy (2 Tim 4:12), it was probably Artemas he sent to Titus.[2]

He is sending, he says, either Artemas or Tychicus to Titus on Crete. The arrival of either of these gentlemen will signal to Titus that he can depart and go to Paul. Presumably, Paul intends for either Artemas or Tychicus to keep leading the church in Titus’ absence once he leaves Crete.

Then, two more names: Titus is instructed to send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way with full provisions (“see that they lack nothing”). N.T. Wright translates verse 13 as, “Give a really good send-off to Zenas the lawyer and Apollos; make sure they don’t go short of anything.”[3]

Zenas and Apollos are likely the carriers of the letter to Titus. Keener notes of Paul’s instructions concerning Zenas and Apollos:

This verse constitutes a miniature “letter of recommendation” to provide hospitality to Zenas and Apollos (see comment on 1:8), who may be the bearers of this letter to Titus.[4]

That Zenas is a “lawyer” and that Paul wants him dispatched with “speed” is interesting. The English Standard VersionArchaeology Study Bible notes of Zenas:

Zenas is called a nomikos. If he were from a Jewish background, this term would mean he was an expert in Mosaic law. More likely, since he bore a Greek name, Zenas was an expert in Roman law. It is possible Paul asks Titus to speed Zenas and Apollos on their way because Paul anticipates his second arrest and foresees a need for a lawyer.[5]

If that is correct, then it shows that Paul, while utterly courageous and willing to suffer for the faith, was not averse to the employment of proper legal counsel to help him in times of need. Paul knew the Roman system and was not afraid to use its machinery. For instance, in Acts 16, Paul uses his status as a Roman citizen to great strategic effect after being imprisoned.

³⁵ But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.”³⁶ And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” ³⁷ But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” ³⁸ The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. ³⁹ So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.

This appeal to citizenship is itself an appeal to the law and the legal realities of the day. Paul, again, was not afraid to use these realities carefully, appropriately, and in a way that did not dishonor the Lord.

As it turns out, these logistical details in the beginning of Paul’s concluding remarks are anything but logistical and anything but mundane! There is adventure behind them! There is mission behind them! This is thrilling stuff! Paul is on the move. He cares about the church. He is aware of his own situation. And he wants to see Titus!

A parting hope for fruitfulness.

After these personal matters, Paul moves to his pastoral concern for the church. He is not merely thinking of himself or his mission. He returns to his heartbeat: his love for Jesus and Jesus’ church.

¹⁴ And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.

Paul wants the church to engage in doing good works, in bearing fruit. The requires faithful training and devotion. Verse 14 does not assume that it just happens magically. We “devote” ourselves to good works!

Scot McKnight captures the sense of this well when he translates verse 14, “Let those who are ours be apprenticed to lead with beautiful works for necessary needs so they may not be fruitless.”[6] We should be apprentices of Jesus, apprentices of the Lord, learning His ways and producing fruit consistent with His character!

This enables us, Paul writes in verse 14, to:

• help those in need
• produce fruit

Our “usefulness” to each other, if you will, depends upon us taking on the mind of Christ, becoming like Jesus. One way to assess whether or not this is happening to ask ourselves if we are bearing fruit and if we are helping in “cases of urgent need.” Are our characters becoming more and more like Jesus? Do we care about others?

Paul concludes:

¹⁵ All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

Paul sends greetings from his team. Then, when he sends greetings to the church at large, there is a qualification: “Greet those who love us in the faith.” The implication is that he is aware that there are those who do not love them in the faith.

Denny Burk, writing of the phrase “Greet those who love us in the faith,” writes:

This is his way of distinguishing faithful believers from those who are disloyal to him and to his teaching…Just as he has called for them to be isolated if unrepentant (Titus 3:10), so also he isolates them with his greeting.[7]

There are troublemakers afoot, and, as a parting word, Paul implicitly warns against them. But this too is an expression of Paul’s love and concern for the body of Christ. He is not grinding any personal axes out the door. This is not about his own personal agenda. This warning is about the utter necessity for the church to stay grounded in Jesus, close to Jesus, in a right relationship with Jesus.

Sometimes a conclusion is just a conclusion. Paul’s conclusion here, on the other hand, as we have seen, is rich and packed with fascinating reminders of the Lordship of Jesus, of the heartbeat of the great Apostle, of the nature of the church, and of the importance that the church stay true to Jesus!

 

[1] https://lithub.com/steal-these-email-sign-offs-from-famous-writers/

[2] Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. (IVP Bible Background Commentary Set) (p. 631). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

[3] Wright, N. T. The New Testament for Everyone. Third Edition: A Fresh Translation (p. 419). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

[4] Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, p. 631

[5] Archaeology Study Bible. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), p.1807.

[6] McKnight, Scot. The Second Testament: A New Translation. (p. 242). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

[7] Crossway. “ESV Expository Commentary: Ephesians–Philemon.” Apple Books.