upon hope of life age-during, which God, who doth not lie, did promise before times of ages,

I did not take you with me when I went away from Crete, so that you might do what was necessary to put things in order there, placing men in authority over the churches in every town, as I said to you;

If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.

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;

For there are men who are not ruled by law; foolish talkers, false teachers, specially those of the circumcision,

Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.

Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.

Everything is pure [i.e., ceremonially acceptable] to the person who is pure [i.e., who has been cleansed by the blood of Christ], but to those who are [spiritually] corrupt, and do not believe [in Christ], nothing is pure, but both their minds and consciences are corrupted. [Note: This statement was intended to remove the physical restrictions imposed by the law of Moses].

They confess to know God; and in works they deny, being abominable, and disobedient, and to every good work not tried.

Older men should be sober-minded [See note at I Tim. 3:2], dignified [i.e., respectable], sensible, sound in the faith [or, "in their faith"], in their love and in their perseverance.

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

To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

And so again with the younger men--impress upon them the need of discretion.

a sound word, not to be condemned; that he who is opposed may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say about us:

Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;

Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

These are the things you should teach. Encourage and refute with full authority. Do not let anyone look down on you.

to speak evil of no man, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all meekness toward all men.

But when the goodness of God our Saviour, and His love to man, dawned upon us, not in consequence of things which we,

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

This is a faithful and trustworthy saying; and concerning these things I want you to speak with great confidence, so that those who have believed God [that is, those who have trusted in, relied on, and accepted Christ Jesus as Savior,] will be careful to participate in doing good and honorable things. These things are excellent [in themselves] and profitable for the people.

After a first and second admonition, have nothing further to do with any one who will not be taught;

As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis [Note: Since there were several places by this name, its exact location is unknown], because I plan to spend the winter there.

Send Zenas, the man of law, and Apollos on their journey with all care, so that they may be in need of nothing.

And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.