Titus 1:7 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;
Again Paul emphasises that the Bishop must be blameless in other words he must be such a one who will not give the enemies of the gospel cause to slander God's holy name because of his lifestyle. All Christians should be zealous for the Name of God, that it be not slandered becuase of them.
Steward of God is like a manager running the business for an owner or a superintendent, he must do so faithfully and prudently thinknig only of what is pleasing for his master.
Not selfwilled he shouldn't be an arrogant man who only cares about his own views and what he wants. This I am inclined to think of as the opposite to a lover of hospitality
Not soon angry the man of God should be kind natured and have time and patience with people the Bishop should be more like this:
1st Corinthians 13:4-5 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
If he is not then he cannot preach such virtues or correct those that stray from them, he must be an example of all that he teaches.
Not given to wine is am assuming means not greedy for wine as though his affections are given over to it. I am of the opinion that this verse does not teach total abstinence though that admirable.
No striker would be someone who is not going to hit you even when provoked.
Not given to filthy lucre i'd say is that he must not be one that takes advantage of his position and high standing in the church and manipulates the flock into giving money for his own personal gain. He doesn't promise people blessings or miracles in exchange for money, he doesn't like a prince or a celebrity with a lavish lifestyle but he must be temperate and holy. Paul gives us perfect advice on how we should deal with such people:
1st Timothy 6:5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
Titus 1:8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
These virtues I would view as the contrast to what Paul has just been talking about, e.g sober vs given to much wine or temperate vs given to filthy lucre. How we need more church leaders like this today. Temperate is as Chrysostom would say one having his passions, tongue, hand and eyes, at command, another similar King James word witht he same idea is continent.
Titus 1:9 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.
He holds fast or embraces very tightly the faithful word or the gospel as he was taught, he doesn't go wandering off theologically and is not led astray but is a staunch defender of the faith not conceding any of the truth. He is able to convince or refute the scoffers and those who oppose the faith with sound doctrine. Here is an example of what Paul would mean by sound doctrine:
1st Timothy 1:9-11 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
To be sound is to be whole i.e his doctrine is healthy doctrine not lacking what it needs to effect it's purpose and will be built upon the foundations of the Apostles and Prophets with Jesus as it's cornerstone.
Here is an example of a healthy church:
Acts 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
The reason this is so important is because:
Titus 1:10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
As it is now, so it was then. There are many deceivers and we only know that their doctrine is false if we are grounded in sound doctrine. They are unruly or they go their own way and won't come under the authority of sound doctrine (insubordinate), vain talkers, babblers with vain philosophies.
People who's only authority is their own opinions led astray by the philosophies of men and try to make the word of God agree with them refusing to be corrected by it. This was especially true of those following what Judaism had then become. This warning is quite important because their were a lot of Jews living in crete at that time, those particulalry dangerous were the judaizers who rather than oppsoe the gospel outright perverted it by trying to add to it the neccessity of following the laws of Moses to be saved.
Titus 1:11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.
Their mouths must be stopped, in other words expose them for the charlatons that they are, not by rudeness or aggression but by sound doctrine remember, refute their teachings and exhort with much patience.
Subverting whole houses i.e confusing and leading astray whole households from the purity of the gospel with the leaven of their false teaching and this they evidently were doing not even out of sincerity but for filthy lucres sakes probably to devaour their incomes as part of following the law in my opinion.
Titus 1:12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
This prophet of their own (Paul saying that they acknowledged him as a prophet) was Epimenides (500 - 600 bc) who did make prophecies that came true. Poet was also a term synonymous with prophet amongst Romans. Paul is quoting his work "concerning oracles" which is now no longer extant.
The Cretans were so reptuted to be bad liars that to act like a cretan was to signify that you were a liar and a deciever. I think the meaning is that amongst theJewish teachers and native Cretans it was most advisable to exxercise utmost vigilance in the selection of people for the ministry (remember he is talking to the person he had left to ordain elders). They all had well-known reputations, which made it prudent that no one should be admitted into the ministry without extreme caution. I think aswell, from the reasoning of Paul, that the character of the people referred to here included not only the Cretans, but also Jews living there because he evidently means that caution should extend to all who dwelt on the island.
Titus 1:13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
Paul agree with this reputation that they have and so tels Titus to rebuke them sharply or drive home to them forcefully the wickedness of their character. He is certainly not concerned with Titus making friends on the Island and is a world apart from todays purpose driven physcology based evangelism moves. But the purpose here is not to make them feel like nobodies to to show them the error of their ways that they may be sound in the faith.
