Titus study section

Titus word studies

A handful of Greek words carry the theology of Titus. Tap the speaker next to any word to hear it pronounced.

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Key words

ἐπίσκοπος (episkopos): “Overseer, Elder”

Usage: Titus 1:7 (with presbyteros, “elder,” in 1:5)

Meaning: An overseer, one who watches over; the leader of a local church, used interchangeably with “elder.”

Theological Significance: Titus is to appoint elders/overseers who are “above reproach” and hold firmly to sound doctrine, able to teach and to refute error. Godly, qualified leadership is essential to the health and order of the church (Titus 1:5-9; 1 Timothy 3:1-7; Acts 20:28).

διδασκαλία (didaskalia): “Sound Doctrine, Teaching”

Usage: Titus 1:9; 2:1, 7, 10

Meaning: Teaching, instruction, doctrine, the content of the faith taught in the church.

Theological Significance: “Sound didaskalia” is a keynote of Titus, the healthy teaching that accords with godliness and produces a transformed life. It is to be held, taught, and adorned by godly living, in contrast to the deceivers’ empty talk (Titus 1:9; 2:1, 10).

χάρις (charis): “Grace”

Usage: Titus 2:11; 3:7

Meaning: Grace, unmerited favor, a free gift.

Theological Significance: “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation,” and it “trains us” for godliness. Grace both saves us freely (we are “justified by his grace”) and schools us in holy living. Salvation and sanctification flow from the same grace (Titus 2:11-12; 3:7; Ephesians 2:8-10).

παιδεύω (paideuō): “To Train, Instruct, Discipline”

Usage: Titus 2:12

Meaning: To train, instruct, educate, discipline, as a parent forms a child.

Theological Significance: Grace “trains” (paideuō) us to renounce ungodliness and live godly lives. Far from encouraging license, God’s saving grace is an active teacher that shapes the character of those it saves (Titus 2:12; Hebrews 12:10-11).

παλιγγενεσία (palingenesia): “Regeneration, New Birth”

Usage: Titus 3:5

Meaning: Regeneration, new birth, renewal, literally “again-becoming.” “The washing of regeneration.”

Theological Significance: God saves by palingenesia, the new birth and renewal worked by the Holy Spirit, poured out through Christ. Salvation is not self-reformation but God’s recreating work, making us new and justifying us by grace (Titus 3:5; John 3:5; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

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