Dear Titus: Background On This Letter a. The Author. With the very first word of this letter, we find its author, Paul. It has been accepted in the church from the early church writers until now that this Paul is the apostle Paul whose conversion and missionary journeys are recorded in the book of Acts and is the writer of many of the letters in the New Testament. The apostle Paul would travel around the Middle East, Asia, and into Europe, sharing the gospel while others helped to establish the churches in the various cities where Christians lived. Paul used the social media of the day, letters, to share the gospel and, in this case, give instructions to his fellow workers. b. The date. As with most of the letters, we can speculate as to when the letter was written. Looking at clues from the letter and comparing those with the history recorded in Acts and other historical facts of that time, many conclude that the writing of this letter happened probably after the first imprisonment of Paul in Rome and before Nero became emperor. This would put the writing of this book between the years 62 to 64 AD. c. Place of origin. Again, we can speculate as to where this letter is written from the clues we are given. If you look at verse 3:2, Paul tells Titus to meet him in Nicopolis. So the letter was written in or on his way to this city. The problem is which Nicopolis for there were several at this time. Nicopolis means “city of victory” and so several locations were named this. Many assume that the Nicopolis in Macedonia is what is referred to since it was the most prominent at the time. It was the city that was founded by Caesar Augustus after his victory there against Marc Antony and Cleopatra and it became the capital of the Roman province. d. The recipient. We find in verse 4 the one to whom this letter is addressed: Titus. What we know of Titus comes from the letters of Paul. According to Galatians 2:1-3, Titus was a Gentile Christian who was converted under the ministry of Paul. From the different references, we know that Titus was working in connection with Paul during his second, third, and part of his fourth missionary journeys. In the book of 2 Corinthians, we find that Titus was an important coworker who Paul held in high esteem. Titus was sent by Paul to Corinth to deliver his letter to them and to work with them. Paul and Titus worked together on the island of Crete. When Paul moved on from there he left Titus to complete the work. This is where we find Titus at the writing of this letter. According to 2 Timothy 4:10, Titus would meet up with Paul again and then would be sent to Dalmatia. Some traditions tell us that Titus would return back to Crete and preached there until his death though we cannot confirm that. e. The purpose. The purpose of the letter is fourfold. First, Paul encourages Titus to put in order in the churches in Crete what was left undone, namely appointing elders in the various churches. Second, Paul addresses the proper conduct of different categories of people in the church like the elders, men, women, the old, and the young. Third, Paul warns against false teachers. Fourth, he is instructing Titus to join him in Nicopolis after the work he was sent to do was complete.