Titus 1:5

“For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you—” – Titus 1:5

In the previous text, we see that Paul somewhat introduces Titus as his spiritual son. Now he states his purpose for this letter for him.

“For this reason”

Paul’s main purpose of this letter is coming.

“I left you in Crete”

It would seem that both Paul and Titus were in Crete at the same time. But now Paul has moved on, and Titus is still in Crete.

“that you should set in order the things that are lacking”

There are things that are not right in Crete, they are not in order, they are lacking. These “things” its Titus’ job to fix. This means Titus must have a clear understanding of ‘how’ these things should look. And he must understand ‘how’ to set them in order. Titus thus must have been trained.

“and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you”

There are things that need to be set in order, there are lacking things, and now, Titus must appoint elders in every city of Crete. These elders are the key to setting things in order, to fixing the lack. Where will he find these elders? What are the elders to be like? All of these questions are answered in the next passages.

An application:

What is my Crete today? What is the thing that I have been given to do? What are the things that are not in order, the things that are lacking?