Bible In Poetry: Titus 1 Poem by Dr John Celes

God’s servant and Apostle, Paul
Of Jesus Christ for God’s elect,
Whose faith and knowledge of the truth,
Has led to hope and godliness,
Of life eternal, not God’s lie,
God-promised from time’s beginning,
And in His season brought the word,
To light by preaching giv’n to me,
By God’s command, our savior:

To Titus in our common faith,
My true son, grace and peace descend
From God, the Father and Jesus.

Titus’ Task on Crete:

I left you just in Crete because
You would then straighten what was left
Unfinished, and appoint elders
In every town as I told you.

An elder must be so blameless;
Husband to just one wife only,
With children who believe the Lord,
Aren’t wild and disobedient.

As overseer of God’s work, then,
He must not be over-bearing
Nor quick-tempered nor use spirits
Or violence for unfair gain;
He must be hospitable then.

A person who loves what is good,
Self-controlled, upright and holy,
Disciplined and must be quite firm
To genuine message as he’s taught,
And encourage others truly
By sound doctrine and refute those
Who oppose it, through God’s wisdom.

There are rebellious people,
Mere talkers and great deceivers,
Among the circumcision group;
They ought to be silenced or they
Would ruin whole house-holds on earth,
By teaching things, they ought not to,
And for sake of dishonest gain;

One of their prophets has said thus:
‘Cretans are always evil brutes,
Gluttons, liars and lazy-bones;
This testimony is so true;
Therefore, rebuke them sharply too;
So that, they are sound in their faith,
And pay no attention to myths
Or to commands rejecting truth.

All things are pure to pure of heart;
Nothing is pure to corrupt ones,
And those who do not believe truths.
Their minds and conscience are sick
Although, they claim to know the Lord.
Their actions deny seeing Him;
They are unfit, detestable,
Disobedient, not doing good!

Copyright by Dr John Celes 6-27-2007