In the opening verses of his letter to Titus, we get an interesting glimpse into what Paul thought his role and purpose was—what drove him to do the remarkable things he did. Given his pivotal role in the spread of the gospel and the growth of the early church, it’s worth us taking a look.

First up, Paul describes himself as “a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ” (v 1).

“Servant” is a polite word for a slave. It means Paul doesn’t consider himself free to do anything other than what God wants him to do. It’s very much a willing servanthood, a grateful response to what he understands God has done for him (the God whom he calls “our Saviour” at the end of verse 3).

In other words, Paul regards himself fundamentally as belonging to God and being at God’s beck and call.

Paul also calls himself an “apostle of Jesus Christ”. He’s been commissioned by Jesus to serve as his representative and take Jesus’ message to others. That’s what an apostle is. These days we might call Paul a ‘special envoy’. 

Paul then describes his task as God’s servant and Jesus’ special envoy. What’s his life for? It’s:

for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in the hope of eternal life… (vv 1–2)

Let’s think about what that means.

Who are the recipients of Paul’s ministry? 

He says it’s “God’s elect”. That is, the men, women and children that God has chosen to be his people. When Paul uses that term ‘elect’, he doesn’t just mean the people who’ve already become Christians—he more commonly uses the word ‘saints’ for that (or ‘brothers’, or those ‘in Christ’). No, by using the word ‘elect’ in this context, I think he also means to include the people God has chosen but who haven’t yet become Christians. 

What’s Paul’s job description as God’s servant and Jesus’ special envoy? 

It’s to bring all those God has already chosen to faith so that they would be saved and receive the hope of eternal life. Some had already become Christians and obtained the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. But there were many others of the ‘elect’ whom Paul was hoping might obtain that salvation by faith soon. This makes sense of the itinerant nature of his job—his concern for such people kept him moving on to new regions where the gospel hadn’t yet been preached.

Paul was working to see more people become Christians. God was saving the people he had chosen, “the elect”, and he was using Paul to bring that about.

But furthering the faith of God’s elect was not only about bringing non-Christians to faith; it was also about furthering or growing the faith of those who had already become Christians. It was about developing faith that “accords with godliness”. Paul wanted people to understand the truth as deeply and life-changingly as possible. 

That is, Paul’s task was to grow faith in both non-Christians and Christians.

We might therefore paraphrase Paul’s personal mission statement like this: 

On behalf of Jesus and on his command, I, Paul, strive to communicate the gospel of hope to everyone so that more and more of God’s chosen people will come to faith and go on to live lives marked by a godly response to God’s grace.

And Paul lived that mission statement out, didn’t he? At great personal cost, and in an extraordinary way. Under God, he really was very successful at fulfilling his mission statement, particularly among Gentiles—non-Jews. He preached and many people discovered the hope of eternal life. He preached and many grew in godliness.

But it wasn’t just his mission statement, was it?

Paul passed on that mission to others too. People like Titus. And Timothy. And other people he called his ‘fellow workers’, like Priscilla and Aquila, Justus, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke.

Titus was Paul’s “true child in a common faith” (v 4). And so Titus joined Paul in the family business: preaching the gospel of hope.

One of Titus’ jobs in Crete was to find other people—suitable elders—who could take on that family business too (v 5). And later in the letter, Paul makes it clear that all of the church members had an important part to play. That’s not especially surprising, because all Christians are servants or slaves of God (Rom 6:22; 1 Pet 2:16). We all belong to him (Rom 7:4; 1 Cor 6:19, 7:23). We are all at his beck and call. And God’s overarching purpose is, and remains, the faith of his elect.

Is that how you see yourself and your purpose? Are you working in the family business for the faith of God’s elect? As our minds start to turn towards 2026, what might that look like in your life and diary?

This article is based on a sermon I gave recently on Titus 1:1-4, part of a series of five talks on the book of Titus. If you'd like to, you can watch the full sermon.