Titus, Epistle to: was probably written about the same time as the first epistle to
Timothy, with which it has many affinities. "Both letters were
addressed to persons left by the writer to preside in their
respective churches during his absence. Both letters are
principally occupied in describing the qualifications to be
sought for in those whom they should appoint to offices in the
church; and the ingredients of this description are in both
letters nearly the same. Timothy and Titus are likewise
cautioned against the same prevailing corruptions, and in
particular against the same misdirection of their cares and
studies. This affinity obtains not only in the subject of the
letters, which from the similarity of situation in the persons
to whom they were addressed might be expected to be somewhat
alike, but extends in a great variety of instances to the
phrases and expressions. The writer accosts his two friends with
the same salutation, and passes on to the business of his letter
by the same transition (compare 1 Tim. 1:2, 3 with Titus 1:4, 5; 1
Tim.1:4 with Titus 1:13, 14; 3:9; 1 Tim. 4:12 with Titus 2:7,
15).", Paley's Horae Paulinae.
The date of its composition may be concluded from the
circumstance that it was written after Paul's visit to Crete
(Titus 1:5). That visit could not be the one referred to in Acts
27:7, when Paul was on his voyage to Rome as a prisoner, and
where he continued a prisoner for two years. We may warrantably
suppose that after his release Paul sailed from Rome into Asia
and took Crete by the way, and that there he left Titus "to set
in order the things that were wanting." Thence he went to
Ephesus, where he left Timothy, and from Ephesus to Macedonia,
where he wrote First Timothy, and thence to Nicopolis in Epirus,
from which place he wrote to Titus, about A.D. 66 or 67.
In the subscription to the epistle it is said to have been
written from "Nicopolis of Macedonia," but no such place is
known. The subscriptions to the epistles are of no authority, as
they are not authentic.