Paul’s letters showed Christians how to walk with Christ individually, and collectively as God’s “household” or family. We discern the letter’s purpose from its content and emphases. Occasionally, the letter states its purpose or a related purpose. This is the case with Paul’s letters to his co-workers Timothy and Titus.
I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:14-15)
To Titus, my true child in a common faith: … This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. (Titus 1:4-5)
Here again is Christ’s consistency. There is “one faith” (Ephesians 4:5), and it is “common” in the sense of “shared” by all believers, whether Jew or Gentile, whether in Crete or in Greece (Paul’s winter home, Titus 3:12). This was “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” that biblical writers defended (Jude 1:3 cf. Philippians 1:16). That faith centered on Christ who gave it “order” (Titus 1:5; Colossians 2:5 cf. 1 Corinthians 14:40). 1 Timothy and Titus show aspects of this order. They arrange for qualified, Christ-like leadership (elders and deacons and their wives), evangelists’ roles, worship, and the care of widows. They shape attitudes toward government, and relationships between Christians (by generation, gender and social positions). Listen to Paul as he delivers the Lord’s order for relationships between masters and slaves.
If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing…. [Such people are] depraved in mind and deprived of the truth. (1 Timothy 6:3-5)
There is sufficient clarity for members to “agree”—literally, to “speak the same thing” (1 Corinthians 1:10)—even in an immature congregation like Corinth. Listen to Paul as he delivers Christ’s order for assembled worship.
If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. (1 Corinthians 14:37-38)