1 ⁵ My intention in leaving you behind in Crete was that you should set in order what was left over, and in particular should institute elders in each town. In doing so, observe the tests I prescribed: 1 ⁶ is he a man of unimpeachable character, faithful to his one wife, See note on 1 Timothy 3.2. the father of children who are believers, who are under no imputation of loose living, and are not out of control? 1 ⁷ For as God's steward a bishop must be a man of unimpeachable character. He must not be overbearing or short-tempered; he must be no drinker, no brawler, no money-grubber, 1 ⁸ but hospitable, right-minded, temperate, just, devout, and self-controlled. 1 ⁹ He must adhere to the true doctrine, so that he may be well able both to move his hearers with wholesome teaching and to confute objectors.
1 ¹⁰ There are all too many, especially among Jewish converts, who are out of all control; they talk wildly and lead men's minds astray. 1 ¹¹ Such men must be curbed, because they are ruining whole families by teaching things they should not, and all for sordid gain. 1 ¹² It was a Cretan prophet, one of their own countrymen, who said, 'Cretans were always liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons'— 1 ¹³ and he told the truth! All the more reason why you should pull them up sharply, so that they may come to a sane belief, 1 ¹⁴ instead of lending their ears to Jewish myths and commandments of merely human origin, the work of men who turn their backs upon the truth.
1 ¹⁵ To the pure all things are pure; but nothing is pure to the tainted minds of disbelievers, tainted alike in reason and conscience. 1 ¹⁶ They profess to acknowledge God, but deny him by their actions. Their detestable obstinacy disqualifies them for any good work.