We know nothing of a journey by Paul to Crete, nor of the founding of a church there, but we must assume that by the time this letter was written there was a settled Christian community on the island. The letter is addressed to Titus, whom we know from other letters and from Acts to have been one of Paul's principal assistants, and to have been entrusted with missions of some delicacy. Here, though he still seems to be regarded as quite young and inexperienced, he is in charge of the church in Crete, and the letter, though addressed to him, is clearly intended for the church as a whole. For the most part its tone is not personal but formal and authoritative.

Opening greetings

The formality is stressed at the outset by the long parenthesis, which interrupts the normal structure of the greeting (Paul … To Titus, see above on Romans 1.1), and rehearses the qualifications of the writer to give authoritative instructions to the church for the sake of its faith, its knowledge of the truth and its hope – this last resting on a promise made by God before the ages began (an idea developed in Ephesians, see above on Ephesians 1.4).