Personal Instructions and Greetings
When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.
Letter of the Apostle Paul to Titus 3:12 Legacy Standard Bible
We have been following the missions of Paul and others in Acts of the Apostles for some time now and might easily miss a small personal instruction such as this found at the end of one of the Apostle’s many letters.
Just a brief record of one winter:
- Paul will stay in Nicopolis for one winter.
- He instructs Titus that he will send one of two others to him, either Artemas or Tychicus.
I emphasize in my pause in ACTS by this introduction to Paul’s letters in context that during these historical missional journeys all of the apostles nurtured both personal and community relationships with those won to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul's THREE missions over ELEVEN years from ~ A.D. 49 to ~ A.D. 57 would have included 10 winters. Please COMMENT if YOU can pinpoint the actual YEAR or place in ACTS when this occurred.
Further Personal Greetings, Blessings, Thanks & Instructions
Diligently help send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them.
And our people [that is, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ] must also learn to lead in good [occupations] works to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.
All who are with me greet you.
[Paul does not say who these disciples of The Way traveling to Nicopolis for their winter stay might be, but through the Holy Spirit they remain connected to the church and those who receive his letter through Titus. The Apostle then asks them to extend their love to others in the faith.
Greet those who love us in the faith.
Grace be with you all.
Titus 3:13-15 – closing of Paul’s letter
Greetings and Grace
Note Paul's humility in Christ and tenderness toward those to whom the Apostle writes:
Paul, a slave of God
and an apostle of Jesus Christ,
according to [for] the faith of God’s elect and the full knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which the God who cannot lie promised before times eternal [from all eternity]..
And in Paul's 'sent out' purpose as Christ's apostle to the Gentiles here he connects his servitude to the risen Jesus as they must receive his gospel from God, even referring to Christ as God.
.. but at the proper time manifested [made known] His word in preaching,
with which I was entrusted
according to the commandment
of God our Savior,
Titus 1:1-3 LSB
All this deep connection and theology in just a brief introduction and closing of a short letter written to a fellow beloved leader of the church.
To Titus, my genuine child according to our common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Νικόπολις
Nicopolis
Nicopolis meaning “city of victory”
There were many cities by this name, — in Armenia, Pontus, Cilicia, Epirus, Thrace —
The one in Titus 3:12 seems to refer to the city was built by * Augustus in memory of the battle of Actium on a promontory of Epirius.
- Before Augustus Caesar seized power he was known as Octavian. His victory on 2 September 31 B.C. at Actium (pictured above on map near Nicopolis) secured Rome’s strategic position as rulers of the Mediterranean.
- Paul, as a Roman citizen, would have felt at home in such Roman cities.
The one in the subscription of Titus seems to refer to Thracian Nicopolis, founded by Trojan on the river Nestus, since he calls it the city of Macedonia.
When did Paul write?
Our focus in this overview of Paul’s letters is more toward the relationships the Apostle and disciples of The Way create with each other than the how, where and when he wrote.
Paul may have been in Thrace or Macedonia. Perhaps some of these letters were written in part on his journeys abord ships between destinations. And in these ten years having spent extended time in so many towns and cities Paul’s letters may well have been composed from his guest quarters in some of the homes of recipients (perhaps even Titus) to whom the Apostle wrote on a later occasion and circumstance.
What we do know is the approximate times and chronology of most of Paul’s letters.
This chronology and connection to events Luke records in ACTS of the APOSTLES will be the focus of our series looking at Paul’s letters.
Time to Write to Loved Ones
ALL dates approximate.
- A.D. 30
- Resurrection & Ascension of JESUS CHRIST
- A.D. 37
- JESUS appears to Saul (Paul)
- A.D. 47
- Paul and Barnabas depart on their first missionary journey
- A.D. 49
- ACTS 15
& Letters to the CHURCH sent out into all the world
THESE INCLUDE LETTERS (or Epistles)
from: James the brother of Jesus & leader (in A.D. 49) of the Jerusalem church
from: Paul to the Galatians
Letters of the A.D. 50’s
a generation (~20-30 years) after the Lord's resurrection All dates approximate:
- A.D. 50 – John Mark, who had accompanied Barnabas and Paul on Cypress writes his GOSPEL.
- Paul writes two letters to the Thessalonians
And during Paul’s THIRD missionary journey (where we have once again paused briefly) THESE LETTERS:
- Paul writes TWO letters to the Corinthians living in the Achaian city larger and more important that Athens.
- The Apostle Paul, a Roman citizen, also writes to the Romans around the end of his third missionary journey (A.D. 57) and two years prior to his own journey to Rome.
Later Letters of the A.D. 60’s – 80’s
Our introduction to these Church Letters is NOT expositional but topical. And these are personally relational to those Christians to whom the Apostles wrote.
I will also point to Scripture from other Epistles yet to be written (as of this pause in ACTS of the APOSTLES ) when later events will connect the Church in many more ways to our struggles of a 21st century C.E. faith.
These include Titus written around A.D. 64-66 on which I have focused today
AND other important ‘personal letters’ instructing leaders and others of the church including:
an Epistle to Philemon and TWO letters to Timothy.
Several letters written in the early A.D. 60’s to churches Paul has already visited on his current and previous missions.
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
Luke will also complete his Gospel in the early A.D. 60’s as does the Apostle Matthew.
Nero has been Emperor of Rome during most of these times (A.D. 54-68) and things are about to get much worse for all of the Empire including Jerusalem, which revolts against ROME beginning in A.D. 66 and will eventually be destroyed in A.D. 70 as the Jewish Wars continue on into A.D. 73.
As the world of ROME begins to disintegrate while Paul and Peter and every other Apostle except John are executed, the Gospel and Letters of a New Testament go into all the world — a world to which the Lord Jesus Christ came and died for sinners like you and like me — that we might have eternal life in Him.
MORE Letters arriving SOON… God-willing…
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