The Epistle to Titus is a short letter, and reads to at least one commentator to describe it as "a Reader's Digest version of I Timothy", to which it is indeed very similar in content. The epistle describes the qualifications for bishop, deacon, and elder, though one wonders whether some of the qualifications do not apply to the laity as well ("The bishop should not be a drunkard"). The emphasis on church discipline reflects the transition to an institutional church, such as we find in the Second Century. The stress on the subordinate role of women comes strangely to current ears, and seems to conflict with Paul's reliance on such women as Priscilla and Phoebe.

It is difficult to place the letter in the context of Acts -- Paul is at liberty and planning to winter in Nicopolis, on the Western coast of Greece, very close to the battle site of Actium. This cannot be fitted into the Acts chronology, and some have suggested that the letter belongs to a missionary period after Paul was (presumably) released after his first trial in Rome. However, Eusebius suggests that Paul went West -- "to the Pillars of Hercules" (Gibraltar).