Titus 1:9 (WEB)

Passage

holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict those who contradict him.

Nearby Context

Titus 1:7 For the overseer must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain;

Titus 1:8 but given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober minded, fair, holy, self-controlled;

Titus 1:9 holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict those who contradict him.

Titus 1:10 For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,

Titus 1:11 whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for dishonest gain’s sake.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "faith", "holding", "faithful", "word", "teaching", "able", "exhort", and "sound". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "faith" and "holding", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "but given to hospitality a lover of..." into verse 10's "For there are also many unruly men...", so "faith" and "holding" belong inside that flow. In Titus context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "faith" and "holding" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.