5. I left you in Crete so that you could finish doing the things that still needed to be done. I left you there also so that you could choose men to be elders in every town.
6. To be an elder, a man must not be guilty of doing wrong. He must have only one wife. His children must be believers. They must not be known as children who are wild and who do not obey.
7. An overseer has the job of taking care of God’s work. So he must not be guilty of doing wrong. He must not be a man who is proud and selfish or who becomes angry quickly. He must not drink too much wine. He must not be a person who likes to fight. And he must not be a person who always tries to get rich by cheating people.
8. An overseer must be ready to help others by accepting them into his home. He must love what is good. He must be wise. He must live right. He must be holy. And he must be able to control himself.
9. An overseer must faithfully follow the truth just as we teach it. He must be able to help people by using true and right teaching. And he must be able to show those who are against the true teaching that they are wrong.
10. There are many people who refuse to obey—people who talk about worthless things and lead others into the wrong way. I am talking mostly about those who insist on circumcision to be saved.
11. These people must be stopped from talking. They are destroying whole families by teaching things that they should not teach. They teach them only to cheat people and make money.
12. Even one of their own prophets from Crete said, “Cretan people are always liars. They are evil animals and lazy people who do nothing but eat.”
13. The words that prophet said are true. So tell those people that they are wrong. You must be strict with them. Then they will become strong in the faith