Crete

Crete is an island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and the southernmost part of the Aegean Sea. It is one of the birthplaces of Mediterranean civilization. Crete is a mostly mountainous island, about 260 kilometers long from east to west, with a width ranging from 12 to 60 kilometers. Its area is 8,236 square kilometers, making it the largest island in the Aegean Sea.

Located in the southern Aegean, Crete is Greece’s largest island and the birthplace of the Minoan civilization, which is associated with the Philistines’ homeland of “Caphtor” (Genesis 10:14). In the New Testament era, Jews lived on Crete (Acts 2:11). The ancient Greek word “kretizein,” or “to behave like a Cretan,” meant “to lie.” Crete was a major hub for Mediterranean transportation and trade, where various religions, philosophies, and cultures mingled. The false teachers there were a product of this mixed local culture and a “circumcision party” of Jews. “They teach things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain—subverting whole households,” which put the young churches in great danger.

The churches on Crete were younger than the church in Ephesus, so Paul left Titus there to “put in order what was left unfinished” and to “appoint elders in every town.” This was necessary for the churches to function properly and demonstrate the testimony of Christ’s body: its members working together (Ephesians 4:11-16) and holding fast to Christ, the head (Colossians 2:19).