Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Titus 1:4
To Titus, [mine] own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, [and] peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.
4. to Titus, mine own son ] With R.V. render my true child, as in 1Ti 1:2, where the force of the phrase is drawn out. On the connexion of Titus with St Paul see Introduction, p. 67 sqq.
after the common faith ] The insertion of ‘the’ implies ‘the faith common to the Church, to believers generally’: as the words stand without an article, it is rather the faith common to St Paul and Titus, in a common faith, or ‘in communion of faith;’ see note on 1Ti 1:2.
Grace, mercy, and peace ] The mss. authority is against the insertion of ‘mercy’ here, though occurring in the salutation of both the letters to his other ‘true child’ Timothy. If the reason for the insertion in Timothy’s case suggested on 1Ti 1:2 be true, its absence is appropriate here in the case of Titus. Though true son and trusted colleague, he had not been, like Timothy, the constant companion and the alter ego of one who, while ‘fain to serve the best,’ was ever ‘conscious most of wrong within.’
from God the Father ] The later form in these Epistles for ‘our Father,’ cf. 1Ti 1:2; 2Ti 1:2.
For the sense of the ‘Father’ see Bp Westcott, add. note on 1Jn 1:2. ‘St John does not use the Pauline phrase “our Father” in his own writings; in the Epistles he uses uniformly the absolute title “the Father” without any addition; and in the Apocalypse “his (my) Father” but not “the Father.” “The Father” suggests those thoughts which spring from the consideration of the moral connexion of God and man in virtue of the creation of man “in the image of God”; “my Father” points to those which spring from the revelation of the connexion of the Incarnate Son with God and with man, “the Son of God,” “the Christ.” In his latest writings S. John regards the relation of the Divine Fatherhood in its eternal, that is, in its present realisation “the Father” from its absolute side.’
and the Lord Jesus Christ ] This fullest and most emphatic title, according to the true text, occurs only in 1Ti 6:3 (note there and on 1Ti 1:1) and 1Ti 6:14. Read here, Christ Jesus.
our Saviour ] See note on 1Ti 1:1 for this title given to Christ in the Pastoral Letters and in St Peter. It occurs not seldom in the Prayer Book, though much less often than ‘Jesus Christ our Lord’; e.g. in the 2nd and 3rd Collects for Evening Prayer, Collect for 2nd S. in Advent, Septuagesima, Easter Even, Prayer of Consecration, &c.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
To Titus – See the Introduction, Section 1.
Mine own son – Notes, 1Ti 1:2.
After the common faith – The faith of all Christians; – equivalent to saying my son in the gospel. That is, Paul had been the means of converting him by preaching that gospel which was received by all who were Christians.
Grace, mercy, and peace … – See the notes at Rom 1:7.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Tit 1:4
To Titus, mine own son after the common faith
Lessons
I.
A spiritual relationship (Cf. Act 15:1-41; Gal 2:2; 2Co 2:13; 2Co 7:6, etc.)
II. A threefold blessing.
1. Grace, the source of our redemption.
2. Mercy, displayed in our redemption.
3. Peace, the result of our redemption.
III. The source and medium of the blessing. God the Father from whom it comes, and Christ the Son through whom it comes. (F. Wagstaff.)
Spiritual parentage
I. That ministers are spiritual fathers to beget children to god, appeareth in that the Hebrew phrase not only styleth them by the name of fathers.
1. Who indeed are so properly by the way of blood and natural generation?
2. Neither, only those who are in a right descending line, though never so far off.
3. Neither, only those who adopt others into the room and place of children.
4. But those also that are in the room of fathers, either generally, as all superiors, in age, place, or gifts; or more specially such as by whose counsel, wisdom, tenderness and care, we are directed as by fathers; who in these offices and not in themselves (for sometimes they be inferiors otherwise) become fathers unto us.
Thus was Joseph an inferior, called a father of Pharaoh; that is, a counsellor. Job, for his tenderness and care, called a father of the poor. Scholars of the prophets, called sons of the prophets. Elisha, saith of Elijah, my father, my father; and Jubal was the father of all that play on harps. But much more properly is the minister called the father of such as he converts unto the faith, because they beget men unto God, as Paul did Onesimus in his bonds, in which regeneration the seed is that heavenly grace whereby a Divine nature is framed, the instrument by which it is conveyed, is the Word of God in the ministry of it. Now if any be desirous to carry themselves towards their ministers, as children towards their parents, they must perform unto them these duties.
1. They must give them double honour (1Ti 5:17), reverencing their persons, their places.
2. They must partake in all their goods, as the Levites in the law did; yea, if need be, lay down their necks for their sakes (Rom 16:4) in way of thankfulness.
3. No accusations must be received against them under two or three witnesses; a dutiful child will not hear, much less believe, evil reports of his father.
4. In doubtful cases of conscience resort unto them for counsel, as children to their father.
5. Obey them in all godly precepts, endure their severity, be guided by their godly directions, as those who have the oversight of souls committed unto them, even as the child ingeniously imitateth and obeyeth his father.
II. Faith is one and the same in all the elect, and is therefore called the common faith (Eph 4:5), there is one faith which is true. Which grace is but one, and common to all the elect, notwithstanding there be diverse measures and degrees of it peculiar to some. Hence the apostle Peter calleth it the like precious faith.
1. In respect of the kind of it being a justifying faith, by which all that believe have power to be the sons of God (Joh 1:12; Gal 3:26).
2. Of the object of it, which is one Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever; who dwelleth in the hearts of every believer (Eph 3:17), whom, although the fathers of former ages beheld Him to come, and the latter ages already come: yet both rejoice in seeing His day with the same eye of faith: the difference is, that one seeth it somewhat more clearly than the other.
3. Of the same end of it, which is salvation, common to all believers; called therefore by Jude the common salvation. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Spiritual children
Calvins three children all died in infancy. Of the last he wrote to a friend: The Lord gave me another son, and the Lord hath taken him away; but have I not thousands of children in the faith of Christ?
Grace, mercy, and peace
Grace bringing peace
I. The grace of god is the whole sufficiency of his people. The first, middle, and last cause of every good thing conveyed unto them, or issuing from them: not once did the Lord enforce this point upon His own people, teaching them by things temporal, their spiritual estate and condition (Deu 7:7).
II. Only they that are by grace and mercy accepted of god have their portion in this peace here mentioned.
1. Peace, that is all kind of prosperity, is promised only to the godly. They shall prosper in everything; and the apostle pronounceth it, only upon the Israel of God.
2. It is accordingly bestowed upon those only that are justified by faith; seeing they only have peace with God, which is the principal part of it.
3. To show it to be a fruit of Gods grace, sundry phrases in Scripture might be alleged; as that it is called the peace of God, and that God is called the God of peace; as also that difference which is worthy to be observed between the salutations of the Old and New Testament. In, the Old Testament, grace and peace are never joined. The ordinary form of salutation was, peace be with thee, peace be to this house, go in peace; but the apostles, after the mystery of redemption was revealed and perfected before the ordinary salutation, prefix this word–grace, or mercy, or both; that as they are never joined in the Old Testament, so are they never separated in the New, to show that we cannot look to have one of them alone, or separate them, no more than we can safely sunder the branch from the root, or the stream from the fountain. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Peace through Christ
A minister was asked to visit a poor dying woman. The messenger being ignorant could give no account of her state, except that she was a very good woman and very happy, and was now at the end of a well-spent life, therefore sure of going to heaven. The minister went, saw that she was very ill, and after a few kindly inquiries about her bodily condition, said: Well, I understand you are in a very peaceful state of mind, depending upon a well-spent life. The dying woman looked hard at him, and said: Yes, I am in the enjoyment of peace. You are quite right; sweet peace, and that from a well-spent life. But it is the well-spent life of Jesus; not my doing, but His; not my merits, but His blood. Yes; only one man has spent a life that has met all the requirements of Gods holy law, and on which we rest before God. (Preachers Lantern.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. To Titus, mine own son] Him whom I have been the instrument of converting to the Christian faith; and in whom, in this respect, I have the same right as any man can have in his own begotten son. See the preface; and 1Ti 1:2.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Mine own son after the common faith; from hence we learn that Titus was converted to Christianity by Paul. Timothy was so called, 1Ti 1:2. The salutation is the same with that to Timothy, 1Ti 1:2; 2Ti 1:2, and in most of the Epistles, with small variation: See Poole on “1Ti 1:2“, See Poole on “2Ti 1:2“, and in the beginning of most of the Epistles.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. Titus, mine own sonGreek,“my genuine child” (1Ti1:2), that is, converted by my instrumentality (1Co 4:17;Phm 1:10).
after the common faithagenuine son in respect to (in virtue of) the faith common toall the people of God, comprising in a common brotherhood Gentiles aswell as Jews, therefore embracing Titus a Gentile (2Pe 1:1;Jdg 1:3).
Grace, mercy, andpeace“mercy” is omitted in some of the oldestmanuscripts. But one of the best and oldest manuscripts supports it(compare Notes, see on 1Ti 1:2;2Ti 1:2). There are manysimilarities of phrase in the Pastoral Epistles.
the Lord Jesus ChristTheoldest manuscripts read only “Christ Jesus.”
our Saviourfound thusadded to “Christ” only in Paul’s Pastoral Epistles,and in 2Pe 1:1; 2Pe 1:11;2Pe 2:20; 2Pe 3:18.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
To Titus, mine own son after the common faith,…. Not in a natural, but in a spiritual sense; the apostle being the instrument of his conversion, as he was of the conversion of Onesimus, and of many of the Corinthians, and therefore is said to beget them, Phm 1:10 and so was their spiritual father, and they his children: Titus was, in this sense, his “own son”, or a true son, a legitimate one; a true convert; one really born again; a sincere believer, an Israelite indeed: and this he was “after the common faith”; either the doctrine of faith, which is but one, and is common to all the saints; or the grace of faith, which though different in degrees, yet is alike precious faith in all; the same for nature, kind, object, operation, and effects: and this phrase is used to show in what sense Titus was son to the apostle; as he was a believer, and no otherwise.
Grace, mercy, and peace, c. which is the apostle’s usual salutation see 1Ti 1:2. The word “mercy” is left out in the Claromontane copy, and in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
My true child ( ). See 1Ti 1:2 for this adjective with Timothy. Titus is not mentioned in Acts, possibly because he is Luke’s brother. But one can get a clear picture of him by turning to 2Cor 2:13; 2Cor 7:6-15; 2Cor 8:6-24; 2Cor 12:16-18; Gal 2:1-3; Titus 1:4; Titus 3:12; 2Tim 4:10. He had succeeded in Corinth where Timothy had failed. Paul had left him in Crete as superintendent of the work there. Now he writes him from Nicopolis (Tit 3:12).
After a common faith ( ). Here does mean standard, not aim, but it is a faith () common to a Gentile (a Greek) like Titus as well as to a Jew like Paul and so common to all races and classes (Jude 1:3). does not here have the notion of unclean as in Acts 10:14; Acts 11:8.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Own [] . See on 1Ti 1:2.
According to the common faith [ ] . The phrase N. T. o. Koinov common, usually in contrast with kaqarov pure or agiov holy, as Act 10:14; Act 11:8; Rev 21:27. In the sense of general as here, Act 2:44; Act 4:32; Jude 1:3. Comp. 2Pe 1:1. The “catholic” faith. Kata according to, as verse 1.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “To Titus, mine own son after the common faith.” (tito gnesio tekno kata kainen pistin) “To Titus, a truly begotten child according to a common faith,” 1Ti 1:1-2. It is generally believed that Titus was both a convert and later ordained of Paul’s ministry. Gal 2:2-3; 2Co 2:13; 2Co 7:6.
2) “Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father,” (charis kai eirene apo theou patros) “Grace and peace from God (the) Father.” The term (mercy) is omitted in the original by Nestle.
3) “And the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.” (hai christon ieson tou soteros hemon) “And Christ Jesus the Saviour of us.” What God had been to Paul in grace and peace, Paul prayed he might be to Titus.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
4 To Titus, my own son, according to the common faith. Hence it is evident in what sense a minister of the word is said to beget spiritually those whom he brings to the obedience of Christ, that is, so that he himself is also begotten. Paul declares himself to be the father of Titus, with respect to his faith; but immediately adds, that this faith is common to both, so that both of them alike have the same Father in heaven. Accordingly, God does not diminish his own prerogative, when he pronounces those to be spiritual fathers along with himself, by whose ministry he regenerates whom he chooses; for of themselves they do nothing, but only by the efficacy of the Spirit. As to the remainder of the verse, the exposition of it will be found in the Commentaries on the former Epistles, and especially on the First Epistle to Timothy. (213)
(213) See p. 21.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) To Titus.We know comparatively little of Titus earlier career. In the Acts he, singularly enough, is never mentioned; for what knowledge of him we possess we are entirely dependent upon a few casual allusions to him in the Epistles. This presbyter, in charge of the Cretan Church, was a Greek, the son of Gentile parents, and uncircumcised. It has been suggested, but upon very slight grounds, that his family was resident at Antioch in Syria. He owed his conversion to Christianity to St. Paul, with whom ever after he seems to have been connected by ties of intimate friendship, though he was by no means the Apostles constant companion, as was Timothy, or Silas, or Luke. He was with St. Paul and Barnabas when they went up together to Jerusalem to plead for Gentile liberty but in no other of the journeys of St. Paul is he directly mentioned as one of the companions of the Apostle. Only during the Apostles long residence at Ephesus (nearly three years) Titus appears to have been, for at least part of the time, closely associated with St. Paul, and his confidant in his complicated relations with foreign churches. It is clear that during this long Ephesian residence he was drawn into close and intimate friendship with St. Paul, who then had opportunity of becoming acquainted with Titus varied powers and evident skill in administration and in dealing with men and women.
From the several casual notices in the Second Corinthian Epistle, we gather considerable insight into the character and powers of the Gentile convert. The Church of Corinth was perhaps the largest and most wealthy of all the churches founded by St. Paul. It was soon, however, rent asunder by party divisions, and was ever distracted and disturbed by moral disorders among its members. Yet, in spite of this, the great Greek congregation of believers was full of life and zeal and earnestness, ready evidently to make the greatest sacrifices for its Masters cause. Delegated apparently by St. Paul to restore order and to introduce a severer discipline in this great and turbulent Christian centrethe example for good or for evil to so many smaller and less important churchesTitus seems to have fulfilled with rare tact, and with admirable prudence and wisdom, his difficult mission. Amongst other works, he apparently completed the collection St. Paul had set on foot in the various Gentile churches for the poor Jewish Christians at Jerusalem. His services, assisting materially to bring this famous work of charity to a successful issue, seem not to have been the least among his titles to St. Pauls friendship and high esteem. The great importance and difficult nature of this collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem are little understood or thought of now. Three weighty points connected with it deserve mention, as Titus special task it probably was to complete and bring it to a successful issue. (1) It seems to have been the first public relief fund ever collected to help a foreign and a strange racethe first of a long line of gallant acts of self-sacrifice men have made for men for Christs sake; but when Titus, at St. Pauls bidding, took charge of it, it was a thing unheard of in the Pagan world. Hence the many obstacles which appear to have cropped up so perpetually during the collection. (2) It was the right hand of fellowship offered by Gentile to Jew. It was the welding together, by an unprecedented act of kindness, of the two opposing and hostile elements of Christendom into one Church. (3) It was the silent yet eloquent protest of St. Paul and his school against the attempted communism of the Church of the very first daysthat fatal misunderstanding of some of the Masters words which had brought ruin and poverty on the Jerusalem Christians. Titus acted as St. Pauls commissioner in the matterwhich he evidently successfully completed. We know nothing of his work and employment from this period, A.D. 57, until the date of this Epistle, A.D. 65-66, early Christian history being silent respecting him. In these nine years of restless activity and burning zeal on the part of the Christian leaders, Titus, no doubt, did his part without falling short of his early promise; as we find him again, in the last years of his old master, occupying in the Christian community a post so high and responsible as that of chief presbyter of the churches of the wealthy and populous island of Crete.
Mine own son.Alluding, no doubt, to the relation between them in religion. St. Paul converted Titus to the faith, and ever after Titus stood to St. Paul in the position of a son in the faith, without being to him what Timothy was for so long a timehis constant companion. Titus still evidently (see preceding Note) filled with St. Paul the position of one of his most trusty disciples, of one who knew the inmost thoughts of his master. The tone of the Epistle to Titus is somewhat different from St. Pauls Letter to Timothy. There was evidently a greater intimacy between St. Paul and Timothy than between the Apostle and Titus.
Grace, mercy, and peace . . .Many of the older authorities omit mercy. (See Notes on 1Ti. 1:2.)
Our Saviour.This expression is a rare one. We find it only in these Pastoral Letters. (See Note above on St. Pauls using it also of the Father.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Own son Literal Greek, genuine or legitimate son; son, that is, by regeneration, as Paul does not hesitate to call even the humble Onesimus son, as being under his ministry converted. Genuine son, as being in his own true spiritual likeness; begotten to the Pauline gospel, and competent to represent and establish it in Crete. Extended as is his own style and title, that assigned to Titus is brief and simple. Note, 1Ti 1:2. Yet, as son, Titus seems to be made heir to a very full amount of apostolic authority, as appears in the very strong terms conveying functions in this epistle and in this chapter. Even if it could be supposed that Timothy was appointed pastor of but a single Church in Ephesus, Titus was certainly a super-presbyterial superintendent of several Churches, with their pastors, in Crete. He was, however, more an itinerant bishop than a diocesan.
Common faith Common to all the elect, Tit 1:1. The sonship of Titus was not after the flesh, but after the faith.
Grace Note 1Ti 1:2.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘To Titus, my true child after a common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.’
His letter is specifically addressed to Titus, but almost certainly intended to be read publicly. Note the greeting of ‘grace be with you all’ in Tit 3:15. He describes Titus as his ‘true child’. Many of his children in the faith had let him down, but not Titus. And he and Titus are sharers in a common faith, along with all who ‘love the Lord Jesus in sincerity’ (Eph 6:24). It is the truth concerning Jesus crucified and risen that binds them together, and it is for all equally, both Jew and Gentile.
‘Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.’ Paul tends to vary his salutations, but this is the only example where ‘our Saviour’, forms a part of such a salutation. The idea has an unusual prominence in this letter. Paul is conscious that the young Cretan believers should be fully aware of the saving activity of God and Jesus Christ. It is not, however, unique for Jesus is described as ‘the Saviour’ in Eph 5:23; Php 3:20; and ‘our Saviour’ in 1Ti 2:3; 2Ti 4:10. Compare also Luk 2:11; Joh 4:42; Act 5:13; Act 13:23; 2Pe 1:1; 2Pe 1:11 ; 2Pe 2:20; 2Pe 3:2; 2Pe 3:18 ; 1Jn 4:14; Jud 1:25.
His prayer for Titus is that God would reveal towards him His grace, His unmerited favour and compassion, and would grant him wellbeing and peace in his heart and in his life. In one way or another this was a common greeting combining Gentile and Jewish greetings. The usual combination of God, in this case ‘the Father’, and Christ Jesus, in this case ‘our Saviour’, but regularly ‘the Lord’, demonstrates the equal status that Paul applies to Jesus in the Godhead. God and Jesus can be spoken of in the same breath. Both are the objects of our worship, both are the source of our hope.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Tit 1:4 . ] On , see 1Ti 1:2 . gives the point of view from which Titus can be considered the genuine son of the apostle. Beza: i.e. fidei respectu quae quidem et Paulo patri et Tito filio communis erat. There is nothing to indicate that in using Paul was thinking of an original difference between them, he being a Jewish Christian, Titus a Gentile Christian.
[ ], . . .] see on 1Ti 1:2 .
The designation appended to , viz. , is peculiar to this epistle.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
(4) To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. (5) For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: (6) If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. (7) For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; (8) But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; (9) Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. (10) For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: (11) Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.
I have, in the opening of the first Epistle of Paul to Timothy, given my views of what the Apostle meant, in calling those companions of his sons. On this point I need not enlarge. Neither shall I detain the Reader, with any unnecessary observations, on the history of Crete, where Paul saith he left Titus, to arrange the government of the Church in that place. We know but little of this place from scripture. It was one of those islands, in the Mediterranean Sea, where Paul, in his voyage, passed. Act 27:7 . But it could not have been at that time, the Apostle left Titus there. It might have been more likely, when he went over various parts of Greece. Act 20:2 . But this is not so material, to our present purpose, to enquire. I would rather call upon the Reader, to remark, with me, Paul’s anxiety as is here, and elsewhere expressed, respecting the ordination for the ministry. Let any person bring into one view, all that the aged Apostle, hath said on this subject, in his Epistles to the Churches, and to Persons; and it will strike him, I think, as it doth me, with full conviction, that nothing lay nearer the heart of Paul, than the caution, which ought to be observed, in sending men to labor in the word and doctrine. If the Reader will indulge me, I will take advantage from what the Apostle hath here charged upon Titus, on the subject, to offer a short observation.
The work of the ministry, is in itself so arduous, its duties so various, and its eventful consequences so infinitely important; that no man of the least seriousness, if he thought at all, would run unsent. Paul, when speaking of himself on this occasion, seems to express the greatness of his surprise, that one, less than the least of all saints, should have the grace given to him for such a purpose; that I (said he) should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Eph 3:8 . Had the Apostle considered the gifts of nature, or of art, as qualifying for the ministry; certainly his liberal education, and his powers of eloquence, might have been thought very suitable requisites. But in Paul’s view, these things rather hindered; than forwarded the Lord’s service. What things were gain to me; those (said he) I counted loss for Christ. Phi 3:7 . And certain it is, the Apostle had in view at all times, his wonderful conversion; and his call of Jesus to be his Apostle; as well as the ordination of the Holy Ghost to the ministry; as the great authority, by which he acted, in the service of the Lord. How would Paul have shuddered, had he been told of men, rushing into the ministry, unsent of God, and unanointed by the Holy Ghost? What a contradiction in terms, would it have appeared to the Apostle’s mind, had he heard of Preachers going forth to the conversion of ethers, when unconverted themselves? The characters Paul here speaks of whom Titus was to ordain, were such as not only lived in the Spirit, and walked in the Spirit, in the exercise of the graces of the Holy Ghost, he hath here enumerated; but holding fast the faithful word, which he himself had been taught; that he might be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convince gainsayers. But how awfully doth the Apostle speak of many unruly and vain talkers; whose mouths (he saith) must be stopped: and who teach things, which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.
Reader! let us turn from the view, for it is most awful. Let us seek relief to our mind, from the painful contemplation in beholding, if but a moment, the beautiful account of Paul’s own ministry. Paul stood amazed, at the grace shown him, that the Lord should count him faithful, putting him into the ministry. And the constant sense he had of his own vileness; and the discoveries made to him, of the Person, glory, excellency, and riches of Christ and his grace tended to keep the Apostle always at the feet of Jesus, humbled, and self abased before him. And it was thus Paul went forth to the ministry, preaching Christ. It was Christ that Paul preached. Christ, as he is in himself; and Christ, as he is to his people. The plainest, the simplest language, and not excellency of human gifts, and human attainments, marked all his discourses. Seeing then (said he) that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. 2Co 3:12 . Blessed be God for putting him into the ministry! Blessed be God for all the grace given to him, in this service. And blessed he God, for every instance both then, and now, and in all ages of the Church, where Jesus his Almighty Master, hath blessed his ministry, to the souls of his people!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4 To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Ver. 4. Common faith ] Common to the communion of saints, Tit 1:1 , and to them proper and peculiar; for all men have not faith, 2Th 3:2 . Or common, that is, Symbolo Apostolico comprehensum, saith one, contained in the Apostle’s Creed.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4 .] to Titus (see Prolegg. i.) my true (genuine, see on 1Ti 1:2 ) child according to (in respect of, or agreeably to, in conformity with the appointed spread and spiritually generative power of that faith) the common faith (common to us both and to all the people of God: hardly as Grot., ‘Judis, qualis Paulus, et Grcis qualis Titus:’ for there is no hint of such a distinction being brought out in this Epistle): grace and peace from God the Father (see on 1Ti 1:2 ), and Christ Jesus our Saviour (reff.).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Tit 1:4 . : See note on 1Ti 1:2 .
, like in 1Ti 1:2 , qualifies , but is less ambiguous than . It must not be restricted to a faith shared only by St. Paul and Titus; but, like the (Jud 1:3 ), it is common to all Christians who “have obtained a like precious faith with us” (2Pe 1:1 ).
. . .: See on 1Ti 1:2 .
: for the more usual , 1Ti 1:2 , 2Ti 1:2 . The Father and the Son are here co-ordinated as Saviours.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Tit 1:4
4To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Tit 1:4 “to Titus” This letter is addressed to Titus, but it was to be read publicly to all the house churches (cf. the plural of “you” of Tit 3:15). Titus was Paul’s faithful Gentile Apostolic legate. It is unusual that he is not named in Acts (see Introduction II. C.).
“my true child” Paul uses this same terminology for Timothy in 1Ti 1:2 and “my son” in 2Ti 1:2 of Onesimus in Phm 1:10. It is a familial metaphor for Paul’s converts and friends.
“in a common faith” “Common” is not used here with the connotation of unclean as in Act 10:14; Act 11:8, but in its connotation of universal or normal. A similar phrase is used in Jud 1:3. It is common in the sense that it is for all humans and available to all humans. This may be a direct antithesis to the false teachers’ elitism and exclusivism.
“Grace and peace from God the Father” These two terms often form Paul’s opening prayers. It is possible that “grace” (charis) is a wordplay on “greetings” (charein, cf. Jas 1:1; Act 15:23), the similar Greek word that opened most Greek letters. Paul takes the normal cultural opening, charein, and changes it to the uniquely Christian charis.
The term “peace” may reflect the common Hebrew greeting “Shalom.” If so, Paul combines both Greek and Hebrew greetings into one Christian greeting.
The Textus Receptus (cf. KJV) and the Greek manuscripts A, C2, and K, add “mercy” to grace and peace. This is probably an assimilation from 1Ti 1:2 and 2Ti 1:2. The shorter form is found in manuscripts , C*, D, F, G, and P as well as the Latin Vulgate. The UBS4 gives the shorter reading an “A” rating (certain).
For “Father” see Special Topic at 1Ti 1:2.
“Christ Jesus our Savior” This phrase links God the Father, YHWH of the OT, and Jesus the Messiah by the use of the term “Savior” (cf. Tit 1:3-4; Tit 2:10; Tit 2:13; Tit 3:4; Tit 3:6). It is used of God in Tit 1:3 and of Jesus in Tit 1:4. Using OT titles of God applied to Jesus was a common way for the NT authors to assert the deity of Jesus.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
mine own son. See 1Ti 1:2. mine own. App-175.
son = child. App-108.
common. Greek. koinos. Compare Act 2:44. as. Jud 1:3.
Grace, &c. See 1Ti 1:2. Figure of speech Synonymia. App-6.
from. App-104.
Father. App-98.
Lord. The texts omit.
Jesus Christ. The texts read “Christ Jesus”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
4.] to Titus (see Prolegg. i.) my true (genuine, see on 1Ti 1:2) child according to (in respect of, or agreeably to, in conformity with the appointed spread and spiritually generative power of that faith) the common faith (common to us both and to all the people of God: hardly as Grot., Judis, qualis Paulus, et Grcis qualis Titus: for there is no hint of such a distinction being brought out in this Epistle): grace and peace from God the Father (see on 1Ti 1:2), and Christ Jesus our Saviour (reff.).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Tit 1:4. , common) Otherwise Titus, who was born of Gentile parents, would fall short of 1
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Tit 1:4
to Titus, my true child after a common faith:-Paul had been instrumental in leading him to Christ and having thus been made a sharer of his faith. He was a faithful servant of God, and he calls him his true child after the faith common to all Christians. [Titus was a Gentile; and in common faith there is likely an allusion to the higher bond of unity by which this common faith in Christ bound them, though one was a Jew and the other a Gentile. (Gal 5:6; Col 3:11.)]
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.-Grace the favor and approbation of God, and peace, the consequence of this manifested favor of God, producing internal happiness, quietness, and assurance.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Saviour
(See Scofield Rom 1:16).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Titus: 2Co 2:13, 2Co 7:6, 2Co 7:13, 2Co 7:14, 2Co 8:6, 2Co 8:16, 2Co 8:23, 2Co 12:18, Gal 2:3
mine: 1Ti 1:1, 1Ti 1:2, 2Ti 1:2
the common: Rom 1:12, 2Co 4:13, 2Pe 1:1, Jud 1:3
Grace: Rom 1:7, Eph 1:2, Col 1:2, 1Ti 1:2, 2Ti 1:2
our: Tit 1:3, Luk 2:11, Joh 4:42, 2Pe 1:11, 2Pe 2:20, 2Pe 3:2, 2Pe 3:18, 1Jo 5:14
Reciprocal: Gen 43:14 – And God Act 5:31 – a Saviour Act 13:23 – raised 1Co 4:15 – for Gal 2:1 – Titus Gal 4:19 – little Eph 4:5 – one faith Phi 2:22 – as 1Ti 1:18 – son 1Ti 6:20 – avoiding 2Ti 1:10 – our 2Ti 4:10 – Titus Tit 3:6 – through Phm 1:10 – my son Phm 1:19 – how thou
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Tit 1:4. Titus was Paul’s son in the same sense as was Timothy (1Ti 1:2), and it was after (or according to) the common faith, which means the faith adapted to all people who will accept it. Paul expresses the familiar salutation that has been commented upon sufficiently before this.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Tit 1:4. Titus, called Pauls brother in 2Co 11:12, is here his legitimate son, as converted by him and sharing the same faith.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
To Titus, [mine] own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, [and] peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Titus means nurse or someone that is gentle. Now there are some that would argue that a nurse is always gentle, but NORMALLY they are and this would give insight into Titus character I would think.
Paul labels Titus as his son in the faith. “Son” can relate to a begotten son so this is a close relation that the two men had. It is seldom that this sort of relationship develops so if you have such a bond with another man, you should develop that friendship as much as you can. It will be beneficial to both of you.
Paul goes on to declare that they have a common faith. They have all things spiritual in common, and they are close as a father and a son. I suspect that the common faith is what brought the relationship into existence. It seems to me that oft times age disappears when spiritual things are common.
I fear this is one area of the church where we really fall short of what would be best. The aged have so much to teach the young and the young are not interested in listening to the old folks. In my mind there should be some planning along this line in churches today. The youth need to get to know some of the aged – they would find them more fascinating than they would expect, and all the while some of the wisdom might rub off.
A pastor from the Chicago area told me that his church put together a social time for the youth groups and the senior citizens. Both groups found it very enjoyable and the pastor said that the youth finally realized that the “white hairs” were people too. It was a grand success for the two groups and a great gain for the church.
“Grace” normally is defined as favor extended to one not worthy of favor. The word is used in that way but it is a much broader word. It can relate to enjoyment, of pleasure, of thanks and other variations. In this context I would guess Paul wanted to extend a greeting to Titus that would set him at ease as he started to read this letter.
It is seemingly a simple prayer verbalized, requesting that God would extend grace, mercy and peace to Titus in light of all that he had to do at Crete. Indeed, as the letter continues, it seems that Titus will need just these qualities from some source to work with the people he is going to be working with.
“Mercy” is to show kindness or goodness toward one that is afflicted. This should have encouraged Titus in light of coming verses. “Peace” would have added to this. Peace is that which is absent in wartime. Paul has just asked God to grant Titus mercy and peace – I have to wonder what Titus was thinking at this point in time.
Paul calls upon the Father as well as Christ for this assistance for the man he has set in charge in Crete. The term “Savior” is the Greek word from which we gain our theological term Soteriology, the study of salvation. Paul sets forth Christ as The Anointed one, as God – man, as the Lord, and as Savior. He is God, He is God’s Anointed One, He is Jesus born of Mary, He is Lord over all, and most of all He is Savior of all that will have Him as such.
A few further thoughts on the son aspect. There are some things that a Father ought to do for his son, either before the Lord or his son by birth. The parent will have a primary responsibility in all of these areas and may well become the spiritual aspect of his son’s life as well; however the person that leads another to the Lord has a responsibility to do as much as he can without causing interference in the true family relationship.
NURTURE: (Eph 6:4)
EDUCATION: (Deu 6:7)
DISCIPLINE: (Heb 12:5 ff)
ENJOY: (Psa 127:5 and others)
Don’t avoid this responsibility either in your physical children or in your spiritual children. Those you lead to Christ ought to be discipled and nurtured in their spiritual walk if at all possible. Imagine the joy Paul had knowing that this young upstart Titus was now trained and ready to minister to peoples needs. It must have been of great joy.
I have seen similar joy personally in a couple of men that I followed in their pulpits. It wasn’t because I had been trained by the men, but that I was going to be assisting in training people they had been teaching. Both had stepped out of their pulpits to retire, and they had left the church men to seek temporary assistance. I was called as interim. When I told one of the men that I was taking his old post he was overjoyed. The other man the first time I preached he was in attendance, he was beaming, amening, and was over joyed with the pick of his men. We should never be prideful over the training we give, but we can certainly take joy in knowing that we have.
The application that is present here is the free gift of salvation that brought Paul unto the Lord and then Titus. That same salvation is available to all that will accept it.
Many declare that they are happy and at peace without God, but I really do not believe that true peace and happiness can come without God. Peace is God’s gift to us as we accept Him.
Peace does not mean the super spiritual high with the ear to ear smile with pearly white teeth, but is the inner peace that allows us to go through all sorts of trials and problems with the assurance that God is with us and that He is caring for us.
We have been introduced to the main characters though some real characters are yet to be introduced. Paul the apostle has given a great responsibility to Titus – a responsibility to set a church in order.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
1:4 {4} To Titus, [mine] own son after the common faith: {5} Grace, mercy, [and] peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
(4) The apostle exhorts the Cretians to hear Titus, by setting forth his consent and agreement with them in the faith, and in addition shows by what special note we may distinguish true ministers from false.
(5) There is but one way of salvation, common both to the pastor and the flock.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
There is not enough information in the New Testament to clarify the sense in which Titus, like Timothy, was Paul’s "true child" (Gr. gnesio tekno) in the faith. Perhaps Paul had led him to Christ. [Note: William Barclay, The Letters of Timothy, Titus and Philemon, p. 265.] But the apostle had definitely taken him under his wing as a protégé. Paul made it clear to all readers that he regarded Titus, an uncircumcised Gentile, and himself, a Jew, as sharing the same faith.
Note the testimony to the deity of Christ that Paul gave by referring to both Christ Jesus and God the Father as "our Savior" (Tit 1:3-4).
"Here alone he [Paul] calls Christ soter, ’Savior,’ rather than kurios, ’Lord.’ It is as if he anticipates the two crucial theological arguments that undergird his ethical exhortations in chapters 2 and 3, in both of which Christ as Savior is at the center (Tit 2:13; Tit 3:6) as the one through whom God’s grace has come to save us and to instruct and enable us in living godly (Tit 2:11 ff.) and peaceful (Tit 3:1 ff.) lives." [Note: Knight, p. 286.]
"But both colliding and resonating with this story line was the religious-political discourse of Imperial Rome. At this point in time, the emperor freely took the title ’savior’ to himself. A Savior Christology, such as Paul constructs powerfully in this letter, would surely also level a subversive blow at this claim (cf. on 1Ti 6:14)." [Note: Towner, The Letters . . ., p. 676.]
"This theologically rich introduction to the Epistle to Titus moves in scope from Paul’s reflections on the sovereignty of God in human salvation to Paul’s role in achieving God’s purposes." [Note: Griffin, p. 274.]
"Although this theology is common in salutations, . . . it addresses specific issues in Crete, where Titus was dealing with a Jewish influence that most likely downplayed Christ (cf. Tit 1:10)." [Note: William D. Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, p. 383.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
; Tit 1:4
Chapter 18
Titus
HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER. – Tit 1:1; Tit 1:4
THE title “Pastoral Epistle” is as appropriate to the Epistle to Titus as to the First Epistle to Timothy. Although there is a good deal in the letter that is personal rather than pastoral, yet the pastoral element is the main one. The bulk of the letter is taken up with questions of Church doctrine and government, the treatment of the faithful members of the congregation and of the unruly and erring. The letter is addressed to Titus, not as a private individual, but as the delegate of the Apostle holding office in Crete. Hence, as in the First Epistle to Timothy, St. Paul styles himself an Apostle: and the official character of this letter is still further marked by the long and solemn superscription. It is evidently intended to be read by other persons besides the minister to whom it is addressed.
The question of the authenticity of the Epistle to Titus has already been in a great measure discussed in the first of these expositions. It was pointed out there that the external evidence for the genuineness in all three cases is very strong, beginning almost certainly with Clement of Rome, Ignatius, and Polycarp; becoming clear and certain in Irenaeus, and being abundant in Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian: Of the very few people who rejected them, Tatian seems to have been almost alone in making a distinction between them. He accepted the Epistle to Titus, while rejecting the two to Timothy. We may rejoice that Tatian, Marcion, and others raised the question. It cannot be said that the Churches accepted this Epistle without consideration. Those who possessed evidence now no longer extant were convinced, in spite of the objections urged, that in this letter and its two companions we have genuine writings of St. Paul.
With regard to modern objections, it may be freely admitted that there is no room in St. Pauls life, as given in the Acts, for the journey to Crete, and the winter at Nicopolis required by the Epistle to Titus. But there is plenty of room for both of these outside the Acts, viz., between the first and second imprisonment of the Apostle. And, as we have already seen good reason for believing in the case of 1 Timothy, the condition of the Church indicated in this letter is such as was already in existence in St. Pauls time; and the language used in treating of it resembles that of the Apostle in a way which helps us to believe that we are reading his own words and not those of a skilful imitator. For this imitator must have been a strange person; very skilful in some things, very eccentric in others. Why does he give St. Paul and Titus a work in Crete of which there is no mention in the Acts? Why does he make the Apostle ask Titus to meet him in Nicopolis, a place never named in connection with St. Paul? Why bracket a well-known person, like Apollos, with an utterly unknown person, such as Zenas? It is not easy to believe in this imitator.
Yet another point of resemblance should be noted. Here, as in 1 Timothy, there is no careful arrangement of the material. The subjects are not put together in a studied order, as in a treatise with a distinct theological or controversial purpose. They follow one another in a natural manner, just as they occur to the writer. Persons with their hearts and heads full of things which they wish to say to a friend, do not sit down with an analysis before them to secure an orderly arrangement of what they wish to write. They start with one of the main topics, and then the treatment of this suggests something else: and they are not distressed if they repeat themselves, or if they have to return to a subject which has been touched upon before and then dropped. This is just the kind of writing which meets us once more in the letter to Titus. It is thoroughly natural. It is not easy to believe that a forger in the second century could have thrown himself with such simplicity into the attitude which the letter presupposes.
It is not possible to determine whether this letter was written before or after the First to Timothy. But it was certainly written before the second to Timothy. Therefore, while one has no sufficient reason for taking it before the one, one has excellent reason for taking it before the other. The precise year and the precise place in which it was written, we must be content to leave unsettled. It may be doubted whether either the one or the other would throw much light on the contents of the letter. These are determined by what the Apostle remembers and expects concerning affairs in Crete, and not by his own surroundings. It is the official position of Titus in Crete which is chiefly before his mind.
Titus, as we learn from the opening words of the letter was, like Timothy, converted to Christianity by St. Paul. The Apostle calls him “his true child after a common faith.” As regards his antecedents he was a marked contrast to Timothy. Whereas Timothy had been brought up as a Jew under the care of his Jewish mother Eunice, and had been circumcised by St. Pauls desire, Titus was wholly a Gentile, and “was not compelled to be circumcised,” as St. Paul states in the passage in which he tells the Galatians {Gal 2:1-3} that he took Titus with him to Jerusalem on the occasion when he and Barnabas went thither seventeen years after St. Pauls conversion. Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem on that occasion to protect Gentile converts from the Judaisers, who wanted to make all such converts submit to circumcision. Titus and others went with them as representatives of the Gentile converts, and in their persons a formal protest was made against this imposition. It is quite possible that Titus was with St. Paul when he wrote to the Galatians; and if so this mention of him becomes all the more natural. We may fancy the Apostle saying to Titus, as he wrote the letter, “I shall remind them of your case, which is very much to the point.” Whether Titus was personally known to the Galatian Church is not certain: but he is spoken of as one of whom they have at any rate heard.
Titus was almost certainly one of those who carried the First Epistle to the Corinthian Church, i.e., the first of the two that have come down to us; and St. Paul awaited his report of the reception which the letter had met with at Corinth with the utmost anxiety. And he was quite certainly one of those who were entrusted with the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. St. Paul wrote the first letter at Ephesus about Easter, probably in the year 57. He left Ephesus about Pentecost, and went to Troas, where he hoped to meet Titus with news from Corinth. After waiting in vain he went on to Macedonia in grievous anxiety; and there Titus met him. He at once began the second letter, which apparently was written piece-meal during the journey; and when it was completed he sent Titus back to Corinth with it.
That Titus should twice have been sent as the messenger and representative of St. Paul to a Church in which difficulties of the gravest kind had arisen gives us a clear indication of the Apostles estimate of his character. He must have been a person of firmness, discretion, and tact. There were the monstrous case of incest, the disputes between the rival factions, contentions in public worship and even at the Eucharist, litigation before the heathen, and wild ideas about the resurrection, not to mention other matters which were difficult enough, although of a less burning character. And in all these questions it was the vain, fitful, vivacious, and sensitive Corinthians who had to be managed and induced to take the Apostles words (which sometimes were very sharp and severe) patiently. Nor was this all. Besides the difficulties in the Church of Corinth there was the collection for the poor Christians in Judea about which St. Paul was deeply interested, and which had not been progressing in Corinth as he wished. St. Paul was doubly anxious that it should be a success; first, because it proved to the Jewish converts that his interest in them was substantial, in spite of his opposition to some of their views; secondly, because it served to counteract the tendency to part asunder, which was manifesting itself between the Jewish and Gentile Christians. And in carrying out St. Pauls instructions about these matters Titus evidently had to suffer a good deal of opposition; and hence the Apostle writes a strong commendation of him, coupling him with himself in his mission and zeal. “Whether any inquire about Titus, he is my partner and my fellow-worker to you-ward.” “Thanks be to God, which putteth the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus. For indeed he accepted our exhortation; but being himself very earnest, he went forth unto you of his own accord.” With great delicacy the Apostle takes care that, in making it clear to the Corinthians that Titus has his full authority for what he does, no slight is cast upon Titus’s own zeal and interest in the Corinthians. “He is my representative; but he comes of his own free will out of love to you. His visit to you is his own doing; but he has my entire sanction. He is neither a mechanical delegate, nor an unauthorized volunteer.”
A curtain falls on the career of this valued helpmate of the great Apostle, from the time when he carried the second letter to Corinth to the time when the letter to himself was written. The interval was probably some eight or ten years, about which we know only one thing, that during it, and probably in the second half of it, the Apostle and Titus had been together in Crete, and Titus had been left behind to consolidate the Church there. The Acts tell us nothing. Probably Titus is not mentioned in the book at all. The reading “Titus Justus” in Act 18:7, is possibly correct, but it is far from certain: and even if it were certain, we should still remain in doubt whether Titus and Titus Justus are the same person. And the attempts which have been made to identify Titus with other persons in the Acts, such as Silvanus or Timothy, are scarcely worth considering. Nor has the conjecture that Titus is the author of the Acts (as Krenkel, Jacobsen, and recently Hooykaas in the “Bible for Young People” have suggested) very much to recommend it. The hypothesis has two facts to support it:
(1) the silence of the Acts respecting Titus, and
(2) the fact that the writer must have been a companion of St. Paul. But these two facts are equally favorable to the tradition that St. Luke was the author, a tradition for which the evidence is both very early and very abundant. Why should such a tradition yield to a mere conjecture?
One thing, however, we may accept as certain:-that the time when St. Paul was being carried a prisoner to Rome in an Alexandrian corn-ship which touched at Crete, was not the time when the Church in Crete was-founded. What opportunity would a prisoner have of doing any such work during so short a stay? Cretans were among those who heard the Apostles at Pentecost preaching in their own tongue the wonderful works of God. Some of these may have returned home and formed the first beginnings of a Christian congregation: and among imperfect converts of this kind we might expect to find the errors of which St. Paul treats in this Epistle. But we can hardly suppose that there was much of Christian organization until St. Paul and Titus came to the island after the Apostles first Roman imprisonment. And the necessity of having some one with a calm head and a firm hand on the spot, forced the Apostle to leave his companion behind him. The man who had been so successful in aiding him respecting the difficulties at Corinth was just the man to be entrusted with a somewhat similar but rather more permanent post in Crete. The Cretans were less civilized, but in their own way scarcely less immoral, than the Corinthians; and in both cases the national failings caused serious trouble in the Church. In both cases ecclesiastical authority has to be firmly upheld against those who question and oppose it. In both cases social turbulence has to be kept in check. In both cases there is a tendency to wild theological and philosophical speculations, and (on the part of some) to a bigoted maintenance of Jewish ordinances and superstitions. Against all these Titus will have to contend with decision, and, if need be, with severity.
The letter, in which directions are given for the carrying out of all this, is evidence of the great confidence which the Apostle reposed in him. One of those who had worked also in Corinth, is either already with him in Crete, or may soon be expected, Apollos, and with him Zenas. So that the Corinthian experience is doubly represented. Other helpers are coming, viz., Artemas and Tychicus; and, when they arrive, Titus will be free to rejoin the Apostle, and is to lose no time in doing so at Nicopolis.
One commission Titus has in Crete which very naturally was not given to him at Corinth. He is to perfect the organization of the Christian Church in the island by appointing elders in every city. And it is this charge among others which connects this letter so closely with the first to Timothy, which very likely was written about the same time.
Whether Titus was set free from his heavy charge in Crete in time to join St. Paul at Nicopolis, we have no means of knowing. At the time when the second letter to Timothy was written, Titus had gone to Dalmatia; but we are left in doubt as to whether he had gone thither by St. Pauls desire, or (like Demas in going to Thessalonica,) against it. Nor does it appear whether Titus had gone to Dalmatia from Nicopolis, which is not far distant, or had followed the Apostle from Nicopolis to Rome, and thence gone to Illyria. With the journey to Dalmatia our knowledge of him ends. Tradition takes him back to Crete as permanent bishop; and in the Middle Ages the Cretans seem to have regarded him as their patron saint.
The impression left upon our minds by the Acts is that St. Luke knew Timothy and did not know Titus: and hence frequently mentions the one and says nothing about the other. The impression left upon our mind by the mention of both in Pauls Epistles, and by the letters addressed to each, is that Titus, though less tenderly beloved by the Apostle, was the stronger man of the two. St. Paul seems to be less anxious about the conduct of Titus and about the way in which others will treat him. The directions as to his personal behavior are much slighter than in the case of Timothy. He seems to credit him with less sensitiveness and more decision and tact; perhaps also with less liability to be carried away by fanatical views and practices than the other.
Titus shares with Timothy the glory of having given up everything in order to throw in his lot with St. Paul, and of being one of his most trusted and efficient helpers. What that meant the Epistles of St. Paul tell us:-ceaseless toil and anxiety, much shame and reproach, and not a little peril to life itself. He also shares with Timothy the glory of being willing, when the cause required such sacrifice, to separate from the master to whom he had surrendered himself, and to work on by himself in isolation and difficulty. The latter was possibly the more trying sacrifice of the two. To give up all his earthly prospects and all the sweetness of home life, in order to work for the spread of the Gospel side by side with St. Paul, was no doubt a sacrifice that must have cost those who made it a great deal. But it had its attractive side. Quite independently of the beauty and majesty of the cause itself, there was the delight of being associated with a leader so able, so sagacious, so invigorating, and so affectionate as the Apostle who “became all things to all men that he might by all means save some.” Hard work became light, and difficulties became smooth, under the inspiriting sympathy of such a colleague. But it was quite another thing to have given up everything for the sake of such companionship and support, or at least in the full expectation of enjoying it, and then to have to undergo the hard work and confront the difficulties without it. The new dispensation in this respect repeats the old. Elisha leaves his home and his inheritance to follow Elijah, and then Elijah is taken from him. Timothy and Titus leave their homes and possessions to follow St. Paul, and then St. Paul sends them away from him. And to this arrangement they consented, Timothy, (as we know) with tears, Titus (we may be sure) with much regret. And what it cost the loving Apostle thus to part with them and to pain them we see from the tone of affectionate longing which pervades these letters.
The example set by both master and disciples is one which Christians, and especially Christian ministers, must from time to time need. Christ sent forth both the Twelve and the Seventy “two and two”; and what is true of mankind generally is true also of the ministry-“It is not good for man to be alone.” But cases often arise in which not more than one man can be spared for each post; and then those who have been all in all to one another, in sympathy and Counsel and cooperation, have to part. And it is one of the greatest sacrifices that can be required of them.
Paul and Timothy and Titus were willing to make this sacrifice; and it is one which Christs servants throughout all ages are called upon at times to make. Many men are willing to face, especially in a good cause, what is repulsive to them, if they have the company of others in the trial, especially if they have the presence and support of those whose presence is in itself a refreshment, and their support a redoubling of strength. But to enter upon a long and trying task with the full expectation of such advantages, and then to be called upon to surrender them, this is, indeed, a trial which might well make the weak-hearted turn back. But their devotion to their Lords work, and their confidence in his sustaining power, enabled the Apostle and his two chief disciples to make the venture; and the marvelous success of the Church in the age which immediately succeeded them, shows how their sacrifice was blessed. And we may be sure that even in this world they had their reward. “Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or lands, for My sake, and for the Gospels sake, but he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.”