Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Titus 3:1
Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
1 7. The duty of living in peace from a sense of God’s love and through the Spirit’s power
1. Put them in mind ] ‘Them’ must be ‘the Cretan Christians’ generally: St Paul is gathering all up in his mind for his final counsel. The verb for ‘put in mind,’ and its substantive, occur twice in St John, once in St Luke, but in St Paul only in the Pastoral Epistles three times; in St Peter’s Epistles three times; and once in St Jude’s. Joh 14:26 shews the full construction, accus. of person and of thing, ‘He shall bring all things to your remembrance.’ The A.V. in 3Jn 1:10, ‘I will remember his deeds,’ is surely in the old sense of ‘remember,’ which survives in our valedictory request ‘remember me to all your circle;’ R.V. ‘bring to remembrance,’ cf. note on the similar compound 2Ti 1:6.
to be subject to principalities and powers ] Rather, more fully as R.V. to be in subjection. Elsewhere in St Paul’s Epistles the phrase ‘principalities and powers’ refers to spiritual and angelic powers, good or evil, cf. 1Co 15:24; Eph 3:10; Col 1:16. But the word in its old sense (see Bible Word-Book, p. 477) was used of any ‘chief place,’ as in 2Ma 4:27 of the office of high priest. And the meaning here is the same as in the two places where it occurs in the Gospels, Luk 12:11, where our Lord prophesies that His disciples shall be brought before ‘the rulers and the authorities,’ and Luk 20:20, ‘so as to deliver him up to the rule and to the authority of the governor.’ There is not sufficient warrant for the connecting ‘and’ here; render to rulers to authorities. Both words illustrate the idiom ‘res pro persona.’ Vulg. ‘potestates’ from whence the Italian podest a magistrate. The difference between the two words is that the former expresses a governing de facto, whether also de jure or not, the latter a governing de jure, a duly constituted authority. ‘They who rule’ occurs with ‘the authorities’ in the locus classicus, Rom 13:1, where, however, R.V. has retained ‘power,’ apparently because from that passage the phrase ‘the powers that be’ has become an English household word in the sense of ‘lawful authority.’ The other household use of ‘powers’ in the phrase ‘The Great Powers,’ seems to belong rather to the synonym dynamis as expressing material force. In Mat 28:18 the change from ‘power’ to ‘authority’ in R.V. enhances the kingly office and prerogative.
to obey magistrates ] The word only occurs Act 5:29; Act 5:32; Act 27:21, where a dative follows; and so it may be here, if we join it with the preceding; but it seems more Pauline to add the verb absolutely. From note on Tit 2:5 we should expect it to differ from the preceding clause, in being more specific in its reference to the official system of government; render perhaps to obey their rules, ‘to obey state laws.’ Fairbairn refers to the earlier history of the island and a ‘known tendency on the part of the Cretans to insubordination and turmoil,’ quoting from Polybius vi. 46, ‘constantly upset by seditions and murders and tribal wars.’
to be ready to every good work ] This takes us on a step still further; first a general submission, then a loyal acceptance and execution of public orders, then the learning and labouring truly to get one’s own living and to do one’s duty, domestic, social and civil. That ‘the good work’ has such a reference is implied in Rom 13:3. The ‘ready’ is exactly ‘whatsover ye do, do it heartily unto the Lord,’ cf. Col 3:23. ‘The true workman never shirks when the overseer is not by; he has not one rule for work done for himself, and another for work done for his master. There is a work that is mean and pitiful; all grudging unwilling toil, all ‘scamped’ work, fair to the eye but second rate in reality, is mean and pitiful; it is like work done by the slave at the whip’s end, or like the labour of the convict in gaol; it is forced and unwelcome and as badly done as possible.’ M. A. Lewis, Faithful Soldiers and Servants, p. 58.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Put them in mind to be subject … – See the duty here enjoined, explained in the notes at Rom 13:1, following.
Principalities and powers – See these words explained in the notes at Rom 8:38. The word here rendered powers ( exousiais), is not, indeed, the same as that which is found there ( dunameis), but the same idea is conveyed; compare the notes at Eph 1:21.
To obey magistrates – That is, to obey them in all that was not contrary to the word of God; Rom 13:1 note, following; Act 4:19-20 notes.
To be ready to every good work – To be prepared for ( hetoimous); prompt to perform all that is good; Notes, Phi 4:8. A Christian should be always ready to do good as far as he is able. He should not need to be urged, or coaxed, or persuaded, but should be so ready always to do good that he will count it a privilege to have the opportunity to do it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Tit 3:1-2
Put them in mind to be subject
Obedience to civil magistrates
I.
Who are to be understood by civil rulers. All those who are in the peaceable possession of civil power.
II. It is the duty of subjects to obey their civil rulers.
1. The Scripture expressly enjoins this duty upon subjects.
2. The duty of submission naturally results from the relation which subjects bear to their rulers. There would be no propriety in calling the body of the people subjects, unless they were under obligation to obey those in the administration of government.
3. All subjects ought to obey their rulers for the sake of the public good.
III. Ministers ought to inculcate such submission to civil magistrates.
1. Preachers are expressly required to press this plain and important duty upon the people of their charge.
2. It becomes the preachers of the gospel, in this case, to fellow the example of the inspired teachers–John the Baptist, Christ, etc.
3. It no less belongs to the office of gospel ministers to teach men their duty towards civil rulers than to teach them any other moral or religious duty.
4. There are some peculiar reasons why the duty of submission to civil authority should be more especially inculcated upon the minds of subjects.
(1) Men are extremely apt to forget that they are under any moral obligation to obey the rulers of the land.
(2) There is scarcely any duty more disagreeable to the human heart than submission to civil government.
(3) The safety and happiness of the whole body politic more essentially depend upon each members performing this, than any other duty. Where there is no subordination, there can be no government; and where there is no government, there can be no public peace nor safety.
Concluding reflections:
1. There is no ground to complain of the ministers of the gospel for inculcating political duties.
2. There appears to be no more difficulty in determining the measure of submission to civil government than the measure of submission to any other human authority.
3. It is extremely criminal to disobey civil rulers, and oppose the regular administration of government.
4. It is criminal not only to disobey and resist civil authority, but also to countenance, cherish, and inflame a spirit of disobedience and rebellion.
5. Those in executive authority are under indispensable obligation to give rebels and traitors a just recompense of reward. They are Gods ministers to execute wrath upon them that do evil; and they ought not to hold the sword of justice in vain. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
The Christians loyalty to secular government
I. Its nature.
1. Subjection to the general government.
2. Obedience to the local authorities.
3. Readiness to help the government in times of emergency.
4. Carefulness in respect to the reputation of their fellow citizens.
5. Peaceful and order-loving.
II. Its reasons.
1. The spiritual change wrought upon believers.
2. Some blessed features of the source of this change.
(1) Its graciousness.
(2) Its method.
(3) Its abundance.
(4) Its justifying power.
(5) Its benefits and tendency.
Lessons:
1. The superiority of Christianity.
(1) The best thing for the State.
(2) The best thing for individuals.
(3) The best thing for the family.
2. The unmistakable evidences of the Divine origin of Christianity.
(1) In its love of man.
(2) In its legitimate effects on man and on society. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
The subjects duty
I. The manner of propounding the counsel. Titus is here enjoined two things:
1. To call back into their minds an old doctrine–not what they had newly learned since their becoming Christians, but what nature and reason had taught them long before.
2. To inculcate, or beat often upon this point.
(1) Because men generally are ambitious of liberty, unwilling, if lust or pride of heart be listened to, to be subject to any yoke, whether of God or man; ever ready to think one man as good as another, and with Korah to suggest that every Moses and Aaron takes too much upon him.
(2) Because the dispersed Jews (of whom there was no small number at that time in Crete) stood very much upon temporal privileges; as upon Abraham, the temple, the law, etc. And ever loath they were to stoop to the authority of the Gentiles.
(3) Because the Christians at that time, both of Jews and Gentiles, stood as much upon spiritual privileges, not thinking it sufficient to be set free from the thraldom of Satan, and bondage of sin, and so to be made spiritual kings unto God and the Lamb; unless by a boundless (Christian) liberty, as they supposed, they might be at their own hands to do as they listed.
II. The substance of the precept itself.
1. The duties required.
(1) By subjection is meant honour, reverence, and respect to the persons whom God has set in authority over us.
(2) By obedience is meant a free voluntary readiness of mind to yield to, and to execute whatsoever lawful command of a superior. Where there is conscience of subjection, there will be cheerfulness in obedience.
2. The second considerable in the substance of the precept is
(1) The persons to whom these duties belong, namely, to all magistrates, which are here distributed into two ranks, principalities, powers. By the former we understand such who have primary and plenary power under God, and by this their proper power and authority have an absolute command within their several dominions; such are Caesars, kings, and chief governors in free states. The latter signifieth such as exercise delegated authority, that is, hold from those higher powers; and such are all inferior officers, whether in Church or State, who have no authority to act in any public business, but what they receive from the supreme magistrate.
2. The persons from whom these dues are to be paid. This is soon decided. The persons solvent, are all Christians in general, without any exception, but of the supreme magistrate himself, clergy as well as laity–all who are under authority. The apostle includes all in the word , put them in mind, that is, all inferiors. Every soul must be subject to the higher powers. Having thus far explained the subject matter of the apostles command,
I proceed to the observations arising out of it.
1. Christian religion destroys not government or civil authority but ratifieth and confirmeth it.
2. The kingdom of Christ is not of this world, His authority divideth not civil inheritances, His sceptre swalloweth not up (as did Aarons rod the others) the sceptre of worldly monarchs. His weapons are not carnal; the keys of His kingdom are no temporal jurisdiction.
3. One ordinance of God doth not abolish another. The laws of Christ in His Church bring not in lawlessness into the Commonwealth; nor is God the God of order in the first, and the Author of confusion in the latter. For one ordinance of God to destroy another would argue want of wisdom in God, the Ordainer. The very thought thereof is blasphemous. Nay, on the contrary, for the Churchs sake (which He loveth) He keepeth order, and maintains government in commonwealths, that His Church, whilst it is agathering in the world, might find safe harbour therein; that this dove of Christ might have a place where to set without danger the sole of her foot. (John Cleaver, M. A.)
Ministers remembrancers
1. The scope of the ministry is to put men in mind, and keep in them the remembrance of every Christian duty. Thus, ministers may be called the Lords remembrancers, not only for putting the Lord in mind of His covenant towards His people, and of the peoples wants, but also that they must not be silent, but restless in whetting the doctrine of God, legal and evangelical upon the people, and so be ever putting them in mind of their covenant and duty unto God. Paul acknowledged himself such a remembrancer (Rom 15:15).
2. None is so far instructed, but is wanting much in knowledge, and much more in the cheerful practice of that which he knoweth; and therefore every one hath need of quickening and stirring up.
3. None are so strong but they stand in need of this confirmation, as well as the former quickening, neither can any caution or any admonition be too much in things of such moment.
4. No mans memory is so sound, but as out of a leaking vessel good things are ever running out; and when such things are slipt away, they had need be renewed and recalled again.
(1) Ministers must not desist from teaching and exhorting, as many that think a little enough; nor discouraged when people forget their wholesome doctrine; but encourage themselves in their duty, which is to keep in mens memories the mindfulness of their duties.
(2) When they come to teach, they may not seek out vain and strange speculations, which were never heard of before, but teach plain things, yea, and deep mysteries in plain manner, as such who respect the weakness both of the apprehension and memory of their hearers.
(3) An wholesome thing it is to teach the same things often, whereby things delivered are recalled into the memory. Curious men cannot abide repetitions, nor hear common things, notwithstanding these be excellent helps of memory, which is the cause of such gross and everywhere palpable ignorance in the most familiar principles of religion. But the wisdom of godly teachers will be not too much to yield unto the niceness of their hearers; nor to fear to do that which is the safest for them, as Paul speaketh; which if it be, let it be to us what it will or can, it will be our part that by our practice they may find the profit. We learn hence, also, what it is that should profess and take up the memories of Christians, namely, those lessons of Christianity which they hear in the ministry.
For
1. The commandment must be bound up upon our hearts, and we ought to make our memories the statute book of our souls, and by diligent meditation, chain this book unto ourselves (Pro 4:21).
2. Herein standeth the sanctity of the memory, partly by retaining the rules of life, and partly in presenting and offering them unto the mind upon occasion of practice, both to direct and urge the conscience to obedience. Thus David hid the Word in his heart, the blessed fruit of which was that he did not sin against God; and indeed holy memory preserveth the holiness of the whole man.
3. Forgetfulness of the Word is everywhere in the Scriptures taxed as a grievous and hateful sin: Be not forgetful hearers, deceiving your own selves, saith James; Have you forgotten how I fed so many thousand, etc., saith Christ to the disciples; and the author to the Hebrews, Have ye forgotten the exhortation? (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Subjection to civil rulers
I. Public authority presupposed.
II. Subjection and obedience enjoined. Put them in mind to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work–intimating to us that we must show our obedience by our ready compliance in good works; for if the magistrate command what is evil, there is no obligation to perform it, because nothing can oblige us to do evil. But what if the thing commanded be neither good nor evil, but of an indifferent nature; what must we do in that case? Why then we must undoubtedly obey it; for otherwise there will be nothing left wherein the magistrate may use his power. What is good or evil in itself must be done or avoided for Gods sake. What is not so in itself, but only in regard of the end for which it is enacted, being judged so by the magistrate for the good of the community, this must be observed, both for Gods sake and his too, because God requires our obedience to Him in these things, But what then becomes of our liberty, if another must judge for us? It is where it was before; we must obey, and yet we are as free as Christ hath made us; nay, I doubt not to add, we are most Christs freemen when we duly obey our governors just laws; for seeing Christ hath commanded us to be subject not only for wrath, but for conscience sake, that so we may avoid the guilt of sin, that obedience which keeps us from sin (which is the only vassalage of a Christian) can by no means infringe, but does rather advance our Christian liberty.
III. The duty of pastors and teachers inculcated. Put them in mind, admonish them often of it, and bring it to their remembrance, as St. Peter does twice together in another case (2Pe 1:12-13).
1. Let us consider that obedience to magistrates is a prime duty of piety and religion, wherein the honour and authority of God are particularly concerned; not only because He requires it by manifold precepts, but because magistrates are His officers and ministers, by whom He governs the world and administers His providence towards men, and to whom He has given part of His own power for that purpose.
2. The exigence of our civil affairs, and the preservation of the public does exact this duty from us. For the execution of justice between man and man, the safe and quiet enjoyment of Gods blessings, and the welfare and peace of the whole community, are extremely concerned and advanced by it.
3. Obedience to our governors is founded on the highest equity and reason; for day by day we receive invaluable benefits by the influence of their government and conduct; protection of our lives and estates, of our privileges, properties, and religion; secure possession of the gifts of God, and liberty to increase our substance by trade and traffic, and to eat the fruit of our labour, etc.
4. Obedience to our governors is a duty incumbent on us in point of ingenuity and gratitude. For in preserving the peace and prosperity of the nation, they do not only preserve ours, but for our advantage also they undergo many cares and troubles, great toil and labour, attending continually for this very thing (Rom 13:6).
5. No man can disobey his governors without breaking the most sacred laws of justice and honesty; without downright perjury towards God, and perfidiousness towards man. (Henry Dove, D. D.)
Duty
I. In relation to civil government.
1. Mans social tendencies indicate it.
2. Mans social exigencies indicate it.
II. In relation to general society.
1. Usefulness.
2. Charitableness.
3. Courteousness
III. In relation to our moral self. It is a duty which every man owes to himself, to remember all the wrong of his past life
1. That he may be charitable towards others.
2. That he may be stimulated to efforts of self-improvement.
3. That he may adore the forbearance of God in His past dealings.
4. That he may devoutly appreciate the morally redemptive agency of Christ.
5. That he may realise the necessity of seeking the moral restoration of others.
Lessons:
1. The possibility of the moral improvement of souls.
2. The obligation to the moral improvement of souls. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The authority of law
I. Law is of God. Therefore godly men are obedient to human laws, when not inconsistent with the dictates of conscience, as being ordinances of God.
II. Authority is derived from God. Therefore righteous lawgivers and just judges are to be esteemed as Gods gifts to a nation.
III. Obedience to law an essential preparation for good works. No amount of religious profession, and no degree of activity in the performance of Christian duties, can compensate for the neglect of social duties or disregard of the claims of citizenship. (F. Wagstaff.)
The Christian citizen
1. Individual excellence is what makes national strength. St. Paul tells Titus that he must preach personal purity, obedience, and peace to all the citizens around him.
2. Charity to others is best promoted by an honest consideration of what we are ourselves. No man, who is conscientious, can fail to remember many a mean act he has during his life committed.
3. The apostle tells Titus that he will make the better citizen the oftener he recalls to mind how much he owes, and must forever owe, to sovereign grace, as a child of God and an heir of heaven. People nowadays are excessively diffident in attributing their successes or their virtues to their piety. Yet now and then the world will find it out for itself. Havelocks men in campaigns wrote their record by their prayers as well as by their prowess.
4. The apostle adds a lesson for Titus about his preaching, which every Christian, trying to instruct others, might lay well to heart; namely, that the best of all teaching in truth is the teaching of a true life. He tries to lead him away from mere formulas, and force him to deal with real things in a real way for greatest good. After the first phase of Christian life, remarks Merle dAubigne, in which a man thinks only of Christ, there usually ensues a second, when the Christian will not voluntarily worship with assemblies opposed to his personal convictions. That is a gentle way of saying that, after a new convert cools a little in piety, he takes a time of becoming denominational and belligerent. Perhaps the Apostle Paul imagined Titus was going to do that, and so told him he had better not. If there be any truth in the line, The child is father of the man, it is manifest most plainly in religious life. The young believer perpetuates himself in the old. Maurice, son of William the Silent, at the age of seventeen, took for his device a fallen oak, with a young sapling springing from its root; to this he gave the motto, Tandem fit surculus arbor, The sapling will by and by become a tree. It seems very trite to write all that out soberly; but really it is a thing most unfortunately forgotten. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
Civil duties
The rule of Rome, which then lay upon all those lands in which the gospel was being preached, was a rule which rested on the sword. Everywhere ancient nations had been subjugated, venerable thrones had been overturned, the freedom of commonwealths, jealous of their independence, had been ruthlessly suppressed; and, although it was the policy of Rome to leave the old forms of administration untouched wherever possible, it was of course as impossible to conceal from the conquered peoples the degrading tokens of their subjection, as it is for us to do so in our Indian Empire. Roman troops sentinelled the palaces where Roman proconsuls sat in the seats of dethroned kings; Roman judges administered the law; writs ran in the Roman tongue; oaths were sworn to the Roman Caesar; taxes were paid in Roman coin. The military power which imposed such subjection upon haughty and once mighty nations was at the best a heavy yoke. The imperial laws were on the whole just, but they were stern and could be mercilessly enforced. Nor were the imperial courts above the imputation of corruption. The imposts were very heavy. Provincial governors were usually rapacious. The provincial revenues were drained off to feed the monstrous dissipation of the capital. For the most part, therefore, the provinces groaned beneath a burden which the strongest of them was unable to shake off, but which was enough to goad the most passive into turbulence. It was into a society thus honeycombed with political disaffection, and ready at every point to burst into revolt, that Christianity entered with its new conceptions of human dignity and spiritual freedom. Its entrance could not fail to add to the ferment. It quickened in mens minds that sense of injustice which oppression breeds. It deepened their irritation at the insolence and wrong doing of the dominant race. It produced a longing for the happier era when the kingdom of God, which they had received into their hearts, should be also a kingdom of social equity and brotherhood. Hence it became an urgent duty with the leaders of the young society to warn their converts against political restlessness. Do as they might, the Christians could hardly hope, under a government like Neros, to escape suspicion. They were pretty certain to be reckoned among the dangerous forces in a community which heaved with discontent. But to do anything to encourage such suspicion, or afford the authorities a pretext for repression, would have been foolish as well as wrong; for it would have compromised the gospel at its outset by mixing it up in matters with which the gospel has nothing directly to do. Indirectly, no doubt, the new faith was sure to affect in the long run political affairs, as it affects every province of human life. No community of brave men who are animated by the lessons of Christianity will always sit still, contented in a condition of vassalage. The gospel has proved herself the mother of freedom. The most resolute and successful resistance that has ever been offered to arbitrary power has been offered by men whom the truth had made free, and who carried their Bible beneath the same belt to which they buckled their sword. But personal and political liberty is a secondary effect of the gospel, after it has penetrated the structure of society and has had time to reform nations on its own lines. For the individual convert in the age of Paul to revolt against the emperor or to run away from his master, would have been to misrepresent his faith to his contemporaries. The question at what time or in what way a Christian state is justified in deposing its tyrant, in order to organise itself as a free commonwealth, is a question which, as it concerns the Christian community and not the individual merely, so it can only arise under a different condition of things altogether. What the gospel enjoins upon private citizens, so long as governments stand and a successful resistance by the people at large is out of the question, is–submission. They are to discern underlying all authority, so long as it is legitimate, a Divine ordinance, and to render such obedience as is due to the magistrate within his proper sphere, not merely through dread of consequences, but still more for the sake of a good conscience towards God. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)
Christians should be taught good citizenship
the schools should teach the children that their first duty and highest privilege is to become good citizens; and a good citizen, be he cobbler or manufacturer, tailor or senator, upholsterer or cabinet officer, will never condescend to become an incompetent or unworthy member of the community. Were all the boys and girls to leave school fully imbued with this knowledge, the country would be safe; the political firmament would be sustained upon shoulders firmer than those of Atlas, and its stars would shine with ever-increasing number and brilliancy. The third and highest form of spiritual power is moral and religious. Give me leave simply to state my belief that the only solid basis for an enduring nation is the Rock of Ages. Any other foundation is unstable and insecure as the sands of the seashore. Let the tower be built in obedience to Gods laws, and it will reach unto heaven, the children of men will reunite in permanent harmony, science and religion will coincide, and the one universal speech will be of Gods Word written on the sun, moon, and stars, on the solid earth itself, and in the gospel. (Professor B. Pierce.)
Honouring authority
It was held in the olden time, but is not now, that authority came from God to the king, and then descended, in the form of law, from the king to the people. We have turned that theory bottom side up, although there are texts of Scripture which run that way. Now we find no difficulty in this land, since we are republicans, in jumping those texts. Honour the king, meant honour the king; but we say, Yes, honour authority; and the king represents authority. So we bridge the difficulties without much trouble. When the people have committed their interests to the hands of individuals, they are justly jealous, because they have seen that human nature is fragile timber, like the slender supports of a bridge over which too much must not go, or it will break down under the pressure; properly, there is a wise watchfulness of those who are empowered to execute the law, and to represent, in the various spheres of magistracy, from the lowest to the highest, the will and interests of a great people; but the untaught and unbalanced way in which men exercise this proper watchfulness leads–somewhat in connection with the other things of which I have spoken–to what amounts to almost a universal suspicion. If there is one corrupt judge on the bench, ten judges suffer. If there is one bad senator, the whole senate suffers. If there are a score of purchaseable legislators, then the whole legislature suffers. There is no discrimination made in that matter. Our people have come to look upon those who are entrusted with power as being suspicious persons. The way men get that power rather tempts to this injustice. The rude and mischievous ways of partisans tend to inimical feeling in this same sphere. Men and brethren, do you ever reflect that he that hauls down a magistrate, except where there is absolute and assignable evidence of corruption; that he that deteriorates the authority of a judge; that he that takes from the responsibility and respectability of the representatives of the people, or of the members of the general government, or of governors; that he that makes an assault upon them which shall lower the respect and confidence of the community for them, is striking at the whole system of law and government? Worse than that, it is a blow aimed at the faith of whole classes of men in virtue, in patriotism, and in integrity. A class of men has grown up–and is growing up continually, with the spectacle before them, on every side, of rude and unjust criticisms and depreciations–who say that everybody is selfish, and that nobody but illusionists suppose that there is any such thing as a disinterested service of ones country. I am ashamed to see so many young men growing up with the feeling that heroism of patriotism is unknown except as a poetic adornment, or a mere spangle on the dress of pretentious patriots. (H. W. Beecher.)
The Christian citizen
The civic virtues planted and fostered by Christianity are a theme interesting and profitable for study. One of the credentials of its Divine origin is its usefulness for this world. Finding mankind individually and socially disordered, and full of painful suffering in consequence, it is an antiseptic, arresting deadly processes, a balm, full of gentle healing, and a tonic which strengthens every manly purpose, and enters integrally into all true life of the state. It first purifies and exalts, then it directs, though using only moral forces.
I. Christians must be loyal subjects to government, ready for every good work. They must be often reminded of the obedience due to principalities, powers, and magistrates. The essential excellence and authority of human law can best be understood and appreciated by those who know the worth and heed the claims of the Divine. They know that the fabric of society is in some true sense a Divine institution. But, you say, government is corrupt, and God cannot be the author of political corruption. Very true, but the whole idea and framework of government is not corrupt. There is a sum of truth underlying the simple fact of government which is entitled to respect. Abuses should be keenly recognised, but remedies should be sought for them not by angry assault or disgusted contempt or sullen neglect. In healing the body politic, the laws of life must be respected, and employed as patiently and intelligently as when the physical body is to be healed. The practical side of Christianity in such teaching is specially timely and important today. Monetary values, domestic peace and security, time-honoured institutions, received ideas and principles, are assailed by influences and methods before which the wise, the good, and the strong well may stand somewhat in dread, if not in awe. What shall save the fairest portions of earth from such refluent waves of barbarism? The gospel is the only complete remedy. Bayonets and grapeshot may quell a temporary demonstration; but the only effectual cure is in that respect for government which Paul learned of Jesus Christ, and which Christian experience alone can fully understand. Then faithful reconstruction is possible by methods constructive, not destructive, in a spirit reverent to the essential dignity and claims of government. The Christian is not unmindful of the ills of the world, nor is he careless about their remedy. He is a man of affairs. He neither ignores nor scorns nor idly dreams about the ravages of sin wherever manifest. He deliberately and boldly grapples with them, but he uses methods which respect the laws of life and healing, laws written in the nature of things and the will of God. He knows meekness is compatible with manliness. The meek man thrusts no one aside, frowns not upon the humblest, but lives in abiding consciousness of the wants, powers, and claims of others. When this is the spirit of the world, there will be no more riots, forcible levies, assassinations; and it is only by cultivating this and kindred virtue, in the spirit of the gospel, that the worlds peace will be secured.
II. What are the motives and considerations upon which the apostle rests these urgent instructions? Not, as we might have expected, because such walk and conversation were useful and becoming, but he points (Tit 3:3-7) to the sad degradation of their own past lives, full of the opposites of all Christian virtues–foolishness, disobedience, lustful pleasures, malice, envy, and hatreds. From these they have just escaped; they must pity the moral ruin which stains and disables those yet blinded. He adduces a yet stronger consideration–their difference is all a pure gift, through the kindness and love of God our Saviour. Out of such experience, all the more because it is exalted and refined, Paul admonishes to the most practical and assiduous performance of Christian duty under the general name of good works. In these instructions to Titus, Paul was in full sympathy with the gospel in our Lords time, in all time. Let us note the practical workings of Christianity for the individual and the state.
1. Christianity is the only source and safeguard of lasting patriotism. Patriotism is more than aroused sensibility, or quickened emotions, however worthy. There must be loyalty to principles, and those principles take root in the teachings of Him who valued humanity not by its degradation, but by its possibilities, who revealed the law of self-sacrifice, and who enforced all his precepts by a corresponding life of voluntary humiliation and unfailing service.
2. Organised and efficient philanthropy is unknown apart from Christianity. Man is not by nature wholly regardless of the sufferings and wants of his fellow men; but sinful practices soon blunt and disable humane promptings.
3. Christianity promotes harmony, and the best conditions of growth in society and the state. Intelligence is also an incident to the prevalence of the gospel; and before it, the dark vagaries of demagogues and fanatics appear in their repulsive deformity. Patience and forbearance with those who oppose themselves are essential conditions of prosperous life in all circles from the neighbourhood to the republic. These virtues are permanently active only when inspired by Christian benevolence. Charity suffereth long and is kind. In short, Christian doctrines and institutions are the foundation of all public utilities and perpetuity. (Monday Club Sermons.)
Ready to every good work
Christian duty
I. Every Christian must make account with himself that every Christian duty belongs to Him.
1. This doctrine first teacheth us to learn the rule of every good work, legal or evangelical. Content not thyself that thou canst say the commandments, nor if thou canst say that thou hast kept the whole letter of the law from thy youth; but study the whole Scripture, which is an exposition and large commentary of those ten words; hear it, read it diligently, meditate upon it, apply it to thy heart and life, else knowest thou not how to begin any good work.
2. If every good work belong to every Christian then may not men post over the matter to the minister. The common conceit is, that the clergy should be holy, hospitable, and so qualified as we have heard in the first chapter; but for common men and unlearned it will be acceptable enough if they be almost Christians, that is, as good as never a whir; whereas the Lord bindeth upon every Christian, of what condition soever, the practice of every good work which is offered him within the compass of his calling.
3. If a Christian must employ himself in every good work, then must men so cast and contrive their courses, and neither duties of piety hinder the duties of their calling, nor these stand in the way of the other. And he that hath the heart of the wise to know time and judgment, forecasteth both wisely, and knoweth one of these to be subordinate, but not opposite unto the other. Hence must Christians forecast, and remember the Sabbath beforehand, and so order and husband their times and seasons, that there may be place and time and opportunity for every good work in the weekday, and especially for the best works, whether public exercises of religion or private prayers and exercises in the family.
II. That every Christian ought to keep in himself a fitness and readiness to every good work is plain in the Scriptures. For
1. In duties of piety, we are enjoined not only to come to the house of God, but to take heed to our feet, and to wash our hands in innocency before we compass the altar, and first to sanctify ourselves before God and reconcile ourselves to men, and then bring our gift. If we preach, we must do it readily, and of a ready mind, and then we have reward. If you hear, you must be wise to hear, and ready to hear, rather than to offer a sacrifice of fools.
2. In performance of duties of love and mercy unto men, we are called to readiness in distributing (1Ti 6:18), and mindfulness to distribute (Heb 13:16).
3. In private duties, when God giveth us peace and opportunity, we must serve Him with cheerfulness and good hearts (Deu 28:47).
4. In private injuries, we must be ready to receive, yea, to offer reconciliation, and to forgive, which is another good work, and so in the rest. Reasons
1. We herein become like unto God, whose nature is to accommodate Himself to our good; whose readiness to give bountifully and forgive freely is hereby shadowed.
2. Hereby we also beautify, and as it were gild our duties, when they come off without delays, without grudging, murmuring, or heaviness, but am from men inured to well-doing.
3. Hereby we may lay hold of Christian consolation, in that this ready and willing mind is accepted, where often power of doing good is wanting, and indeed the regenerate often want power and ability unto good, but to want will and desire is dangerous.
III. Some rules of practice for the better setting us forward in this duty.
1. Get into thy soul the conscience of this commandment, accounting it worthy of all thine obedience, being so often urged in the Scriptures, and made in the end of the former chapter, the end of Christs purchasing of us. This reason drawn from the fear of God prevailed so far with Job, that thence he was moved to use mercifulness to all sorts of men; for Gods punishment was fearful unto me, and I could not escape His highness.
2. Take every opportunity of well-doing while it is offered, for else the opportunity may be cut off from thee, or thou from it. This is the apostles rule, While we have time do good unto all (Gal 6:10), that is, take the present occasion of doing all the good thou canst.
(1) In regard of thyself, perform the principal and main duty, know the day of thy visitation; slack not this thy term time, but get the oil of faith, knowledge of God, and obedience to His Word, that thy lamp may ever be shining to the glorifying of the Father which is in heaven; in one word, forget not while thou hast time to give all diligence to make thine election sure.
(2) In regard of others, if now thou canst do them good in soul or body, delay it not. Say not unto thy neighbour, go, and come again tomorrow, and I will give thee, if now thou hast it (Pro 3:28); and what knoweth any man, whether this may be the last day wherein he can do good to himself or others?
3. Go yet one step further, to seek and watch occasions of doing good, and be glad when thou hast obtained them, that so thou mayest ever be furthering thy reckoning. We read of the patriarchs, Abraham and Lot, how they sat at their doors watching to entertain strangers, that they espied them afar off, ran out to meet them, and most earnestly entreated them to abide and refresh themselves; show thyself herein the son of Abraham. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Christian usefulness
I. The course specified. Every good work. Every department of religion may be so denominated, repentance, faith, restitution, obedience, prayer, praise.
1. There is the work of mercy to the bodies of our fellow men. Our fires will burn brighter, our clothes be warmer, our food sweeter, our slumbers more refreshing, if we tread in the steps of the blessed Jesus, who went about doing good.
2. There is the good work of compassion to the souls of our fellow men. How many are ignorant and out of the way. What can we do to win souls to Christ?
3. There is the good work of affection and kindness to the household of faith.
II. The direction given.
1. The qualification, Be ready.
(1) That we have the disposition. Naturally, we have not the disposition. But the grace of God always imparts it. If the heart be good, then we shall have dispositions of goodness.
(2) That we do good cheerfully. That it is not our burden. Not a sacrifice. Not a painful, but easy yoke.
(3) It is to do good promptly. To be ready. To be at the call. Everything nearly depends upon being in season.
(4) Includes perseverance. Never to wish to cease, till the Saviour says it is enough.
2. The extent of the direction. Be ready to every good work. As you have ability and opportunity.
3. The motives which should influence us.
(1) Our religion is emphatically one of goodness. It allows of nothing malignant, or malevolent, even to enemies.
(2) Our spiritual improvement is connected with it. It is by acting that we are conformed to Christ.
(3) Our happiness is inseparably connected with it. It is heaven on earth. The joy of angels, felt and realised by man.
(4) Our future amount of glory is connected with it. We are to be judged by our work, not by our faith, gifts, etc.
Application
1. Urge on the unregenerate the work of repentance.
2. Urge believers to be ready, etc. (J. Burns, D. D.)
To the active Christian
I. The course of action enjoined.
1. Good works to the bodies of others.
2. Good works to the souls of others.
3. Good works to the Christian Church.
II. The qualifications supposed.
1. Cheerfulness.
2. Promptitude.
3. Perseverance.
4. Catholicity.
III. The motives.
1. The genius of our religion.
2. The example of Christ.
3. Personal improvement.
4. Future reward of grace. (G. Brooks.)
Readiness to good works explained and recommended
I. What this advice implies. To be ready is to be prepared, by laying a proper foundation in ourselves for doing good works. And this must be by the attainment of Divine knowledge and grace.
1. Knowledge is first necessary. Ignorance unfits and hinders many from doing good works. They know not the nature of good works, their necessity, that without them faith is dead, their utility, amiable character, the will of God on this subject, nor how they may perform their duty in this respect.
2. By the attainment of grace (2Co 9:8), pardoning grace; a consciousness of guilt burdening and discouraging the mind, and hindering good works; renewing grace; only a good tree bringeth forth good fruit; strengthening grace; enabling us to break, or shake off, the fetters of sin, which incapacitate us to do the will of God.
II. The importance of being thus ready. The glory of God is herein greatly concerned (Mat 5:16; Joh 15:8; Php 1:11). God is glorified by our holy tempers and heavenly affections, but especially by our substantial, good, and useful works. Great credit and honour is thus brought to the gospel. These things are profitable to men, by lessening their miseries, or preventing or enabling them to obtain happiness. Our own good is involved herein. It is an evidence of our sincerity, and of the genuineness of our religion, to ourselves and others; an evidence of our repentance, faith, hope, love, our justification, regeneration, and growth in grace. Our own peace of mind, as well as our religious character, is involved in this point. It is the means of exercising our grace and gifts, and thereby retaining them (Mat 13:12; Joh 15:2).
III. The means to be used in order that this advice may be complied with. The Word of God is the chief means of knowledge and of grace, whereby we may have the preparation, inclination, and ability mentioned above for every good work (2Ti 3:15-17). This must be heard, read, searched, and diligently studied. It must also be received in faith and love, be obeyed in an humble and submissive spirit, through the influence and succour of the Holy Spirit (2Co 9:8). This Spirit must be sought in sincere, fervent, and importunate prayer, without which we shall not possess either the right disposition, or sufficient ability to do good works. Christian fellowship is a further means. We must exhort one another daily (Heb 10:25), and take example from such as appear, or have appeared, eminent in usefulness. (J. Benson.)
To speak evil of no man
On evil speaking
I. There are several, reasons for which Christians ought to be exhorted to refrain from evil speaking.
1. It is not only a mean and shameful, but a pernicious fault; it produces much harm in society, and is a cause why many live hateful and hating one another, and die in the same unfriendly disposition.
2. It is a common and widespread fault, and few, very few, are entirely free from it. It is not confined to wicked and profane persons; it is to be found in some measure even in those who have their virtues, their good and useful, and amiable qualities and accomplishments, who live soberly and honestly, who love their friends and are active to serve and oblige them, who are not uncharitable to the poor, who have a sense of religion, and worship God both in public and in private.
3. They who are addicted to it, either seldom reflect upon its odious nature, or are not sensible when and how often they thus offend, or have several plausible though vain excuses to justify themselves.
II. Evil speaking consists in spreading reports to the disadvantage of our neighbour; and of this fault there are three distinct kinds or degrees.
1. The worst kind of it is to spread lies of our own invention concerning others.
2. The next is to report things to their disadvantage, of the truth of which we are not sufficiently assured.
3. The lowest degree is to say of them that evil which we know to be true.
III. There is no occasion to prove and expose the folly and dishonesty of the two former kinds. It would be losing time and words. I shall, therefore, chiefly discourse of the latter, and show how blamable even this is for the most part.
1. We should not be too forward to publish the faults of others, because it is no sufficient excuse for us, that what we say is true, and that they against whom we speak deserve such usage.
2. Another argument against censoriousness is contained in this plain precept of the gospel–Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye so unto them.
3. We should not accustom ourselves to discourse about the faults of our neighbour, because it may betray us by degrees into a worse kind of evil speaking.
4. We should not be forward to expose the faults of others, because by so doing we may bring upon them a punishment too heavy for the offence.
5. We should be cautious how we censure others, because we may misrepresent them, and yet say nothing of them that is not true.
6. To disclose the faults and indiscretions of others is often very pernicious to society, raises infinite variances amongst men, and tends to destroy the slender remains of love and charity which subsist in the Christian world.
7. Since for the most part we cannot discern the exact nature and degree of other mens faults, we may easily think too hardly and judge too severely of them. Their faults, when we know not the circumstances attending them, are like objects seen by us at a great distance, or at twilight: we see them neither in shape, nor in size or colour, such as they really are.
8. That we may restrain ourselves from talking of the faults of others, we should also consider that such discourse is produced by bad causes, and proceeds from a corrupted heart; and that all good and wise persons who hear us will judge of us accordingly. Speech is the child of thought; and a child it is which greatly resembles its parent. When the discourse is censorious and malicious, the mind which conceives it is no better.
9. Besides, this is an offence which seldom escapes correction. If human laws cannot chastise it, except in some few cases, the persons who are ridiculed or censured will fully supply that defect. 10. Lastly, we should be cautious not to give way to this inclination, because if we be once accustomed to it there is no probability that we shall ever leave it off. Of all bad habits, those of the tongue are, perhaps, the hardest to be cured. The reason is this: We deceive ourselves in thinking that words can do little or no hurt, and that the guilt of them is inconsiderably small, and consequently we speak at random what comes uppermost. (J. Jortin, D. D.)
Evil speaking
I. The nature of this vice. It consists in saying things of others which tend to their disparagement and reproach, to the taking away or lessening of their reputation and good name; and this whether the things said be true or not. If they be false, and we know it, then it is downright calumny; and if we do not know it, but take it upon the report of others, it is, however, a slander; and so much the more injurious because really ground less and undeserved. If the thing be true, and we know it to be so, yet it is a defamation, and tends to the prejudice of our neighbours reputation; and it is a fault to say the evil of others which is true, unless there be some good reason for it; besides, it is contrary to that charity and goodness which Christianity requires, to divulge the faults of others, though they be really guilty of them, without necessity or some other very good reason for it. Again, it is evil speaking, and the vice condemned in the text, whether we be the first authors of an ill-report or relate it from others; because the man that is evil spoken of is equally defamed either way. Again, whether we speak evil of a man to his face, or behind his back: the former way indeed seems to be the more generous, but yet is a great fault, and that which we call reviling: the latter is more mean and base, and that which we properly call slander, or backbiting. And lastly, whether it be done directly and in express terms, or more obscurely and by way of oblique insinuation; whether by way of downright reproach, or with some crafty preface of condemnation; for so it have the effect to defame, the manner of address does not much alter the case: the one may be more dexterous, but is not one jot less faulty.
II. The extent of this prohibition. In what cases, by the general rules of Scripture and right reason, are we warranted to say the evil of others that is true?
1. It is not only lawful, but very commendable, and often our duty, to do this in order to the probable amendment of the person of whom evil is spoken. But then we must take care that this be done out of kindness, and that nothing of our own passion be mingled with it; and that under pretence of reproving and reforming men we do not reproach and revile them, and tell them of their faults in such a manner as if we did it to show our authority rather than our charity.
2. This likewise is not only lawful, but our duty, when we are legally called to bear witness concerning the fault and crime of another.
3. It is lawful to publish the faults of others in our own necessary defence and vindication.
4. This also is lawful for caution and warning to a third person that is in danger to be infected by the company, or ill example of another; or may be greatly prejudiced by reposing too much confidence in him, having no knowledge or suspicion of his bad qualities: but even in this case we ought to take great care that the in character we give of any man be spread no farther than is necessary to the good end we designed in it.
III. The evil of this practice, both in the causes and the consequences of it.
1. We will consider the causes of it. And it commonly springs from one or more of these evil roots.
(1) One of the deepest and most common causes of evil speaking is ill nature and cruelty of disposition: and by a general mistake ill nature passeth for wit, as cunning doth for wisdom; though in truth they are nothing akin to one another, but as far distant as vice and virtue. And there is no greater evidence of the bad temper of mankind than the general proneness of men to this vice.
(2) Another cause of the commonness of this vice is, that many are so bad themselves in one kind or other. For to think and speak ill of others is not only a bad thing, but a sign of a bad man.
(3) Another source of this vice is malice and revenge. When men are in heat and passion they do not consider what is true, but what is spiteful and mischievous, and speak evil of others in revenge of some injury which they have received from them; and when they are blinded by their passions, they lay about them madly and at a venture, not much caring whether the evil they speak be true or not.
(4) Another cause of evil speaking is envy. Men look with an evil eye upon the good that is in others, and think that their reputation obscures them, and that their commendable qualities do stand in their light; and therefore they do what they can to cast a cloud over them, that the bright shining of their virtues may not scorch them.
(5) Another cause of evil speaking is impertinence and curiosity; an itch of talking and meddling in the affairs of other men, or any bad thing that is talked of in good company.
(6) Men often do this out of wantonness and for diversion. But what can be more barbarous, next to sporting with a mans life, than to play with his honour and reputation?
2. The ordinary, but very pernicious consequences and effects of it, both to others and to ourselves.
(1) To others; the parties I mean that are slandered. To them it is certainly a great injury, and commonly a high provocation, but always matter of no small grief and trouble to them.
(2) The consequences of this vice are as bad or worse to ourselves. Whoever is wont to speak evil of others gives a bad character of himself, even to those whom he desires to please, who, if they be wise enough, will conclude that he speaks of them to others, as he does of others to them. But there is an infinitely greater danger hanging over us from God. If we allow ourselves in this evil practice, all our religion is good for nothing.
IV. Some further arguments and considerations to take men off from this vice.
1. That the use of speech is a peculiar prerogative of man above other creatures, and bestowed upon him for some excellent end and purpose; that by this faculty we might communicate our thoughts more easily to one another, and consult together for our mutual comfort and benefit, not to enable us to be hurtful and injurious, but helpful and beneficial to one another.
2. Consider how cheap a kindness it is to speak well, at least not to speak ill of anybody. A good word is an easy obligation, but not to speak ill requites only our silence, which costs us nothing.
3. Consider that no quality doth ordinarily recommend one more to the favour and goodwill of men, than to be free from this vice.
4. Let every man lay his hand upon his heart, and consider how himself is apt to be affected with this usage.
5. When you are going to speak reproachfully of others, consider whether you do not lie open to just reproach in the same, or some other kind. Therefore give no occasion, no example of this barbarous usage of one another.
6. Consider that it is in many cases as great a charity to conceal the evil you hear and know of others, as if you relieved them in a great necessity. And we think him a hard-hearted man that will not bestow a small alms upon one in great want.
V. Some rules and directions for the prevention and cure of this great evil.
1. Never say any evil of any man, but what you certainly know.
2. Before you speak evil of any man consider whether he hath not obliged you by some real kindness, and then it is a bad return to speak ill of him who hath done us good.
3. Let us accustom ourselves to pity the faults of men, and to be truly sorry for them, and then we shall take no pleasure in publishing them.
4. Whenever we hear any man evil spoken of, if we know any good of him let us say that.
5. That you may speak evil of any, do not delight to hear ill of them.
6. Let every man mind himself, and his own duty and concernment. Do but endeavour in good earnest to mend thyself, and it will be work enough for one man, and leave thee but little time to talk of others.
7. Lastly, let us set a watch before the door of our lips, and not speak but upon consideration; I do not mean to speak finely, but fitly. Especially when thou speakest of others, consider of whom and what thou art going to speak: use great caution and circumspection in this matter: look well about thee; on every side of the thing, and on every person in the company, before thy words slip from thee, which when they are once out of thy lips are forever out of thy power. (Archbishop Tillotson.)
Detraction
I. Consider that rash and inconsiderate censures are inconsistent with the justice which you owe to your brethren. The Author of our nature hath wisely ordained that approbation should follow virtue as its natural reward. This the virtuous are allowed to propose to themselves as an inferior motive of conduct; and this they expect as what belongs to them of right. The esteem which a man hath merited by his integrity and usefulness may be considered as a property of which he cannot innocently be deprived; and the extent of the injury done by detraction, is proportioned to the value of the possession which it invades. Now, what interest is dearer to the ingenuous than the preservation of their good name? You detest the villain who robs the industrious of their well-earned store; you abhor the oppressor who plunders the innocent and the deserving of the means of their support; yet how light and trivial are such injuries as these in comparison of the rum of their virtuous name, which, even in the midst of poverty, would ensure them respect. Would men weigh duly the mischiefs which detraction occasions, that pernicious humour would be less frequently indulged; for it is not always from malice and cruelty of nature that detraction proceeds: it arises, often, from an inconsiderate gaiety of mind, and means not to ruin the character which it delights to expose. The effects of such conduct are not, perhaps, obvious, because they are not immediate; but they are not, on this account, the less certain, or the less direful. With a mans reputation his usefulness and success are closely connected; and one unguarded expression may involve a deserving family in want and wretchedness. The only compensation which you can possibly make is to vindicate the violated character at the expense of your own; and this is an atonement most humiliating to yourselves, yet to the unhappy sufferer often of little avail; for many listen with avidity to the tale of slander, who will lend to your exculpation an indifferent ear; nor will your influence be sufficient to repair the reputation which your levity or your baseness hath ruined.
II. That a censorious turn of mind is destructive also of your own felicity. The man who is addicted to this odious vice, acquires, by degrees, an unhappy acuteness in marking the imperfections of his brethren. To him, therefore, the society of men can have no charms; for he beholds in every human being an object of dislike. Is not that mans mind ill-formed for happiness, who, amidst the various appearances which nature exhibits, dwells always on such as are dismal and destructive; who observes only the inhospitable desert, the blasting lightning, and the wintry storm; but marks not the beauties which adorn the spring, the riches which descend in the shower, or the stores with which autumn gladdens the earth? Nor does his happiness suffer merely from the effect of detraction on his own disposition. His conduct renders him an object of general aversion. Even his gay companions, whom his destructive pleasantry may entertain for a season, despise and dread the promoter of their mirth. They know that the edge of his satire will soon be turned against themselves; and that their own characters are destined to bleed by the very same weapons by which others have been assailed. Those who have suffered by his calumny, are entitled to vindicate, at his expense, their injured reputation; and every friend of innocence will aid them in the attempt. Merely to refute his slander, implies a reproach to which no prudent man would choose to expose himself. But how rarely doth human resentment confine itself within such moderate bounds. The rage of the injured will probably prompt them to retaliate. The security of others will seemed to be concerned in the cause. It will not appear sufficient that the aspersion be removed. The character of the detractor is devoted to ruin. In the snare which he hath laid for others, his own feet are entangled, and he falls by the sword which he hath whetted against his brethren. (W. Moodie, D. D.)
Evil speaking
I. All evil speaking my be referred to two heads, for it is
(1) either the uttering of false and evil things, or
(2) of true things falsely and evilly.
1. The former.
(1) When men speak upon no ground, as when men, present or absent, are accused of the evils which they never did (2Sa 16:3).
(2) When men speak some evil of others upon weak and insufficient grounds, as when any either publicly or privately chargeth some other man before his face or behind his back with evil upon suspicions (2Sa 10:3).
(3) When men cast railing, cursing, or reviling speeches upon another, present or absent, openly or secretly, and covertly by insinuation (2Sa 15:3)
2. The latter kind of evil speaking is in true things, as
(1) When a man speaketh of something done or spoken, but destroyeth the sense (Mat 26:61; Joh 2:19).
(2) In uttering nothing but truth, but with wicked insinuations and collections of evil (1Sa 22:9-10).
(3) In speaking of good things, but either lessening them or depraving them, as Gone of bad intent for bad ends in hypocrisy.
(4) In speaking of things evil and not so well done.
(a) By uncovering infirmities, which is the guise of cursed Chains, who are ever revealing to their brethren other mens nakedness, which an ingenious disposition, yea, humanity itself (if there were no religion), would cover and hide (Pro 11:13).
(b) Whereas we can excuse our own faults twenty ways, by amplifying the faults and offences of others, be they never so apparent, we become evil speakers in a high degree, as sycophants who make the scapes of men far greater than they are, affirming often that to be done of deliberation which was done rashly and in hot blood, or presumptuously when it was perhaps done but weakly, and imputing that to want of conscience which perhaps was want Of heedfulness and foresight; and thus the sin is heightened when men so wickedly speak of that which they ought altogether to be silent in and not to speak at all.
II. Now, because of all sins, there is not a more manifest and general mischief in all the life of man, wherein even Christians themselves are not exempted, who carry a very world of wickedness about with them, and yet wipe their mouths as though all were well with them; therefore will it not be amiss to take a little pains with this sin, scarce so accounted of, and to show
1. How unseemly it is for a Christian.
2. How dangerous in itself.
3. The means to repress and avoid it.
1. For the first
(1) To utter slander, saith Solomon, is a note of a fool; and the slander itself is a fools bolt, which is soon shot. And the apostle in so many places affirming it to be the practice of the old man, which must be cast off, maketh it hence an unbeseeming thing for Christians that profess new life to walk in such heathenish courses.
(2) This cursed speaking, whereby our brethren are hurt in their names, is the devils language, who thence hath his name, and argueth a venomous and hateful disposition not becoming the children of God:
(3) True religion will not stand with such a tattling course as many Christians take up, who, like the Athenians, delight in nothing more than hearing and telling news; and once getting a tale by the end, they are in travail till they have delivered it to others, and with these all opportunity of good and edifiable speech perisheth.
(4) Were it not most disgraceful for a Christian to be counted a thief, or a continual robber in the highway, or a continual breaker of the peace? and yet this sin is a greater breach of love than theft or spoiling of the goods, for a good name is more precious then gold, more sweet than the sweetest ointment.
2. The second point is the danger of this sin, which cannot but attend it, unless we conceive no danger in breaking such express commandments as we have (Lev 19:16; Jam 4:11). The defence of many a man is, I speak nothing but the truth, and so long I may speak it. But if that thou speakest be a tale true or false (as it is if without a calling thou playest the pedlar, and settest to sale the name of thy brother), these commandments cast and condemn thee. Others think it is a fault indeed, but not so great a fault to speak the thing we know by another; but look upon it, not as it may seem in thine eye, but in the penalty the Scripture hath set upon it; (Psa 15:3) it hindereth the entrance into the holy mountain of God, and (1Co 6:10) railers and revilers shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven; and therefore it is no such small matter as many take it for. Others reply, What are words but wind? and God is not so straitlaced; if a man should go to hell for every word, who shall come to heaven? This, indeed, is an ancient natural conceit that outward profession and ceremony will carry a man to heaven, although in the particulars of the life the power of godliness be never expressed. But mark how the Lord answereth such vain conceits (Psa 50:19-20). God hath His time then to call upon old reckonings, and then thou shalt not think words wind, but know to thy cost that life and death was in the power of thy tongue. Others yet see no such danger, or, if any be, it is far off. But this sin, beside the just hire of it hereafter, carrieth a secret plague with it for the present, for look, as thou dealest with another mans name, so shall thine be dealt with, and with what measure thou metest to others shall men measure to thee again.
3. The third thing to be considered is the means to avoid this sin of evil speaking, which may be reduced to five rules.
(1) Look to thine heart, for if it, being the fountain, be corrupted, the issues and streams cannot but be bitter; and if thou giveth thyself leave to think evil of any man, as accounting the thought free, thou canst not but one time or other utter it. Purge well thine heart, therefore
(a) Of pride, which maketh a man speak disdainfully of those who want the things which themselves seem to have, and liberally take up any language if he can make the detraction of another a ladder for himself to climb upon.
(b) Of envy, which, grieving at the graces and good things in another, seeketh to darken them, as Satan, envying Jobs prosperity, said, He serveth not God for nought.
(c) Of flattery, which for favour or reward will tune the tongue to any ear.
(2) Be careful to contain thyself within thine own calling; follow thine own plough; beware of the sin of busybodies, who love to play the bishops in other mens dioceses, who, if they had not with the witch in the fable, put off their own eyes at home, they might find foul corners enough well worthy of reformation in themselves; but therefore load they others, because they spare themselves; they throw no stones at their own faults first, and therefore they are at good leisure to pry into other mens, and so become the devils gunpowder for want of better employment.
(3) Beware in all thy speeches with men of strife of words, for from hence evil speeches arise, and many words want not iniquity.
(4) In all companies pray to the Lord to set a watch before thy mouth, and to keep the door of thy lips, for the tongue can no man of himself tame, being such an unruly evil.
(5) Beware of consenting to this sin in another, for as thou art bound not to relate, so not to receive, any evil speeches of thy brother. Solomon counselleth not to meddle with the slanderer and flatterer; wise chapmen must beware of such base pedlars. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Evil speaking
I. The precept.
1. We should never in severe terms inveigh against any man without reasonable warrant, or presuming on a good call and commission for the purpose.
2. We should never speak so of any man without apparent just cause: we must not reproach men for things innocent or indifferent, for not complying with our humour or interests.
3. We should not cast reproach on any man without some necessary reason: in that charity which covereth a multitude of sins, we are bound to extenuate and excuse the faults of our brethren, so far as truth and equity permit.
4. We should never speak ill of our neighbour beyond measure, be the cause never so just, the occasion never so necessary.
5. We should never speak ill of any man out of bad principles or for bad ends; from no sudden anger, inveterate hatred, revengeful disposition, contempt, or envy; to compass any design of our own, to cherish any malignity or ill-humour; neither out of wantonness nor out of negligence and inadvertency; in fine from no other principle but that of charity, and to no other intent but what is charitable.
II. Inducements to its observance.
1. Let us consider that nothing more than railing and reviling is opposite to the nature, and inconsistent with the tenor of our religion.
2. It is therefore often expressly condemned and prohibited as evil.
3. Against no practice are severer punishments denounced. St. Paul adjudges the railer to be banished from good society (1Co 5:11), and from heaven (1Co 6:10).
4. Such language is in its nature the symptom of a weak and distempered mind: a stream that cannot issue from a sweet spring.
5. This practice plainly signifies low spirit, ill-breeding, and bad manners, and is thence unbecoming to any wise, honest, or honourable person: all such have an aversion to it, and cannot entertain it with complacency.
6. He that uses this kind of speech, as he harms and troubles others, so does he create thereby great inconveniences and mischiefs to himself.
7. Hence with evidently good reason is he that uses such language called a fool; and he that abstaineth from it is commended as wise (Pro 18:6-7).
8. Lastly, we may consider that it is a grievous perversion of the design of speech, which so much distinguishes us above other creatures, to use it in defaming and disquieting our neighbour: far better were it that we could say nothing than that we should speak ill. (Isaac Barrow, D. D.)
Avoiding evil speaking
Philip Henry used to remind those who spoke evil of people behind their backs of that law, Thou shalt not curse the deaf. Those that are absent are deaf; they cannot right themselves; therefore say no ill of them. A friend of his, inquiring of him concerning a matter which tended to reflect upon some people, he began to give him an account of the story, but immediately broke off, and checked himself with these words, But our rule is to speak evil of no man, and would proceed no further in the story. The week before he died a person requested the loan of a particular book from him. Truly, said he, I would lend it to you, but that it takes in the faults of some which should rather be covered with a mantle of love. (W. Baxendale.)
Sin of evil speaking
Remember, this contradicts your nature and your destiny; to speak ill of others makes you a monster in Gods world. Get the habit of slander, and then there is not a stream which bubbles fresh from the heart of nature–there is not a tree that silently brings forth its genial fruit in its appointed seasons, which does not rebuke and proclaim you a monstrous anomaly in Gods world. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Cure for evil speaking
When will talkers refrain from evil speaking? When listeners refrain from evil hearing? At present there are many so credulous of evil, they will receive suspicions and impressions against persons whom they dont know, from a person whom they do know–an authority to be good for nothing. (A. W. Hare, M. A.)
No brawlers
Contention to be avoided
I. Not that every striking and fighting is hereby forbidden. For
1. Every man is bound to contend in his place for the truth–for religion, truth, and sound doctrine against falsehood, error, heresy, and superstition.
2. The ruler and people may by lawful war repel openly either idolatry or injury from Church or commonwealth, for if it had been altogether unlawful, John Baptist would have advised the soldiers rather to have given over their calling and taken no wages at all than to have been content with their wages.
3. Private men may seek the face of the ruler to prevent or redress an injury, and thus contend in judgment, which is no sin unless it be for trifles or of revenge: so Paul appealed to Caesar, and helped himself by the benefit of law.
4. It is lawful for every Christian, in defect of the magistrates aid, in the lawful defence of themselves, lives, and goods, to become magistrates unto themselves, in which case they may without sin both strike and slay, so as desire of revenge and intent of bloodshedding be absent.
5. Neither is domestical discipline excluded by this precept, whereby fathers and masters may, if the fault require, put on severity in their just corrections of their servants and children.
II. But the sin here condemned is when men suffer their lusts so far to sway, as they not only follow the things which make to Christian peace, but are enemies unto concord and brotherly love–men of such violent affections as are ready, not only to return injury with injury, but with seventy-fold revenge; right Lamechs and rough Ismaels, whose hand is against every man; men of a word and a blow, fitter for the camp than the congregation of Christian men. Now, what an hateful thing is it that a Christian should be indited at the Lords bar for a common barrator and quarreller? How unlike should he be to God, who is a God of peace, and loveth peace and the sons of peace? How far from having any part in the merit of Christ, who hath dearly by His precious blood bought the reconcilement of all things? How unanswerable were it unto this profession of Christianity, which cannot become a kingdom divided against itself? How prejudicial to Christian duties, both interrupting prayers and withstanding the acceptation of them, when the gift is brought without a reconcilable mind? How doth this course in Cains way violate all bonds both of nature and grace? signing a man to be out of the commission, out of the natural fraternity in the first Adam, and much more out of the spiritual in the second, yea, arguing such fierce men to be rather of the serpents and crocodiles seed, between which and man God hath put an enmity, than of men, seeing they have put off all respect of creation, of adoption, of flesh, and of faith.
III. If any ask, But by what means shall I avoid this sin of contention and quarrelling?
1. Bridle the tongue, for this is an immediate follower of evil speaking, and it runneth from the tongue into the hand.
2. Let the consideration of our common brotherhood be a means to cut off contention (Gen 13:8).
3. Consider what a scandal it is to profane scorners of religion that such as profess themselves scholars of Christ should live together like dogs and cats (as we say), and by ungodly quarrels and heartburns be still building up the works of the devil which Christ hath destroyed; why should such a thing be heard in Gath and Askelon? why should Priamus and his son laugh us to scorn?
4. Get a low conceit of thyself and be small in thine own eyes, for whence riseth contention and strife but from the lust in the members, namely, the inordinate bearing of a mans self above that which is meet? Only by pride (saith Solomon) man maketh contention, and, indeed, experience showeth that the most suits at this day are not so much for right and equity as for victory.
5. Because some in their own temper are of more mild and quiet spirits, and rather lie open to this sin by others instigation than their own propensity and disposition. That rule of Solomon is worth noting, to take heed of parttaking, of meddling, and mingling oneself in other mens strifes and contentions, for this were to take a dog by the ears or a bear by the tooth. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Gentle
Christian gentleness
We are called to the practice of that property of wisdom which is from above, which is peaceable and gentle, and to buckle unto us, as the elect of God, tender mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another. The benefit will be exceeding great. For
1. This wisdom teacheth us to be soft in our speeches, as they that know how a soft answer breaketh wrath, a rare example whereof we have in Jdg 8:2.
2. It teacheth us softness in our whole conversation and exercise of our personal and general callings. It suffereth not the magistrate to be so stern that an inferior should come to him as a man that were to bring a bottle to an elephant, which he is afraid of, which timidity Augustus reproved in a petitioner. It suffereth not the minister to be lordly in his doctrine or discipline, but compassionate and tender in both. It suffereth not the father or master to be a lion in his house, but causeth them to govern sweetly and to dispense severity, and weigh out correction as physic to the children and servants.
3. It teacheth even the superior to yield some part of his right to his inferior, as Abraham to Lot, If thou take the right hand, I will turn to the left, nay, as Christ Himself being God and Lord of all, yet for peace sake, and to avoid offence, did pay tribute unto Caesar.
4. Further, how necessary a virtue this is cannot but appear to him that considereth how frail our flesh and blood is, how full of infirmities, how lying open to offences, how needful of much forgiveness at Gods hand and mans; and yet no forgiveness at Gods hand, but on condition of our forgiveness of men, for so is the petition in the Lords Prayer; nor at mans, for what measure ye mete out to men shall men measure to you again.
5. How sweet a grace it is appeareth also in that it preserveth the outward peace of a man, and especially the peace of a good conscience. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Gentleman defined
A Christian is God Almightys gentleman. The real gentleman should be gentle in everything; at least in everything that depends on himself–in carriage, temper, constructions, aims, desires. He ought, therefore, to be mild, calm, quiet, even, temperate: not hasty in judgment, not exorbitant in ambition, not overbearing, not proud, not rapacious, not oppressive: for these things are contrary to gentleness. (J.C. Hare.)
Showing all meekness unto all men
Christian meekness
I. The nature of this grace will appear in the description of it. Meekness is a grace of God, whereby the heart and affections are inclined unto a mild and loving, a kind and courteous carriage towards our neighbour, even then when they might be provoked to anger. Where three things are laid down to be further opened to the better knowledge of this virtue
1. That it is a grace of God, for the next verse will teach us that we are born as rough as Esau in our corrupted nature; and therefore this strippeth and goeth beyond the best nature, being a fruit of the Spirit, and is called the spirit of meekness, because it is such a peculiar work of the Spirit, and proceedeth not of the flesh.
2. The work of it is properly to preserve Christian affection, in moderating all revengeful passions, not suffering the heart to be easily overcome with bitterness, but is as a wall or fence of the soul, receiving all the shot of injurious and hostile actions and speeches, and yet keeping all safe within, not permitting the possessor hastily or violently either to offer to another or remove from himself such injuries. The mother of it is humility, the daughter is long-suffering, and therefore we read it set between these two in diverse places. It preserveth peace within when it is provoked to war, to anger, and return of wrongs, for then is the chief use of this grace, which is therefore added, because many men seem to have attained this virtue, when it is never a whir so. Let them alone, offend them not, you shall have them gentle, courteous, affable, and tractable enough; but cross them a little, and stir their blood, oh, now you must pardon them; they have their affections, and you shall know they can be passionate and angry as well as others; here shall you see the best nature betraying her meekness. But Christian meekness must step in to overcome evil with good when it is provoked to return evil, or else what great thing doest thou? It is no hard thing for the very Infidel and Turk to be kind to the kind, nay, the wild beast, if thou goest no further, will be as meek as thou, who the most of them hurt not unprovoked.
II. This meekness must be showed forth, not hid with ourselves, but it must be brought into the light, that others may have the benefit of it, for as this grace is a sign and pawn of our election, which, as the elect of God, we must put on and array ourselves withal (Col 3:12), so also must it be the ornament of our vocation, whereby we glorify God, adorn our profession, and win others unto the liking of it. Hence the apostle, praying the Ephesians to walk worthy of their high calling, teacheth them that this they shall do if they put on humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, etc. (Eph 4:2), for otherwise, if men partake not in these graces, the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace cannot long last undissolved.
III. This meekness must be showed to all men–believers, unbelievers, friends, enemies, the better and the worse, which is a special point not to be neglected, because it is the ground of the verses following. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
The might of meekness
Conversing the other day with a friend on some point of domestic difficulty, it was replied by the latter, Should I give up in that way, and be as meek as a lamb, I should be good for just nothing at all. No, I answered, there is nothing mightier than meekness. This sentiment, which, at the time, flashed upon my mind like a gleam of new truth, I have found, by subsequent reflection, to rest on a broad basis.
I. In the first place, meekness involves the largest self-control.
1. Meekness is not mental indolence. A person may be too lazy to resent a wrong, too intellectually lazy–like some big house dog in the farmers kitchen, submitting with marvellous resignation to be kicked or pulled by the ears, if only he may be left in his snug, warm corner, and meeting it all with a most humble and beseeching whine. If this were meekness, we would not hesitate to pronounce it the weakest thing on earth.
2. It is not impassibility. Some are natural stoics. In some respects they are fortunate beings; utter strangers to that red-hot sense of injustice which sometimes bursts forth in words of heaven-lit prophecy–sometimes in words set on fire of hell. They escape that terrible knowledge the souls capacity to suffer. And yet, doubtless; they are not to be envied; for the words of the poet are equally true when reversed:
Chords that vibrate sweetest pleasure
Thrill the deepest notes of woe.
3. Nor is it dulness of perception. Some seem not to know when they are ill-treated. They are ignorant of the proprieties of life, of what is due to position; there is an entire lack of native dignity of character. True meekness, on the contrary, achieves its highest triumphs where the perceptions are most quick-sighted, the sensibilities keenest, and the mind most active and vigorous in all its operations. It is just here that we can best discern its true nature, its inherent might, the hiding of its power. So far from being a mere passivity, it is activity in its highest form. It is self-control in its broadest sway when girding itself in its full strength. It is victory over all that is mightiest in pride and passion, attained by the full and conjoint action of all the nobler powers of the soul. It is man in his sovereignty, ruling within the realm of his spirit, as the prince-subject of Jehovah. Its highest embodiment was Jesus of Nazareth.
II. Again, meekness is mighty in Gods might. He loves the meek. They are the most like His Son–resembling Him in just that quality which was His most prominent characteristic. Still again, the might of meekness is seen in its power to secure happiness. Life is a perpetual wild chase after happiness. Who are winners? Pride? Passion? Ambition? Wealth? Nay, nay, not yet, they each exclaim as they rush by, dripping with sweat; and catching breath, they add, but the goal is just ahead, and then the prize is ours. The result is even as when a hungry man dreameth, and behold he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty. Yet, far off, away from the bustling and anxious crowd, I behold the meek man already inheriting the earth, in sweet fruition of the world that now is, and in joyous expectancy of that which is to come. The reign of passion is over. He has learned to recognise, in all events that affect him, not accidents, but Providence; not a stern and blind fate, but a kind and wise Father; not the present means and instruments merely, but the aim of final result. The peace of God that passeth understanding keeps his heart. The whole world has become a Beulah; and while meekly performing its duties, its eye catches sweet glimpses of the far-off land; his heart leaps betimes at snatches of the distant music, and his temples are fanned, ever and anon, by the refreshing breezes that are wafted thitherward. He has an antepast of heaven; a joyous earnest of his inheritance. Here, then, I say, is might. He gains what worldlings of every class toil and tug for, but always lose; or, as Cicero says, respecting another point, They desire it, he has it. Once more: there is nothing like meekness to overcome the resistance of passion and pride in others. And yet it is just here that the worldly wise despise it most. I am assailed. I erect myself in proud might. I bid defiance to wrath. I mock at the deadliest threats of my enemy. I dare him to do his worst. Like Achilles before Agamemnon, I fling at his feet the oath pledge of battle. By all that is most fearful I swear to stand him foot to foot to the death. And what is the result of all this? Why, Greek meets Greek. Words fly back to words, wrath flashes to wrath, threats are hurled to threats, and pride towers aloft to pride. But what boots it all? You turn from the encounter, leaving your enemy never stouter in his resistance, while the tiger passions tear your own bosom, or react in paroxysms of futile tears. Now, what has meekness accomplished in just such cases? Silenced the proud words of the enemy; extinguished his raging wrath; roused up the elements of his better nature, and turned them against himself. It has completely subdued him; and the proud Greek has sat at the feet of his foe a weeping child. I say, then, let passion exhaust all its resources–let it tower to very sublimity, let it be a fit subject for an epic, let a Homer immortalise its deeds. Meekness is mightier; it will accomplish what passion shall labour for in vain. Meekness:–Meekness is the quality which heathenism everywhere has scouted as meanspiritedness, but which the gospel of Christ has canonised. It is that one condition of soul which, springing out of genuine penitence for sin, a profound sense of personal unworthiness, and a profound appreciation of the Divine mercy, predisposes a man to forbearance under provocation and forgiveness for injury. It has nothing in common with pusillanimity, but it has its origin in the religious experience which we call conversion; for it is when the sap root of human pride is broken by a thorough crushing down of the soul under the discovery of its sinfulness before God; it is when the strong man, reduced to cry for mercy at the hands of Infinite Justice, is fain to receive forgiveness, and hope, and peace with God as unmerited gifts from the very grace of his Redeemer; it is then, and through that religions change, that the heart grows susceptible of true meekness. Then humbleness eaters–humbleness, the child of penitence, and mild charity too, for all men, and a tender feeling–a feeling that one who has himself done so much evil in his day ought to bear with the evil doing of other men, that one who owes everything to mercy should be, above all things, merciful. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)
Meekness
A little lad on being asked, What is meekness? replied, Mary is meekness. Mary? Yes, my sister Mary, for she always gives smooth answers to rough questions.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER III.
The necessity of obedience to the civil powers, and of meek and
gentle deportment towards all men, is to be diligently
enforced, 1, 2.
The wretched state of man, previously to the advent of Christ,
3.
The wonderful change which the grace of God makes, and the means
which it uses to bring men to glory, 4-7.
The necessity of a holy life, and of avoiding things which
produce strifes and contentions, and are unprofitable and vain,
8, 9.
How to deal with those who are heretics, 10, 11.
St. Paul directs Titus to meet him at Nicopolis, and to bring
Zenas and Apollos with him, 12; 13.
Concluding directions and salutations, 14, 15.
NOTES ON CHAP. III.
Verse 1. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities, c.] By principalities, , we are to understand the Roman emperors, or the supreme civil powers in any place.
By powers, , we are to understand the deputies of the emperors, such as proconsuls, c., and all such as are in authority-under the supreme powers wherever we dwell. See the doctrine of obedience to the civil powers discussed at large in the notes on Ro 13:1-7.
This doctrine of obedience to the civil powers was highly necessary for the Cretans, who were reputed a people exceedingly jealous of their civil privileges, and ready to run into a state of insurrection when they suspected any attempt on the part of their rulers to infringe their liberties. Suidas, under the word , they stirred up, gives the following fragment: , , , . “But the Cretans, fearing lest they should be punished, stirred up the populace, exhorting them that they should carefully preserve that liberty which they had received from their ancestors.” What part of the history of Crete this refers to I cannot tell the words stand thus insulated in Suidas, without introduction or connection. To be jealous of our civil rights and privileges, and most strenuously to preserve them, is highly praiseworthy but to raise a public tumult to avoid merited chastisement, under pretence that our civil privileges are in danger, is not the part of patriots but insurgents. For such advice as that given here the known character of the Cretans is a sufficient reason: “They were ever liars, ferocious wild beasts, and sluggish gluttons.” Such persons would feel little disposition to submit to the wholesome restraints of law.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers: all the supreme secular powers at this time were pagans, and no friends to the Christians in their dominions, which might be a temptation to the Christians to rebel against them, or at least not to yield them so free, universal, and cheerful an obedience as they ought; therefore the apostle presseth this duty upon them, and that not here only, but Rom 13:1; see 1Pe 2:13.
To obey magistrates: by the former term he might understand the supreme magistrates, by the latter, those inferior ranks; as the apostle Peter expresseth himself more particularly, 1Pe 2:13,14.
To be ready to every good work; to be free, and prepared to every work which is acceptable to God and honourable in itself.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1.Put them in mindasthey are in danger of forgetting their duty, though knowing it. Theopposition of Christianity to heathenism, and the natural dispositionto rebellion of the Jews under the Roman empire (of whom many livedin Crete), might lead many to forget practically what was arecognized Christian principle in theory, submission to the powersthat be. DIODORUSSICULUSmentions the tendency of the Cretans to riotous insubordination.
tobe subject“willingly”(so the Greek).
principalities. . . powersGreek,“magistracies . . . authorities.”
toobeythecommandsof “magistrates”; not necessarily implying spontaneousobedience. Willingobedience is implied in “ready to every good work.” CompareRo13:3,as showing that obedience to the magistracy would tend to good works,since the magistrate’s aim generallyis to favor the good and punish the bad. Contrast “disobedient”(Tit3:3).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers,…. Not angels, good or bad, which are sometimes so called, but men in high places; the higher powers ordained of God, as the apostle elsewhere calls them; and which the Apostle Peter distinguishes into the king as supreme, and into governors under him: the Roman emperor and senate, the consuls, and proconsuls, deputies and governors of provinces and islands, are here meant; particularly such who were appointed over the island of Crete. Now the reasons why the apostle exhorts Titus to put in remembrance those that were under his care, to yield a cheerful subjection to their superiors, were, because the Jews, from whom the Christians were not distinguished by the Romans, were reckoned a turbulent and seditious people; which character they obtained, partly through the principles of the Scribes and Pharisees, which they at least privately entertained, as not to give tribute to Caesar, or be under any Heathen yoke; and partly through the insurrections that had been made by Judas of Galilee, and Theudas, and others; and besides, there were many Jews in the island of Crete, and the Cretians themselves were prone to mutiny and rebellion: to which may be added, that the false teachers, and judaizing preachers, that had got among them, despised dominion, and were not afraid to speak evil of dignities, according to the characters which both Peter and Jude give of them, and taught the saints to abuse their Christian liberty, and use it for a cloak of maliciousness, to the great scandal of the Christian religion.
To obey magistrates; inferior ones; in all things that are according to the laws of God, and right reason, that do not contradict what God has commanded, or break in upon the rights and dictates of conscience; in all things of a civil nature, and which are for the good of society, and do not affect religion, and the worship of God: hence it follows,
to be ready to every good work; which may be taken in a limited and restrained sense, and design every good work enjoined by the civil magistrate; and all right and lawful obedience that belongs to him, as giving to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, tribute, custom, fear, and honour to whom they are due; and which should be done readily and cheerfully: or it may be understood more comprehensively of good works in general, which wicked men are reprobate to, and unfit for; and which they that are sanctified are meet for, and ready to; though this may not only intend their capacity, fitness, and qualifications, for the performance of good works, but their alacrity, promptitude, and forwardness unto them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Exhortations to Several Duties; Characteristics of an Unrenewed State; The Import and Origin of Salvation; Regeneration; Justification. | A. D. 66. |
1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, 2 To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. 3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. 4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
Here is the fourth thing in the matter of the epistle. The apostle had directed Titus in reference to the particular and special duties of several sorts of persons; now he bids him exhort to what concerned them more in common, namely, to quietness and submission to rulers, and readiness to do good, and to equitable and gentle behaviour towards all men–things comely and ornamental of religion; he must therefore put them in mind of such things. Ministers are people’s remembrancers of their duty. As they are remembrancers for the people to God in prayers (Isa. lxii. 6), so are they from God to them in preaching: I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance, 2 Pet. i. 12. Forgetfulness of duty is a common frailty; there is need therefore of reminding and quickening them thereto. Here are the duties themselves, and the reasons of them.
I. The duties themselves, which they were to be reminded of. 1. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates. Magistracy is God’s ordinance for the good of all, and therefore must be regarded and submitted to by all; not for wrath and by force only, but willingly and for conscience’ sake. Principalities, and powers, and magistrates, that is, all civil rulers, whether supreme and chief or subordinate, in the government under which they live, of whatever form it be; that they be subject to them and obey them in things lawful and honest, and which it belongs to their office to require. The Christian religion was misrepresented by its adversaries as prejudicial to the rights of princes and civil powers, and tending to faction and sedition, and to rebellion against lawful authority; therefore to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, and stop the mouths of malicious enemies, Christians must be reminded to show themselves examples rather of all due subjection and obedience to the government that is over them. Natural desire of liberty must be guided and bounded by reason and scripture. Spiritual privileges do not make void or weaken, but confirm and strengthen, their obligations to civil duties: “Remind them therefore to be subject to principalities and powers and to obey magistrates.” And, 2. To be ready to every good work. Some refer this to such good works as are required by magistrates and within their sphere: “Whatever tends to good order, and to promote and secure public tranquility and peace, be not backward, but ready, to promote such things.” But, though this be included, if not first intended, yet is it not to be hereto restrained. The precept regards doing good in all kinds, and on every occasion that may offer, whether resecting God, ourselves, or our neighbour–what may bring credit to religion in the world. Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report: if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things (Phil. iv. 8), to do and follow and further them. Mere harmlessness, or good words and good meanings only, are not enough without good works. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless, and the widow in their affliction, and keep unspotted from the world. “Not only take, but seek, occasion for doing good, keep fitness and readiness that way; put it not off to others, but embrace and lay hold on it thyself, delight and rejoice therein, put all in mind of this.” And, 3. To speak evil of no man: medena blasphemein, to revile, or curse, or blaspheme none: or (as our translation more generally) to speak evil of none, unjustly and falsely, or unnecessarily, without call, and when it may do hurt but no good to the person himself or any other. If no good can be spoken, rather than speak evil unnecessarily, say nothing. We must never take pleasure in speaking ill of others, nor make the worst of any thing, but the best we can. We must not go up and down as tale-bearers, carrying ill-natured stories, to the prejudice of our neighbour’s good name and the destruction of brotherly love. Misrepresentations, or insinuations of bad intentions, or of hypocrisy in what is done, things out of our reach or cognizance, these come within the reach of this prohibition. As this evil is too common, so it is of great malignity. If any man seemeth to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, that man’s religion is vain, Jam. i. 26. Such loose uncharitable talk is displeasing to God, and hurtful among men. Prov. xvii. 9, He that covereth a transgression seeketh love (that is, to himself by this tenderness and charity, or rather to the transgressor); but he that repeateth a matter (that blazes and tells the faults of another abroad) separateth very friends; he raises dissensions and alienates his friend from himself, and perhaps from others. This is among the sins to be put off (Eph. iv. 31); for, if indulged, it unfits for Christians communion here and the society of the blessed in heaven, 1 Cor. vi. 10. Remind them therefore to avoid this. And, 4. To be no brawlers; amachous einai—no fighters, either with hand or tongue, no quarrelsome contentious persons, apt to give or return ill and provoking language. A holy contending there is for matters good and important, and in a manner suitable and becoming, not with wrath nor injurious violence. Christian must follow the things that are conducive to peace, and that in a peaceful, not a rough and boisterous and hurtful way, but as becomes the servants of the God of peace and love (Rom. xii. 19), Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; this is the Christian’s wisdom and duty. The glory of a man is to pass over a transgression; it is the duty of a reasonable, and therefore certainly of a Christian man, whose reason is improved and advanced by religion; such may not, and will not, presently fall foul on one who has offended him, but, like God, will be slow to anger, and ready to forgive. Contention and strife arise from men’s lusts, and exorbitant unruly passions, which must be curbed and moderated, not indulged; and Christians need to be reminded of these things, that they do not by a wrathful contentious spirit and behaviour displease and dishonour God and discredit religion, promoting feuds in the places where they live. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. Wherefore it follows, 5. But gentle; epieikeis, equitable and just, or candid and fair in constructions of things, not taking words or actions in the worst sense; and for peace sometimes yielding somewhat of strict right. And, 6. Showing all meekness to all men. We must be of a mild disposition, and not only have meekness in our hearts, but show it in our speech and conduct. All meekness–meekness in all instances and occasions, not towards friends only, but to all men, though still with wisdom, as James admonishes, Jam. iii. 13. “Distinguish the person and the sin; pity the one and hate the other. Distinguish between sin and sin; look not on all alike, there are motes and beams. Distinguish also between sinner and sinner: of some have compassion, others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, thus making a difference,Jud 1:22; Jud 1:23. Mind these things; the wisdom that is from above is pure and peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated.” Meekness of spirit and demeanour renders religion amiable; it is a commanded imitation of Christ the grand exemplar, and what brings it own reward with it, in the ease and comfort of the disposition itself and the blessings accompanying it. These shall be glad and rejoice, shall be taught and guided in their way, and satisfied with bread, and beautified with salvation. Thus of the duties themselves, which Titus was to put people in mind of: for which,
II. He adds the reasons, which are derived
1. From their own past condition. Consideration of men’s natural condition is a great means and ground of equity and gentleness, and all meekness, towards those who are yet in such a state. This has a tendency to abate pride and work pity and hope in reference to those who are yet unconverted: “We ourselves also were so and so, corrupt and sinful, therefore we should not be impatient and bitter, hard and severe, towards those who are but as ourselves once were. Should we then have been willing to be contemned, and proudly and rigorously dealt with? No, but treated with gentleness and humanity; and therefore we should now so treat those who are unconverted, according to that rule of equity: Quod tibi non vis fieri, alteri ne feceris–What you would not have done to you that do not you to another.” Their past natural condition is set forth in divers particulars. We ourselves also were sometimes, (1.) Foolish; without true spiritual understanding and knowledge, ignorant of heavenly things. Observe, Those should be most disposed to bear with others’ follies who may remember many of their own; those should be meek and gentle, and patient towards others, who once needed and doubtless then expected the same. We ourselves also were sometimes foolish. And, (2.) Disobedient; heady and unpersuadable, resisting the word, and rebellious even against the natural laws of God, and those which human society requires. Well are these set together, foolish and obedient. For what folly like this, to disobey God and his laws, natural or revealed? This is contrary to right reason, and men’s true and greatest interests; and what so foolish as to violate and go counter to these? (3.) Deceived, or wandering; namely, out of the ways of truth and holiness. Man in this his degenerate state is of a straying nature, thence compared to a lost sheep; this must be sought and brought back, and guided in the right way, Ps. cxix. 176. He is weak, and ready to be imposed upon by the wiles and subtleties of Satan, and of men lying in wait to seduce and mislead. (4.) Serving divers lusts and pleasures; namely, as vassals and slaves under them. Observe, Men deceived are easily entangled and ensnared; they would not serve divers lusts and pleasures as they do, were they not blinded and beguiled into them. See here too what a different notion the word gives of a sensual and fleshly life from what the world generally has of it. Carnal people think they enjoy their pleasures; the word calls it servitude and vassalage: they are very drudges and bond slaves under them; so far are they from freedom and felicity in them that they are captivated by them, and serve them as taskmasters and tyrants. Observe further, It is the misery of the servants of sin that they have many masters, one lust hurrying them one way, and another; pride commands one thing, covetousness another, and often a contrary. What vile slaves are sinners, while they conceit themselves free! the lusts that tempt them promise them liberty, but in yielding they become the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought into bondage. (5.) Living in malice, one of those lusts that bear rule in them. Malice desires hurt to another and rejoices in it. (6.) And envy, which grudges and repines at another’s good, frets at his prosperity and success in any thing: both are roots of bitterness, whence many evils spring: evil thoughts and speeches, tongues set on fire of hell, detracting from and impairing the just and due praises of others. Their words are swords, wherewith they slay the good name and honour of their neighbour. This was the sin of Satan, and of Cain who was of that evil one, and slew his brother; for wherefore slew he him, but of this envy and malice, because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous? These were some of the sins in which we lived in our natural state. And, (7.) Hateful, or odious–deserving to be hated. (8.) And hating one another. Observe, Those that are sinful, living and allowing themselves in sin, are hateful to God and all good men. Their temper and ways are so, though not simply their persons. It is the misery of sinners that thy hate one another, as it is the duty and happiness of saints to love one another. What contentions and quarrels flow from men’s corruptions, such as were in the nature of those who by conversion are now good, but in their unconverted state made them ready to run like furious wild beasts one upon another! The consideration of its having been thus with us should moderate our spirits, and dispose us to be more equal and gentle, meek and tenderhearted, towards those who are such. This is the argument from their own past condition here described. And he reasons,
2. From their present state. “We are delivered out of that our miserable condition by no merit nor strength of our own; but only by the mercy and free grace of God, and merit of Christ, and operation of his Spirit. Therefore we have no ground, in respect of ourselves, to condemn those who are yet unconverted, but rather to pity them, and cherish hope concerning them, that they, though in themselves as unworthy and unmeet as we were, yet may obtain mercy, as we have:” and so upon this occasion the apostle again opens the causes of our salvation, v. 4-7.
(1.) We have here the prime author of our salvation–God the Father, therefore termed here God our Saviour. All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. v. 18. All things belonging to the new creation, and recovery of fallen man to life and happiness, of which the apostle is there speaking, all these things are of God the Father, as contriver and beginner of this work. There is an order in acting, as in subsisting. The Father begins, the Son manages, and the Holy Spirit works and perfects all. God (namely, the Father) is a Saviour by Christ, through the Spirit. John iii. 16, God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him might not perish, but have everlasting life. He is the Father of Christ, and through him the Father of mercies; all spiritual blessings are by Christ from him, Eph. i. 3. We joy in God through Jesus Christ, Rom. v. 11. And with one mind, and one mouth, glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Rom. xv. 5.
(2.) The spring and rise of it–the divine philanthropy, or kindness and love of God to man. By grace we are saved from First to last. This is the ground and motive. God’s pity and mercy to man in misery were the first wheel, or rather the Spirit in the wheels, that sets and keeps them all in motion. God is not, cannot be, moved by any thing out of himself. The occasion is in man, namely, his misery and wretchedness. Sin bringing that misery, wrath might have issued out rather than compassion; but God, knowing how to adjust all with his own honour and perfections, would pity and save rather than destroy. He delights in mercy. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. We read of riches of goodness and mercy,Rom 2:4; Eph 2:7. Let us acknowledge this, and give him the glory of it, not turning it to wantonness, but to thankfulness and obedience.
(3.) Here is the means, or instrumental cause–the shining out of this love and grace of God in the gospel, after it appeared, that is, in the word. The appearing of love and grace has, through the Spirit, great virtue to soften and change and turn to God, and so is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth. Thus having asserted God to be the author, his free grace the spring, and the manifestation of this in the gospel the means of salvation, that the honour of all still may be the better secured to him,
(4.) False grounds and motives are here removed: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us; not for foreseen works of ours, but his own free grace and mercy alone. Works must be in the saved (where there is room for it), but not among the causes of his salvation; they are the way to the kingdom, not the meriting price of it; all is upon the principle of undeserved favour and mercy from first to last. Election is of grace: we are chosen to be holy, not because it was antecedently seen that we should be so, Eph. i. 4. It is the fruit, not the cause, of election: God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, 2 Thess. ii. 13. So effectual calling, in which election breaks out, and is first seen: He hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling; not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 2 Tim. i. 9. We are justified freely by grace (Rom. iii. 24), and sanctified and saved by grace: By grace you are saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, Eph. ii. 8. Faith and all saving graces are God’s free gift and his work; the beginning, increase, and perfection of them in glory, all are from him. In building men up to be a holy temple unto God, from the foundation to the top-stone, we must cry nothing but Grace, grace unto it. It is not of works, lest any man should boast; but of grace, that he who glorieth should glory only in the Lord. Thus the true cause is shown, and the false removed.
(5.) Here is the formal cause of salvation, or that wherein it lies, the beginnings of it at least–in regeneration or spiritual renewing, as it is here called. Old things pass away, and all things become new, in a moral and spiritual, not in a physical and natural, sense. It is the same man, but with other dispositions and habits; evil ones are done away, as to the prevalency of them at present; and all remains of them in due time will be so, when the work shall be perfected in heaven. A new prevailing principle of grace and holiness is wrought, which inclines, and sways, and governs, and makes the man a new man, a new creature, having new thoughts, desires, and affections, a new and holy turn of life and actions; the life of God in man, not only from God in a special manner, but conformed and tending to him. Here is salvation begun, and which will be growing and increasing to perfection; therefore it is said, He saved us. What is so begun, as sure to be perfected in time, is expressed as if it already were so. Let us look to this therefore without delay; we must be initially saved now, by regeneration, if on good ground we would expect complete salvation in heaven. The change then will be but in degree, not in kind. Grace is glory begun, as glory is but grace in its perfection. How few mind this! Most act as if they were afraid to be happy before the time; they would have heaven, they pretend, at last, yet care not for holiness now; that is, they would have the end without the beginning; so absurd are sinners. But without regeneration, that is, the first resurrection, there is no attaining the second glorious one, the resurrection of the just. Here then is formal salvation, in the new divine life wrought by the gospel.
(6.) Here is the outward sign and seal thereof in baptism, called therefore the washing of regeneration. The work itself is inward and spiritual; but it is outwardly signified and sealed in this ordinance. Water is of a cleansing and purifying nature, does away the filth of the flesh, and so was apt to signify the doing away of the guilt and defilement of sin by the blood and Spirit of Christ, though that aptness alone, without Christ’s institution, would not have been sufficient. This it is that makes it of this signification on God’s part, a seal of righteousness by faith, as circumcision was, in the place of which it succeeds; and on ours an engagement to be the Lord’s. Thus baptism saves figuratively and sacramentally, where it is rightly used. Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord, Acts xxii. 16. So Eph. v. 26, That he might sanctify and cleanse us by the washing of water by the word. Slight not this outward sign and seal, where it may be had according to Christ’s appointment; yet rest not in the outward washing, but look to the answer of a good conscience, without which the external washing will avail nothing. The covenant sealed in baptism binds to duties, as well as exhibits and conveys benefits and privileges; if the former be not minded, in vain are the latter expected. Sever not what God has joined; in both the outer and inner part is baptism complete; as he that was circumcised became debtor to the whole law (Gal. v. 3), so is he that is baptized to the gospel, to observe all the commands and ordinances thereof, as Christ appointed. Disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you,Mat 28:19; Mat 28:20. This is the outward sign and seal of salvation, baptism, called here the washing of regeneration.
(7.) Here is the principal efficient, namely, the Spirit of God; it is the renewing of the Holy Ghost; not excluding the Father and the Son, who in all works without themselves are concurring; nor the use of means, the word and sacraments, by which the Spirit works; through his operation it is that they have their saving effect. In the economy of our salvation, the applying and effecting part is especially attributed to the Holy Spirit. We are said to be born of the Spirit, to be quickened and sanctified by the Spirit, to be led and guided, strengthened and helped, by the Spirit. Through him we mortify sin, perform duty, walk in God’s ways; all the acts and operations of the divine life in us, the works and fruits of righteousness without us, all are through this blessed and Holy Spirit, who is therefore called the Spirit of life, and of grace and holiness; all grace is from him. Earnestly therefore is he to be sought, and greatly to be heeded by us, that we quench not his holy motions, nor resist and oppose him in his workings. Res delicatula est Spiritus–The Spirit is a tender thing. As we act towards him, so may we expect he will to us; if we slight, and resist, and oppose his workings, he will slacken them; if we continue to vex him, he will retire. Grieve not therefore the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed to the day of redemption, Eph. iv. 30. The Spirit seals by his renewing and sanctifying, his witnessing and assuring work; he distinguishes and marks out for salvation, and fits for it; it is his work: we could not turn to God by any strength of our own, any more than we can be justified by any righteousness of our own.
(8.) Here is the manner of God’s communicating this Spirit in the gifts and graces of it; not with a scanty and niggardly hand, but most freely and plentifully: Which he shed on us abundantly. More of the Spirit in its gifts and graces is poured out under the gospel than was under the law, whence it is eminently styled the ministration of the Spirit, 2 Cor. iii. 8. A measure of the Spirit the church has had in all ages, but more in gospel times, since the coming of Christ, than before. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus Christ; that is, a more plentiful effusion of grace, fulfilling the promises and prophecies of old. Isa. xliv. 3, I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy offspring: this greatest and best of blessings, an effusion of grace, and of the sanctifying gifts of the Spirit. Joel ii. 28, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; not on Jews only, but Gentiles also. This was to be in gospel times; and accordingly (Act 2:17; Act 2:18; Act 2:33), speaking of Christ risen and ascended, having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth (says Peter) this that you now see and hear: and Act 10:44; Act 10:45, The Holy Ghost fell on all those that heart the word, Gentiles as well as Jews. This indeed was, in a great measure, in the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, but not without his sanctifying graces also accompanying many if not all of them. There was then great abundance of common gifts of illumination, outward calling and profession, and general faith, and of more special gifts of sanctification too, such as faith, and hope, and love, and other graces of the Spirit. Let us get a share in these. What will it signify if much be shed forth and we remain dry? Our condemnation will but be aggravated the more if under such a dispensation of grace we remain void of grace. Be filled with the Spirit, says the apostle; it is duty as well as privilege, because of the means which God in the gospel is ready to bless and make effectual; this is the manner of God’s communicating grace and all spiritual blessings under the gospel–plentifully; he is not straitened towards us, but we towards him and in ourselves.
(9.) Here is the procuring cause of all, namely, Christ: Through Jesus Christ our Saviour. He it is who purchased the Spirit and his saving gifts and graces. All come through him, and through him as a Saviour, whose undertaking and work it is to bring to grace and glory; he is our righteousness and peace, and our head, from whom we have all spiritual life and influences. He is made of God to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Let us praise God for him above all; let us go to the Father by him, and improve him to all sanctifying and saving purposes. Have we grace? Let us thank him with the Father and Spirit for it: account all things but loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of him, and grow and increase therein more and more.
(10.) Here are the ends why we are brought into this new spiritual condition, namely, justification, and heirship, and hope of eternal life: That, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Justification in the gospel sense is the free remission of a sinner, and accepting him as righteous through the righteousness of Christ received by faith. In it there is the removing of guilt that bound to punishment, and the accepting and dealing with the person as one that now is righteous in God’s sight. This God does freely as to us, yet through the intervention of Christ’s sacrifice and righteousness, laid hold on by faith (Rom. iii. 20, c.): By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified but through the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all those that believe, whence (v. 24) we are said to be justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. God, in justifying a sinner in the way of the gospel, is gracious to him, and yet just to himself and his law, forgiveness being through a perfect righteousness, and satisfaction made to justice by Christ, who is the propitiation for sin, and not merited by the sinner himself. So it is here: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. It is by grace, as the spring and rise (as was said), though through the redemption that is in Christ as making the way, God’s law and justice being thereby satisfied, and by faith applying that redemption. By him (by Christ) all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses, Acts xiii. 39. Hence the apostle desires to be found in him, not having his own righteousness, which was of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Let us not trust therefore in our own righteousness or merit of good works, but in Christ’s righteousness alone, received by faith for justification and acceptance with God. Inherent righteousness we must have, and the fruits of it in works of obedience; not however as our justifying righteousness before God, but as fruits of our justification, and evidences of our interest in Christ and qualification for life and happiness, and the very beginning and part of it; but the procuring of all this is by Christ, that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs. Observe, Our justification is by the grace of God, and our justification by that grace is necessary in order to our being made heirs of eternal life; without such justification there can be no adoption and sonship, and so no right of inheritance. John i. 12, Whoever received him (namely, Christ), to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to those that believed on his name. Eternal life is set before us in the promise, the Spirit works faith in us and hope of that life, and so are we made heirs of it and have a kind of possession of it even now; faith and hope bring it near, and fill with joy in the well-grounded expectation of it. The meanest believer is a great heir. Though he has not his portion in hand, he has good hope through grace, and may bear up under all difficulties. There is a better state in view. He is waiting for an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for him. How well may such comfort themselves with these words! And now all this gives good reason why we should show all meekness to all men, because we have experienced so much benefit by the kindness and love of God to us, and may hope that they, in God’s time, may be partakers of the like grace as we are. And thus of the reasons of equal and gentle, meek and tender behaviour to wards others, from their own bad condition in time past, and the present more happy state into which they are brought, without any merit or deservings of their own, and whereinto by the same grace others may be brought also.
III. The apostle, having opened the duties of Christians in common, with the reasons respecting themselves, adds another from their goodness and usefulness to men. Observe, When he has opened the grace of God towards us, he immediately presses the necessity of good works; for we must not expect the benefit of God’s mercy, unless we make conscience of our duty (v. 8): This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly (this is a true Christian doctrine of highest importance, and which ministers must most earnestly and constantly press and inculcate), that those who have believed in God do not think that a bare naked faith will save them; but it must be an operative working faith, bringing forth the fruit of righteousness; they must make it their care to maintain good works, not to do them occasionally only, and when opportunities come in their way, but to seek opportunities for doing them. These things are good and profitable unto men: these good works, say some, or the teaching of these things, rather than idle questions, as follows. These things are good in themselves and the teaching of them useful to mankind, making persons a common good in their places. Note, Ministers, in teaching, must see that they deliver what is sound and good in itself, and profitable to those that hear: all must be to the use of edifying both of persons and societies.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
To be in subjection to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient ( ). Remarkable double asyndeton, no (and) between the two substantives or the two verbs. (to obey), old verb (from , ), in N.T. only here and Ac 27:21.
To be ready unto every good work ( ). Pauline phrase (2Cor 9:8; 2Tim 2:21; 2Tim 3:17), here adjective (2Co 9:5), there verb.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Put them in mind [ ] . See on 2Ti 2:14, and on uJpomnhsin reminding, 2Ti 1:5.
Principalities and powers [ ] . Omit and. Principalities which are authorities. Arch beginning = that which begins : the leader, principality. See on Col 1:16; Jude 1:6; Act 10:11. Only here in Pastorals. Exousia right, authority. See on Mr 2:10; Joh 1:12; Col 1:16. Only here in Pastorals. For the combination principalities and powers, see on Luke 20. 20.
To obey magistrates [] . Comp. Act 5:29, 32; Act 27:21. See on Act 5:29. The idea of magistrates is contained in the word itself; but it is quite proper to render as Rev. to be obedient. Rare in LXX
Ready to every good work [ ] . The phrase N. T. o. Etoimov ready, only here in Pastorals. Comp. eJtoimasia readiness or preparation, Eph 6:15 (note).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
PASTORAL DUTIES OF THE FAITHFUL MINISTER
1) “Put them in mind.” (hupomimneshe autous) “Remind thou them.” Church members, every Christian, has an obligation to civic leaders and activities in his community.
a) “to be subject to principalities and powers.” (archais Iksousiais hupotassesthai) “to be subject to rulers (and) or those in positions of authority.” Our Lord and his apostles taught respect for civil government and civil law, Luk 20:25; Rom 13:1-7.
b) “to obey magistrates.” (peitharchein) “to be persuaded by or to obey magistrates or chief rulers.” Christians should never lead insurrection against any government of their citizenship. Changes that should be made should be by moral and spiritual influence, never defiance of law on civil matters. 1Pe 2:13-17.
c) “to be ready to every good work.” (pros pan ergon agathon etoimous einai) “to be ready to take part in every kind of morally good work” This refers to citizenship affairs, obligations of social and civic nature, Mat 23:23; Mat 22:21,
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1 Remind them to be subject to principalities and powers From many passages it is evident that the Apostles had great difficulty in keeping the common people subject to the authority of magistrates and princes. We are all by nature desirous of power; and the consequence is, that no one willingly is subject to another. Besides, perceiving that nearly all the principalities and powers of the world (256) were at that time opposed to Christ they thought them unworthy of receiving any honor. The Jews especially, being an untamable race, did not cease to mutiny and rage. Thus, after having spoken of particular duties, Paul now wishes to give a general admonition to all, to observe peaceably the order of civil government, to submit to the laws, to obey magistrates. That subjection to princes, and that obedience to magistrates, which he demands, is extended to edicts, and laws, and other parts of civil government.
What he immediately adds, To be ready for every good work, may be applied to the same subject, as if he had said, “All who do not refuse to lead a good and virtuous life, will cheerfully yield obedience to magistrates.” For, since they have been appointed for the preservation of mankind, he who desires to have them removed, or shakes off their yoke, is an enemy of equity and justice, and is therefore devoid of all humanity. Yet if any prefer to interpret it without any immediate relation to the context, I have no objection; and indeed there can be no doubt that, in this sentence, he recommends to them kind offices towards their neighbors throughout their whole life.
(256) “ Toutes des principautes et puissances du monde.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Tit. 3:1. Principalities and powers.The two words stand thus together to give fuller expression to the notion of authority. To obey magistrates.R.V. to be obedient.
Tit. 3:2. To be no brawlers.R.V. not to be contentious. As in 1Ti. 3:3. Gentle.Such a man recognises that very often the summum jus is summa injuria, and therefore goes back from his legal rights. His opposite is Shylock.
Tit. 3:3. Serving divers lusts and pleasures.As in Tit. 2:3 we saw the women needed to guard against the slavery of wine, so here various desires and pleasures are said to have had sway. Living in malice and envy.Passing the life in the indulgence of what we could get, and envy of what we could not.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Tit. 3:1-3
Christianity and the Civil Powers.
I. Christianity is on the side of law and order (Tit. 3:1).The Cretans were easily excited to rebellion, and the Jewish element in the island fostered any disposition to violence against Christianity. Hence Titus is urged to enforce on his people a ready obedience to magistrates, and to render cheerful help in maintaining the public peace. Christianity is ever on the side of law and order, and does more to prevent war and suppress rebellion than thousands of soldiers and policemen. The civil powers find powerful allies in all Christian Churches and institutions.
II. Christianity does not sanction the disparagement of civil officers.Speak evil of no man be no brawlers (Tit. 3:2). Especially not to speak evil of dignitaries and magistrates. The civil officer is the embodiment and representative of law; and whatever his character may be otherwise, the law must be respected in him. The civil powers have often made great mistakes in harassing the Christian Church, and the only retaliation the Church has made has been to defend the rights and privileges of the magistracy. The warning against brawls was not only applicable to the Cretans, who were notoriously quarrelsome, but is directed against all who would disturb the peace of the Church or of the community by giving way to a petulant and fault-finding spirit.
III. Christianity teaches becoming behaviour towards all men.But gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men (Tit. 3:2). The Christian spirit is forbearing and kindly, not urging its rights to the uttermost, lest by doing so it should stir up wrath and bitterness. Instead of indulging a passionate severity, it disarms opposition by meekly enduring wrong. Morning by morning, writes Maclaren, Gods great mercy of sunrise steals upon a darkened world in still, slow self-impartation; and the light which has a force that has carried it across gulfs of space that the imagination staggers in trying to conceive, yet falls so gently that it does not move the petals of the sleeping flowers, nor hurts the lids of an infants eyes, nor displaces a grain of dust. So should we live and work, clothing all our power in tenderness, doing our work in quietness, disturbing nothing but the darkness, and with silent increase of beneficent power filling and flooding the dark earth with healing beams. If God is so kind and beneficent to all, we ought to be meek and gentle towards each other.
IV. Christianity enforces obedience to the civil powers by reminding us of our former lawless life (Tit. 3:3).The recollection of our own wild and reckless conduct in the past, and the forbearance often shown to us, should teach us to stand by those whose duty it is to maintain public order and decorum.
Lessons.
1. Christianity is the guardian and promoter of peace.
2. Civil authority is potent as it is imbued with the Christian spirit.
3. Sin is the cause of rebellion and disorder.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Tit. 3:1. The Authority of Law.
I. Law is of God.
II. Authority is derived from God.
III. Obedience to law an essential preparation for good works.
Lessons.
1. Duty once learned may be and often is forgotten.
2. Duties of every-day life are most readily forgotten.
3. Christian ministers are required to remind their hearers of duty, as well as to proclaim privileges.
Tit. 3:2-3. The Transforming Power of the Gospel.
I. What even Christians were.
1. They were distinguished by folly.
2. Disobedience.
3. Liability to deception.
4. Sensuality.
5. Passion.
6. Unloveliness.
7. Unbrotherliness.
II. What Christians become.
1. Their lives display humility of spirit.
2. Gentleness in action.
3. Truthfulness in word.F. W.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
III. CHURCH MEMBERS IN SOCIETY 3:111
1.
AS CITIZENS Tit. 3:1-2
Text 3:1, 2
1 Put them in mind to be in subjection to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready unto every good work,
2 to speak evil of no man, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all meekness toward all men.
Thought Questions 3:1, 2
114.
Had the Cretans been instructed before on the matter of their relationship to civil authorities? When, and by whom?
115.
Is there some distinction between rulers and authorities? Specify.
116.
Why say to be obedient when they are already reminded to be in subjection?
117.
What good work would be open to Christians on Crete? Please note that this good work is civil in nature.
118.
In what sense are we to speak evil of no man? Paul outlined and itemized the evil works of many men.
119.
How can we contend for the faith and yet not be contentious?
120.
Discuss the strength of gentleness.
121.
Surely showing all meekness toward all men is an overstatement. Show how such an injunction could be translated into life.
Paraphrase 3:1, 2
1 Put the Cretians in mind of what I have taught them; namely, to be subject to the governments and powers established in Crete; to obey magistrates though they be heathens; to be ready to perform every good work enjoined by the laws of their country;
2 To speak evil of no one on account of his nation or religion, to be no fighters, but of an equitable disposition, (Php. 4:5, note), and to show the greatest meekness to all men, even to enemies.
Comment 3:1, 2
Tit. 3:1 Here are some of the good works for which the Christians on Crete are to be zealous. Evidently Paul had spoken to the Cretans about this beforeit now remains for Titus to put them in mind of these things, for the truth to be carried out. If we are to believe historians of the time (and we have no reason to doubt them), Cretans were very dissatisfied with the Roman rule, and showed signs of revolt. So says Polybius and Plutarch. In the light of this situation, the Christians leave a testimony to present to the world.
Adopt a willingness to subject yourselves to your rulers. Even if such rulers live evil lives, yet God has ordained law and order. As long as the laws of the land do not contradict the laws of God, we should be perfectly willing to obey men (Cf. Act. 5:29). The word authorities as coupled with rulers simply enlarges on one thought, that is, rulers have authority. Rom. 13:1-6 indicates such authority is from God.
The Christian is not only to be willing, but when called upon to act, he will obey. How easy it is to justify disobedience when we feel the ones who command obedience are themselves disobedientmost especially is this true when the laws are apparently but a matter of opinion or interpretation, Such attitudes cannot be indulged in by the Christian, for his example is watched and followed. To those looking for an opportunity to criticize The Way, he has provided it, To those looking for occasion to rebel, he has unwillingly given excuse.
In what good work would the civil authorities engage, to which we could lend assistance? We can think of a number of community projects to which we could pledge our support if we would, Is the donation of blood a good work? Would the relief of war victims be a good work? Would appeal to our public officials for righteous legislation, or support of some who are attempting to persuade such legislation, be a good work? What are we doing about it?
Tit. 3:2. There are in Tit. 3:1-2 seven responsibilities for the believer, Three are in Tit. 3:1 and four in Tit. 3:2 : (1) Be in subjection to rulers and authorities; (2) Be obedient; (3) Be ready unto every good work; (4) Speak evil of no man; (5) Do not be contentious; (6) Be gentle; (7) Show all meekness toward all men.
Tit. 3:2 seems to relate to those on the outside of the church, whereas verse one discusses those on the inside. To speak evil of no man in the midst of a wicked world, is no easy injunction. The word used is stronger than criticism; it means to heap curses upon or to blaspheme. No good is accomplished by such wordsour attitude of good will toward all men, is hardly upheld by such outbursts.
Someone has humorously said, Some church members are born in the objective case and the kickative mood. Such a one might be designated as contentious. Such persons are also very poor witnesses for Christ, to say nothing of being poor neighbors and citizens.
The word gentle is a good one as relating to its root meaningone filled with a positive good willready to yield personal advantage, eager to help the needy, kind to the weak, considerate toward the fallen, always filled with the spirit of sweet reasonableness (Hendriksen). We could easily say of the thought here, that a true Christian will be a true gentleman.
How did Paul imagine believers would be able to show all meekness (or mildness) to all men? Was this the attitude needed with these liars, evil brutes, and lazy bellies? (Cf. Tit. 1:12) We have no right to ask such a question. We do not want to overcome evil with good. We somehow imagine we shall overcome evil with force or demanded respect. Until the world can see some of the humility and meekness (which is but strength under control) of our Lord, we shall have but little progress in making the kingdoms of this world the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.
Please do not shrug off this word as an ideal. It is moreit is Gods answer to a lost world.
Fact Questions 3:1, 2
77.
How was Titus finishing a work started by Paul?
78.
Timothy was told to pray for rulers. Titus was told to command obedience to them. Is this a fair comparison? If not, why not? If so, why so?
79.
When, and only when, should the Christian rebel against authority?
80.
Is there some distinction in the use of the terms, rulers and authorities?
81.
Since many laws are only a matter of opinion, why should we bother to obey them? (Especially when we are in a hurry to keep an important appointment.)
82.
In what good work could the believers help?
83.
List the four responsibilities of Tit. 3:2, and give a specific, personal example of how they are fulfilled in daily life.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
III.
(1) Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers.Very careful and searching have been the Apostles charges to Titus respecting the teachers of the Church, their doctrine and their life; very particular have been his directions, his warnings, and exhortations to men and women of different ages on the subject of their home life. But, with the exception of a slight digression in the case of a slave to a Pagan master, his words had been written with a reference generally to Christian life among Christians. But there was then a great life outside the little Christian world; how were the people of Christ to regulate their behaviour in their dealings with the vast Pagan world outside? St. Paul goes to the root of the matter at once when he says, Put them in mind, &c. Very needful in Crete was such a reminder respecting obedience. The island had, when St. Paul wrote to Titus, been some century and a quarter under Roman rule. Their previous government had been democratic; and historians, like Polybius, who have written of Crete, have dwelt particularly on the turbulent and factious spirit which animated their people; added to which, the many Jews who we know formed a very large part of the Christian Church there, always impatient of a foreign yoke, would in such an atmosphere of excitement be especially eager to assert their right to be free from the hated rule of Rome.
The Greek words translated principalities and powers are better rendered here by rulers and authorities, as the word principalities is used occasionally in the English version for an order of angels. The terms include all constituted governors and officials, Roman and otherwise, in the island.
To obey magistrates.Taken absolutely, to obey the temporal power. Our Lords words were the model for all teaching in this division of Christian ethics One great teacher after the other, in the same spirit, in varied language, urges upon the people of Christ a reverence and submission to all legally constituted authority in the state. This devoted Christian loyalty, no bitter opposition in after years to their tenets could chill, no cruel persecution of individuals lessen. Augustine, writes Professor Reynolds, could boast that when Julian asked Christians to sacrifice and offer incense to the gods they, at all hazards, sternly refused; but when he summoned them to fight for the empire they rushed to the front. They distinguished between their Eternal Lord and their earthly ruler, and yet they yielded obedience to their earthly ruler for the sake of their Eternal Lord. Least of any should we expect St. Paul to write such words, so loyal and faithful to Rome. He had found, indeed, little cause in his chequered, troubled life to be grateful personally to the Empire; with ears too ready had Rome ever listened to the cruel informations laid against him by his implacable Jewish enemies; she had imprisoned him, fettered him, hindered his work, and threatened his life; and when he was writing these deathless words of his, urging upon his devoted flock a loyalty changeless and true, for him the supreme vengeance of Rome was close at hand.
To be ready to every good work.Ready cheerfully to aid all lawful authority, municipal and otherwise, in their public works undertaken for city or state. The flock of Titus must remember that the true Christian ought to be known as a good citizen and a devoted patriot.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 3
THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN ( Tit 3:1-2 ) 3:1-2 Remind them to be duly subject to those who are in power and authority, to obey each several command, to be ready for every work so long as it is good, to slander no one, not to be aggressive, to be kindly, to show all gentleness to all men.
Here is laid down the public duty of the Christian; and it is advice which was particularly relevant to the people of Crete. The Cretans were notoriously turbulent and quarrelsome and impatient of all authority. Polybius, the Greek historian, said of them that they were constantly involved in “insurrections, murders and internecine wars.” This passage lays down six qualifications for the good citizen.
The good citizen is law-abiding. He recognizes that, unless the laws are kept, life becomes chaos. He gives a proper respect to those who are set in authority and carries out whatever command is given to him. Christianity does not insist that a man should cease to be an individual, but it does insist that he remember that he is also a member of a group. “Man,” said Aristotle, “is a political animal.” That means that a man best expresses his personality not in isolated individualism but within the framework of the group.
The good citizen is active in service. He is ready for every work, so long as it is good. The characteristic modern disease is boredom; and boredom is the direct result of selfishness. So long as a man lives on the principle of, “Why should I do it? Let someone else do it,” he is bound to be bored. The interest of life lies in service.
The good citizen is careful in speech. He must slander no one. No man should say about other people what he would not like them to say about him. The good citizen will be as careful of the words he speaks as of the deeds he does.
The good citizen is tolerant. He is not aggressive. The Greek word is amachos ( G269) , which means not a fighter. This does not mean that the good citizen will not stand for the principles which he believes to be right, but that he will never be so opinionated as to believe that no other way than his own is right. He will allow to others the same right to have their convictions as he claims for himself to have his own.
The good citizen is kind. The word is epieikes ( G1933) , which describes the man who does not stand upon the letter of the law. Aristotle said of this word that it denotes “indulgent consideration of human infirmities” and the ability “to consider not only the letter of the law, but also the mind and intention of the legislator.” The man who is epieikes ( G1933) is ever ready to avoid the injustice which often lies in being strictly just.
The good citizen is gentle. The word is praus ( G4239) , which describes the man whose temper is always under complete control. He knows when to be angry and when not to be angry. He patiently bears wrongs done to himself but is ever chivalrously ready to spring to the help of others who are wronged.
Qualities like these are possible only for the man in whose heart Christ reigns supreme. The welfare of any community depends on the acceptance by the Christians within it of the duty of demonstrating to the world the nobility of Christian citizenship.
THE DOUBLE DYNAMIC ( Tit 3:3-7 ) 3:3-7 For we too were once senseless, disobedient, misguided, slaves to all kinds of desires and pleasures, living in maliciousness and envy, detestable ourselves, and hating each other. But when the goodness and the love to men of God our Saviour appeared, it was not by works wrought in righteousness, which we ourselves had done, but by his own mercy that he saved us. That saving act was made effective to us through that washing, through which there comes to us the rebirth and the renewal which are the work of the Holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out upon us, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And the aim of all this was that we might be put into a right relationship with God through his grace, and so enter into possession of eternal life, for which we have been taught to hope.
The dynamic of the Christian life is twofold.
It comes first from the realization that converts to Christianity were once no better than their heathen neighbours. Christian goodness does not make a man proud; it makes him supremely grateful. When he looks at others, living the pagan life, he does not regard them with contempt; he says, as Whitefield said when he saw the criminal on the way to the gallows: “There but for the grace of God go I.”
It comes from the realization of what God has done for men in Jesus Christ. Perhaps no passage in the New Testament more summarily, and yet more fully, sets out the work of Christ for men than this. There are seven outstanding facts about that work here.
(i) Jesus put us into a new relationship with God. Till he came, God was the King before whom men stood in awe, the Judge before whom men cringed in terror, the Potentate whom they could regard only with fear. Jesus came to tell men of the Father whose heart was open and whose hands were stretched out in love. He came to tell them not of the justice which would pursue them for ever but of the love which would never let them go.
(ii) The love and grace of God are gifts which no man could ever earn; they can only be accepted in perfect trust and in awakened love. God offers his love to men simply out of the great goodness of his heart and the Christian thinks never of what he has earned but only of what God has given. The keynote of the Christian life must always be wondering and humble gratitude, never proud self-satisfaction. The whole process is due to two great qualities of God.
It is due to his goodness. The word is chrestotes ( G5544) and means benignity. It means that spirit which is so kind that it is always eager to give whatever gift may be necessary. Chrestotes is an all-embracing kindliness, which issues not only in warm feeling but also in generous action at all times.
It is due to God’s love to men. The word is philanthropia ( G5363) , and it is defined as love of man as man. The Greeks thought much of this beautiful word. They used it for the good man’s kindliness to his equals, for a good king’s graciousness to his subjects, for a generous man’s active pity for those in any kind of distress, and specially for the compassion which made a man ransom a fellow-man when he had fallen into captivity.
At the back of all this is no merit of man but only the benign kindliness and the universal love which are in the heart of God.
(iii) This love and grace of God are mediated to men through the Church. They come through the sacrament of baptism. That is not to say that they can come in no other way, for God is not confined within his sacraments; but the door to them is ever open through the Church. When we think of baptism in the earliest days of the Church, we must remember that it was the baptism of grown men and women coming directly out of paganism. It was the deliberate leaving of one way of life to enter upon another. When Paul writes to the people of Corinth, he says: “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified” ( 1Co 6:11). In the letter to the Ephesians he says that Jesus Christ took the Church that “he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word” ( Eph 5:26). In baptism there came to men the cleansing, re-creating power of God.
In this connection Paul uses two words.
He speaks of rebirth (paliggenesia, G3824) . Here is a word which had many associations. When a proselyte was received into the Jewish faith, after he had been baptized he was treated as if he were a little child. It was as if he had been reborn and life had begun all over again. The Pythagoreans used the word frequently. They believed in reincarnation and that men returned to life in many forms until they were fit to be released from it. Each return was a rebirth. The Stoics used the word. They believed that every three thousand years the world went up in a great conflagration, and that then there was a rebirth of a new world. When people entered the Mystery Religions they were said to be “reborn for eternity.” The point is that when a man accepts Christ as Saviour and Lord, life begins all over again. There is a newness about life which can be likened only to a new birth.
He speaks of a renewing. It is as if life were worn out and when a man discovers Christ there is an act of renewal, which is not over and done with in one moment of time but repeats itself every day.
CAUSE AND EFFECT ( Tit 3:3-7 continued) (iv) The grace and love of God are mediated to men within the Church, but behind it all is the power of the Holy Spirit. All the work of the Church, all the words of the Church, all the sacraments of the Church are inoperative unless the power of the Holy Spirit is there. However highly a Church be organized, however splendid its ceremonies may be, however beautiful its buildings, all is ineffective without that power. The lesson is clear. Revival in the Church comes not from increased efficiency in organization but from waiting upon God. Not that efficiency is not necessary, but no amount of efficiency can breathe life into a body from which the Spirit has departed.
(v) The effect of all this is threefold. It brings forgiveness for past sins. In his mercy God does not hold our sins against us. Once a man was mourning gloomily to Augustine about his sins. “Man,” said Augustine, “look away from your sins and look to God.” It is not that a man must not be all his life repentant for his sins; but the very memory of his sins should move him to wonder at the forgiving mercy of God.
(vi) The effect is also present life. Christianity does not confine its offer to blessings which shall be. It offers a man here and now life of a quality which he has never known before. When Christ enters into a man’s life, for the first time he really begins to live.
(vii) Lastly, there is the hope of even greater things. The Christian is a man for whom the best is always still to be; he knows that, however wonderful is life on earth with Christ, the life to come will be greater yet. The Christian is the man who knows the wonder of past sin forgiven, the thrill of present life with Christ, and the hope of the greater life which is yet to be.
THE NECESSITY OF ACTION AND THE DANGER OF DISCUSSION ( Tit 3:8-11 ) 3:8-11 This is a saying which we are bound to believe–and I want you to keep on affirming these things–that those who have put their faith in God must think and plan bow to practise fine deeds. These are fine things and useful to men. But have nothing to do with foolish speculations and genealogies and contentious and legalistic battles, for they are no good to anyone and serve no useful purpose. Avoid a contentious and opinionative man, after giving him a first and a second warning, for you must be well aware that such a man is perverted and stands a self-condemned sinner.
This passage stresses the need for Christian action and the danger of a certain kind of discussion.
The word we have translated to practise fine deeds is proistasthai ( G4291) , which literally means to stand in front of and was the word used for a shopkeeper standing in front of his shop crying his wares. The phrase may mean either of two things. It might be a command to Christians to engage only in respectable and useful trades. There were certain professions which the early Church insisted that a man should quit before he was allowed even to ask for membership. More probably the phrase has the wider meaning that a Christian must practise good deeds which are helpful to men.
The second part of the passage warns against useless discussions. The Greek philosophers spent their time on their fine-spun problems. The Jewish Rabbis spent their time building up imaginary genealogies for the characters of the Old Testament. The Jewish scribes spent endless hours discussing what could and could not be done on the Sabbath, and what was and was not unclean. It has been said that there is a danger that a man may think himself religious because he discusses religious questions. It is much easier to discuss theological questions than to be kind and considerate and helpful at home, or efficient and diligent and honest at work. There is no virtue in sitting discussing deep theological questions when the simple tasks of the Christian life are waiting to be done. Such discussion can be nothing other than an evasion of Christian duties.
Paul was certain that the real task of the Christian lay in Christian action. That is not to say that there is no place for Christian discussion; but the discussion which does not end in action is very largely wasted time.
It is Paul’s advice that the contentious and opinionative man should be avoided. The King James Version calls him the heretic. The Greek is hairetikos ( G141) . The verb hairein means “to choose”; and hairesis ( G139) means “a party, or a school or a sect.” Originally the word carries no bad meaning. This creeps in when a man erects his private opinion against all the teaching, the agreement and the tradition of the Church. A heretic is simply a man who has decided that he is right and everybody else is wrong. Paul’s warning is against the man who has made his own ideas the test of all truth. A man should always be very careful of any opinion which separates him from the fellowship of his fellow believers. True faith does not divide men; it unites them.
FINAL GREETINGS ( Tit 3:12-15 )
3:12-15 When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.
Do your best to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way. See to it that nothing is lacking to them.
And let our people too learn to practise fine deeds, that they may be able to supply all necessary needs, and that they may not live useless lives.
All who are with me send you their greetings. Greet those who love us in the faith.
Grace be with you all. Amen.
As usual Paul ends his letter with personal messages and greetings. Of Artemas we know nothing at all. Tychicus was one of Paul’s most trusted messengers. He was the bearer of the letters to the Colossian and the Ephesian Churches ( Col 4:7; Eph 6:21). Nicopolis was in Epirus and was the best centre for work in the Roman province of Dalmatia. It is interesting to remember that it was there that Epictetus, the great Stoic philosopher, later had his school.
Apollos was the well-known teacher ( Act 18:24). Of Zenas we know nothing at all. He is here called a nomikos ( G3544) . That could mean one of two things. Nomikos ( G3544) is the regular word for a scribe and Zenas may have been a converted Jewish Rabbi. It is also the normal Greek for a lawyer; and, if that is its meaning, Zenas has the distinction of being the only lawyer mentioned in the New Testament.
Paul’s last piece of advice is that the Christian people should practise good deeds, so that they themselves should be independent and also able to help others who are in need. The Christian workman works not only to have enough for himself but also to have something to give away.
Next come the final greetings; and then, as in every letter, Paul’s last word is grace.
-Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
FURTHER READING
Titus
D. Guthrie, The Pastoral Epistles (TC; E)
W. Lock, The Pastoral Epistles (ICC; G)
E. F. Scott, The Pastoral Epistles (MC; E)
E. K. Simpson, The Pastoral Epistles
Abbreviations
CGT: Cambridge Greek Testament
ICC: International Critical Commentary
MC: Moffatt Commentary
TC: Tyndale Commentary
E: English Text
G: Greek Text
-Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
Fuente: Barclay Daily Study Bible
Miscellaneous Injunctions, Tit 3:1-11.
1. Though the special contrasts between the Christians and the Cretans are ended, as noted at the close of last chapter, yet the admonitions of this chapter were called out by the special turbulence of the Cretans generally. Crete had now been for years subject to the Roman power, which was spreading itself over the known world. That power, despotic and conquering all before it, was, nevertheless, a mighty agency in breaking down national barriers, in bringing races into mutual acquaintance and unity, in establishing universal law and order, and so advancing the progress of civilization. Yet Gentile Crete, insular in position, was inclined to lawlessness and rebellion. The Jews in Crete, as elsewhere, were cherishing that spirit of hostility to Rome which resulted in a few years from this present time in the destruction of Jerusalem and the overthrow of the Jewish state. Huther doubts, indeed, whether there is in this chapter any special reference to Cretan turbulence, since other epistles have similar injunctions. Other epistles, however, treat the subject more doctrinally, whereas this epistle is throughout practical, with direct reference to surrounding circumstances. But Huther adds correctly, that such ethical laying down of the law was needed for Christians, from the fact that governments were heathen.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1. Put them in mind Give them a reminder of what they know, but are ever inclined to forget. Morality is a simple science, if men were ready to acknowledge and remember its truths.
Be subject obey The former term expresses quiet submission, the latter active performance of laws and commands.
Principalities The living magistrates.
Powers The laws and authorities.
Obey magistrates The lesser rulers.
Ready to every good work, as member under authorities of civil and social life.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Put them in mind to be in subjection to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready unto every good work,’
And just as bondservants are to be subject to their masters, so the whole church are to be subject to their rulers and the authorities who are over them, and ready for any good work. Note that this obedience is to their rulers and refers to anything that is ‘a good work’. There would be an exception if what was required of them was wrong. We can compare here Rom 13:1-4. Christians are not to be anti-authority.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
What Our Behaviour Should Be Towards Outsiders In View Of The Fact That We Are Looking For The Lord’s Coming ( Tit 2:9 to Tit 3:2 ).
Two main aspects of behaviour towards outsiders are in mind here, both of which are unavoidable to those concerned. The first is the position of a bondservant to his usually non-Christian master, and the second is the position of all towards authority. And both of these are put in juxtaposition to the Lord’s coming. Because Christians are not of this world, but are seeking to win this world to Christ, they are to behave in an exemplary way so that no discredit or blame comes on either Christ or the church. They must recognise that in the end it is what they are in Christ that matters, as those who are experiencing the work of the Saviour, not what their earthly status is, which is not of prime importance.
Analysis.
a
b That they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things (Tit 2:10 b).
c For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us, to the intent that, denying (renouncing) ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world (Tit 2:11-12).
d Looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ (Tit 2:13).
c Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works (Tit 2:14).
b These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no man despise you (Tit 2:15).
a Put them in mind to be in subjection to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready unto every good work, to speak evil of no man, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all meekness toward all men (Tit 3:1-2)
.
Note that in ‘a’ bondservants are to be in subjection to their masters, to be well pleasing, and not to speak against them, and in the parallel we are to be subject to the authorities who are over us, to be ready for every good work, speaking evil of no one. In ‘b’ they are to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, and in the parallel Titus is so to speak that he is not despised. In ‘c’ God’s gracious activity in salvation has appeared in order to transform us, and in the parallel our Saviour Jesus Christ has given Himself for us in order to redeem us and transform us. Centrally in ‘d’ is our need to look for our blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
SECTION 2.
God’s People Must Live In The World As Those Who Are Looking For His Coming, And As Those Who Have Experienced His Saving Work ( Tit 2:9 Overall Analysis.
a
b They must not be speaking against them or appropriating for themselves what is their master’s (2:10a).
c For their behaviour is to be such as will adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour (Tit 2:10 b).
d For God is working out His saving purpose so as to(Titus redeem us through the One Who gave Himself for us and, as we turn from sin, make us righteous in life as we look for the blessed hope of the coming of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ (Tit 2:11-14).
e Titus is to speak and exhort and reprove with all authority, not behaving in such a way that men will despise him (Tit 2:15).
f The Cretans are to be put in mind to be in subjection to rulers and authorities and to be obedient to every good work (Tit 3:1).
e The Cretans are to speak evil of none and to be positively gentle and humble towards all (Tit 3:2).
d For when we were sinful God our Saviour revealed His kindness and love towards us, regenerating us not according to our deserts but saving us in accordance with His mercy through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit which He poured out richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that being put in the right by grace we might have hope of eternal life (Tit 3:3-7).
c Their behaviour is to be such as befits those who have believed God (Tit 3:8)
b Titus must shun foolish questions and strifes and fighting (Tit 3:9).
a While promoters of dissension are to be rejected after two admonitions (Tit 3:10-11).
Note that in ‘a’ bondservants are to be in subjection and well pleasing, while in the parallel anyone who promote dissension is to be rejected as not well pleasing. In ‘b’ The bondservants are not to be argumentative or dishonest, and in the parallel Titus is to shun foolish questions, strife and fighting. In ‘c’ their behaviour is to be of such as will adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, and in the parallel their behaviour must be that of those who believe in God. In ‘d’ we have described the great saving activity in the Name of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, and in the parallel we have described that that great saving activity is through Jesus Christ our Saviour. In ‘e’ Titus is to speak good and not let men despise him, and in the parallel the Cretans are not to speak evil of any but to reveal good. In ‘f’ we have the central fact that Cretans are to be in subjection to rulers and authorities and to be obedient to every good work
This section then divides into two parts.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Paul’s Third Charge to Establish Godly Conduct with the World (Good Works) In Tit 3:1-7 Paul gives his third and final charge to Titus, which is to establish godly conduct among the church members. The first charge focused upon identifying leaders with a pure heart (Tit 1:5-16). The second charge focused upon speaking sound doctrine in order to renew their minds and anchor their souls in the hope of Christ’s Second Coming (Tit 2:1-15). This third charge (Tit 3:1-11) will focus upon their acts, or how their bodies are to be used now that they have been washed in the act of regeneration and renewed by the Holy Ghost. The motive, or reason, for maintaining good works is that we may become heirs of eternal life.
Paul’s third charge emphasizes the conduct of the church with the world. They are to obey those placed in authority over them, guard their tongue, and act with meekness among all men (Tit 3:1-2). The motive for such a lifestyle is our response to the mercy of God that was shed upon us in order that we might have eternal life (Tit 3:3-7).
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Godly Conduct with Authorities and All Men Tit 3:1-2
2. Motive for Such Conduct is the Second Coming Tit 3:3-7
Tit 3:1-2 Godly Conduct with Authorities and All Men In his third charge that emphasizes the conduct of the church with the world, Paul tells them to obey those placed in authority over them, guard their tongue, and act with meekness among all men; this three-fold charge emphasizes the heart in subjection to authority, the mind in subjection to the will, and the body subjected in meek conduct.
Tit 3:3-7 Motive for Such Conduct is the Second Coming – The motive for such godly conduct is our response to the mercy of God that was shed upon us in order that we might have eternal life (Tit 3:3-7). Paul shows Titus how we should be motivated since we, too, were once in darkness like those in the world (Tit 3:3), but God manifested His mercy through the redemptive work of Christ Jesus (Tit 3:4-6). Our godly conduct will result in an entrance into Heaven (Tit 3:7).
Tit 3:5 “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us” Scripture References – Note similar verses:
Rom 3:20, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
Eph 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
1Ti 1:9, “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Three Charges – The underlying theme of the epistle of Titus is church order. Paul gives Titus several charges regarding how to set the churches of Crete in biblical order. These charges will emphasize the setting of the church in order by appointing men with a pure heart as church leaders (Tit 1:5-16), teaching sound doctrine to give them with a sound mind (Tit 2:1-15), and establishing godly conduct in their actions (Tit 3:1-7). In Tit 3:8-11 Paul summarizes his three charges to Titus (Tit 3:8) and instructs him on how to deal with those who oppose the things of God.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. First Charge: Appoint Elders: Pure Hearts Tit 1:5-16
2. Second Charge: Speak Sound Doctrine Sound Minds Tit 2:1-15
3. Third Charge: Establish Godly Conduct Tit 3:1-7
4. Summary of Charges Tit 3:8-11
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
An Admonition to Obedience and Meekness.
v. 1. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
v. 2. to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men.
v. 3. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. In addition to the admonitions which Titus, according to the directions of Paul, was to address to the persons in various stations in the congregations, the apostle here inserts some general exhortations for all Christians: Remind them to be subject to their rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work. Not only the members of the congregations of Crete, but all Christians should keep in memory and recall the fact continually, that they owe allegiance and obedience to the government given them by God. In all matters which are not covered by an actual prohibition of God they are to submit themselves willingly, even if their personal feelings are not in agreement with the policies of the rulers. It makes no difference whether the national polity is republican or monarchical, whether the rulers profess Christianity or not, whether their policies are beneficial or not, the Christians in every country must submit, be obedient to them by the will of God, Rom 13:1. There is only one exception, namely, when the ordinances of the state oppose the plain will of God, Act 4:19; Act 5:29. Even in a republic the feeling of obedience, of reverence, and the corresponding willingness to give concrete evidence of this feeling at all times must be self-evident with Christians. If, in this case, they do not believe that the men representing the government are working for the best interests of the entire country, they may voice their disapproval through the medium of speech or the press or the ballot-box; but as long as a government is in power, it must be supported by the Christians of the land. Their external acts thus agreeing with the disposition of their minds, they will be ready, as a matter of course, to every good work, in every relation which they sustain in life, not only to magistrates, but in general. As one commentator puts it: “A Christian should always be ready to do good as far as he is able. He should not need to be urged, or coaxed, or persuaded, but should be so ready always to do good that he will count it a privilege to have the opportunity to do it. ” (Barnes.) Incidentally, the Christians will thereby escape the accusation as though they were an association opposed to all culture and characterized by hatred of all men.
The apostle wants the Christians to be active in all good works, to be an example to all men: To slander no one, not to be quarrelsome, (to be) humbly yielding, showing all meekness toward all men. It is not only a matter of Christian prudence, but of the express will of God that Christians speak blasphemously of no man nor of his convictions. One may well respect the convictions of other men without denying his own faith with so much as one word, one gesture. Deliberately to seek out unbelievers for the purpose of ridiculing many of the false opinions which they hold instead of attempting to gain them by patient persuasion, is the height of folly. In a case of deliberate and malicious perversion of the truth, of course, or of evident hypocrisy, one will adopt a tone that will fully express one’s righteous indignation at the blasphemous attitude of the opponent. But to be contentious, to seek quarrels, that is not the spirit that agrees with the example of Him who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not, 1Pe 2:23. Altogether, it is expected of Christians that they prefer to be humbly yielding in their attitude rather than aggressively challenging, that they show meekness toward all men. This is a virtue which is not shown so much toward those that are kind toward us as toward those from whom we may receive the greatest provocation. This meekness and humility may be learned only in the school of the Holy Ghost, with the example of Christ before one’s eyes without ceasing.
In urging this virtue, the apostle names seven points which characterize the unregenerate, from whom the believers have been separated through the grace of God: For also we once were foolish, disobedient, going astray, serving various desires and lusts, spending our days in malice and envy, abominable, hating one another. The picture which the apostle draws is not a pleasant one, but it is purposely presented in glaring colors, in order to show the grace of God all the more gloriously by contrast. Of us, before the mercy of the Lord wrought faith in our hearts, of all men by nature, it is true that they are foolish, that they do not use their senses properly in accordance with God’s will. There is not only a lack of spiritual knowledge in their hearts, no understanding of the things which serve for their salvation, but they have no idea, no comprehension of that which is good and true; they use their minds only for the purpose of enriching human wisdom, without the basis of the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore they are also bound up in disobedience, they are in a condition of rebellion against God. See Rom 1:32; Rom 2:12-15. The natural knowledge of God and the promptings of their conscience they did not heed, or they deliberately disregarded them. It follows that the unbelievers are going astray at all times, they cannot find the right way; no matter which way they turn, their errors encompass them. Thus they are enslaved by various desires and lusts. See 2Ti 3:6; Jas 4:1. Of the Spirit of God and His gentle leading, of the way of sanctification, they have no idea. The warning voice of their conscience they stifle. The lusts and desires of their flesh, the incitement toward unchastity, covetousness, false ambition, and other godless thoughts govern their hearts and minds altogether. They are always restless, never satisfied, their whole life is spent in malice and envy. They are full of eagerness to do harm to others, because they cannot bear to see others have any advantage over them. The entire aim and object of their life, in the final analysis, is selfishness and greed. Thus they are an abomination to the Lord and an object of contempt to those that have a better knowledge of the will of God. Not even among themselves, in their own class, are they able to keep peace, for they are filled with hatred toward one another. It is a terrible, a deplorable condition in which the unregenerate find themselves. And since that was the original condition of the Christians also, they will not thrust back the unbelievers by a malevolent attitude, but will, in every possible way, attempt to bring them the message of salvation in Christ Jesus.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Tit 3:1
In subjection for subject, A.V.; rulers for principalities. A.V.; to authorities for and powers, A.V. and T.R.; to be obedient for to obey magistrates, A.V.; unto for to, A.V. Put them in mind (); as 2Ti 2:14. To rulers, to authorities. Many uncials, which the R.T. follows, omit the , but it seems necessary to the sense. The change from “principalities and powers” to” rulers” and “authorities” does not seem desirable. and is a favorite juxtaposition el’ St. Paul’s (1Co 15:24; Eph 1:21; Eph 3:10; Eph 6:12; Col 1:16; Col 2:10, Col 2:15). It occurs also in 1Pe 3:22. In all the above examples the words, it is true, apply to the angelic hosts, but the words are elsewhere applied separately to human government, and in Luk 20:20, they are applied together to the authority of the Roman governor. To be obedient (); only here and in Act 5:29, Act 5:32; Act 27:21. It follows here its classical use, “to obey a superior,” well expressed in the Authorized Version “to obey magistrates.” The simple “to be obedient” of the Revised Version does not express the sense. To be ready unto every good work. St. Paul is still speaking with especial reference to magistrates and the civil power. Christians were to show themselves good citizens, always ready for any duty to which they were called. Christianity was not to be an excuse for shirking duties, or refusing obedience where it was due. The only limit is expressed by the word “good.” They were to give tribute to whom tribute was due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor; but, if ordered to do evil, then they must resist, and obey God rather than man (Act 4:19). (See the similar limitation in Tit 2:10, note, and compare, for the whole verse, the very similar passage, Rom 13:1-7.)
Tit 3:2
Not to be contentious for to be no brawlers, A.V.; to be for but, A.V.; toward for unto, A.V. To speak evil of no man ( ). Probably especially pointed in the first place at a natural tendency of oppressed Christians to speak evil of their rulers (2Pe 2:10; Jud 10), but extended into a general precept which might be especially needful for the rough and turbulent Cretans. Not to be contentious ( ); as 1Ti 3:3, note. To be gentle (); coupled, as here, with in 1Ti 3:3. Showing (); a word of frequent occurrence in St. Paul’s vocabulary (Rom 2:15; Rom 9:17.22; Eph 2:7, etc.; see above, Tit 2:10, note). Meekness (); another Pauline word (1Co 4:21; 2Co 10:1; Gal 5:23, etc.; 1Ti 6:11; 2Ti 2:25). The precept is given its widest extension by the double addition of “all” and “to all men.” The roughness, or want of courtesy, of others is no excuse for the want of meekness in those who are the disciples of him who was meek and lowly in heart (Mat 11:29). All men, whatever their station, the highest or the lowest, are to receive meek and gentle treatment from the Christian.
Tit 3:3
We for we ourselves, A.V.; afore-time for sometimes, A.V.; hating for and hating, A.V. Foolish (); a Pauline word (Gal 3:1, Gal 3:3), found also in Luk 24:25 (see 1Ti 6:9); of frequent use in classical Greek. Disobedient (); as Tit 1:16. In Luk 1:17 it stands, as here, absolutely, meaning disobedient to God and his Law. Deceived (); led astray, made to wander from the path of troth and right, either by false systems of religion, or by our own evil affections and appetites (see 2Ti 2:13; 1Pe 2:25; 2Pe 2:15, etc.). Serving; slaves to (); 2Pe 2:19 (see above, Tit 2:2). Lusts (); not always in a bad sense, as here, though usually so (see Luk 22:15; Php 1:23; 1Th 2:17; Rev 18:14). Pleasures (); always in a bad sense in the New Testament (Luk 8:14; Jas 4:1, Jas 4:3; 2Pe 2:13). Living (); see 1Ti 2:2, where it is followed by , which is here understood. . etc., are common phrases both in the LXX. and in classical Greek for passing or spending one’s life, time, age, etc. But it is only found in the New Testament here and in 1Ti 2:2. Malice (). This word is sometimes used of wickedness generally, as Act 8:22; Jas 1:21; 1Co 5:8; and probably Rom 1:29; anti even of badness in things, as Mat 6:34. But it frequently in the New Testament denotes malice, the desire to do harm to others, as Eph 4:31; Col 3:8, etc. Envy (); almost always found in St. Paul’s enumeration of sins (Rom 1:29; Gal 5:21; 1Ti 6:4, etc.). Hateful (); only here in the New Testament, not found in the LXX. (though the verb occurs once or twice in the Maccabees), but used in good classical Greek. The above is a sad but too true picture of human life without the sweetening influences of God’s Holy Spirit.
Tit 3:4
When for after that, A.V.; the kindness of God our Savior, and his love toward man for the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man, A.V. Kindness (), used by St. Paul only in the New Testament, and by him frequently in the sense of “kindness,” whether of God (as Rom 2:4; Rom 11:22; Eph 2:7) or of man (as 2Co 6:6; Gal 5:22; Col 3:12). In Rom 3:12, where it has the wider sense of “good” or “right,” it is the phrase of the LXX., who use for the Hebrew . In like manner, is frequently used in the sense of “kind” (Luk 6:35; Rom 2:4; Col 3:12; 1Pe 2:3). This is exactly analogous to the use of and , in the limited sense of “malicious,” “malice” (see preceding note to Rom 3:3). Love toward man (); only here and Act 28:2 in the New Testament. It occurs repeatedly in the Books of the Maccabees, and is common in good classical Greek. God our Savior (see 1Ti 1:1; 1Ti 2:3; Tit 2:10, etc.). Appeared (Tit 2:11).
Tit 3:5
Done in for of, A.V.; did ourselves for hare done, A.V.; through for by, A.V. By works ( ); i.e. in consequence of. God’s kindness and love to man did not spring from man’s good work as the preceding and producing conditions (comp. Gal 2:16, and the notes of Bishops Ellicott and Lightfoot). Done in righteousness( ); the particular description of the works wrought in a sphere or element of righteousness (Alford and Ellicott). Which we did ourselves; emphasizing that they were our good works, done by us in a state of righteousness. All this, as the cause of our salvation, the apostle emphatically denies. Not, etc., but according to his mercy he saved us. The predisposing cause, the rule and measure of our salvation, was God’s mercy and grace, originating and completing that salvation. Through the washing of regeneration ( ). Here we have the means through or by which God’s mercy saves us. The washing or rather laver of regeneration ()found elsewhere in the New Testament only in Eph 5:26, in exactly the same connectionis the laver or bath in which the washing takes place. The nature or quality of this bath is described by the words, “of regeneration” ( ); elsewhere in the New Testament only in Mat 19:28, where it seems rather to mean the great restoration of humanity at the second advent. The word is used by Cicero of his restoration to political power, by Josephus of the restoration of the Jews under Zerubbabel, and by several Greek authors; and the LXX. of Job 14:14 have the phrase, , but in what sense is not quite clear, , therefore, very fifty describes the new birth in holy baptism, when the believer is put into possession of a new spiritual life, a new nature, and a new inheritance of glory. And the laver of baptism is called “the laver of regeneration,” because it is the ordained means by or through which regeneration is obtained. And renewing of the Holy Ghost. It is doubtful whether the genitive depends upon or upon . Bengel, followed by Alford, takes the former, “per lavacrum et renovationem;” the Vulgate (lavacrum regenerationis et renova-tionis Spiritus Sancti), the latter, followed by Huther, Bishop Ellicott, and others. It is difficult to hit upon any conclusive argument for one side or the other. But it is against the latter construction that it gives such a very long rambling sentence dependent upon . “The laver of regeneration and of the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” And it is in favor of the former that the “laver of regeneration” and “the renewing of the Holy Ghost” seem to describe very clearly the two parts of the sacrament, the outward visible sign and the inward spiritual grace; the birth of water and of the Holy Ghost. So that Bengel’s rendering seems on the whole to be preferred. Renewing (); only here and Rom 12:2, and not at all in the LXX. or in classical Greek. But the verb is found in 2Co 4:16; Col 3:10. The same idea is in the , the “new creature” of 2Co 5:17 and Gal 6:15, and the of Rom 6:4, and the of Rom 7:6, and in the contrast between the “old man” (the ) and “the new man” (the ) of Eph 4:22-24. This renewal is the work of the Holy Ghost in the new birth, when men are “born again” of the Spirit (Joh 3:5). Alford is wrong in denying its application here to the first gift of the new life. It is evidently parallel with the . The connection of baptism with the effusion of the Holy Spirit is fully set forth in Act 2:1-47. (see especially Act 2:38; comp. Mat 3:16, Mat 3:17).
Tit 3:6
Poured out upon us richly for shed on us abundantly, A.V. Which (); viz. the Holy Ghost. It is in the genitive (instead of the accusative , which is another reading), by what [he grammarians call attraction. Poured out (); the same word as is applied to the Holy Ghost in Act 2:17, Act 2:18, Act 2:33, and in the LXX. of Joe 2:28, Joe 2:29. Richly (); as 1Ti 6:17; Col 3:16; 2Pe 1:11 (compare the use of in Eph 1:7; Eph 2:7). Through Jesus Christ. It is our baptism into Christ which entitles us to receive the Holy Spirit, which we have only in virtue of our union with him. The Spirit flows from the Head to the members. In Act 2:33, Act 2:34 Christ is said to have received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, and to have poured it forth upon the Church.
Tit 3:7
Might for should, A.V. Being justified by his grace; showing very clearly that righteousness in man did not precede and cause the saving mercy of God, but that mercy went before and provided the justification which is altogether of grace, and which issues in the possession of eternal life. Heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This seems to be the right rendering rather than that in the margin, heirs, according to hope, of eternal life, making “eternal life” depend upon “heirs.” The passage in Tit 1:2, “In hope of eternal life,” is a very strong reason for taking the same construction here. The answer in the Church Catechism, “Wherein I was made a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven,” follows very closely St. Paul’s teaching in the text (see Rom 4:13, Rom 4:14; Rom 8:17; Gal 3:29, Gal 4:7).
Tit 3:8
Faithful is the saying for this is a faithful saying, A.V.; concerning these things for these things, A.V., confidently for constantly, A.V.; to the end that for that, A.V.; God for in God, A.V.; may for might, A.V.; full stop after good works, and colon after men. Faithful is the saying; as 1Ti 1:15 (where see note). Here the faithful saying can only be the following maxim: “That they which have believed in God may be careful to maintain good works;” the words, “These things I will that thou affirm confidently,” being interpolated to give yet more weight to it. Concerning these things; i.e. with respect to the things or truths which are the subject of the faithful saying. I will that thou affirm confidently (); see 1Ti 1:7. “Never be weary of dwelling on these important truths, and asserting them with authority. For such doctrine is really good and profitable for those whom you are commissioned to teach. But leave alone the foolish and unprofitable controversies.” To the end that (). It is not necessary to give to the meaning “to the end that,” in such a sentence as this (see note on Tit 2:12). After words of command especially, , frequently, has simply the force of “that.” So here, “lay it down as a rule that they which have believed God must be careful to maintain good works.” If the sentence had run on without interruption, it would have been … But the interposition of the , with the idea of commanding obedience, has caused the use of . Believed God ( or ). The meaning is not the same as , or , “to believe in,” or “on,” but “to believe” (as Rom 4:3,Rom 4:17 and 1Jn 5:10, where the context shows that it is the act of believing God’s promise that is meant). And so here, the believing refers to the promises implied in the preceding reference to the hope and the inheritance. May be careful (); only here in the New Testament, but common in the LXX. and in classical Greek. The word means “to give thought” about a thing, “to be careful” or “anxious” about it. To maintain (); usually in the sense of “presiding over” or “ruling” (as Rom 12:8; 1Th 5:12; 1Ti 3:4, 1Ti 3:5, 1Ti 3:12; 1Ti 5:17). Here, alter the analogy of the classical use, , to “undertake,” to “carry on,” or the like, fairly expressed by to “maintain.” The idea does not seem to be “to stand at the head of,” or “to be foremost in.” Good works; i.e. practical godliness of all kinds (see 1Ti 1:14). These things are good, etc. If the reading of the T.R., …, is retained, the rendering ought to be, “These are the things that are really good and profitable unto men, not foolish questions, etc., they are unprofitable.” But the R.T. omits the . With regard to the interpretation above given of 1Ti 1:8, it must be admitted that it is very doubtful. But the great difficulty of the other way of rendering it, as most commentators do, is that it is impossible to say which part of what precedes is “the faithful saying” alluded to; and that the “care to maintain good works” is not that which naturally springs from it; whereas the reiteration in 1Ti 1:8 implies that “good works” is the special subject of “the faithful saying.”
Tit 3:9
Shun for avoid, A.V.; questionings for questions, A.V.; strifes for contentions, A.V.; fightings for strivings, A.V. Shun (); see 2Ti 2:16. Foolish questionings; as 2Ti 2:23. Genealogies; as 1Ti 1:4. Strifes (); as 1Ti 6:4. Fightings about the Law ( ); such as St. Paul alludes to in 1Ti 1:1-20., and are probably included in the of 1Ti 6:4. Unprofitable (); only here and Heb 7:18; but it is found in the LXX. and other Greek Versions, and in classical Greek (compare, for the sense, 2Ti 2:14). Vain (); compare the use of , “vain talkers” (Tit 1:10), and “vain talking” (1Ti 1:6). The whole picture is unmistakably one of the perverse Jewish mind.
Tit 3:10
Heretical for an heretick, A.V.; a for the, A.V.; refuse for reject, A.V. Heretical (); only here in the New Testament, not found in the LXX., but used in classical Greek for “intelligent,“ i.e. able to choose. The use of it here by St. Paul is drawn from the use of for “a sect” (Act 5:17; Act 15:5; Act 24:5, Act 24:14; Act 26:5; Act 28:22; 1Co 11:19; Gal 5:20; 2Pe 2:1), or the doctrines taught by a sect. The heretic is one who forsakes the truth held by the Church, and chooses some doctrine of his own devising (). The tendency of such departures from the doctrine of the Church to assume more and more of a deadly character, and to depart wider and wider from the truth, gave to the name of heretic a darker shade of condemnation in the mouth of Church writers as time advanced. But even in apostolic times some denied the resurrection (2Ti 2:11, 2Ti 2:12); others denied the Lord that bought them (2Pe 2:1); and there were some who were of the synagogue of Satan (Rev 2:9); so that already an heretical man, drawing away disciples after him, was a great blot in the Church. Admonition (); as 1Co 10:11; Eph 6:4. After a first and second admonition refuse (); see 1Ti 4:7; 1Ti 5:11. It does not clearly appear what is intended by this term In 1Ti 5:11 it meant refusing admission into the college of Church widows. If these had been persons seeking admission into the Church, or ordination, it would mean “refuse them.” Vitringa (Huther) thinks it means “excommunication.” Beza, Ellicott, Huther, Alford, etc., render it “shun,” “let alone,” “cease to admonish,” and the like.
Tit 3:11
Such a one for be that is such, A.V.; perverted for subverted, A.V.; self-condemned for condemned of himself, A.V. Is perverted (); only here in the New Testament, but common in the LXX., and found in classical Greek in a material sense, “to turn inside out,” “to root up,” and the like. Here it means the complete pervert-ion of the man’s Christian character, so as to leave no hope of his amendment. But this is not to be presumed till a first and second admonition have been given in vain. Self-condemned (); only here in the New Testament, not found in the LXX. nor in classical Greek. It means what Cicero (quoted by Schleusner) says of C. Fabricius, that he was suo judicio condemnatus, condemned by his own judgment, which, he says, is a heavier condemnation than even that of the law and of the judges (‘Pro Cluentio,’ 21, at the end). Fabricius was self-condemned because he had left the court in confusion at a critical part of his trial. So the heretics were self-condemned by the very fact that they continued to head the schism after repeated admonitions.
Tit 3:12
Give diligence for be diligent, A.V.; there I have determined for I have determined there, A.V. When I shall send Artemas, etc. The action of St. Paul in sending Artemas or Tychicus to take the place of Titus in Crete is exactly the same as he pursued with regard to Ephesus, whither he sent Tychicus to take Timothy’s place (2Ti 4:11, 2Ti 4:12). He would not leave the presbyters in either place without the direction and superintendence of one having his delegated apostolic authority. This led to the final placing of a resident bishop in the Churches, such as we find in the second century. We may conclude that Artemas (otherwise unknown) was the person eventually sent to Crete, as Tychicus (Col 4:7) we know went to Ephesus (2Ti 4:12). We have also an important note of time in this expression, showing clearly that this Epistle was written before the Second Epistle to Timothy (as it probably also was before 1 Timothy)an inference abundantly corroborated by 2Ti 4:10, by which it appears that Titus had then actually joined St. Paul, either at Nicopolis or elsewhere, and had started off again to Dalmatia. Give diligence (); 2Ti 2:15, note; 2Ti 4:9, 2Ti 4:21. Nicopolis, in Epirus. The most obvious reason for St. Paul’s wintering at Nicopolis is that it was near Apollonia, the harbor opposite Brindisium, which would be his way to Rome, and also well situated for the missionary work in Dalmatia, which we learn from 2Ti 4:10 was in hand. Nicopolis (the city of victory) was built by Augustus Caesar to commemorate the great naval victory at Actium over Antony. It is now a complete ruin, uninhabited except by a few shepherds, but with vast remains of broken columns, baths, theatres, etc.. To winter (); Act 27:12; Act 28:11; 1Co 16:6. (On the question whether the winter here referred to is the same winter as that mentioned in 2Ti 4:21, see Introduction.)
Tit 3:13
Set forward for bring, A.V. Set forward (); the technical expression both in the New Testament and the LXX., and also in classical Greek, for helping a person forward on their journey by supplying them with money food, letters of recommendation, escort, or whatever else they might require (see Act 15:3; Act 20:38; Act 21:5; Rom 15:24; 1Co 16:6; 2Co 1:16; 3Jn 1:6). Zenas the lawyer. He is utterly unknown. His name is short for Zenodorus, but whether he was “a Jewish scribe or Roman legist” can hardly be decided. But his companionship with Apollos, and the frequent application of the term in the New Testament to the Jewish scribes and lawyers (Mat 22:35; Luk 7:30; Luk 10:25; Luk 11:45, Luk 11:48, Luk 11:52; Luk 14:3), makes it most probable that he was a Jewish lawyer. Apollos; the well-known and eminent Alexandrian Jew, who was instructed in the gospel by Aquila and Priscilla at Ephesus, and became a favorite teacher at Corinth (Act 18:24; Act 19:1; 1Co 1:12, and the following chapters, and 1Co 16:12). It is a probable conjecture of Lewin’s that Apollos was the bearer of this letter, written at Corinth, and was on his way to Alexandria, his native place, taking Crete on the way.
Tit 3:14
Our people for ours, A.V. Our people also. The natural inference is that Titus had some fund at his disposal with which he was to help the travelers, but that St. Paul wished the Cretan Christians to contribute also. But it may also mean, as Luther suggests, “Let our Christians learn to do what Jews do, and even heathens too, viz. provide for the real wants of their own.” To maintain good works (verse 8, note) for necessary uses ( ); such as the wants of the missionaries. The phrase means “urgent necessities,” the “indispensable wants.” In classical Greek are “the necessaries of life.” That they be not unfruitful (); comp. 2Pe 1:8 and Col 1:6, Col 1:10.
Tit 3:15
Salute for greet, A.V.; faith for the faith, A.V. That love us in faith has no sense. “The faith” is right (see 1Ti 1:2, note). Grace be with you all. So, with slight varieties, end St. Paul’s other Epistles. The T.R. has Amen, as have most of the other Epistles.
HOMILETICS.
Tit 3:1-7
Mercy begetting mercy.
The practical lessons of the gospel were not exhausted in the preceding chapter, nor the motives which urge believers to godliness. The call to holiness in the last chapter was based upon the holy character of God’s saving grace and the purpose of Christ’s redeeming love. In these verses the grace and love of God are still the basis of the exhortation, but it takes its peculiar coloring from the thought of what we were ourselves. Tenderness, indulgence, and meekness toward our fellow-men are the duties to which these verses call us; and it is supposed that those fellow-men may be rough and evil-minded toward us, and provoking in their ways, and perhaps obstinate in evil-doing. The natural heart might be ready to speak evil of them, to contend fiercely with them, utterly to reject them as reprobates, to thrust them beyond the pale of hope and kindness. But stay! What were you yourselves when the kindness and love of God first appeared unto you? Were you walking in righteousness? Were your works the things which attracted God’s love toward you? Nay! you were living in that folly which you now condemn in others; you were children of disobedience then as truly as they are now; you were deceived by sin then as they are now; you were the slaves of your own lusts then even as they are now; you lived in malice and envy then, both hateful and hating one another. But God’s mercy found you out; God’s love threw a veil over your sins; he provided a fountain to wash away your guilt; he sent his Holy Spirit to create in you a clean heart, and to renew a right spirit within you; he justified you by his grace; he made you his heirs, and gave you the hope of eternal life. And will not you have mercy upon your fellow-men? Will not you, for whom the Divine gentleness and patience has done so much, be gentle and patient too? Will not you, humble in the remembrance of your own sins, and abashed at the thought of your own unworthiness, deal meekly and kindly even with unruly and sinful men, and cherish the hope that God’s boundless grace may at last reach them, even as it reached you? Thus the doctrine of God’s mercy toward men begets mercy from man to man, and the doctrine of grace is the strongest conceivable motive to charity.
Tit 3:8-15
Pearls before swine.
There is in some a habit of mind utterly out of harmony with the Word of God. It is not that dogmas, or creeds, or ceremonies are despised and forgotten by them, as they usually are by the pleasure-seeking or moneymaking world. On the contrary, these things are often in their minds and upon their lips. But they handle everything, not with a view to growth in goodness, not with a view to the formation within of a humble, pure, and holy character, but merely as matters of disputation. They raise questions, the solution of which has no bearing upon our duty to God or man, but which only give occasion for strife of words, and utterly unprofitable contentions. The most solemn truths, the most sacred mysteries of the Christian faith, are only food for a wrangling, disputatious spirit. They are always ready to start difficulties, to suggest doubts, or to propose new forms of doctrine in lieu of those once delivered to the saints. Strong in their own conceits and wise in their own esteem, they will not learn, no, not from Christ himself, but are always forward to teach some new thing. They value nothing which they have not invented themselves. They accept no truth which they have not adulterated with their own imaginations. Disciples they will not be. Masters they must be. When this habit of mind has clearly developed itself, the servant of God has only to withdraw from such. He must not be drawn into the whirlpool of vain jangling and unprofitable disputes. He must not go on casting his pearls before the swine. Silence is, in such cases, the best rebuke. When honest and gentle efforts to bring home to such persons the truths of God’s Word in a reverential and practical way have utterly failed, and it is become evident that there is no desire in their hearts for Christ and his Word, it is time to cease from such efforts. “From such turn away” is the authoritative advice of St. Paul. Nothing can be in sharper contrast with the “unprofitable strivings” here condemned than the unobtrusive works of kindness, and active help to the furtherance of the gospel, inculcated upon Titus. Zenas and Apollos are to be brought on their way. Care is to be taken that they want for nothing. The Church in Crete is to be fruitful in good works for the wants of their brethren; and even the closing salutation is redolent of love and kindness. When Christians feel that the very essence of Christianity is unobtrusive love and kindness, shown in unselfish acts, and a readiness to help wherever help is needed, then will the Church be Christ’s true witness upon earth; witnessing to Christ as the embodiment of the law of love, and witnessing to the Spirit of Christ as dwelling in her of a truth.
HOMILIES BY T. CROSKERY.
Tit 3:1
Political duties.
The apostle now turns to the duties which Christians owe to the pagan world around them.
I. THE NECESSITY OF THE INJUNCTION TO POLITICAL SUBMISSION. “Put them in mind.” The words imply that the duty was already known, but needed to be recalled to Cretan memory. It is but too certain that the injunction was needed. Once a democratic state, now for over a century under Roman law, and always remarkable for a factious and turbulent spirit, the Cretan impatience of authority was reinforced by the spirit of insubordination which was such a characteristic of the Jewish part of the community.
II. THE DUTY OF SUBMISSION TO CONSTITUTED AUTHORITY. “Put them in mind to be subject to authorities, to powers, to obey the magistrate, to be ready towards every good work.” The very redundancy of words used here is significant, as if to exclude the possibility of an evasion of the command.
1. Government is of God. “The powers that be are ordained of God” (Rom 13:1; 1Pe 2:13).
2. The form of government does not affect the duty of obedience. Monarchies, republics, oligarchies, have in them alike the ordination and power of God for the welfare of society.
3. There are limits to this obedience, but the apostle does not fix them. The exceptional cases are not mentioned, because they are summed up either in the primary law of self-preservation, which is antecedent to all government, or in the supremacy of conscience, which must always obey God rather than men. A king may become insane and murder his subjects, but the first principles of nature justify their resort to force in self-protection (Act 5:29; Act 4:9, Act 4:20). The king may command his subjects to practice idolatry. In that case, if the Christian cannot resist, he must die.
III. POLITICAL DUTY IN THE CASE OF CHRISTIANS INCLUDES MORE THAN SUBMISSION. They must be “ready toward every good work.” As the magistrate is appointed to be a terror to evil-doers and the praise of them that do well (Rom 13:3), the disposition of Christian subjects to every good work has a tendency to make government easy and light.T.C.
Tit 3:2
The right deportment of Christians toward all men.
It is described first negatively, then positively.
I. THEY MUST NOT BE REVILERS. “To speak evil of no man.”
1. What evils spring from the wrong use of the tongue! “It is an unruly evil” (Jas 3:8).
2. If the evil we speak of others is false, we are slanderers; if it is true, we sin against charity. It usually betokens a malignant spirit.
3. It is to forget the example of Christ“who, when he was reviled, reviled not again;” and the precepts of Christ, who taught us “to love our enemies.” Let Christians, therefore, guard their tongues, and let their words be few and well-ordered.
II. THEY MUST NOT BE CONTENTIOUS. “No brawlers.”
1. Such a disposition mars the influence of Christian people.
2. It is inconsistent with the spirit of him who did not strive, nor was his voice heard in the streets.
3. It leads to unseemly retaliations from the world, to the dishonor of Christ.
III. THEY MUST BE FORBEARING. “But gentle.” It suggests the idea of giving way, of taking wrong rather than of revenging the injuries we receive.
IV. THEY MUST BE MEEK TO ALL MEN. “Showing all meekness to all men.”
1. Meekness is a fruit of the Spirit. (Gal 5:22.)
2. It is precious in God‘s sight. (1Pe 3:4.)
3. It is a characteristic of true wisdom. (Jas 3:17.)
4. It is necessary to a Christian walk. (Eph 4:1, Eph 4:2.)
5. It is specially needed in our conduct toward our fellow-men (Jas 3:13); in our efforts to restore the erring (Gal 6:1) and to instruct opposers (2Ti 2:24, 2Ti 2:25).T.C.
Tit 3:3
An humiliating retrospect.
The apostle adds, as a reason for the duties first specified, that “we also,” including himself with the Gentile Christians, were once in a similar condition to the heathen, and had received mercy. It is a dark picture of men in their natural state, proceeding from a description of the inward source to the outward facts of this evil life.
I. HUMAN NATURE DEPICTED AS TO ITS MORE INWARD CHARACTER. “For we ourselves” were once foolish.
1. It is foolish. As wisdom is the choice of proper means of attaining our ends, so folly must be the direct contrary.
(1) The fool despises instruction and wisdom, and hates knowledge (Pro 1:7, Pro 1:22).
(2) He walks in the darkness of a false education (Ecc 2:14).
(3) He is self-sufficient and self-confident (Pro 14:8, Pro 14:16).
(4) He is a self-deceiver (Pro 14:8).
(5) He makes a mock at sin (Pro 14:9).
2. It is disobedient. The word implies that the root of all true obedience is faith. Human nature is without faith, and is therefore disobedient.
(1) Disobedience forfeits God’s favor (1Sa 13:14).
(2) Provokes his anger (Psa 78:10, Psa 78:40).
(3) Forfeits promised blessings (Jos 5:6).
(4) Brings curse (Deu 11:28).
(5) There are many warnings against it (Jer 12:17).
3. It is deceived. Because it is separated from Christ, who is the Light of the world. It is easily led astray by all sorts of delusion. It has no pole-star or compass to steer by, and is therefore in constant danger of shipwreck. It is deceived by itself as well as by the devil.
II. HUMAN NATURE DEPICTED AS TO ITS MORE OUTWARD CHARACTER.
1. Its service was impure. “Serving divers lusts and pleasures.” This was the character of heathen life in an island like Crete, where the propensities of human nature would have free scope. The pleasures of this life were of a sinful and debasing nature. Such a service was bondage (Rom 6:6, Rom 6:16; Rom 16:18).
2. It implied a life of malice.
(1) The wicked speak with malice (3Jn 1:10).
(2) Are filled with it (Rom 1:29).
(3) Visit the saints with it (Psa 83:3).
(4) God requites it (Isa 10:14).
3. It implied a life of envy.
(1) Envy is a work of the flesh (Gal 5:21).
(2) The wicked are full of it (Rom 1:29).
(3) It leads to every evil work (Jas 3:16).
(4) It is hurtful to its possessors (Job 5:2).
(5) It will be punished (Psa 106:16, Psa 106:17).
4. It implies hatefulness. “Hateful;” that is, possessing the qualities that excite hatred and dislike.
5. It implies a return of hate for hate. “Hating one another.”
(1) It is characteristic of those without love to God (1Jn 2:9, 1Jn 2:11).
(2) It is a work of the flesh (Gal 5:21).
(3) It stirs up strife (Pro 10:12).
(4) It embitters life (Pro 15:17).
(5) It will be punished (Psa 34:21).T.C.
Tit 3:4-7
The origin, nature, means, and end of salvation.
The apostle reflects that he and other believers had no excuse for treating the heathen with haughtiness, since it was owing to no merit of his or theirs that their own lives had become purer.
I. THE MANIFESTATION OF THE DIVINE GOODNESS AND LOVE TO MAN. “But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love to man appeared.”
1. The time of this manifestation. The expression implies a definite point of time. It was “the fullness of the time” (Gal 4:4).
(1) It was the period fixed in the Divine purpose from eternity.
(2) It was the time of the probation of the Jews, ending in the most awful series of judgments that ever befell a people.
(3) It was a time when the Greek tongue and the Roman arms made a highway for the gospel.
(4) It was a time when pagan thought had exhausted every experiment in the art of living, to find that all was “vanity and vexation of spirit.”
(5) Yet it is not implied that the manifestation of Divine kindness had not been enjoyed already in pre-Christian ages; for it was in virtue of this manifestation, in the fullness of times, that God’s love flowed forth in blessing during Jewish ages.
2. The nature of this manifestation.
(1) It was a manifestation of kindness and love to man.
(a) Kindness is the more general term, unlimited, undefined, all-embracing, touching the whole creation.
(b) Love to man is his special and distinguishing love to the children of men as distinct from angels.
(2) It was the love of the Father”our Savior-God.”
(a) The title” Savior,” so often given to the Son, is here given to the Father, because he is the Fountain from whence flow all the streams of Divine mercy. The Son is “the Unspeakable of the Father;” for he “so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (Joh 3:16). The atonement was not, therefore, the cause, but the effect, of the Father’s love.
(b) This fact, exhibiting the mine of power and love in the Creator, greatly enhances the certainty and glory of redemption.
(c) It is our Father who is our Savior. Mark the clear relationship, in spite of all our waywardness and sin.
II. THE METHOD OF THIS DIVINE MANIFESTATION. “Not by works of righteousness we did, but according to his mercy he saved us.” The Divine goodness and love were manifested in salvation. “He saved us.” This salvation, procured by the obedience and death of Christ, has its origin, not in works of righteousness done by man, as entitling him to it, but solely in Divine mercy. Mark the conditions and the means of this salvation.
1. The conditions of salvation.
(1) Not by works of righteousness.
(a) We are not saved by our own works, even though they should be done in obedience to a righteous law (Rom 3:20; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:4, Eph 2:8, Eph 2:9; 2Ti 1:1, 2Ti 1:9).
(b) If we were saved in this way, Christ should have died in vain (Gal 2:21). His death would have been quite unnecessary.
(c) Experience proves the impossibility of our being able to do the works of perfect righteousness (Rom 3:23).
(2) The condition of salvation is Divine mercy. “According to his mercy.”
(a) God is rich in mercy (Eph 2:4).
(b) It streams forth from the blood and righteousness of Christ (Rom 3:24, Rom 3:25; Rom 6:23).
(c) It was through the tender mercy of God that Christ, as the Dayspring from on high, visited the earth (Luk 1:78).
(d) The pardon of sin is according to the multitude of his tender mercies (Psa 51:1, Psa 51:2).
(e) Eternal life is the effect of God’s mercy.
2. The means of salvation. “By the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he poured on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” The Greek word is “laver,” as if to show that the reference is to baptism.
(1) The washing of regeneration refers to the beginning of the spiritual process in the soul, as it is the Spirit who regenerates the soul. There is nothing in the passage to support the doctrine of baptismal regeneration.
(a) The connection of baptism with regeneration no more proves that all the baptized are regenerated than the expression, “we are sanctified by the truth,” implies that the truth in all cases has this effect, or that “the gospel of your salvation” implies that salvation always follows the hearing of the gospel.
(b) As a matter of fact, believers in apostolic times were regenerated before they were baptized; therefore they were not regenerated by baptism. This was the case with the three thousand at Pentecost (Act 2:1-47.), with Lydia and the Philippian jailor (Act 16:1-40.).
(c) There is no necessary connection between baptism and regeneration, for Simon Magus was baptized without being regenerated (Act 8:9-24).
(d) It is strange that, much as John speaks of regeneration in his First Epistle, he never connects baptism with it. He says that those who are “born of God” do righteousness, and overcome the world. Why should he mention these tests at all, when he might have known that, had they been baptized, they must have been regenerated?
(e) The Apostle Peter shows us the meaning of baptism when he says that “baptism doth now save us” (1Pe 3:21). How? “Not by putting away the filth of the flesh “which is easily done by the external application of water” but the answer of a good conscience toward God; “as if to show that such an answer, representing the reality and sincerity of our profession, was separable from the putting away of the faith of the flesh.
(f) The expression, “baptism for the remission of sins,” does not imply that baptism is the cause of their remission, for in all the cases referred to the remission had already taken place before baptism (Act 2:38; Act 22:16). The baptism was a sign or seal of a remission already accomplished. Saul was a true believer before Ananias said to him, “Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the Name of the Lord.” Besides, it was by calling on the Name of the Lord that his sins were washed away. This is the force of the Greek construction.
(2) The renewing of the Holy Ghost refers to the continuance of the spiritual process in the soul. Thus “the inward man is renewed day by day” (2Co 4:16). This points to progressive sanctification.
(a) The renewed are the children of God, the heirs of the eternal inheritance.
(b) The effects are the fruits of righteousness in our life and conversation. Thus there is a firm connection between the regeneration and the renewal, which cannot be said of baptism and renewal. Christendom is baptized, yet how little grace is manifest among its millions!
(c) The source of this renewal is the Holy Ghost, who has been poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. It was in virtue of the mediatorship that the Spirit was given, and still works in the Church of God. For
(a) all salvation is by him;
(b) the grace of regeneration is out of his fullness;
(c) the gift of God, which is eternal life, is through him.
III. THE END OF THIS MANIFESTATION OF DIVINE GOODNESS AND LOVE. “That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” God saves us according to his mercy by regeneration; but the first effect of regeneration is faith, and faith is the instrument of our justification. There is no difference in the order of time between regeneration and justification, but regeneration must precede justification in the order of nature. Therefore the apostle here goes upon the order of nature.
1. The nature of justification. It includes’ pardon of sin and. acceptance, into God’s favor.
2. The ground of justification. “Being justified by his grace.
(1) Not by works;
(2) but by the grace of the Father, who is the Justifier. It is by grace, because
(a) it is of faith (Rom 5:1; Rom 3:28);
(b) it is by the death of the Son of God.
3. The privileges of justification. “That we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
(1) Eternal life is an inheritance; it is not earned by our obedience and our righteousness; it is a free gift.
(2) We are predestinated to this inheritance in Jesus Christ (Eph 1:5, Eph 1:11).
(3) The grace of adoption, which is linked with our justification, opens the way to our enjoyment of the inheritance.
(4) It is an inheritance which is not yet fully enjoyed; for we are heirs “according to the hope of eternal life.”
(a) There are “things hoped for” held out to us through faith (Heb 11:1).
(b) “It doth not yet appear what we shall be;” but when “we shall be forever with the Lord,” we shall actually possess and enjoy our inheritance.T.C.
Tit 3:8
The necessary connection between gospel doctrine and good works.
I. THE IMPORTANCE OF GOSPEL DOCTRINE. “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly.” He refers here to the sum of the doctrine of Christian salvation contained in the three preceding verses.
1. The doctrine of salvation is worthy of all acceptance. “This is a faithful saying.” This formula, contained only in the pastoral Epistles, points to some weighty truth which had become a watchword among the Christian brotherhood of early times.
(1) There is a tendency in our days to decry dogma. The apostle always insists on its importance as the root-principle and moving spring of morality.
(2) The saying implies that the heavenly inheritance just spoken of is no figment of the imagination, but ought to be accepted as one of the commonplaces of Christian belief.
2. It ought to be confidently put forth at all times by Christian ministers. “And these things I will that thou affirm constantly.” This was the strain of all apostolic preaching, and it ought to be ours also. There is no true practical preaching which does not involve the exhibition of God’s character and our relations to him in gracethe glorious Person of the Mediator in his various offices, and the work of the Holy Ghost in applying Divine salvation. “These things are good and profitable to men; ‘ that is, these doctrines, for they lead to good works, and benefit men spiritually and morally.
II. THE DESIGN OF GOSPEL DOCTRINE. “In order that they which have believed God might be careful to maintain good works.” The faithful saying of the apostle was not the necessity of good works, but the necessity of the doctrines of grace being preached as the only method of producing good works.
1. The apostle seems to anticipate a tendency of later times to exalt morality at the expense of faith. The doctrines, he says, are the true fountains from which all good works flow. These are, therefore, probably called doctrines according to godliness (Tit 1:1); the wholesome doctrine (Tit 1:9).
2. He sets forth the duty of all believers to be careful about good works. It ought to be a matter of earnest striving, because
(1) God is glorified thereby (Joh 15:8);
(2) because they are means of blessing to man (Jas 1:25);
(3) because God remembers them (Heb 6:9, Heb 6:10);
(4) because they will be an evidence of faith in the judgment (Mat 25:34-40).
3. He insists on their maintaining good works. The word signifies that they must be excelling in them.
(1) They must, therefore, be zealous of them (Tit 2:14);
(2) furnished unto them (2Ti 3:17);
(3) rich in them, and stablished in them (1Ti 6:18; 2Th 2:17);
(4) ready for all good works (Tit 3:1);
(5) provoking each other unto them (Heb 10:24).T.C.
Tit 3:9
A warning against frivolous and disputative teaching.
This is in contrast to the sound teaching just referred to. “But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the Law; for they are unprofitable and vain.”
I. THE THINGS WHICH ARE TO BE PLACED OUTSIDE THE SPHERE OF MINISTERIAL THOUGHT AND CONCERN.
1. Foolish questions. Questions not easily answered, yet if answered without practical bearing upon Christian life. Such were many of the Jewish discussions about the oral Law, the nature of God and the angels, the power of the Name Jehovah. In Christian times papists have discussed for a whole century “which side of Jesus was pierced by the spear?” Such are “foolish questions.”
2. Genealogies. Jerome tells us the Jews were as well acquainted with the genealogies from Adam to Zerubbabel as with their own names. It is possible that the Jewish Christians attached great importance to their family registers. The genealogies, however, are significantly linked by the apostle with fables.
3. Contentions and strivings about the Law. There were many disputed and disputable points in the Law, especially respecting the authority and confirmation of the commandments (Tit 1:14).
II. THE ATTITUDE OF THE MINISTER TOWARD SUCH THINGS. “Avoid them.”
1. This implies that he is not even to discuss them, on account of their utter frivolousness.
2. The reason is that they are “unprofitable and vain,“ and therefore exactly opposed to the things “good and profitable to men.” The apostle would deliver all ministers from such folly and trifling, by placing before them Jesus Christ, the one glorious Object of the Church’s love and adoration, leaving questions of another sort to the dead. Such questions had eaten the heart out of Judaism. They must not be allowed in Christianity.T.C.
Tit 3:10, Tit 3:11
The right attitude of Christian ministers toward divisive errorists.
“A man that is an heretic after a first and second admonition avoid.”
I. THE TRUE NATURE OF HIS OFFENSE.
1. It is not a case of fundamental or doctrinal error, such as the words “heretic” and “heresy” came to imply in after-ages. Yet it is a mistake to suppose that separatist ways are not caused by divergences of judgment on some points from the settled belief of the Christian community.
2. It was a case of a turbulent sectary, dissatisfied with the Church, who withdrew from her communion to the disturbance of her peace. He would try to justify his course by a difference of opinion upon matters of doctrine, worship, or organization.
II. THE METHOD OF DEALING WITH THE OFFENDER.
1. He was to receive two admonitions in succession. He was to be twice warned not to pursue his divisive courses; he was not to be contended with, but rebuke was to be employed to recover him from his error.
2. His pride or his ambition would not allow him to yield to admonition, he was to be, not excommunicatedthe course adopted by the apostle himself in another case (1Ti 1:20); but simply avoided. There must be no intercourse with him. This was a virtual excommunication, for he no longer held the place of a Christian brother.
III. THE JUSTIFICATION OF THIS METHOD. “Knowing that he that is such is perverted, and sinneth, being self-condemned.” The case is an utterly hopeless one. You must have done with the divisive sectary; let him alone.
1. For he is perverted; implying an inward corruption of character, which steels him against all official admonition of the Church.
2. He sinneth. He errs knowingly, for his course has been authoritatively condemned by the messenger of God.
3. He is self-condemned. This does not mean that he consciously acts a part he knows to be wrong, but that he has condemned himself by his own practice, practically consenting by his separation that he is unworthy the fellowship of the Church, and thus justifying the Church in its rejection of him, or that he stands condemned by the Scriptures which he himself accepts as his rule of faith and life.T.C.
Tit 3:12, Tit 3:13
Personal directions.
The connection of Titus with the Cretan Church was to be but temporary; therefore the apostle gives him two commands.
I. A COMMAND FOR TITUS TO JOIN THE APOSTLE AT NICOPOLIS.
1. The apostle needed his services, either at this city in Epirus, where he determined to spend the winterno doubt in apostolic laborsor to ascertain from him the exact condition of the Church at Crete, or to send him forth on an errand to some of the other Churches.
2. But the place of Titus was not to be left unsupplied. Two brethren, Artemas and Tychicus, were to go to Creteone altogether unknown by us, but, as he is first mentioned, probably a minister of high distinction and zeal; the other, Tychicus, one of the most esteemed of the apostle’s friends (Act 20:4; Col 4:7; 2Ti 4:12).
II. A COMMAND FOR TITUS TO HASTEN THE DEPARTURE OF ZENAS AND APOLLOS FROM CRETE. These brethren had been laboring in the Church there, probably, before Titus was left behind by the apostle. Zenas, the lawyer, was probably a Jewish scribe converted to Christianity, who had been acting as an evangelist in Crete. Apollos was the eloquent preacher of Alexandria, and now as always in perfect sympathy with the apostle, though there seemed a rivalry between them at Corinth. The apostle implies that the Cretan Christians were to provide the necessary help for such a journey.T.C.
Tit 3:14
A last reminder concerning good works.
The suggestion just made leads to this adjunction: “And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.”
I. IT IS AN INJUNCTION TO THE BRETHREN GENERALLY. “Ours also.” It is the duty of all believers, sharers in the common faith, and heirs of the grace of life, to learn to do good works.
II. BELIEVERS NEED TO RE TRAINED TO THIS SERVICE. “Let ours also learn.” They will learn it from the Scriptures, which tell us what is the good and perfect and acceptable will of God; and from the doctrines of grace, which teach us to follow as an example the Lord Jesus, who went about every day doing good.
III. THESE GOOD WORKS ARE TO HAVE A PRACTICAL BEARING UPON THE WANTS OF OTHERS. They are “for necessary wants.”
1. Not to atone for sin, or recommend us as sinners to God‘s favor.
2. But to glorify God by doing for others what he so abundantly does for us. By adorning the doctrine of Christ by our beneficence; by putting to silence the gainsaying of foolish men, because they see we are “not unfruitful.” We are thus seen to be trees of righteousness, bearing all manner of fruits. It is an interesting fact that, in the last inspired teachings of the apostle, he should have eight times enforced the duty of maintaining good works.T.C.
Tit 3:15
Salutation and conclusion.
“All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.”
I. MARK HOW THE EPISTLE, WHICH BEGAN WITH THE FAITH OF GOD‘S ELECT, ENDS WITH GRACE AND LOVE.
II. MARK THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS ESTABLISHED BY GRACE BETWEEN THE WIDELY SCATTERED MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH. They are one holy, happy family, united by love. The threefold repetition of the word “all” suggests the deep unity of the body of Christ, in spite of its inward distractions and errors and sins.
III. THE SALUTATION IMPLIES THAT, THOUGH ADDRESSED TO TITUS, THE EPISTLE WAS TO RE COMMUNICATED TO THE WHOLE CHURCH IN CRETE.T.C.
HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM
Tit 3:1, Tit 3:2
Subjection to the state.
Society has reached no ideal perfection in government, nor has God himself laid down any outward form as an ideal. All nations are justified in variety of choice. There has been government by judges, and governments monarchical, republican, autocratic, and constitutional. All that we need to notice is that society needs to be governed. Lawlessness always ends in anarchy, misery, and desolation.
I. LEARN SUBJECTION TO THE STATE. This is beautiful. Restraint is better than the liberty of licentiousness. Compare a river that keeps its bounds to one that overflows its banks. Men are justified in resisting tyrannies, whether of autocrats or mobs; but they must not forget that all well-ordered societies exist only by subjection.
II. LEARN SELF–CONQUEST IN YOURSELVES. Controlling the tongue, avoiding all bitterness and “brawling,” and showing that there is a magistracy of the heart as well as a magistracy of the state.W.M.S.
Tit 3:5
The mercy of God.
“According to his mercy he saved us.” Mercy is the key-note of redemption. It is the music of the Psalms; the spirit of Christ’s ministry, and the motive of the atonement. It is the very heart of Godas permanent as his justice and his righteousness; “for his mercy endureth forever.”
I. SALVATION IS NOT A SUPERSTRUCTURE OF MAN‘S. “Not according to works of righteousness which we have done.” Good actions do not make a good man; it is the good man that makes the good actions. If man is to be saved, he must have new life from within. Mercy meets his case. God’s pity and compassion are seen in this. He gives the new heart that makes the new life, and so he saves us from self and sin.
II. SALVATION IS A DUAL WORRY. This is” the washing of regeneration,” the redemption that comes to the heart through the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. But the removal of the stain of sin is not all. The heart, however clean, is not to be a blank. A new likeness is to be brought out. So there is to be the “renewing of the Holy Ghost.” We are made new creatures in Christ Jesus. God’s likeness comes out again in the soul. We are made holy with God’s holiness, and beautiful with God’s beauty.W.M.S.
Tit 3:8, Tit 3:14
Christian character.
“To maintain good works.” This is a repeated counsel, and shows how much need there was of showing that the “belief” spoken of in the eighth verse should not be a mere speculative creed. This Titus is to “affirm constantly,” showing that there were those then who had a tendency to antinomianism, or neglect of the Law of moral order and beauty.
I. PERMANENCE. “Maintain.” Men weary of their efforts after the attainment of a Divine ideal. Holiness is not a gift, it is a growth; and a growth, not like that of a plant, which is unconscious, but a growth that involves obedience. Maintain “works”give them continuance, by aliment and nurture.
II. COMPREHENSIVENESS. “Works.” For life covers a large sphere. We are apt to forget that Christianity covers all spheresthe civil, social, moral, spiritual. For ages the Church was merely ecclesiastical. “The religious” were such as shut themselves out from the world, deeming its pursuits and duties below the dignity of a spiritual religion, which made the soul and its feelings and devotions everything. Now we have moved into a wider inheritance; we believe in the Christianization of common life; the consecration of art and science and common duty to Christian ends. We are simply to ask if the work given us to do is a good work, and we are to be earnest in “every good work.” And we have seen that the tree must first be made good; for it is “the good man that, out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth good things.”W.M.S.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
Tit 3:1-3
Duty.
“Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers,” etc. “Very careful,” says Dean Spence, “and searching have been the apostle’s charges to Titus respecting the teachers of the Church, their doctrine and their life; very particular have been his directions, his warnings and exhortations, to men and women of different ages, on the subject of their home life. But with the exception of a slight digression, in the case of a slave to a pagan master, his words had been written with a reference generally to Christian life among Christians. But there was then a great life outside the little Christian world: how were the people of Christ to regulate their behavior in their dealings with the vast pagan world outside? Patti goes to the root of the matter at once when he says, ‘Put them in mind,’ etc.” We have here duty in a threefold relationin relation to civil government, in relation to general society, and in relation to moral self. Here is duty
I. IN RELATION TO CIVIL GOVERNMENT. “Put them in mind to be subject [in subjection] to principalities [rulers] and powers [authorities], to obey magistrates [to be obedient].” It is here implied, and fully taught elsewhere (Rom 13:1-7), that civil government is of Divine appointment. “There is no power but of God,” says Paul. That the principle of civil government is Divine is not only revealed but implied in the very constitution of society.
1. Man‘s social tendencies indicate it. Some men are royal in their instincts and powers, and are evidently made to rule. Others are servile, cringing in tendency, feeble in faculty, and made to obey. There is a vast gradation of instinct and power in human society, and it is an eternal principle in God’s government that the lesser shall serve the greater.
2. Man‘s social exigencies indicate it. Every community, to be kept in order, must have a recognized headone who shall be allowed to rule, either by his own will or the organized will of the whole. Hence man, in his most savage state, has some recognized chief. The principle of civil government is, therefore, manifestly of Divine appointment. We may rest assured that, civil government being of Divine appointment, it is for good and good only. Indeed, we learn that Paul’s idea of a civil ruler is that he is a “minister of God to thee for good.” But what is good? The answer in which all will agree is thisobedience to the Divine will. What is the standard of virtue? Not the decree of an autocrat, not public sentiment, even when organized into constitutional law; but the will of God. “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.” The civil government, therefore, that does not harmonize with his will, as revealed by Christ the infallible Logos, is not the government of which Paul speaks. Taking Christ as the Revealer of God’s will, we may infer that the infringement of human rights is not in accordance with the will of God, and therefore not good. Also that the promotion of injustice, impurity, and error is not according to the will of God, and therefore not good. The Bible never teaches, nor does moral philosophy, that we are bound to obey laws that are not righteous, to honor persons that are not honorworthy. If we are commanded to honor the king, the precept implies that the king‘s character is worthy of his office; Some kings it is religious to despise and loathe. If we are commanded to honor our parents, the language implies that our parents are honorworthy. Some parents display attributes of character suited to awaken the utmost hatred and contempt. In like manner we are commanded to be subject to the higher powers, and the injunction implies that what these higher powers enact is right. The obligation of obedience is ever dependent upon the righteousness of the command.
II. IN RELATION TO GENERAL SOCIETY. There are three duties here indicated which every man owes to his fellows.
1. Usefulness. “Be ready to every good work.” The law of universal benevolence which we see in nature, our own instincts and faculties, as well as the written Word, teach us that man was made to serve his brother; the grand end of each is to promote the happiness of others. No man fulfills his mission or realizes his destiny who is not an altruist, who is not ever actuated by regard for the happiness of others. Altruism is God’s social law and is binding on every one; disregard to it is the source of all social disorders and miseries. “The soul of the truly benevolent man does not seem to reside much in its own body. Its life, to a great extent, is a mere reflex of the lives of others. It migrates into their bodies, and, identifying its existence with their existence, finds its own happiness in increasing and prolonging their pleasures, in extinguishing or solacing their pains.”
2. Charitableness. “To speak evil of no man.” “This,” says a modern author, “imports more than to speak evil in the ordinary sense: it is to act the part of a reviler or slanderer; and when used of conduct from one man towards another, always betokens the exercise of a very bitter and malignant spirit. Titus was to charge the Christians of Crete to give no exhibition towards any one of such a spirit, nor to show a quarrelsome disposition, but, on the contrary, to cultivate a mild, placable, and gentle temper.” There are evils of some sort or other attaching to all men, and in some men they are of the most hideous and heinous character. To ignore them, if possible, would be wrong; to feel them is natural to the pure, and to denounce them is right. But to speak of them before others, to parade them before the eyes of others, argues a base and malignant nature. Should occasion require us to speak of them, it should be in the saddest tones of tenderness, and even with compassionate indignation.
3. Courteousness. “To be no brawlers [not to be contentious], but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men.” How much there is in society, how much in every department of lifemercantile, mechanical, and mentalone meets with to annoy and irritate, especially those fated with an irascible nature. Still, amidst the strongest provocations, courtesy is our duty, yes, and our dignity too.
III. IN RELATION TO OUR MORAL SELF. The apostle urges the duty of forbearance to what was wrong in government and society, by reminding them of the wrong in their own past lives. “We ourselves also were sometimes foolish “we had no proper understanding of the true. “Disobedient”indisposed to do what is right. “Deceived”swerving from the true mode of life. “Serving divers lusts and pleasures”slaves of impure passions, reveling in the sensual and the gross. “Living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another”we once spent our days in the atmosphere of hate and malign passions. It is a duty which every man owes to himself to remember all the wrong of his past liferemember it:
1. That he may be charitable towards others.
2. That he may be stimulated to efforts of self-improvement.
3. That he may adore the forbearance of God in his past dealings.
4. That he may devoutly appreciate the morally redemptive agency of Christ.
5. That he may realize the necessity of seeking the moral restoration of others. Two things may be inferred from Paul’s language concerning the past moral condition of himself and others.
(1) The possibility of the moral improvement of souls. The rough stone can be polished, the unfertile soil can be made fertile, the wilderness can blossom as the rose.
(2) The obligation of the moral improvement of souls.
CONCLUSION. Let us find out our duty and follow it, through storm as well as sunshine, even unto death. “After all,” says Canon Kingsley, “what is speculation to practice? What does God require of us but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with him? The longer I live this seems to me more important, and all other questions less so. If we can but live the simple, right life, do the work that’s nearest, though it’s dull at whiles, helping, when we meet them, lame dogs over stiles.” In the realization of our duty is our strength, our nobleness, our heaven. “Yet do thy work: it shall succeed. In thine or in another’s day; And if denied the victor’s raced, Thou shalt not lack the toilet’s pay. “Then faint not, falter not, nor plead Thy weakness: truth itself is strong; The lion’s strength, the eagle’s speed, Are not alone vouchsafed to wrong.” (Whittier.) D.T.
Tit 3:4-7
Salvation, not of works, but of grace.
“But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,” etc. The great subject here is salvation. This includes the restoration of the soul to the knowledge, the image, the fellowship, and the service of the great God. The passage leads us to offer two remarks on the words.
I. THAT WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WE CANNOT PERFORM, AND THEREFORE THEY CANNOT SAVE US. “Not by works of [done in] righteousness which we have done [which we did ourselves].” What are righteous works? Condensely defined, works inspired ever by supreme sympathy with the supremely good. No other works, whatever their sacred semblance, whatever their popular appreciation, are righteous. Now, such righteous works we cannot render in our unrenewed state, because we have lost this affection, and the loss of this is the death and damnation of the soul.
1. Could we render such works they would save us. They secure the blessedness of the unfallen angels.
2. Without rendering such works we cannot be saved. Moral salvation consists in holiness of character. Character is made up of habits, habits made up of acts, and the acts, to be of any worth, must be righteous.
II. THAT REDEMPTIVE MERCY HAS BEEN VOUCHSAFED TO US, AND THEREFORE WE MAY BE SAVED. “According to his mercy he saved us.” Observe:
1. The special work of this redemptive mercy. What is the work?
(1) Cleansing. “The washing of regeneration,” or the “laver of regeneration,” as some render it. Sin is represented as a moral defiler, and deliverance from sin, therefore, is a cleansing.
(2) Renewal. “Renewing.” Sin is represented as death, and deliverance from it is, therefore, a quickening, a renewal.
2. The Divine Administrator of this redemptive mercy. “The Holy Ghost.” No agency but that of God can either morally cleanse or renew. That Divine Agent which of old brooded over the face of the deep can alone morally recreate.
3. The glorious Medium of this redemptive mercy. “Through Jesus Christ our Savior.” Christ our Savior is the Medium. Through him the Spirit came, by him the Spirit works, in him the Spirit is abundant.
4. The sublime result of this redemptive mercy. “That being justified by his grace, we should [might] be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” The word “justified” means to be made rightright in heart, right in life, right in relation to self, the universe, and God. What is it to be made right? To be put in possession of that spirit of love to God which is the spring of all “works of righteousness.” This rectitude:
(1) Inspires with the highest hope. “Hope of eternal life.” What a blessing is hope! But the “hope of eternal life,” what hope like this?
(2) Inaugurates the highest relationship. “Heirs.” We are “heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.”D.T.
Tit 3:7, Tit 3:8
Justification; faith; works.
“That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs,” etc. There are three subjects in these verses of vital interest to man which require to be brought out into prominence and impressed with indelible force.
I. THE MORAL RECTIFICATION OF THE SOUL. “Being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” This means, I presume, not that being pronounced right, but that being made right. Forensic justification is an old theological fiction. Those who have held it and who still hold it have ideas of God incongruous and debased. They regard him as such a one as themselves. “To be justified” here means to be made right. There are three ideas here suggested in relation to this moral rectification of the soul.
1. All souls in their unrenewed state are unrighteous. We do not require any special revelation from God to give us this information. Man’s moral wrongness of soul is revealed in every page of human history, is developed in every scene of human life, and is a matter of painful consciousness to every man. We have all “erred and strayed from the right like lost sheep.”
2. Restoration to righteousness is the merciful work of God. “Being justified by his grace””his grace,” his boundless, sovereign, unmerited love. Who but God can put a morally disordered soul right? To do this is to resuscitate the dead, to roll back the deep flowing tide of human sympathies into a new channel and a new direction, to arrest a wandering planet and plant it in a new orbit. He does it and he alone. He does it by the revelation of his Son, by the dispensations of life, the operations of conscience. “Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.”
3. There is the heirship of eternal good. “Being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Eternal life must mean something more than endless existence; for mere endless existence, under certain conditions, might be an object of dread rather than hope. It might mean perfect goodness. Goodness is eternal, for God is eternal Goodness is blessedness, for God is blessed. A virtuous hope is not hope for happiness, but a hope for perfect goodness. He whose soul is made morally right becomes an heir to all goodness. This heirship is not something added to this inner righteousness. It is in it as the plant is in the seed. Man’s heaven is in righteousness of soul and nowhere else. No man can be happy who is merely treated as righteous if he is not righteous. Such treatment, even by God himself, would only enhance his misery. To be treated as righteous if you are not righteous, is an outrage on justice and a revulsion to moral nature.
II. THE ESSENTIAL FOUNDATION OF ALL TRUE FAITH. “And they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.” The basis of all true faith is faith in God. In him, not in it. In him, not in men’s representations of him. “He that cometh to God must believe that he is.” To believe in him implies:
1. To believe in what he is in himself. The only absolute existence, without beginning, without succession, without end, who is in all and through all, the all-mighty, the all-wise, the all-good Creator and Sustainer of the universe. This faith in him is the most philosophic, the most universal, and the most blessed and ennobling faith.
2. To believe in what he is to usthe Father, the Proprietor, and the Life. “Not willing that any should perish.” This is the faith that is enjoined upon us everywhere in the Old Testament and the New; not faith in infallible propositions, in infinite personality; not faith in man’s ideas of God, but in God himself, as the Source of all life, the Fountain of all virtue, the Standard of all excellence. “Trust in him that liveth forever.”
“Not in priesthoods, not on creed,
Is the faith we need, O Lord;
These, more fragile than the reed,
Can no rest for souls afford.
Human systems, what are they?
Dreams of erring men at best,
Visions only of a day,
Without substance, without rest.
Firmly fix it, Lord, on thee,
Strike its roots deep in thy love;
Growing ever may it be,
Like the faith of these above.
Then though earthly things depart,
And the heavens pass away,
Strong in thee shall rest the heart,
Without fainting or decay.”
(‘Biblical Liturgy.’)
III. THE SUPREME PURPOSE OF A TRUE LIFE. “To maintain good works.” What are good works?
1. Works that have right motives. Works that society may consider good, that Churches may chant as good, are utterly worthless unless they spring from supreme love to the Creator. “Though I give my body to be burned, if I have not love, I am nothing.” “Love is the fulfilling of the Law.”
2. Works that have a right standard. It is conceivable that man may have a right motive and yet his work be bad. Was it not something like this with Saul of Tarsus when he was persecuting the saints? We make two remarks in relation to these good works.
(1) The maintenance of these works requires strenuous and constant effort. “I will that thou affirm confidently, to the end that they which have believed in God may be careful to maintain good works.” There are so many forces within and without us to check and frustrate the maintenance of good works, that we require to be constantly on our guard to see that our motives are right. It may be that good works flow from angelic natures as waters from a fountain, as sunbeams from the sun; but it is not so with us. Their light in us is the light of the lamp, and to be clear and useful there must be constant trimming and feeding with fresh oil; for the streams to be pure, the fountain must be kept clean. We must “watch and pray, lest we enter into temptation.”
(2) The great work of the Christian ministry is to stimulate this effort. “I will that thou affirm confidently, to the end that they which have believed God may be careful to maintain good works.” “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God,” etc. In four other texts of Scripture we have “a faithful saying.” The first is 1Ti 1:15, “That Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” The second is 1Ti 4:8, 1Ti 4:9, “This is a faithful saying, Godliness is profitable unto all things.” The third is 2Ti 2:11-13, “It is a faithful saying, If we be dead with him, we shall also live with him.” The fourth is our text, “This is a faithful saying.” What? That God makes men morally right by his grace. This is an undoubted fact. That God is the essential Foundation of all true faith. Who can question this? Or that the supreme purpose of moral existence is to maintain “good works.” Who will gainsay this? Or that all ministers of the gospel should faithfully and constantly exhort their hearers to maintain good works. These, indeed, are all faithful sayings, and should be practically realized by every man.D.T.
Tit 3:9-15
The worthless, the pernicious, and the desirable in social life.
“But avoid foolish questions,” etc. The text brings under our attention three things.
I. THE AVOIDANCE OF THE WORTHLESS IN SOCIAL LIFE. “Avoid foolish questions and genealogies.” The “questions” and “genealogies” are referred to in 1Ti 1:4. The apostle characterizes them as foolish because they were of an utterly impractical nature, and consumed time and powers which were needed for other and better things. “Genealogies as found in the Books of the Pentateuch, and to which wild allegorical interpretations had been assigned. Such purely fanciful meanings had been already developed by Philo, whose religious writings were becoming at this time known and popular in many of the Jewish schools. Such teaching, it allowed in the Christian Churches, Paul saw, would effectually put a stop to the growth of Gentile Christendom. It would inculcate an undue and exaggerated and, for the ordinary Gentile convert, an impossible reverence for Jewish forms and ceremonies.” Old was the habit and strong was the tendency of the Hebrews to concern themselves about their ancestry or genealogy. A truly contemptible state of mind, this! What matters it whether we were born of kings or of paupers? “And contentions, and strivings about the Law.” The ceremonial law is here meant, evidentlythe law concerning meats and drinks and holy days. “For they are unprofitable and vain.” How rife in Christendom have been in past ages, and still are, these miserable discussions, which are generated for the most part by the most ignorant and narrow-minded of the human racemere “unfeathered bipeds” that Christianity has not converted into true manhood. The grand end of every member of the social realm should be “charity, that of a pure heart and of a good conscience.” The only true Christianity in social life is altruism.
II. THE EXCOMMUNICATION OF THE PERNICIOUS FROM SOCIAL LIFE. The former classthe irritating disputants about genealogies and ceremoniesare described as “unprofitable and vain.” They are a worthless class, doing no good whatever, but otherwise. The class we have here, however, is represented as pernicious, and to be rejected. “A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject.” The word “heretic” () occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. All heretics may be divided into three classes.
1. The theoretical unbeliever. They do not believe what others believe to be true and orthodox. Though bigots denounce this as the worst of sins, true wisdom justifies it. It says that uniformity of opinion is an impossibilityan impossibility arising from a variety in the faculties, education, and external circumstances of men. And not only an impossibility, but an inexpediency. Did all men think alike, all minds would sink into a dead monotony. “Every man should be fully persuaded in his own mind.” That, therefore, which the Church most fiercely denounces it should encourage and develop. There is more good in honest doubt than in half the creeds.
2. The professional believer. A heretic more execrable know I not than he who every Sunday in the great congregation declares his faith in creeds, and every day, not only ignores them, but denies them in his life. These heretics make our laws, rule our commerce, fill our temples, create wars, and swindle the millions.
3. The practical disbeliever. These are insincere. They do not act according to their innate convictions, their intuitive beliefs. They believeand they cannot help itthat the greatest Being should have the most reverence, the best Being the most love, the kindest Being the most gratitude; and yet, forsooth, they live lives of irreverence, unlovingness, and ingratitude. These are the worst kind of heretics. And how are they to be treated? They are to be excommunicated. “After the first and second admonition reject.” They should be morally ostracized. “Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.” They are insincere men, and not to be accepted or continued in the circle of brotherhood. Whilst you have no authority to persecute them or crush them by force, you are bound to treat them as insincere men. Their own conscience condemns; they are self-condemned.
III. THE SUPREMACY OF PURPOSE IN SOCIAL LIFE. In all the changes in social companionship and scene of residence to which the apostle here points, he urges the aiming at one thing, viz. to “maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.” What the “good works” are I have intimated in my remarks on the preceding verses. They are works that have a right motive, a right standard, and a right influence. The grand end in the life of all rational and moral beings should he the maintenance of good works. The apostle intimates that this should be the aim:
1. In all the events of life. He was now dispatching to Titus from his society two dear friends and fellow-workers, Artemas and Tychicus, inviting him to come at once to Nicopolis, where he had, in the use of his discretionary power, determined to remain through the winter. Moreover, he had requested Titus to bring with him Zenas the lawyer and Apollos. Apollos was a man, rot only of distinguished learning and influence, but Paul’s intimate friend and fellow-laborer. In all this Paul keeps the one end in view, viz. that they should maintain good works. “Good works,” the culmination of all good ideas, good impressions, good emotions, and good resolves. “Show me your faith by your works.” In a good character man can alone find his heaven and from good works alone can man produce a good character.
2. In the presiding spirit of life. “All that are with me salute thee,” etc. Brotherly love was to animate, direct, and rule all their social movements and activities.D.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Tit 3:1. The Jews were of a very seditious, rebellious spiritabout the time when this epistle was written; and it was with great reluctance that they obeyed any civil governors, but those of their own nation. The Judaizing Christians were too apt to imitate them, and to retain this factious spirit; which they would have infused into the GentileChristians, and have taught them to have had as sovereign a contempt for men of other religions, as they had themselves. In opposition to which, Titus was to teach the Christians to pay the most strict obedience to their civil governors, and to be of a benign spirit to all men; even to men of different nations, sects, and religion: and to enforce this, St. Paul is thought to have urged his own example, Tit 3:3. He had been formerly as furious a persecutor of the Christians, and as bigotted a Jew, as any of the unbelieving Jews or Judaizing Christians could be; but since he had through grace embraced Christianity in its life and power, his charity was enlarged, and he saw the reasonableness, the necessity of loving, and doing good to all men, of whatever faith or profession. Titus was to be perpetually inculcating upon the Christians this temper and behaviour, as infinitely preferable to a regard for Jewish genealogies, traditions, and ceremonies: and he was not only to teach this himself, but was also informed, that such of the Jewish Christians as made factions by propagating their impositions, were heretics; and as such the Christians were to regard them, and to hold no familiar society with them. See 1Ti 2:1-4. Rom 13:1; Rom 13:7.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Tit 3:1-2 . Instructions to give exhortations regarding conduct towards the authorities and towards all men.
] (see 2Ti 2:14 ) presupposes that they are aware of the duties regarding which the exhortation is given. It is not so certain that Paul is alluding to definite precepts already expressed by him.
] viz. the members of the church.
( ) ] . as a name for human authorities is used also in Luk 12:11 (comp. too, Luk 20:20 ; , alone in Rom 13:1 ). The two words are joined together in order to give fuller expression to the notion of authority. It cannot, however, be shown that the one denotes the higher, the other the lower authorities (Heydenreich). It is at least doubtful whether this inculcation of obedience to the authorities had its justification in the rebellious character of the Cretans nationally (Matthies and others). Similar precepts also occur in other epistles of the N. T.; and here the exhortation harmonizes with the injunctions given in chap. 2. The Christians needed the exhortation all the more that the authorities were heathen.
] here in its original signification: “ obey the superior .” Its meaning in Act 27:21 is more general. The is the result and actual proof of the . The want of does not prove, as de Wette thinks, that it does not belong to the datives ( .) . would have been out of place here, since the following words also are to be construed with that dative.
] not to be taken generally, but in very close connection with : “ for the authorities prepared to every good work” (so, too, Wiesinger and van Oosterzee). The is not without significance, as it points to the limits within which they are to be ready to obey the will of the authorities. Theodoret: , , , ; comp. Act 4:19 .
Tit 3:2 . ] The new object shows that from this point he is no longer speaking of special duties towards superiors, but of general duties towards one’s neighbour. is used specially in reference to what is higher, but it occurs also in the more general sense of “ revile .” Theodoret: .
, ] see 1Ti 3:3 ; the first expresses negatively what the second expresses positively.
(see Tit 2:10 ) ] Chrysostom: , . .
It is impossible not to see that the apostle is thinking specially of conduct towards those who are not Christian.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
V
Further directions, which Titus is to give to believers, which he is to impress by exhibiting the grace shown to them, and firmly to insist on, in opposition to the false teachers
Tit 3:1-11
1Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates [to be subject to magistrates (and1) powers, to obey], to be ready to every good work, 2To speak evil of [slander] no man [one], to be no brawlers [not to be contentious], but gentle [yielding], shewing all meekness unto all men. 3For we ourselves also were sometime [once] foolish, disobedient, deceived [erring], serving divers lusts and pleasures [desires and lusts], living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. 4But after that [when] the kindness [goodness] and love of God our Saviour towards man [friendliness-towards-men 5of God our Saviour] appeared, Not by [on account of] works of righteousness which2 we have done [did], but according to [in virtue of] his mercy he saved us, by the washing [laver] of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6Which he shed on us abundantly [richly] through Jesus Christ our Saviour 7[Lord]; That, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life [heirs, according to hope, of eternal life]. 8This is a faithful saying [Trustworthy is the word], and these things [this] I will that thou affirm constantly [strongly], that [in order that] they which [who] have believed in God might be careful [may take care] to maintain good works. These things3 are good and profitable unto men. 9But avoid foolish questions [of controversy], and genealogies [genealogical registers], and contentions [quarrels], and strivings [controversies] about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. 10A man that is an heretic [an heretical man], after the first and second [one and a second] admonition, reject [shun]; 11Knowing that he that is such [such a one] is subverted [perverted], and sinneth, being [since he is] condemned of [by] himself.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Tit 3:1. Put them in mind. The Apostle, after having reminded (Tit 2:1-10) believers of the duties they owe to their fellow-believers, adds a memento in respect to their relation particularly to those who are not Christians (Tit 3:1-2), which he makes still more emphatic by referring to their own former state (Tit 3:3), and the mercy which had been shown to them (Tit 3:4-7). For the Cretians, characteristically inclined, as a people, to rebellion, such an exhortation was necessary, especially at a time in which those who had Jewish feelings were showing a disposition more and more to resist the authority of the heathen magistrates (see on 1Ti 2:1).Magistrates [and] powers, especially of Rome, under whose dominion Crete now stood.To be subject to, to obey; the former indicates the internal disposition, the latter the external act which proceeds from it.To be ready to every good work; meaning, in the connection, those good works especially which the government demands of subjects; so that the intimation is here given, at least indirectly, that if the demand of the government is in conflict with Gods will, the duty of obedience ceases (Act 5:29).
Tit 3:2. To slander no one, (the reading in F. G. is too feebly attested to be received), to calumniate no one, to which the lying Cretians (Tit 1:12) must have been prone. There is no ground for the assumption, that the Apostle is now speaking directly of the magistrates (comp. Rom 13:7), for the exhortations which follow are general, and refer to the relation of Christians to non-Christians.Not to be contentious, [but] yielding; the one a negative, the other a positive description of the peaceable character of those who, neither for the promotion of public or private interests, nor in the sphere of religion or politics, light the torch of discord.Shewing allmeekness, &c.; a specially needed injunction for these Cretian churches, on account of the mingling of different races and individuals on the island.
Tit 3:3. For we ourselves also were, &c. [Were, , put forward emphatically, in sharp contrast to the better present; Ellicott.D.] The Apostle urges the performance of the duties just mentioned, by reminding the Cretians of the grace which had glorified itself in them, who by nature were no better than others. The remembrance of this should prompt them not only to the most humble gratitude towards God, but also to gentleness towards those who were at that moment in the most degraded condition.Foolish, (comp. Eph 4:18; Rom 1:21). Here, and in the following verses, Paul places, as he often does, the and of the Christian life in direct contrast, and includes himself with Titus among those who were formerly foolish, without making the slightest distinction between those who had become Christians from heathenism or Judaism. Upon Titus especially, who was of heathen descent, must such a reference to the sin-stained past have had an excellent effect.Disobedient, like those whose opposition it is now not unfrequently extremely difficult for us to bear. [Disobedient to God; Tit 1:16. He is no longer speaking of authorities, but has passed into a new train of thought; Alford.D.]Erring [going astray; Ellicott.D.], , not only in respect to the truth, but also with regard to the most sacred obligations.Serving divers desires and lusts (2Ti 3:6). The Apostle appears, not exclusively, but yet mainly, to refer to fleshly lusts. They are styled divers, I think, because the lusts by which the carnal man is driven to and fro are like adverse waves, which, in dashing against each other, turn him hither and thither, so that almost every moment he shifts and changes. Such, certainly, is the disquietude of all who abandon themselves to the desires of the flesh, because there is no stability but in the fear of God; Calvin.In malice and envy. Here, as in 1Ti 2:2, is meant not simply a momentary state, but the steady direction of the lifea life wholly controlled, as respects its ruling disposition, by malice and envy.Hateful, (only once in N. T.), = , odibiles, not exactly in the eyes of God and the holy angels (which undoubtedly is also true, but is not here meant), but generally worthy of abhorrence in the view of all who have reached a higher moral position.Hating one another (comp. Gal 5:15; Rom 1:29).
Tit 3:4. But when appeared. In contrast with this sad past, the Apostle points out the blessed present, the fruits of which believers continually enjoy.But when the goodness () and friendliness-towards-men () of God, &c. The distinction between goodness and friendliness-towards-men is, that the former expresses the Divine benevolence in general, the latter more specifically his compassion for mankind; so that both, taken together, are identical with grace (comp. the grace that bringeth salvation; Tit 2:11). Here also, as in 1Ti 1:1, God is styled Saviour, and, as in Tit 2:11, an appearing of the Divine love for sinners is spoken of. Although, under the old covenant, believers enjoyed the love and friendship of God (Psa 34:9), they nevertheless saw but the first dawning of the day of salvation which subsequently appeared, and possessed only the promise of that which the Christian enjoys in actual fulfilment. The whole of the passage which now follows has a great similarity with Tit 2:11-14, and yet has a character entirely its own. There the Apostle, in order to stimulate to Christian devoutness, exhibited the holy aim of the redemption which men obtain through Christ: here, on the other hand, in contrast with the entire unworthiness of unbelievers, be dwells upon the grace shown to them, in order to incite them to a gratitude which shall first of all manifest itself in love toward those who have not yet attained the priceless privileges of believers.
Tit 3:5. Not on account of works of righteousness, &c. ( ) [in righteousness, as the element and condition in which they were wrought; Alford.D.]; those works which must be wrought in a state of righteousness before God. The Apostle by no means affirms that believers have actually performed such works, but, on the contrary, expressly denies it. Not the least, consequently, could have been found in them to call forth the Divine complacency.[Which we did (emphatic), not had done, as A. V. and Conybeare, which, in fact, obscures the meaning; for Gods act, here spoken of, was a definite act in timeand its application to us, also a definite act in time; and if we take this pluperfect, we confine the Apostles repudiation of our works as moving causes of those acts of God, to the time previous to those acts. For aught that this pluperfect would assert, our salvation might be prompted on Gods part by future works of righteousness which he foresaw we should do. Whereas, the simple aoristic sense throws the whole into the same timeHis goodness, &c, was manifested not for works which we did He saved us, and renders the repudiation of human merit universal; Alford.D].But in virtue of his mercy, (comp. 1Pe 1:3 ; Luk 1:78). In this way Gods saving grace is described as from every side entirely free and undeserved, quite in the manner of Paul, as in Rom 3:20-24; Eph 2:3-10.He saved us, ; us, namely, who believe in Christ. Although the enjoyment of salvation is still incomplete so long as we remain in the body of sin and death, yet its possession is assured and sealed from the moment we come into union with Christ by faith. The Apostle distinctly points out what is and what is not the ground of this salvation wrought in them, and also by what means they are made partakers of it.By the laver of regeneration, &c; a reference to baptism, which might all the more easily be exhibited as a laver, , since it was originally performed by the entire submersion of the person baptized (comp. Eph 5:26). Baptism is styled laver of regeneration (), not because it obligates to regeneration, nor because it is the symbol of regeneration, but because it is really the means of regeneration, if truly desired and received in faith (which is tacitly assumed in respect to those adult Christians who by their own free act were baptized). Whoever, with the desire of salvation, went down into the baptismal water, with the confession of an honest faith, came forth therefrom as one newborn, to live henceforth a new life (comp. Rom 6:4; Col 2:11-12). On this ground Paul could say that God had saved them by () the laver of regeneration; since, as a general rule, the submission to the rite of baptism was necessarily, in the case of those who repeated the question of the Ethiopian eunuch (Act 8:36), the decisive act, the great turning-point in the history of their inner and outer life.And renewing of the Holy Ghost, (Vulgate: per lavacrum regenerations et renovationis). This expression may perhaps differ from the preceding, in indicating the further progress and development of the new life, while the former designates only its commencement. One corresponds with , as used by Paul, the other with and , in John. Both are wrought by the Holy Spirit, which is here placed in the genitive as indicating the efficient cause. This regeneration and renovation entirely take away the death and old state described in Tit 3:3 (2Co 5:17); Bengel.
Tit 3:6. Which [viz., the Holy Spirit] he shed on us richly, as was promised under the old covenant (Joe 2:28-32; Zec 12:10; Isa 44:3), and was fulfilled in the new covenant in the most abundant manner (Joh 7:37-39).Through Jesus Christ, is not to be referred to the remote word he saved (Bengel), but to the proximate word shed. Here, as often in other places, the glorified Saviour is represented as imparting to His church the communication of the Spirit, without which the conversion of individuals would have ever been an absolute impossibility. Comp. Act 2:33 ; 2Co 1:21-22; Joh 1:33.
Tit 3:7. That, being justified by his grace. A reference to the high end for which God has blessed them in Christ (Tit 3:5), and renewed them by the Holy Spirit (Tit 3:6). Here, where the main design is not so much to point out to them directly their duties (as in Tit 2:12), as their priceless privileges, the Apostle mentions not their sanctification, but simply their eternal blessedness, as the mark towards which everything is to be made to tend. Justified, (comp. Rom 1:17), must be understood in the sense in which the word is usually employed in the Epistles of Paul; so that it does not here signify found righteous, or sanctified, but acquitted from the guilt and punishment of sin, and thus received again into the friendship and favor of God, which had been forfeited by sin. For that justification, in the view of Paul, is more than the mere forgiveness of sin, and, along with this negative idea, includes also the positive one of a restitutio in integrum, is plain from Rom 4:5. By his, , we are to understand not Christ, or the Holy Spirit just mentioned (Tit 3:6), but God the Father, who had been named, in Tit 3:4, as the source of this entire plan of salvation.Might be made heirs of eternal life. The same Pauline thought is expressed also in Rom 8:17; here the Apostle adds, according to hope, . This phrase must be connected with , heirs, and be understood as saying that the inheritance of eternal life here mentioned is not yet in its whole extent an actual possession, but is only expected through hope, of which once we were entirely destitute, as something which is certainly to be ours. So Starke: The children of God are already indeed justified, and abundantly enjoy the goodness of God; but because the proper distribution of the full inheritance is yet future, they must still expect it, in faith and living hope, as certain. See Rom 8:23-24. No dead and imaginary hope is here meant, since even a man without faith can say: I hope, certainlyI think, indeed, that I shall be saved.
Tit 3:8. Trustworthy is the word (see on 1Ti 1:15). This asseveration refers to the whole course of thought (Tit 3:4-7).And this I will that thou strongly affirm (Vulgate: de his vole te confirmare). The Apostle will have Titus lay a very special emphasis upon the great truth of faith brought out in Tit 3:4-7. , affirm strongly, as in 1Ti 1:7. What is to be aimed at by this, is indicated by the following , which shows, once more, that the Apostle desires with such earnestness to have the doctrine of free grace preached, because it is the great means of leading sinners to holiness.That they who; describing the Cretian Christians in contrast with their previous paganism and idolatry (comp. Act 16:34).May take care (comp. Tit 2:10), ( .): Thus he wishes them to apply their study and care; and when he says , the Apostle seems elegantly to allude to those empty contemplations which philosophize without fruit or life; Calvin.These things [sc., these instructions, this practical teaching; De Wette, Ellicott.D.], in opposition to what follows, in Tit 3:9 (see the critical observations), are good (in themselves) and profitable (comp. on 1Ti 2:3). It is arbitrary to limit this requirement of good works exclusively to works of love. [Good works, not merely with reference to works of mercy (Chrysostom), but, as in Tit 2:7, perfectly generally, and comprehensively. It was not to be a hollow, specious, false, ascetic, and sterile Christianity, but one that showed itself in outward actions; Ellicott.D.]
Tit 3:9. But avoid foolish questions of controversy (comp. 1Ti 6:20; Tit 1:10). The Apostle has in view, as is clear from the subjoined adjective, , such researches as are utterly inconsistent with the Christian character and temper, and, in general, with all reasonable studycurious inquiries in respect to things which are of no consequence to Christian faith and spiritual life, and are even a hindrance to them. Two specialties which may be brought under this general category he particularly mentions: genealogical registers (see on 1Ti 1:4) and quarrels, , enmities arising in consequence of the various questions of controversy (), and contentions about the law. It is plain enough from this, that here, too, Paul has his mind directed particularly to the contentions of the Jewish party (comp. 1Ti 1:7; Tit 1:14). This party frequently engaged in the most violent controversy, now upon the relation of the law to the gospel, and now upon the significance of particular Mosaic rites. These Titus was to avoid, to keep clear of (comp. 2Ti 2:16), for these things, in opposition to the (Tit 3:8), are unprofitable and vain (fruitless).
Tit 3:10. An heretical man, , hreticus; whoever, by his own forwardness, breaks up the unity of the church (comp. 1Co 11:19; Gal 5:20; Rom 16:17), especially by propa gating errors which conflict with the orthodoxy of sound Apostolic doctrine.After one and a second admonition; after thou hast repeatedly, but fruitlessly, warned him to turn from his error, to profess the pure doctrine. , from and , admonitio, occurs elsewhere in the N. T. only in 1Co 10:10; Eph 6:4.Shun, (1Ti 4:7). Cease to exhort and warn him any farther, since it will certainly be fruitless. A formal excommunication (Vitringa) is certainly not here spoken of. The ground for a direction which might seem severe and arbitrary is given in what immediately follows.
Tit 3:11. Knowing that such an one is perverted, (comp. Deu 32:30). An entire corruption of feeling and aim is here indicated, in consequence of which a complete aversion and antagonism has obtained the ascendancy.And sinneth, since he is condemned by himself, (comp. 1Ti 4:2). This last word defines the peculiar character of the sin of which these persons become guilty. They stumble not at all from precipitancy and weakness, but with the full consciousness of their guilt and condemnation. And this is just the reason why Titus is to let them alone: no exhortation or counsel can assuredly be of any service. They already bear about with them their sentence, and, consequently, can expect nothing in the future but condemnation.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. In this passage the Apostle assumeswhat he had more largely declared in Rom 13:1-7, and what is so constantly forgotten by the revolutionary politics of modern timesthe doctrine of the Divine right of magistrates. Not that he maintains, by any means, that each and every person in authority is directly ordained of God Himself, and hence, as Gods vicegerent on earth, is entitled to demand a blind obedience, but simply that the office of the magistrate, as such, owes its origin, not to the will of men, nor to a supposed social contract (Rousseau), but to the will of God; that God Himself has originally regulated the relation between rulers and ruled according to His own wise counsel and purpose, and has therefore given to no citizen the right arbitrarily to absolve himself from the great duty of obedience, except in the single case provided for in Act 4:19; Act 5:29. Compare, on this whole subject, Arnold, Theolog. Experimentalis, 2:467487; Of Divine Order in Civil Government; and, further, the Confess. August., art. 16, Formul. Concord., art. 12. Luther, in his larger Catechism, on the Fourth Commandment, maintains the duty of obedience even to unjust princes. Compare his exposition of Psalms 82.
2. Short as is the Epistle to Titus, we yet find, for the second time before it closes, a passage (Tit 3:4-7) containing a compendium of the doctrine of salvation, and at the same time a compressed but rich summing up of what he had more at length expressed in the Epistles to the Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians. A new proof, this, that to the end of his life he remained the same, and continued faithful, even in a Pastoral Epistle, to the great theme of his preaching.
3. The doctrine of the free grace of God, displayed in the gratuitous justification of the sinner, is not only a main point in the Pauline theology, but the foundation and corner-stone of the whole structure of the Reformation, and the great centre in which Paul, Augustine, and Luther are at one with believers in every age.
4. According to the express doctrine of the Apostle in this passage, baptism [in the sense explained in the exegetical notes.D.] is the means of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. It is evident, however, at a glance, that he is here speaking exclusively of adults, who, in the conscious and voluntary exercise of faith, descend into the baptismal water. To children, who are not in a condition to believe, nor to be converted, this expression can be applicable only cum grano salis; and accordingly we find here not the least authority for attributing to the baptismal water, in itself, a magical and mechanical efficacy, which would lead to the Romish idea of the efficacy of baptism ex opere operato. What the child receives, when brought by his parents to baptism, is, not regeneration itself, but the sign and seal of the grace of God for the remission of sins and renewal. It is not till afterwards, when a personal and vital faith has sprung up and become developed in his heart, that regeneration and renewal can be spoken of, of which the baptism received in infancy was the prophetic symbol, and, in a manner, the ideal beginning. From the reformed point of view, therefore, we may speak in an entirely legitimate sense of baptismal grace received, in so far as the child, by this sacred rite, is brought under the protection and nurture of the Christian Church, in which the Holy Spirit works through the word in the regeneration and sanctification of each individual. Lange, Positiv Dogmatik, p. 1131, says: Since the child has as yet no will of his own, and no exercise of his rational faculties, and belongs, with all his individual self-direction, to the church, he is committed, in the fulness of his plastic faculties, to the unrestricted influence of the church. His ecclesiastical and social regeneration is thus decided. He is ecclesiastically new-born; for, through baptism, he is born again into church membership. This ecclesiastical regeneration is, however, an individual regeneration, in respect to the idea and potency of the change. Compare the remark of Huther on this passage.
5. In regard to the question frequently mooted, whether, by the heretics spoken of in the New Testament, we are to understand men who swerve from sound doctrine, and wrest the truth; or rather those who, by ecclesiastical dissensions, destroy the unity of the body of Christ, and thus do violence to love, the answer is simply this: This whole distinction rests upon an arbitrary antithesis between truth and love, faith and life. In swerving from the purity of the Apostolic teaching, the heretics became also schismatics. And the schismatics, so far as they aimed to be such, and to establish a separate church, must inevitably adopt peculiar doctrines, and thereby come more and more into collision with the teaching of the Apostles.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The mission of Christians, to sanctify civil life also.What the State owes to the Church, and the Church to the State.The peculiarity of Christian obedience, and what distinguishes it from that of the natural man.The great contrast between Once and Now in the history of the Christian life.Nothing is better fitted to lead us to humble gratitude towards God, and to benignity towards men, than the thought of what we once were in ourselves, and of what we have now become through His grace.Hateful, and hating one another, still and ever the character of the natural man (proofs from the ancient and modern history of missions).The gospel a revelation of grace, in contrast with the law, which worketh death.The doctrine of the gratuitous justification of the sinner: (1.) The main doctrine of Paul; (2.) the corner-stone of the Reformation; (3.) the inexhaustible fountain of glory to God, consolation, and sanctification.Baptism, when received in faith, the laver of regeneration.The difference between works of law and good works from the Christian point of view.Unprofitable questions, many: the needful inquiry, one.True preaching must be a full preaching of the gospel; but the full preaching of the gospel must ever have a practical tendency.The position which becomes the servant of the gospel towards obstinate errorists and opponents.The various degrees and punishments of sins in the Church of the Lord.
Starke: Not to be wise, expresses more than not to know; for a person may be unacquainted with many things, and yet be a wise man. An unconverted person is so destitute of understanding, that he regards all spiritual and Divine things as folly.Cramer: As believers are in a peaceful and blessed state, so unbelievers are in one in which they have no peace or blessedness. For the former cordially love each other, while the latter hate one another, or else exercise a wrong love, in which they perish together.The sole fountain of salvation for the whole human family is the love, mercy, and condescension of God.If we feel the friendliness of God towards us, we also should be friendly to our neighbors.Man can do no good works, unless he is already just, and blessed by faith.Hedinger: Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven! On this depends the inheritance of eternal life. Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and blessedness.The doctrine of good works must be so exhibited, that the power and perseverance requisite for a holy life shall be shown to flow from the evangelical source of grace and faith: where this is not done, nothing is secured beyond an external and pharisaical righteousness.What should the true preacher discourse upon in the pulpit? Not subtle, unprofitable, and idle questions, but upon subjects by which his hearers may be made better in faith and life, to their souls salvation and blessedness.No amount of talking and singing will compel men to repent. Let Babel loose, and it will not help matters.If it is unchristian to persecute heretics, it is much more Unchristian to regard as heresy, reject, and condemn, particular opinions which do not affect, much less subvert the foundation of faith, and may even be most precious truths.God has two kinds of judgmentspublic and private: the first, at the last day; the latter, already in our conscience. If this become aroused, it makes the world too narrow (2Co 5:10; Rom 2:15; 1Co 11:31).
For the Pericope. Lisco: To what the grace of God in Christ binds us.For what the Christian has especially to thank God on Christmas: (1.) For the mercy He shows us; (2.) for the Spirit He gives us; (3.) for the blessedness to which He leads us.How we are called, by the incarnation of Christ, to a participation in a higher, heavenly life.Heubner: The mission of the Son of God a proof of the glory to which God will raise us.Ranke: The aim of the grace of God: (1.) To deliver us from our old life; (2.) to create a new life in us; (3.) to raise us to the life everlasting.Kapff: The Triune God is revealed to none but the regenerate Christian.Palmer: What do we receive at our baptism?Petri: How we hear the doctrine of the manifested condescension and friendliness of God.
W. Hofacker: How difficult problems are clearly solved to faith in the knowledge of the inscrutable God.Luther: Let now this Epistle teach us once more two things: faith and loveor to receive blessings from God, and to confer blessings upon our neighbor. For all Scripture urges these two, and one cannot exist without the other. Faith excites love, and love increases faith.What more charming can be said, than such words to a sinful, distressed conscience? Alas, that the devil, by the Popes law, should have so miserably perverted these pure words of God!
Footnotes:
[1]Tit 3:1. is omitted by Tischendorf [Lachmann, Alford, Ellicott.D.] on the authority of A. C. D.1 E.1 F. G., Cod. Sin., but can hardly be dispensed with. [Still, although it is found in many of the versions and fathers, the weight of MS. authority is too decisive allow it to be retained.D.]
[2]Tit 3:5.[The Recepta, Griesbach, Tischendorf, Ellicott, accept on the authority of C.2 D.3 E. K. L., Ath., Chrysostom, Theodoret, &c.; while Lachmann and Alford adopt a found in A. C.1 D.1 F. G., and now strengthened by Cod. Sin.D.]
[3]Tit 3:8. after , the fuller text of the Recepta, is wanting in A. C. D. E. G., and other witnesses [also Cod. Sin.D.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The Chapter opens with a Continuation of Exhortations. The Apostle blessedly speaks of the Doctrine of Regeneration. He closeth the Epistle with Directions, and his Apostolical Benediction.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
(1) Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, (2) To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men. (3) For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
We cannot sufficiently admire, the very happy method the Apostle adopted, to conciliate the minds of the people to the observance of those civil obligations he here recommended, in showing, in his own instance, as well as in all others, how unavoidably disposed a state of unrenewed nature is, to everything that is evil. What an humble representation Paul hath here made of himself, and all mankind, considered only in the state of original corruption. Reader! it is always blessed, to have it in remembrance. Nothing, under the teachings of God the Spirit, can be more profitable. It tends to lower all pharisaical pride, which might creep into the heart. It tends, through grace, to keep the soul humble in the dust before God. It keeps open a stream of true godly sorrow, in the consciousness of our first nothingness, and continued undeservings. And, what is preferable to all, it doth endear the Person, and work, and relations, and offices of Christ, to the soul; and thereby sweetly enforceth our need of Jesus, and our everlasting dependence upon him, and his blood and righteousness, more and more. Oh! thou dear Lord! how very precious, yea, increasingly precious, art thou to my soul, when I look back, and contemplate the awful state of that foolish, disobedient, unrenewed nature, in which I was born; the many years I continued in it, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating; and the remains of indwelling corruption, even to this hour, which marks the body of sin, I carry about with me! Oh! the blessedness of knowing it; and the distinguishing mercy of so knowing it, as to loath myself for my own deformity, that I may be looking only to Jesus for holiness and salvation.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Our Motto
Tit 3:1
Primarily these words refer to our duty as Christian citizens. But I think we may very well enlarge the scope of the words, so that we may take them as our motto for our whole life, and not only for our lives as Christian citizens.
I. What do we Mean by Good Work? The Christian is to be ready for every beautiful work, because the work of God is always beautiful. Good works are beautiful, and they call forth the admiration of all true beholders. It requires a certain amount of courage to do good works. There are many men who are not men enough to do good works, cowardly men, men who just follow the multitude to do evil. And therefore the good works are not only those that are beautiful in themselves, but that require a certain amount of courage and manliness on the part of Christian men to engage in them.
II. Well, then, why should we be Ready for every Good Work? (1) Because we were created for good works by God in Christ Jesus. (2) We must be ready for good works because in the fifth chapter of the Gospel of St Matthew, and in the sixteenth verse, it is these good works that glorify God. ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works,’ your beautiful works, ‘and glorify your Father which is in heaven’. (3) By doing these good works we follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. (4) In order to provoke one another to good works (Heb 10:23 ), in order that we may be thus a pattern to other men. (5) These good works are your best adornment
III. You must be Ready to every Good Work. Well, now, how are you to do it? (1) You must be consecrated to Him, you must be ready to do whatever He appoints. (2) You must be cleansed, sanctified, meet for the Master’s use. (3) In the thirteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews: ‘That great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ’. The Greek word there means, to set a dislocated arm, to put something right which has got wrong. When this dislocation is set right, then there will be the prospect of our being ready for every good work.
(4) In the third chapter of the second Epistle to Timothy, and in the seventeenth verse: ‘That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works’. Furnished for all good works.
(5) There must be a real keen anxiety to do them.
(6) You want to be stablished for every good work if you are to fulfil the purpose for which God has called you. (7) In the first chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians, and in the tenth verse, ‘Fruitful in every good work’. Because after all it is not so much how much we do, but what we do in the doing of it
E. A. Stuart, The True Citizen and other Sermons, vol. IX. p. 65.
Equipped for Well-doing
Tit 3:1
These words describe the normal attitude of mind which the Christian believers in the island of Crete were to maintain with steadfast resolution. Calls to service, like the Lord’s coming to judgment, may sometimes be upon us when we are not looking for them. ‘Ready unto every good work.’ It is much more likely that we shall miss the pregnant occasion than that the occasion will fail to arrive. The history of failure is the story of unreadiness. This malady sometimes shows itself in a disabling sense of personal unfitness for the task which solicits us. This infirmity which hampers our life-work sometimes arises from the fact that we project our own unfitness into the minds of others, and assume that they are not ready to improve by the good works we are sent to do.
I. The first condition of this habitual fitness for service is a mind attuned to the Divine kindness, and in constant agreement with the goodwill of God. We shall never falter in good works, or miss the great opportunities which lie in our providential pathway, if we are possessed by the remembrance of God and His mercy to just and unjust alike. It is but another way of stating the same truth to affirm that Christ and His Word must be in us as the foundation of this fitness. In sending Marconigraphs across the sea, it is necessary that the instruments should be ‘syntonised’ with each other. Unless receiver and transmitter are keyed into a fine correspondence the message will be lost, and the electric vibrations which indicate it will wander unread through the wide spaces of the air. The Bible ‘syntonises’ us with the mind of God, making us sensitive subjects of His fine commands.
II. A further essential of this daily fitness for service is a firm assurance that since God has made it the chief function of the new life that it should abound in good works, He cannot possibly put us under conditions where this high function will be thwarted. He has so ordained the world into which we are sent, that it is a meet sphere for this Christlike vocation.
III. This fitness for every kind of gracious service must be maintained by diligent daily exercise. A French writer has said: ‘If Paganini, who uttered his soul through the strings of his violin, spent three days without practising, he lost what he called the stops of his instrument, meaning the sympathy between the wooden frame, the strings, the bow, and himself. If he had lost this alliance, he would have been no more than an ordinary player.’ And that sympathy between the soul of the worker, the written word, the stricken race and the God who redeemed it, which is the mainspring of all great achievement, may be lost by neglect Nothing can make up for the lack of this inward readiness. If we are ready for every good work we are ready for the coming of the King.
References. III. 1, 2. H. Bonner, Sermons and Lectures, p. 172. III. 1-4. Expository Sermons on the New Testament, p. 248. III. 3-8. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxiv. No. 2042.
The Philanthropy of God ( for Christmas Day )
Tit 3:4
The message of Christmas affects each of us in different ways at different times, for it deeply concerns our whole humanity. It never loses its power. Men and women whose hearts are untouched by other great facts of Divine revelation feel strangely thrilled as their ears catch the angels’ tidings of the birth of the Virgin’s Son. Christmas appeals to the primary instincts of humanity; it meets man’s deepest needs; and if those without the Church feel a new glow at this season, surely we who are accustomed to meet here must be more deeply moved still. We pass beyond the outward expressions of the joy to the inner meaning of which everything else is but a sign. ‘The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us.’ The Incarnation is the making of God poor that we may be made rich.
I. The Philanthropy of God. In what does wealth consist? Not surely in money, not even in knowledge. What are the most precious things, the things we hold most dear? We think of home, and we realise the glory of motherhood and the dignity of childhood, and we understand that through the Incarnation we have become inestimably wealthy in the power of home which binds hearts together indestructibly. We think of the riches of Christian literature and art springing through the centuries from that humble home at Bethlehem. We think of the new spirit which helps us in that work which is so trying to body and brain, for the whole routine of life is known to God Who became a labourer in the city of Nazareth. And if all this true wealth is ours in this world through the Incarnation, what shall we say of the treasure and Divine riches given to us for the sustenance of our spiritual life, of the grace of Jesus Christ in His Church and in His Sacrament, of the knowledge of His will in His inspired Word and through His ministers, of the hope of everlasting life which binds earth and heaven? The kindness and philanthropy of God I In all parts of the world men are even now gleaning these riches of Christ’s poverty, the riches of an inheritance which is incorruptible and fadeth not away.
II. ‘Let this Mind be in You.’ Surely, as we consider the message of Christmas and realise all that that means, we find in it not only a gospel of infinite joy but also a challenge to imitate the example of Him Who has made this wealth ours. ‘Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus’ the mind of true philanthropy. Christmas is the festival of kindness. Through the Incarnation philanthropy has acquired a new meaning. It is not to be asserted indeed that there were no efforts to alleviate poverty and suffering before the Incarnation. The sympathies of humanity have had some expression at every period of the world’s history, and we know that the Roman noble gloried in giving alms to the beggar. But still there was nothing like the Christian conviction of the obligation resting upon each man to do all in his power wisely to alleviate misery. The example of Christ in His Incarnation is followed again and again by His disciples, for the true Christian realises that the unfortunate have around them the halo of the suffering of Christ But at the same time it must be remembered that there is nothing in Christ’s teaching, or in the teaching of His Apostles, which approves of indiscriminate almsgiving. We must give ourselves trouble to see that our charity is always well advised, and that it is not a generous giving to comfort ourselves independently of the result of our bounty. The kindness and philanthropy exhibited in the Incarnation is our pattern.
References. III. 4. Archbishop Alexander, Christian World Pulpit, vol. liv. p. 20. III. 5. J. C. Lees, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlii. p. 27. D. L. Moody, The Fulness of the Gospel, p. 62. T. Binney, King’s Weigh-House Chapel Sermons, p. 198. Expositor (5th Series), vol. x. p. 60. III. 7. B. J. Snell, Sermons on Immortality, p. 20. Expositor (4th Series), vol. i. p. 204. III. 8. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Titus, p. 189. III. 9. Ibid. (5th Series), vol. x. p. 371. III. 15. Ibid. vol. viii. p. 167.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Chapter 3
1 Titus is yet further directed by Paul, both concerning the things he should teach, and not teach. 10 He is willed also to reject obstinate hereticks: 12 which done, he appointeth him both time and place, wherein he should come unto him, and so concludeth.
1. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers [rulers and authorities], to obey magistrates [the temporal power], to be ready to every good work [cheerfully, to aid all lawful authority, municipal and otherwise],
2. To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers [not contentious], but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men.
3. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived [for we were once ourselves foolish, disobedient, going astray], serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
4. But after that the kindness and love [ or, pity] of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
6. Which he shed on us abundantly [Gr. richly] through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
7. That being justified [freed from the future punishment and consequences of sin] by his grace [by the favour and kindness of God the Father are we restored to his love and friendship], we should be made heirs [ Rom 8:17 ] according to the hope of eternal life.
8. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
9. But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.
10. A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject [shun or avoid]:
11. Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself [is perverted and sinneth, being self-condemned].
12. When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.
13. Bring Zenas [a name contracted from Zenodorus] the lawyer and Apollos [a distinguished Alexandrian scholar and a disciple of John the Baptist. This famous teacher appears often in the New Testament records, in the Acts, and several of the Epistles] on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them.
14. And let ours also learn to maintain good works [ or, profess honest trades] for necessary uses, that they may be not unfruitful.
15. All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith [an inclusive greeting, embracing each member of the Cretan Church whose love to him (St. Paul) was based upon the common faith in the Lord Jesus. Greet all who love me, as the earnest preacher of their faith and mine]. Grace be with you all. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
X
EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF TITUS
Tit 1:5-3:15
At the close of our discussion on the historical introduction to the letter to Titus, I gave an elaborate outline of the letter, so inclusive that it practically becomes an exegesis of the letter. Moreover, we need now to consider but three points in the letter, because in the first letter to Timothy we have gone over much of the ground relating to preachers, their ordination, and all the parts relating to their social life.
The historical introduction also expounded the elaborate salutation, so that this section really commences at Tit 1:5 : “For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge.”
“Elders in every city”: there can be no efficient development of church life without pastors. The pastors teach the word and rule according to the word; they oversee the work of the church; they shepherd the flock, feeding, guarding, and healing. Upon the entrance qualification into the office of elder, we need to emphasize one point additional to those considered in the first letter to Timothy. It has been rightly said that the entrance spiritual qualification to church membership should be the simple, trustful acceptance of Christ as Saviour. It is not necessary for one to be a theologian in order to unite with the church. We receive babes in Christ into the church. But it is not true that in ordaining elders we should limit the scope of the examination to entrance qualifications into the church. Let us commence with Tit 1:9 . He is here cautioning Titus about whom to ordain, that the candidate to the ministry must “hold to the faithful word, which is according to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in the sound doctrine and convict the gainsayers.”
Then follow the reasons for such high qualifications on entrance into the ministry. He shows the presence of “unruly men, vain talkers, and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre’s sake.” The fact that there are capable opponents to the Christian religion, sometimes exceedingly plausible, who can overturn the faith of whole households, makes it necessary that the man to be ordained to the ministry must understand the teaching, the deposit of faith, as enunciated in the New Testament, and summaries of which are given repeatedly by the apostle Paul. We had this thought in part in the first letter to Timothy, where be says, “Lay hands suddenly on no man; not on a novice.”
In order to do the work of a preacher, and especially that of a pastor of a church, one must be able to lead babes in Christ to mature Christian knowledge. That is what he is for, and he must be able to meet the gainsayers, those who stand out against the doctrine. Where the pastor is unable to do either one or the other, his church in all probability will suffer severely, not only in lack of development, but also by in-roads of the opposition. That this point may be clear let the reader study this passage from Ephesians:
“And he gave some to be apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ: till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we may be no longer children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, even Christ; from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love.”
The keynote of the letter to Titus is the practical religion coming from the acceptance of sound doctrine. Paul never conceived of an empty Christian faith. He never dissociated morality from doctrine, but always predicated morality upon doctrine. Doctrine is the fountain and morality is the stream.
While standing as he did with such earnestness for the truth which he had received from Christ, and while exhorting them to keep this truth just as he gave it to them, to preserve it inviolate, to transmit unimpaired, he always insisted that the evidence of one’s acceptance of this truth was a sound religious life. This letter, perhaps more than any other, stresses that point. True, in every letter after he had stated his doctrine, there is an exhortation to practical morality, but in this letter the main thought is in the direction of practical holiness, and the doctrines introduced are for illustration.
With this thought before us, we consider the first great doctrinal statement, which is the second chapter. Throughout that chapter he defines the things becoming sound doctrine: “That the aged be temperate, grave, sober-minded, sound in faith, in love, in patience,” how the aged women, young women, and young men should do.
But when he unveils the fountain from which the stream of moral life flows, and which this good life adorns, we find this doctrinal origin: “For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world.” He affirms that this is the teaching of salvation by grace. There is no antinomian fruit in the doctrine of salvation by grace.
From the lips of every expounder of salvation by grace in the New Testament comes the one teaching that sound doctrine concerning the world to come leads us to a sound life in this present world; that here on earth and in time, we should live soberly, righteously, godly, and in denial of worldly lusts. It is a little difficult, in view of the clear statement upon this subject, to understand how antinomianism ever originated. Certainly it is not warranted in the Bible. We may put it down as a fundamental of Christianity, that where there is anything of Christianity in the heart, it will make its subjects better, here and now. It will make a husband a better husband, a wife a better wife, a child a better child, a citizen a better citizen, a slave a better slave. Many times in my life I have felt called upon to preach from this text: What the grace of God which bringeth salvation teaches.
The second thing that it teaches us is to “look for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Wherever there is a genuine acceptance of Jesus as a present Saviour there is an attitude of expectation toward the second advent. We cannot have sound faith in the historical Christ without having an expectant hope of the coming Christ. Baptist churches need to have that ground into them. Whenever we find that a considerable part of our life is elapsing without thought of the final coming of our Lord, then there is something wrong in us.
As the first coming was the highest mountain peak which loomed up on the Old Testament horizon, so is the second advent the highest mountain peak in our future, and we should never lose sight of it.
Here the question arises: “How do you maintain such an attitude toward the final coming of our Lord, with your postmillenial views?” It is easy to answer that question.
1. Having postmillenial views, I have no trouble with the universality in preaching required in “bringing salvation to all men,” since our only hope of saving men is before the final advent, expecting none to be saved after that advent; whereas the premillennial view expects to save only an ever-lessening few before that advent, and looks to postadvent times for saving the bulk of those to be redeemed.
2. To any one individual life it is only a little time until the Lord comes. As soon as we come to death we pass out of time into eternity, where there is no time, no measuring of duration. So the only period in which my looking for the Lord can be beneficial to me is in my lifetime here upon earth. But to the race of man, the succession of individuals, it may be a very long time until the second coming of Christ. All through the New Testament men are addressed not so much with reference to the lapse which must pass in the history of the race before the final advent, as to the individual’s brief stay on earth.
To illustrate: Peter positively knew that Christ would not come before he died, because Christ had told him just how he was to die. He himself makes reference to that. And yet Peter was marvelously stirred in his heart with the thought of the final coming of the Lord. He knew that it would not be in his time, but he knew he was influenced by the thought while he lived. In the great prophecy of our Lord, each steward in his day, whether that day be remote from the second advent, or near to it, is warned not to say in his heart: “My Lord delayeth his coming,” that in such a time as he thinks not the Lord will come and he will be cut down and his portion appointed with hypocrites. Very much in point is a passage in John’s Gospel: “I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go I will come again to receive you unto myself.” This was meant for the men addressed and men ages remote from the final advent.
It is unquestionable that there is a sense in which the advent of the Lord comes to the individual. He meets every one at the depot of death. It is not at all peculiar to postmillennial people to neglect the thought of the second advent of our Lord. While I believe that it is absolutely impossible for that advent to come in my life time, and base my belief upon the clear teachings of preceding things things which must come to pass before the final coming yet the influence of the second advent has been a tremendous power over my life. I have preached from it oftener than from any other one theme in the Bible except the cross of Christ.
To resume our discussion: Paul says that the grace of God which bringeth salvation teaches these things: (1) That in this present world we must live soberly, righteously, and godly; (2) That the heart must be turned toward the final coming of the Lord. These two lessons, and they are both good lessons, are reinforced by the following:
“God gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works.” So the teaching is buttressed by the purpose which was in the mind of our Lord Jesus Christ. You recall how that point was emphasized when we recently passed over Ephesians, where it said that Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
It was once common for preachers, resting on the King James Version, to insist that God’s people must be peculiar, i.e., odd. But that is not the meaning of the word. He gave himself for his people, having in view their complete holiness, and that they were to be a people for his own possession, i. e., peculiar to him and zealous of good works. If one finds himself without that zeal for good works, he may question the Lord’s title to him. First make a tree good, then its fruit will be good.
The other doctrinal passage is much more difficult. Indeed to expound it satisfactorily to myself is to dissent from most Christian scholars. I have tried hard to fall in with their views, but cannot do it.
Tit 3:3 : “For we also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another, but when the kindness of God, our Saviour, and his love toward man appeared, not by works done in righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
The only difficulty in the passage is that relating to the washing of regeneration. Most commentators find here an allusion to baptism. To my own mind there is no allusion whatever to baptism. To justify my dissent from the majority of commentators, I submit an exegesis of the passage, and then leave the reader to agree with the author or to follow some other exegesis, as he pleases.
The difficult passage is one of a group, all based on Old Testament imagery, and referring exclusively to the divine side of salvation, and not at all to our responses to divine commands. Neither in this, nor any passage of the group) is’ anything that we do referred to or considered; neither contrition, repentance, faith, baptism, nor anything else.
This passage with its true parallels, is sharply contrasted with another group which does set forth what we do in response to divine commands, e.g., Mar 16:16 : “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” That is something we do. We believe and we are baptized. Act 2:36 : “Repent ye and be baptized every one of you unto the remission of sins.” Here again is something we do. We repent and are baptized. Act 22:16 : “Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins.” Here is an injunction to human duty. Paul is commanded to be baptized. 1Pe 3:21-22 : “Eight souls were saved through water; which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh … ” Here again is a passage that tells us what baptism does and what it does not.
All of this group of passages must be construed together, whatever the interpretation. They all set forth something that we do, and all discuss the human responses to divine commands; but this expression, “the washing of regeneration,” in the Titus passage is dissociated particularly from anything we do, expressly saying, “Not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly through Christ Jesus our Saviour.”
Unlike Galatians and Romans, this passage does not even consider salvation in its legal aspects justification, redemption, adoption i.e., the salvation done outside of us and for us, but confines itself wholly to the salvation in us, wrought by the Holy Spirit. The “washing” is in us as much as the “renewing,” and both by the Holy Spirit.
The divine side of salvation alone is considered and the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit refer to the Spirit’s work in contradistinction to the Father’s work or to the Son’s work in salvation, and especially to anything we do. That baptism in water is a work of righteousness done by us is evident from the statement from our Lord to John: “Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” But this passage says that the salvation here discussed is according to mercy, “not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves.”
Now the kindred passages with which this passage must be associated in exegesis are to be found in Joh 3:2-8 and Eph 5:25-27 . In these two passages, as in Titus, the divine side of salvation is considered. Christ said to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Again he said, expanding the same statement, “Except a man be born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Note particularly the following: Christ and Nicodemus are discussing two births, one natural, the other spiritual. “That which is born of flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” He is not discussing three births one natural, one figurative, and one spiritual.
Second, his teaching concerning the necessity of this new birth was clearly taught in the Old Testament, for he rebukes Nicodemus, he being a teacher in Israel, for not understanding the new birth. If there had been any reference to baptism in the word ”water,” Nicodemus, as a teacher of the Old Testament, could not have been rebuked, because the Old Testament knew nothing of this New Testament ordinance of baptism. So that whatever “born of water and Spirit” means, it is something unequivocally taught in the Old Testament.
Where, then, in the Old Testament is it so plainly taught? The answer is, first, in Num 19 . God, through Moses, makes provision for the typical purification of his people; a red heifer was killed and burned outside of the camp, her ashes gathered up and mixed with water and this lye of commingled ashes and water was kept for purification, hence the name “water of cleansing and purification.” It was administered by taking a branch of hyssop and sprinkling it upon the one to be cleansed.
In Eze 36 we have a second exceedingly pertinent reference: There the prophet foretells that the dispersed Jews shall one day be gathered together and saved and, as in this Titus passage, he says that it is not on account of anything they have done. Then he describes how they are to be saved: “Then I will sprinkle the water of purification on you and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness and all your iniquities. I will take away your stony heart and give you a heart of flesh, and put my spirit within you, and then ye shall keep my commandments.” Here we have the first element of regeneration typified, in the water of cleansing; its second element in the renewing by the Holy Spirit. Regeneration always consists of two elements: first, cleansing; second, renewing. The cleansing always comes first.
We have another reference to it in Psa 51 where David says, “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow; purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Renew a right spirit within me.” Here are precisely the same thoughts presented by the psalmist, and they are the very thoughts presented by the Titus passage, the “washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,” and it means exactly what it means in Joh 3:5 , “Born of water and Spirit.” What then, does the water of purification, referred to in the Ezekiel and psalmist passages, typify? The answer is to be found in Heb 9:13 :”For if the ashes of a heifer sanctify unto the cleansing of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ purify your conscience to serve the true and living God?”
So that this water cleansing in Numbers and in Ezekiel, and in Psa 51 and in Joh 3 refer to the cleansing by the blood of Jesus Christ. When our Lord said to Nicodemus: “Except a man be born of water and Spirit” it was the same as saying “Except a man be cleansed by the Spirit’s application of the blood of Christ, and by the Spirit’s renewal, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.”
The proof positive of the matter is Christ’s answer to Nicodemus’ second pressing question, “How can these things be?” “The wind bloweth where it listeth and we hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth.” Nicodemus kept insisting, “How can these things be?” And Jesus explained in this fashion: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” That is how these things come about. That is, when Christ is held up before our eyes, in preaching, and we accept him as a Saviour, then the Holy Spirit first applies the blood of Christ to our hearts) purifying them, and then renews us, changing our nature.
The other passage (Eph 5:25-27 ) is perfectly in line. It says, “Christ loved the church and gave himself for it; that having cleansed it by the washing of water through the word, he might sanctify it and present it to himself a glorious church, having neither spot nor wrinkle, nor blemish, nor any such thing.” Here again the work done is all on the divine side. It is Christ that loved us. It is Christ that gave himself for us. It is through the application of Christ’s blood that we are cleansed, washed through the word preached and believed. There is nothing in it that we are to do. We may learn our duty from other passages of Scripture, but not from these three.
The cleansing, mark you, is a washing by the word, not a washing by water. That is, the word of God holds up Christ as the object of our faith, we accept him and the Spirit applies the blood for our cleansing. It is said in the first letter to the Corinthians, “Such were some of you, but ye were washed, ye were sanctified.” Here we have the washing first again. The washing here referred to is not a bodily washing in baptism, but a spiritual cleansing that comes from the application of Christ’s blood by the Spirit, then follows the sanctifying.
It has been objected that the term loutron in Tit 3 and Eph 5 , meaning laver or bath, is too expressive and broad a word to correspond to the sprinkling of the ashes of the red heifer. I meet this criticism squarely by citing a pertinent passage from Zec 13:1 : “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.” This fountain evidently refers to the blood of Christ, and is so embodied in Cowper’s hymn which we often sing: There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains.
Certainly if the blood of Christ can be referred to as a fountain into which the bathing or cleansing takes place, loutron in Tit 3 and Eph 5 is not too broad a word to express the fact.
But to put on the crowning proof: In Rev 7 , referring to the great multitude which no man can number, which God brought out of every nation, of all tribes and places, and tongues, standing before the throne of the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, with palms in their hands, this explanation is given: “These are they that came out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
In the last chapter of the book (Rev 22:14 ) it is said) “Blessed are they that wash their robes that they may have the right to come to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city.” Here is the washing that corresponds to the passage in 1Co 6:11 , “Ye were washed,” and to the passage in Ephesians, “having cleansed them through the washing of water by the word,” and to the passage in John, “born of water.”
If anything more were needed, the added clause in the Titus passage is, “which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ.” That is, the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, both come from his out-poured Spirit. Indeed, if it could be maintained that the “washing of regeneration” in Titus, and the “born of water” in John, and the “cleansing by the washing of water through the word,” in Ephesians, refer to baptism, two things would follow like a conqueror: First, that baptism is absolutely essential to salvation; second, it must precede in every case the work of the Holy Spirit in renewing our hearts. The grammatical construction demands as much, and no less.
QUESTIONS
1. Why should every church have an elder or elders?
2. What reason here given for extending the scope of the examination of the elder beyond church entrance qualifications?
3. What passage in Ephesians emphasizes this thought, and what the substance of it?
4. What is the keynote of this letter?
5. What use does Paul make of doctrine in this letter?
6. What is the first great doctrinal statement in the letter?
7. What does the grace that brings salvation teach us?
8. What fundamental of Christianity taught here?
9. What is the relation of the second advent to the life?
10. How may one with postmillennial views maintain such an attitude toward the second advent?
11. How are the lessons of grace reinforced?
12. What is the meaning of “peculiar” in the King James Version?
13. What is the second great doctrinal passage in the letter?
14. What is the difficulty of the passage?
15. What is the meaning of “washing of regeneration,” what its true parallels in Scripture and what their explanation?
16. What hymn contains this truth?
17. If “washing of regeneration” here means baptism, then what must follow?
1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
Ver. 1. To be ready to every ] As the bee, as soon as ever the sun breaks forth, flies abroad to gather honey and wax. A ready heart maketh riddance of religious duties.
1, 2 .] Rules concerning behaviour to those without . Put them in mind (as of a duty previously and otherwise well known, but liable to be forgotten) to be in subjection to governments, to authorities, to obey the magistrate ( here probably stands absolutely, not, as Huther, connected with the dat. . So Xen. Cyr. viii. 1. 4, . The other construction has however the reff. in its favour), to be ready towards every good work (the connexion seems to be as in Rom 13:3 , where the rulers are said to be , . Compare also the remarkable coincidence in the sentiment of Xen. quoted above. Jerome in loc., Wetst., De W., al., suppose these exhortations to subjection to have found their occasion in the insubordination of the Jews on principle to foreign rule, and more especially of the Cretan Jews. In the presence of similar exhortations in the Epistle to the Romans and elsewhere, we can hardly perhaps say so much as this: but certainly Wetst.’s quotations from Diod. Sic., al., seem to establish the fact of Cretan turbulence in general.
The inference drawn by Thdrt., al., from these last words, , does not seem to be legitimately deduced from them), to speak evil of no one (these words set forth the general duty, but are perhaps introduced owing to what has preceded, cf. 2Pe 2:10 ; Jud 1:8 ), to be not quarrelsome (ref. and note), forbearing (ib., and note on Phi 4:5 . “The must have been, it is to be feared, a somewhat exceptional character in Crete, where an , exhibited in outward acts of aggression, (Polyb. vi. 46 9), is described as one of the prevailing and dominant vices.” Ellicott), manifesting all meekness towards all men (from what follows, . is evidently to be taken in the widest sense, and especially to be applied to the heathen without: see below).
1 3:11 .] Directions to Titus, how to exhort the believers of various classes, and how to comport himself . For intermediate divisions, see below.
Tit 3:1-2 . As your Cretan folk are naturally intractable, be careful to insist on obedience to the constituted authorities, and on the maintenance of friendly relations with non-Christians.
Tit 3:1 . With these instructions as to duty towards civil authority, compare Rom 13:1 sqq. , 1Pe 2:13 sqq . It is perhaps significant of the difference between Crete and the province of Asia, as regards respect for law, that in 1Ti 2:1-3 , reasons are given why we should pray for rulers, while here the more elementary duty of obedience is enjoined. Polybius (6:46. 9) remarks on the seditious character of the Cretans.
: See note on 2Ti 2:14 .
: and are coupled in this sense in Luk 12:11 ; and in the abstract, Luk 20:20 . The two words are coupled together as names for ranks of angels in Eph 3:10 ; Eph 6:12 , Col 1:16 ; Col 2:10 ; Col 2:15 ; with , 1Co 15:24 , Eph 1:21 ; , alone, Rom 8:38 .
: ( dicto obedire ) is best taken absolutely, and with a wider reference than the preceding clause: i.e. , as R.V., to be obedient , rather than merely to obey magistrates (A.V.).
. See reff.
Titus Chapter 3
From personal and domestic duties the apostle turns now to those which are more external.
“Put them in mind to be in subjection to principalities,* to authorities; to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be uncontentious, gentle, showing all meekness toward all men” (vers. 1, 2).
* The more ancient MSS. omit the copulative.
As the apostle Peter presses similar exhortations on the believing Jews in his First Epistle, so did our apostle very fully in writing to the Roman believers, who were mostly Gentiles. Now he charges Titus, himself a Greek, to lay similar injunctions habitually on the Cretan brethren, whose countrymen were notorious for their insubordination and other vices to boot. Never was such an exhortation more needed than now, when the lawlessness of the age so rapidly increases as to shock all the right-minded. Lawlessness in the world is no less flagrant than a similar spirit in the church, though no doubt it is specially hateful in the temple of God, where the Holy Ghost dwells. But it is very possible for men to hold a rigid theory of obedience within the church, and to trample under foot and deny a similar responsibility in the world. They are not in this taught of God. Perhaps it is still more common to insist on obedience to the world’s authority, and to deny it in the church on the plea of its state of ruin. God’s word condemns all such selfwill.
Scripture however is plain and decided: it is not enough that it be for wrath’s sake, but for conscience. God is concerned in our subjection, for there is no authority but of God; those that be are ordained of God; monarchical, republican, or any mixture of the two, they are ordained of God. “wherefore he that resisteth authority withstandeth the ordinance of God.” Nor does it matter whether it be a supreme ruler or those commissioned by him, as the apostle Peter lets us know (1Pe 2:13 , 1Pe 2:14 ), “For thus is the will of God.” It was ordered in His providence that when the apostle wrote to the saints at Rome, one of the most cruel despots reigned: even so “Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities.” The worst ruler is better than anarchy. Nevertheless it is not because of this reason of utility that the word of God speaks. Whoever he may be, he is the minister of God for good. He beareth not the sword in vain. He is a minister of God, and avenger for wrath to him that doeth evil. If this doctrine is strange in our day, it is the more incumbent on the faithful, not only to believe, but to practise accordingly.
Next, Titus was to remind them to be obedient in a general way. That this is the force of the word is plain from the New Testament usage (Act 5:29 , Act 5:32 ; Act 27:21 ). There is no sufficient reason to translate “to obey magistrates,” as in the A. V. On the contrary this is to lose an exhortation by making it a mere repetition of the former clause. Do people plead the rights of man? the true place of the saint is “to obey.” Do they abuse obedience, in order to set aside the authority of God? the answer is, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” But obedience always, and everywhere, is the duty of the saint. If not sure of the will of God, he ought to wait till he learns, being one of the elect in sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. We are neither Jews under law, nor are we lawless Gentiles. The spirit of obedience Godward, if not always of man, it is therefore of the highest moment to inculcate.
But, further, the apostle would have Titus to press readiness for every good work. The saint is called not only to be a righteous man practically, but a good man. So our Lord here below went about doing good. If we cannot, like Him, heal those that were oppressed of the devil, we are here exhorted to be ready for every good work. It is a real and effective testimony to Christ where the truth is held and confessed along with activity in good: if Christ be not owned, the divine light which should shine is lacking. All then turns to glorify man, not God our Father.
But again, he would have them put in mind “to speak evil of no one.” This is no easy matter in a world where evil abounds on every side, and where so much of it is levelled at the children of God in both word and deed; but God’s word to us is plain, “to speak evil of no one.” There may be a duty to bear witness for a godly end. Let us take care that it is only thus we can be charged with so speaking. No part of scripture is clearer than this Epistle for reproving severely that which calls for it. This is not evil speaking, but of God and for God.
Moreover, it is very difficult for those who are in the truth not to seem “contentious” toward such as deny it, counting it unattainable or indifferent. With Christ before us, however, the clear place of the Christian is to be really far from any strife, though charity demands that we should bear our testimony to the truth, and always deal faithfully with our brethren. If the Jew was not to allow sin in his neighbour, how much more is the Christian to be watchful in love, and to speak truth, and the truth, in love! This can only be with God before our eyes as seen in Christ. Then love is used and is never really contentious.
Moreover, we are called to be “gentle.” Here again Christ has left us an example that we should follow in His steps. None so withering in His exposure of hypocrisy and self-righteousness; yet none so tender and considerate even to the most faulty against Himself. He was meek and lowly in heart, and calls E[is own to take His yoke upon them and learn from Him, as the way to find rest unto their souls, where so much tends to ruffle and grieve.
Lastly comes “showing all meekness toward all men.” What self-judgment is called for! what continual walking by faith and not by sight! Christ before our eyes believingly can alone either call it out or sustain it, whatever the circumstances. It is not only meekness in fraternal intercourse, but expressly “toward all men,” and in every form of meekness. Who is sufficient for these things? Truly it is “of God”: none other source avails and as it is through His Spirit, so also and only with Christ before the eyes of the heart.
The apostle now draws a very dark yet true and life-like picture, not merely of what man is here or all over the world, but of what we ourselves were once in our natural state. It is evident that this was intended to strengthen the duty of subjection to authority on the one hand, and on the other the spirit of mild and meek bearing toward all mankind, in all those who bear the name of the Lord. Grace was to prevail and display itself all round. This has been far from always the fact among God’s children. And no wonder. They have been trained up for the most part under the mistaken’ assumption that the law is the rule of life for the Christian. The consequence has been that the Christians so formed have manifested the spirit of earthly righteousness, much more than of heavenly grace. Necessarily in the measure of our uprightness we are really characterised by that which governs our thoughts and affections. If error rule there, as communion fails, the walk is proportionately perverted from the will of God. Christ being our life, risen and in heaven, so is His word in all its fulness the rule of our life, as the Spirit is the power which works and forms us as witnesses of Him to the glory of God.
No maxim more false than that the practical life is independent of the creed. Christ is set forth in the written word as the true rule of Christian life; and as He walked Himself, so He uses all the word of God in the power of the Spirit to create in us intelligence as well as divine motives flowing out of His love. Grace, therefore, is the predominant character of the Christian, the direct and essential opposite of law; yet grace reigns in every sense through righteousness. Undoubtedly God did of old test Israel by His law, and the commandment is holy, just, and good; but the object was to prove the impossibility of aught good in man, or to be got out of man. This the believer has to learn, and alone does learn, experimentally. On that ground nothing but the grace of God in Christ can deliver from guilt and sin, as well as from its consequences; but the practical effect is that the righteous import ( ) of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. With those who theorise about the law, it begins with ineffectual struggles, and issues in disappointment or in delusion.
Hence the importance for us, who, as believers in Christ, are now the objects of divine grace, that we should draw lessons of lowly love, not only from the incomparable grace which has saved us, but from the utter depths of evil out of which we ourselves have been saved. “For at one time even we were foolish, disobedient, gone [or led] astray, in slavery to divers lusts and pleasures, passing time in malice and envy, abominable, hating one another” (ver. 3).
To the Greek mind especially, perhaps no description was less welcome than that with which the apostle commences, our folly, our want of understanding before God, for the life that is now, and for that which is to come. But this is the truth. Human knowledge has nothing to do with it, save (it may be) by making the contrast more glaring. See a man, on the one hand, full of science, sound information, and letters, as in Rom. ii.; on the other hand, a prey to every falsehood about God, wholly without Him, and insensible to any living relationship with Him. In the beast there cannot be such a link from its nature; there is for it no moral association with God. But man! He had even as man, he only had, God breathing into his nostrils the breath of life, whereby he became a living soul. Man is therefore immediately and ever morally responsible; he was made to obey God, as much as to rule the lower creation. On earth the brute looks down, man alone looks up. Sin has utterly ruined this, whilst the responsibility remains. He has become the slave of a mightier rebel than himself. What “folly” now? and what can the end be?
Accordingly we find the next description of the apostle is “disobedient.” This is the universal condition of man; so he lives and dies in his natural state, never once obeying God here below. From a condition so desperate Christ, Himself the obedient Man though infinitely more than man, alone delivers; and this, by imparting His own life through faith. “He that believeth hath everlasting life.” It is true that this could not avail without Christ’s atoning death, which alone removes man’s guilt before God by Christ’s suffering, Just for unjust, on the cross. Yet even His death could only be a cleansing from every sin through His blood, and a blessed incentive to a new walk here below; in itself it could not be the new life on or rather in which the Holy Ghost would act by the word, were that all.
The urgently permanent want therefore of a sinful soul is the breath of a new and spiritual life. But herein was manifested the love of God in our case, that God has sent His Only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Life in Him is only and always an obedient life; thereby from the moment of conversion the Holy Spirit separates us from evil. It is wholly different from Pharisaic setting ourselves apart, being a divine work. For we are sanctified, as the apostle Peter says, to the obedience of Jesus Christ, no less than to the sprinkling of His blood. Without His blood we should be oppressed with the sense of unremitted sins. Spiritual life alone would rather deepen this sense; life could not remove it righteously It is there that His death by grace comes in effectually for us before God. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son as propitiation for our sins” (1Jn 4:10 ).
Thus the whole work of Christ is necessary for sinful man, and is the incomparable boon which faith enjoys in its fulness; but the practical aim of it all is that we, having died to sins, should live unto righteousness (1Pe 2:24 ), and walk even as He walked here below. “He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoso keepeth His word, in him verily hath the love of God been perfected” (1Jn 2:4 , 1Jn 2:5 ). For man therefore is nothing good without obedience; yet we were once “disobedient,” as we were “foolish” or lacking intelligence. God was not in our thoughts or hearts to obey. Our way was our folly in ignorance of God and gratification of self, or perhaps we fell into an ascetic dream of making God our debtor.
Further, we were not only wandering in error, but “led astray,” however highly we may have thought of our independence and shrewd judgment. Nor should any one be surprised to learn that so it was. Were we not part of the world which lies in the wicked one, where the spirit of self-will governs all without exception, Jews and Gentiles, alike children of disobedience? “We also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Eph 2 ), wholly ignorant that through unbelief we were slaves of one who is a liar and the father of it. Nor is any lie so evil, subtle, and fatal, as human religion. God only can make known in His word what pleases Him.
Nor was the evil confined to desires of the mind. We were “in slavery to divers lusts and pleasures”; so much the more bondmen, because we flattered ourselves that we were pre-eminently free. We did our own will and pleased ourselves; we chose our pleasures here or there as we liked. What was this but to be slaves of the devil when severally pursuing divers lusts and pleasures? To do our will is to fall into his slavery. Christ was the blessed contrast, Who pleased not Himself but ever did the will of God, cost what it might.
Such ways as these exposed us to constant dangers, difficulties, strains, and miseries. Conflict of will broke in upon the calmest surface of amiability; gusts of feeling, yea, of passion, swept us along now and then; in short we were, as it is said here, “passing time in malice and envy,” whatever might be the good opinion we had of ourselves or valued one from another. We had no love in any divine or real sense of doing good unselfishly. We disliked what condemned ourselves. We envied in others what we had not. Here again let us delight our souls in Christ, Who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him.
Lastly, the apostle does not hesitate to say we were “abhorred (or, hateful)” as well as “hating one another.” We awakened the horror of other people, spite of all appearances or efforts; and others returned “hate” with no less bitterness of feeling. What a power of evil lay on us! What a reality of evil and shame is in alienation from God! What grace in Him Who alone could say, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst . . All that the Father giveth me shall come to me ; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.”
Man’s extremity was God’s opportunity, as always, then above all. When judgment might have seemed most due, His kindness and His dear love toward man appeared. Earthly deliverances were wholly short of the dire need. Prophets had spoken for this in vain; in vain for this the most striking powers, miracles, signs. Man was lost. Would God appear to save him? This is just what the apostle here declares in terms clear and certain.
“But when the kindness and the love to man of our Saviour God appeared.” The A. V. rather fails in that it merges “the philanthropy” of God in His kindness; whereas, by a distinct article to each, the two things are presented separately, however closely associated otherwise. Next, God’s love toward man is a single word, , whereas the absence of the article in the English makes its natural meaning to be His kindness toward man in His love. Now this is not really the thought expressed by the apostle, which appears to be as one has here endeavoured to represent it.
It is a blessed and full statement of what God is in His kindness, contrasted with all that we were in our folly and evil aforetime. Corruption, violence, disobedience, and error described ourselves. God, Who is holy and of inflexible righteousness, is also the God of gracious goodness in His own nature, and has most especial love toward man. This is no longer hidden, no longer a manifestation to be waited for; it has appeared so completely that God Himself could not add to the full expression of His love. “The law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” It is true that no man has seen God at any time. But this in no real way hindered the activity of His kindness and the proof of His love to man; on the contrary, it only gave occasion for its richest possible display. “The Only-begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He declared [Him].” Nothing could match this. It was beyond all thought of creature. The angels were lost in admiration; men, in stupid unbelief, think nothing about it; else their hard and senseless hearts would melt before the wonders of such love. The mind of man is incapable of fathoming grace, and therefore retreats into its own dark selfishness. And no wonder, if he judge, as he is ever apt to judge, of God by himself. Not one that ever was born would have had the heart for such a death, even if he could.
God sent His only Son to die for His enemies! To die for a good man, for a dear friend, is what some rare man might do, as it has been done; to die for one’s enemies is an impossibility for man. But this is the very way in which the kindness of God and His love toward man appeared. Being characteristically divine, it can only be received by faith. Those who believe their own thoughts, and judge from their own feelings, refuse to receive it, give the lie to God, and are therefore lost, and this most justly. For is it not the rejection of God, alike in His grace and truth? Now, whatever may be the compassion of God toward foolish disobedient man, as we who were so once can but testify, God cannot pass by deliberate and persistent contempt of His love in the presence of His revealed light. And it is the true light of God which is now shining. Such is the gospel of Christ, in which more than in all else put together the kindness of God and His love toward man appeared. He therefore sent it forth to every creature, as the sun shines for every land.
It was not so with the law, however capable of dealing in a righteous way with every heart that takes it up. Still the law was given to Israel, and only they were formally and by divine authority placed under the law. According to the scriptures the Gentiles were without law; they are thus designated in contrast with Jews; and on this ground will they pass under God’s judgment, as we are told in Rom 2 . But now even they, who were nothing but sinners, and had nothing but the conscience to accuse or excuse, have the unspeakable privilege of the gospel preached to them. As the Jews were without excuse in rejecting their Messiah when He came to them in love and amplest attestation, so the Gentiles are yet more inexcusable if they shut their eyes and ears to that Christ, Who lifted up draws all men unto Him. It was a wonder for God in His love to humble Himself and come down to man in the person of His Son become a man. It was a wonder infinite that a man Who was God incarnate died as a sacrifice for sinners on the cross. He now is raised from the dead and received up in glory, exalted to give repentance and remission of sins, not to Israel only, but to any poor sinner who believes in Him to the ends of the earth.
For the due time was scarcely less admirable than the way. It was after the sins in every form and degree, and before the judgment. Man had been tried, then left to himself, which ended in the flood. Israel had received the law and apostatised. The Gentiles had been given world-power and only demonstrated that they were “beasts” morally. Both Jews and Gentiles joined in rejecting God’s Son, the Messiah Who could and would have shed nothing but light and good to God’s glory. When all hope naturally was buried in His grave, God raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory; nor this only, but causes grace to appear in deeper and larger ways than ever by the gospel.
“This is love, not that we loved God [which was what law asked and never got], but that He loved us and gave His Son [this is the gospel] as propitiation for our sins.” Thus did the kindness of God and His love toward man appear. It is matchless, full of comfort, deliverance, and blessing to every soul believing in Christ; but he who despises it, as he dishonours God in His deepest grace, so he incurs God’s vengeance and everlasting judgment. In the solemn words of our Lord Jesus Himself, “He that believeth (or obeyeth) not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
It is remarkable that, if we find the word in its human application in Act 28:2 , this is the only passage in scripture, where we hear of “philanthropy” or love of mankind predicated of God our Saviour. Is it not worthy of inspiration? The philanthropy of God means His special affection toward man and, as we shall see presently, shown in a way of which the creature is quite incapable. Benevolent men boast of their own philanthropy or of their fellows’. What can be more in contrast? The baser metal is displayed very often by heterodox, by Arians, Unitarians, and Deists, by infidel Agnostics and Positivists. Furthermore Christians of every sort scruple not to join frequently in an unholy alliance with any or all those enemies of the faith for social, educational, and political purposes. Men glory in these combinations so foreign to God’s word and Christ’s cross, a worldly counterpart for the unity of the Spirit we are enjoined to keep as members of the one body of Christ. They rejoice that any merely natural means should be applied to the relief of social distress and personal misery, careless of God’s will, mind, and glory.
In what is purely external and of this creation men can all unite, whatever their faith or lack of faith – yea, opposition to the faith of God’s elect. Such is the philanthropy of man, without serious thought of God’s word or will, occupied with prisons and workhouses, the hospital and the asylum, people’s parks, baths, and clubs, public bands, thus seeking to deal with every aspiring class, as well as the misery of the world in general. But our Saviour God deals with man by bringing in the light which discloses his ruin in the best circumstances from the throne down to the firstborn of the female slave that is behind the mill. God’s philanthropy views the human philanthropists as perhaps most of all needing His saving love, because they are blinded to their sins by the consciousness of amiability or benevolence. Many of them on principle believe nothing unseen. They see only the facts of human misery and seek to alleviate it, wholly ignorant that they themselves are wretched before God, no less than the lowest of those they would relieve, and this for an eternity, which they not only do not believe but perhaps openly deny and defy.
God’s philanthropy is as different as His nature is from man’s, and springs from motives of love in Himself, as it is based on the sacrifice of Christ. So we are told in the verse before. No longer hidden as once, it once for all appeared; and man is the more responsible, because His kindness contemplates all, while it is valid only for those who believe. For it is “Not by works in righteousness which we ourselves did, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost” (ver. 5). Language cannot be clearer than this.
The works of a man as a ground for salvation are excluded; and most mercifully, for how could an unrighteous man – and such we were by nature before God – do works in righteousness? There is no doubt a work done in righteousness, if there ever was such, and an infinite one. Christ, the Righteous One, was come to do God’s will, and did it all perfectly; as He dying said, “It is finished.” Thus it terminated with His suffering for sins, but God therein glorified even as to sin. Thereby have we our blessed portion. We committed sins in unrighteousness abundantly; works in righteousness we ourselves never did, till we were justified by divine grace: even then could we stand in them before God? But in due time Christ died for ungodly men. God commends His love in that, we being still sinners, Christ died for us. According to His mercy God saved us. Thus is He God our Saviour. It is not only the title of His character: He has wrought for our need according to His mercy in Christ. Nor was it only to help but to “save.”
It is not a theory but a fact; “according to His mercy He saved us.” The best part of Judaism consisted of shadows which prefigured this; but Christianity is founded on facts in Christ come and suffering for us; and these facts are now through faith in the gospel applied to souls. Christ is the life eternal; and the Christian has that life in Him, not in himself but in Christ dead and risen to secure all. “He that believeth hath eternal life.” Yet was he guilty and cannot deny his sins, but confesses and hates them before God. We needed therefore a Saviour to die for our sins as much as to give unto us life everlasting. This in both its parts was in the mercy of God; and thus according to His mercy He saved us.
But the mercy if unknown or doubtful in its application to the soul is shorn of half its blessedness. Such is not the philanthropy of God. He loves that we should know what Christ has done and suffered for us. Believing in Him we are saved, and we know it on His own word and in the delivering power of His Spirit. Hence it is added, “According to His mercy He saved us through a washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” Not only are we set in a new position through Christ’s death and resurrection, of which baptism is the sign; but there is the effectual work in the soul from first to last. It is unbelief alone that doubts God’s salvation, if we receive Jesus. For the word is that “He saved us,” though it is only in a way most holy and that secures holiness in us.
“Regeneration” is a new state of things, and not merely “to be born again,” as anyone can see in Mat 19:28 . “And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” It is the changed state of the earth which the Lord will introduce at His appearing, as the kingdom of God pre-supposes according to Joh 3 . That state is not yet come. But there is an action of grace which already apprehends a believer for it, the moment he receives Christ and His work proclaimed in the gospel.
Of this new and changed state baptism is the sign – not of the new birth, but of deliverance from sin and its effects by the death of Christ, witnessed in the power of His resurrection which has taken away the sting. Hence it is that in 1Pe 3:21 we read, “Which figure also now saveth you, baptism.” But it is carefully added, “not a putting away of filth of flesh, but request of a good conscience toward God through resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Superstitious men, who know not God’s grace in Christ, do only misuse the sign and confound it with the thing signified. The gospel may not dispense with the outward side; but it announces an everlasting reality in Christ risen. How blessed to have our part in this new creation even now (2Co 5 )! How wondrous to know that “if any one is in Christ, it is a new creation! The old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new, and all things are of God that reconciled us to Himself through Christ.” Before this is manifested to every eye, the Christian has both washing of regeneration now and renewing of the Holy Spirit also. This makes the force evident. If the washing of regeneration has an objective force, the renewing is a real and divine work in the soul In order that it should be so, the Holy Spirit, as He does invariably in the believer, takes His suited and efficacious part, which is no mere token but a reality in power suited to and worthy of redemption.
It is well known that some are disposed to understand here “the laver of regeneration.” The A.V. did not recognise this; the margin of the Revised Version does. It is well that the Revisers did not venture farther. The notion is absolutely unfounded; for never means laver but washing, or the water for the washing (in the sense of bath), as is notorious. Never in the N.T. occurs which is the proper word for “laver.” They are both found in the Septuagint, and even , a place for washing or bathing-room. It is strange indeed that a commentator of learning could say that is always a vessel or pool in which washing takes place, here the “baptismal font.” Liddell and Scott do, it is true, give “a bath, bathing place,” but not a solitary instance of such usage. Their abundant references are to hot or cold bathing in the sense of washing, or water for it, or even libations to the dead; but is the tub or laver, as is the place or bath-room. Bp. Ellicott and Dean Alford misrepresent the Lexx., of course only through haste or pre-occupation. The word is correctly translated “washing” in our text. There could be no question about the matter, unless there had been a prejudice to warp the mind. The wish was father of the thought.
Salvation then is no outward work, though based on Christ’s work entirely outside ourselves; nor is it any mere deliverance by power, but personal and inward, “through a washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” There is a total change of position in Christ, a new place which is given to the believer, as well as another state subjectively. This is expressed by the washing and renewing. Old things are passed away, all things are become new. For now the believer is in Christ. As a man he was in Adam. Faith is now entitled to know that we all stand in Christ by God’s mercy, and altogether independently of what we did ourselves. Thus the evil is gone before God and for the conscience; for Christ is risen, the full expression of the state into which the Christian is brought by grace.
But, besides what may be called objective place and subjective change, there is an incomparably blessed power which works in those who are brought into this standing. It is not only that there is real “renewing,” perfectly true and important as this is; but the Holy Ghost Himself was poured out upon us in all fulness; as it has been said here, “Which He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour” (ver. 6). This covers the entire Christian life. It is not merely that He effectually works, but He abides with us for ever. This is of immense value and in evident contrast with O.T. privilege where the danger of His leaving is felt and deprecated, as we see in Psa 51 . Under the gospel our privileges are known as abiding. The Holy Spirit Himself is even called in the Hebrews the eternal Spirit, though there it is in His special connection with Christ offering Himself without spot to God. But beyond controversy it is the same Spirit Who is now by grace imparted to us, or, as is here expressed with peculiar emphasis, “poured out upon us richly.” Undoubtedly this could not be, save “through Jesus Christ our Saviour.” But so it is added here, that we might dream of no other ground, on the one hand, and on the other have the fullest assurance of abundant and unfailing grace in the power of the Spirit personally through such a Saviour. It is a privilege which never can lapse, any more than God revokes it where faith is living, as it flows through Christ and His redemption; and these He will never dishonour.
We know that, on the day when this privilege was first made good, powers and wonders accompanied. But no mistake can well be more pernicious than to confound the gift () of the Holy Spirit with those gifts ( ) and signs and miracles which were external vouchers, as well as the display of the victory of the ascended Man over all the energy of evil. The presence of the Paraclete is an incomparably higher and deeper thing than all the mighty deeds which He wrought. Just so the grace and truth of our Lord rose above the signs which pointed out Who and what He was. Even tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not; and yet tongues, the characteristic Christian miracle, approach nearer to that which edifies than any other exertion of divine power. But the gracious action of the Holy Spirit conveyed by His personal presence rises far above all such accompaniments, as the cause does above some or all of its effects.
Hence the all-important truth for all saints is, that while displays of power have passed away, as unsuited to the ruined state of the church, that which always was and is most needed and precious abides, because it rests on His work, finished on earth and accepted in heaven, Who never changes; and it comes to us through Christ, the same yesterday and today and for ever. It is He Who gives us to cry, “Abba, Father,” and this in the Spirit of the Son. It is He Who takes the things of Christ, and shows them to us and glorifies Him. It is He Who searches all things, yea the deep things of God. He gives us communion with the Father and the Son, no less than He helps our infirmity, and makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered, because He makes it for the saints according to God. It is He Who is all-powerful on the one hand for service in testifying of Christ, on the other for the worship of saints in the assembly above all.
The Holy Spirit has abdicated His relation to the assembly no more than to the individual Christian. It is only by the Holy Spirit that every believer can say that Jesus is Lord; but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each to profit withal, for to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit. If there are external ornaments taken away, we can and ought surely to justify God; but He withholds nothing that is really necessary or profitable and for His own glory. Just as of old, so it is now: – one and the same Spirit works all, dividing to each one severally as He will, for He is sovereign; and woe be to those who presume to control Him! He abides therefore for the blessing of the church and individual saints to Christ’s glory (Joh 14:16 ).
The wealth of our privileges in the present gift of the Spirit corresponds to the nearness of relationship with the God and Father of Christ, and to the oneness with Christ into which the Christian only is introduced. Yet these are every one of them blessings not more intimate, and rich beyond all other times, than permanent: of none is this predicated more emphatically than of the Holy Spirit, that other Paraclete Whom the Father sent in Christ’s name, that greatest of privileges, the Spirit thus personally given. But the unbelief of Christendom apprehends none of them as now revealed. Yea, even God’s children for the most part are a prey to doubt and darkness as to each, through the spirit of the world that has invaded them all but universally, even where they have not become victims of the delusion of the enemy in a vain pretension to a special revival. From all this evil on either side faith preserves the soul in peace.
For if the Holy Ghost is still “poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour” (and to deny this is in principle to deny the perpetuity of Christ’s body and of the personal Pentecostal presence of God’s Spirit), there is no room for a restoration of what God never took away. But, again, if the Spirit is still here in person, constituting God’s assembly, how sad and shameless for those who believe in it to allow arrangements, which grew out of unbelief in His presence and oppose His free action in the assembly, or by the gifts of the Lord for the edifying of His body! Would that they who err in spirit might come to understanding, and they who murmur might learn doctrine! “In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength;” so wrote the evangelical prophet.
Now comes the design of God. His kindness and His philanthropy appeared in saving according to His own mercy, and with all fulness of favour at this present moment: – “That, having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to hope of eternal life” (ver. 7).
It is a mischievous mistake to suppose that the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on us richly is in order to our justification, as some have strangely conceived. All scripture proves that the gift of the Spirit follows faith, instead of being a preparation for justification. The effect is bad; for the Holy Ghost identifies His work with us: what He effects in and by us is ours. This accordingly would make the new work and walk of saints a means of justification, and thus grace would be no more grace. Not only does scripture elsewhere uniformly prove the fallacy and the evil of such a view, but the very clause before us refutes it. For we are said to have been justified by the grace of God; or, as it is expressed in Rom 8:34 , “It is God that justifieth.” Certainly the believer is the last man to justify himself. God justifies, instead of laying anything to the charge of His elect, who abhor themselves before Him, owning not only their sins but their nature as vile and corrupt. They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom 3:24 ).
Here it is put as a fact emphatically. “Being, or having been, justified by His grace.” It is already done. Now grace on His part excludes desert on ours. “To him that worketh the reward is not reckoned as of grace but of debt; but to him that worketh not but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness” (Rom 4:4 , Rom 4:5 ); or (as applied in Rom 11:6 ) “if by grace, no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace.” Work justly calls for wages or reward; but what can justify the ungodly (and such were we once) save God’s sovereign favour?
The grace of God assuredly produces works suitable to its source and its character. Holiness of walk follows in its train. But His grace implies necessarily that there was no good thing in us. It is in no way a question of desert in the object of His grace; who on the contrary is saved expressly and exclusively when a lost sinner. From the moment of new birth he becomes a saint and is called to walk thenceforth as such. But in this context it had been already and with precision laid down, “not out of works in righteousness which we had done, but according to His own mercy He saved us.” The “we” or “ourselves” abandons all self-righteousness. Christ dead and risen is the sole possible means of God’s salvation; and His work of redemption is the righteous ground, that it may be God’s righteousness in contrast with ours. For our passover also was sacrificed, Christ, Who died for our sins, having suffered Just for unjust, to bring us to God Who is glorified thereby, as never before, nor so by aught possible again.
But it is well to note that the apostle speaks of justification with a triple connection. In Rom 5:1 , it is justified by or out of faith. There is no other principle on which it could be without compromise. We look out of ourselves to Christ, and rest only on Him raised from among the dead, Who was delivered for our offences and raised for our justification. Therefore we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is of faith, not of works of law; and these were the two competing principles. If any works could justify a man, it must have been the works of God’s law. Works of man’s device could have no value with God. Works of law would have been all well, if man could do them. The truth is that man, being now a sinner, could not possibly face them, save in the blind and mad presumption of flesh. “All sinned, and do come short of the glory of God,” which becomes the measure, now that Eden is lost by sin. All his works are necessarily vitiated by
his fallen condition, even if he had not been as he is, powerless through sin. Works of law therefore are wholly unavailing, save to detect and manifest the ruin of a sinner. If he is to be justified, it must be through Another by grace; and therefore it can only be by faith ( .), not by law works. That the apostle in Rom 5:1 , Rom 5:2 , asserts, with its blessed results for our souls toward God, past, present, and future.
But in ver. 9 of the same chapter we are told that we were justified in virtue of () His blood. Here the adequate power comes forward. Without the blood of Christ no sin could be purged really and for ever before God. But the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses from every sin, as 1Jn 1:7 declares. Hence if God justifies us, it is in virtue, or in the power, of Christ’s blood; and as being now justified in or by His blood, ” we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” Our sins were the great difficulty, as the believer truly felt; but now they are gone, we were justified and shall be saved. Such is the confident assurance to us of the apostle: a monstrous piece of presumption and cruel cheat, if he had not been inspired of God to declare it as righteous and true.
In our text, Tit 3:7 , we are directed to the efficient cause from which justification flows. It is the grace of God, and not any merit in its objects. All glorying in flesh is thereby excluded for ever. It is therefore an unfailing source, with a ground in Christ’s work which justifies God no less than the repentant soul who lays hold of Christ by faith. “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace.” The result is according to the mind and love of God, “that, having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to hope of eternal life.” We have therefore a title according to hope of life eternal, which was first in God’s purpose and will be fully realised in glory.
It is difficult to conceive anything more complete than these three statements of the same apostle. The accuracy of the form too is as striking as the truth conveyed is blessed to him who believes. Indeed it is a threefold cord which cannot be broken for him who by grace, trusts God and the word of His grace.
Some object to “heirs” standing alone; but it is all the more absolute because it does. In Rom 8:16 , Rom 8:17 , we are told that we who believe are children of God; and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and Christ’s joint-heirs. It is not inheriting this or that but “heirs also,” and to make it indefinitely rich, “heirs of God and Christ’s joint-heirs” Again, in Gal 4 , the believer is no longer a bondman but a son, and if son, heir also through God (assuredly not through man, him. self or others). Thus we learn the double truth, that by faith, not by works of law, we are heirs of God, and this through God. What can be less tied to limits than this title? All is sovereign grace. It is He Who made us His heirs; and we are to inherit what Christ will inherit in glory. To Titus the apostle speaks so as to leave us “heirs” all the more largely, because it is quite indefinite. It was all by God’s grace; and what of good for us has He withheld?
Yet we have important words which accompany it: “Heirs according to hope of eternal life.” This life in Christ is the believer’s now; but we have it in a body full of weakness, compassed with infirmities, and in fact mortal. Our bodies will enjoy the life when our hope is accomplished at the coming of Christ. Eternal life will be no longer hid with Christ in God, but manifested according to all the power of His glory, as it is even now the gift to faith, the inestimable gift of God’s grace. “For our governing state subsists in the heavens, from which also we await the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, Who shall transform the body of our humiliation into conformity with the body of His glory according to the working whereby He is able to subdue even all things to Himself” (Phi 3:20 , Phi 3:21 ).
So in the Epistle to the Rom 6:22 we read, “Ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end life eternal.” The glorious future is here before us; then and there alone will the full character of eternal life be unhindered. But it is no less really true now, as verse 23 seems to show; for if the wages of sin is death, “the free gift of God (flowing from His favour) is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We have at least the present title of His free gift in Christ. Both Gospel and Epistle of John assert its present reality as ours. What a privilege for the believer to enjoy now! What a responsibility to walk accordingly and bear a true witness to Him! It is nothing less than Christ in us the hope of glory. When He comes to Israel, the glory will be possessed and manifest. We have Him as life while He is hidden in God; and when He shall be manifested, then shall we also with Him be manifested in glory.
Nor was the apostle content with his full and clear statement of the gospel. He draws the attention of Titus to its importance and value in a formula not uncommon in the pastoral Epistles. “Faithful [is] the saying; and concerning these things I will that thou affirm strongly, in order that those who have believed God* may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men; but foolish questionings and genealogies and strifes and legal fightings shun, for they are unprofitable and vain” (vers. 8, 9).
*Tyndale is right here, and Wiclif, for with the latter “believen to” is equivalent to our “believed” simply. It is strange that the Rhemish did not cleave to the Vulgate which is correct, but errs with the later English Versions. Believing “God” means receiving His testimony, especially in the gospel, as just laid down, no less incumbent on and needed by Jews than by Gentiles. Besides this, we believe on ( ) God and in () Him, as made known to us in raising Christ from the dead (Rom 4:24 ; 1Pe 1:21 ). But this goes farther, and we have to distinguish things that differ.
There is no real ground for doubt that the apostle is here looking back on the development of the truth which had just occupied him. The salvation of God from first to last was simply and briefly stated in 1Ti 1:15 , 1Ti 1:16 . It was here more fully explained. The relationship of the Holy Ghost to it is brought out as an added privilege, no less than the grace of God as the spring of it all. In 1Ti 1 it is just the plain truth of Christ come into the world to save sinners. Certainly the object of faith is not left out here; and the Holy Ghost is said to be poured out richly, besides His renewing us, that, being justified by God’s grace, we might be made heirs according to hope of eternal life. We are not waiting for life or salvation as to our souls; we do not wait for righteousness, being already justified; for we by the Spirit do of faith wait for the hope of righteousness (Gal 5:5 ), when eternal life shall swallow up our bodies also, and this in heavenly glory.
It may be alleged, no doubt, that “faithful is the saying” precedes in the former case, whilst it follows here. But 1Ti 4:9 , 1Ti 4:10 , is a clear proof that the order may vary without in any way affecting the certainty of the apostolic application. The A. V. like some others is at least ambiguous, if not misleading; for one might infer from it that the faithful saying was merely the call of believers to maintain good works. This however is a rather unworthy sense; which the text, as well as the truth generally, disproves. The apostle is laying down the only ground of power for a fruit-bearing course; and hence is urgent with Titus, that he should insist constantly and thoroughly on the sure but exclusive truth of salvation by grace in all its fulness as well as reality. This was the apostle’s first theme for individual souls everywhere and always; he now presses it on Titus. Without it there is no readiness or power for good works; without it conscience is clouded, and the heart hardened: there is neither life nor peace where it is unknown.
But when we are saved after this divine sort, we are able to take everything to God as well as from Him. In a world which cast out Christ and where Satan reigns, trials and sorrows are expected for the faithful, yet do we give thanks; comforts and joys are given of God, and we give thanks. Faith sees and hears Him Who guides and guards, whatever the difficulty or danger. His will is acceptable as well as holy and perfect. We love not His commandments only but His word, having found its value in our deepest need, as He by it made known His love to us in spite of our alienation and hatred. Now we can say without presumption, we love Him and His honour. We desire to do His will, and to please Him; and this is the will of God, even our sanctification; for He has called us on terms of holiness, and we are ourselves taught of God to love one another: so the apostle has ruled.
Known salvation therefore, by God’s grace in Christ our Lord, is the basis which the Holy Ghost lays for the walk of a Christian according to God. Nevertheless there is need for exhortation; and the word is full of cheer as of warning, the encouragements being varied and strong, to the end that they who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works. Perhaps it is not too much to say that, if His grace justifies us, our fidelity thenceforth ought to justify Him, however poor our measure may be.
It may be well also to protest here against lowering this expression (“to maintain good works”), as if it only echoed ver. 14. It is not so. The expression may be similar; but the context is clear that the object of God differs in the two verses, as we shall see by-and-by. Undoubtedly ver. 14 has an important bearing; but it is of a narrower and lower character. In ver. 8 good works have nothing to do with “necessary uses,” and must be taken in all their extent. They are the honourable works, which become a believer, not benevolent merely but suitable to the objects of divine favour and of everlasting blessing, in a world where evil abounds and God is unknown save to faith.
It is also well to add that it is not believing in God here as in the A.V., but “believing God.” They have set to their seal that God is true, having accepted His testimony. Therefore they bowed to His conviction wrought inwardly, that they were hateful and hating one another, but oh! how thankfully also that according to His mercy He saved them. Yet if all the Trinity concerned itself in this truly divine salvation, without the cross it was not possible. Christ suffering for sins had made it righteous for God to exercise His grace without stint. Therefore is it God’s righteousness. This the Holy Ghost can crown with the richest enjoyment and with real power for practice.
“These things are good and profitable to men.” Here it need not be doubted that the apostle includes the maintenance of good works on the part of believers; but why should any wish to exclude the faithfulness of God’s salvation from a still more direct and important place? The cause is surely of at least equal moment with the effect. In contrast with these good and profitable things the apostle bids Titus “shun foolish questionings and genealogies and strifes and fighting about law.” It is the same apostle who told Timothy, as indeed we all know, that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. How so? It is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and unruly, an unsparing weapon against all evil. What will produce honourable works? Nothing but the gospel of the glory of the blessed God which was committed to Paul and pressed on Titus no less than Timothy.
Here then the apostle denounces the misuse of the law. As it puffs up man who, ignorant of his sin and powerlessness, builds on it, so it engenders foolish questions and genealogies and strifes, and legal fightings. Gospel truths are “good and profitable to men”; legal squabbles are “unprofitable and vain”; and such is the misuse of law to which man’s mind is ever prone, if indeed he pays any heed at all. The truth of the gospel, as it reveals grace, so it commands both heart and conscience of the believer. Where faith is not, there is the power of death unremoved, and darkness Godward. So is it with the race in its natural estate, which no rite can alter – only the Deliverer received in faith.
From questions dark or trifling and in either way quite unprofitable or even injurious, to which legalism tends, the apostle next warns of a still darker result which is too apt to appear, the uprising of party spirit in its most extreme shape, which scripture designates “heresy.” 1Co 11:18 , 1Co 11:19 , is the first occurrence of the phrase in the apostolic Epistles, which can alone precisely define its Christian application. “I hear that schisms exist among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that the approved may be made manifest among you.”
Hence we learn how ordinary language differs from scripture. Men regard “heresy” as a departure from sound doctrine, which is apt to end in a separate party or sect characterised by it. In short they regard “schism” as the severed result, whether with (as generally is the fact), or without (as may be), the heterodox root. Now the inspired word appears to be irreconcilable with such thoughts. “Schisms” already existed in the church at Corinth. As yet there were no “sects” or separate parties; but this the apostle regarded as inevitable. Splits within lead naturally, and (as men are) necessarily, to splits without or sects. This was imminent at Corinth, unless grace gave self-judgment and thus nipped the bud, so that the evil fruit should not follow. But the danger was at work in the “schisms” that afflicted the Corinthian saints, though all as yet ate of the one loaf. If they did not repent, the issue would surely be “heresies” or sects, as in Gal 5:20 .
It seems plain from this survey of usage, that the word in neither Epistle necessarily involves strange doctrine, however often this may be and is the animating spring of a party. The carnal preference, which set up Cephas against Paul, or Apollos against both, formed “schisms” in the assembly; and this, if not judged as sin, would issue at length in outward factions, or “heresies.” For such fleshly feeling ever grows more hot and intolerant, so that Christ the centre of unity is overlooked, and the Spirit, being grieved, ceases to control those who are thus selfwilled and insubmissive to God’s word.
But there is another step in the path of evil, of which we find the expression in the Second Epistle. Of Peter (2: 1). Here there is marked development; for we hear of false teachers ( ), who are characterised as bringing in privily “destructive heresies,” or sects of perdition ( ). The context is clear, in this case alone, that it is not only personal or party selfwill breaking away from the unity of the Spirit, but that the factions or heresies anticipated by the apostle have the darker dye of ruinous heterodoxy also. Not a. hint of this appears in the usage of the word for the Galatians and the Corinthians. Bad as the case in its mildest form is, it ever presents a violation of church unity. It is only when the term is contextually enlarged and weighted with the distinct imputation of false teaching that we can tax the “heretic” with heterodoxy. Hence the unbelieving cavils of De Wette, etc., have no real ground. The traditional and mistaken sense of a later day does not apply to the Pauline usage of .
Now this is of importance in helping us to a true and just discernment of the apostle’s injunction to Titus, where there is an advance in fact on the warnings to the Corinthians and the Galatians. It does suppose that there was, or might be, a sect-maker in Crete, who had to be dealt with. Such an one had gone out in the pride of his heart and was after admonition to be declined. “An heretical man after a first and second admonition refuse, knowing that such a one is subverted and sinneth, being self-condemned” (vers. 10, 11).
Here the evil is not expressed in the aggravated form of false teaching; and consequently we are not entitled to lighten the sin of faction in itself, of which alone the passage speaks, by supplementing the case with its far more serious shape when denounced by Peter at the later day. By “heretical man” the apostle means any one active in originating or adopting a sect, even if he were orthodox. Not content with “schisms” inside, such were forming a separate school without. They might, as a general rule, fall into destructive views, more or less diverging from those whom such had wilfully and deliberately left, in order to justify themselves or oppose others vainly. But the apostle does not add a word, either here or elsewhere, to the evil of “faction” or “sect” in itself. Titus was to admonish once or twice. For there might be differing measures in his selfwill that had gone outside: one so determined that a first admonition would prove enough; another not so far gone might encourage the Lord’s servant to persevere and admonish a second time.
Hence also explains, at any rate in part, why there is not a word about putting away the evildoer. Titus was to “eschew” or “avoid” him. Now is said of shunning old wives’ fables (1Ti 4:7 ), younger widows (v. 11), foolish and uninstructed questions (2 Tim. 3: 23), as well as a heretic in the scripture before us. In no case is excommunication meant, but just avoiding alike things or persons. It is granted that the Epistle does not embrace within its scope, like 1 Corinthians, all ecclesiastical action even to the last extremity; any more than excommunication is prescribed in the Epistle to the Galatians, or in those to the seven Apocalyptic churches whence the advocates for tolerating the worst evils within the assembly draw their unwise and unholy arguments. Only the heretic was outside.
Hence there is to be noticed another and more special reason why no such measure was to be laid on the church through Titus: the evil-doer had gone out. This is of the essence of “heresy,” whatever its form; in this lies its advance on and exaggeration of “schism.” Now how could you with propriety put away him who had already gone away? The utmost which could be done, when it was no mistake (perhaps with a right design yet an ill-guided conscience), but deliberate intention with wilful slight and defiance of the assembly, would be to close the door formally, so that he could not enter fellowship again without as formal restoration. This in effect, when it truly applied, might be equivalent to excommunication; but it would bear on its front the stamping the offender with the fact of his own selfwill; while the faithful also would show themselves not indifferent but vigilant and holy in the case. The assembly, by the Lord entrusted with the extreme act of putting away when God’s word calls for it, does not overpass its responsibility in pronouncing on such a sin: the greater or at least more formal act includes what is less or akin. Some such action as this may be implied and inferred; but Waterland (Doctrine of Trin. ch. 4) goes too far in saying that the command to Titus contains as much. Still less is Vitringa (De Vet. Syn. iii. 1-10), after straining 2Th 3 and Rom 16 , warranted in making it = , the public excommunication following the admonition, or a private one as among the Jews: so Bp. Ellicott justly observes.
The truth is that the Holy Spirit applies in Gal 5 to false doctrine the same solemn figure as He does in 1Co 5 to immoral evil. It is leaven; and, where church action is enjoined, we are commanded to purge it from the assembly. Will any one contend that doctrinal leaven is to be kept in, and only immoral leaven is to be put out? Evil doctrine is the worse and more ensnaring; and if man as man does not trouble about it, the more is it incumbent on the faithful to care for God’s honour. “Holiness becometh Thy house, O Jehovah, for ever.” Now that our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Let those who will have laxity speak out plainly and betray their evil aim, that we may by grace keep ourselves pure.
Again, men who bring not the doctrine of Christ, and deny the Father and the Son, are branded by the most loving of the apostles as antichrists, whom we are forbidden to receive into the house or even to greet. This goes far beyond what is fairly and withal imperatively taught by the exclusion of leaven in the Pauline Epistles. It is a deeper evil striking at Christ’s person, the Rock on which the church is built, and hence demands a most prompt and thorough judgment for His sake, to say nothing of His people subtly imperilled by any tampering with them thereby.
Here Titus was simply to have done with a sectarian man (leader or adherent is but a question of degree) after a first and second admonition. What follows confirms without constraint and thoroughly the difference of the case before us from ecclesiastical dealing: “Knowing that such a one is perverted, and sinneth, being self-condemned” (ver. 11). Whitby departs from scripture by adding, “is perverted from the true faith.” 1Ti 1:19 , 1Ti 1:20 and 2Ti 2:18 teach this, but not the passage in question, which marks the evil of faction apart from heterodoxy, though the two often go together. Nor does mean “condemned by his own conscience,” but self-condemned, i.e. ipso facto, without saying a word of conscience, which may have been quite dull or darkened, instead of giving sentence against the man. He was self-condemned, because, liking his own will and perhaps notions too, he could no longer brook the atmosphere of God’s assembly; he preferred to be outside God’s habitation in the Spirit, to have a church of his choice, or to be his own church.
Now, as sin is lawlessness, so if one had as a denizen known that holy temple built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner atone, to leave it of his own will (not forced out justly or unjustly) was to sin with a high hand and seal his own condemnation: words admirably suiting a deserter and self-exalting rival, but not by any means one whose sin had been solemnly judged and himself put away by the sentence of the church. In short “heresy” simply, here and elsewhere in the Epistles, means departure, not from the truth but rather from the assembly, which is its pillar and ground, where the Lord works by the Spirit to God’s glory. It goes beyond “schism” which acts within, but it is not necessarily heterodox, though this may be often added and is likely to be its end.
The conclusion now follows. “When I shall send Artemas unto thee or Tychicus, give diligence to come unto me at Nicopolis, for there I have determined to winter. Set forward Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting to them. And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful. All that are with me salute thee. Salute them that love us in faith. Grace be with you all” (vers. 12-15).
It is a common mistake to suppose that words, so simple and common-place as these seem, have little value. We learn what the goodness of the Lord is through such a one as Paul, not merely in circumstances of great strain and difficulty, but in the most ordinary matters of daily spiritual life. Grace moulds the conduct and the words alike, in the least things as in the greatest; as there is no affectation, there is no levity. The consciousness of God’s presence, the habit of having to do with Him, invests the simplest affairs with a garb that is holy and loving without an effort.
But the fact is that in these closing words we have that which ought to have cleared up many a controversy and been corrective of spurious tradition. Titus was in no way the fixed ecclesiastical ruler of Crete; he had served the Lord there in most important ways, and his work was come to a close as far as that island was concerned. The apostle was not indifferent. Into the vacuum that must be thus created there, he desired spiritual help for the saints and assemblies still; and therefore he proposes to send Artemas or Tychicus before Titus leaves. The fact that of one of these we know somewhat in the Acts of the Apostles, of the other not there or elsewhere, is full of interest. We learn that there were men whom the Lord honoured in a high degree who only appear incidentally like Artemas; and yet he is even put before Tychicus. It would be wrong to infer that he had a higher standing. The Holy Spirit does not regulate the affairs of God after the manner of a Lord Chamberlain. We may be assured that the apostle would not speak of sending Artemas or Tychicus, had he not believed that the one was no less spiritually qualified than the other. Comparisons however are not sanctioned in scripture.
But we can also see that the apostle did not think of sending both: it is “Artemas or Tychicus,” not Artemas and Tychicus. Labourers suitable to help the church in a large way are not numerous. Other places had claims no less than Crete; but it is plain that both these labourers held a personal relation to the apostle. He proposed to send the one or the other to Titus in Crete: when either one or the other should have arrived, the apostle calls on Titus to be diligent in joining him at Nicopolis; “for there I have determined to winter.”
From this we learn some facts of interest to all Christians. The apostle was certainly not a prisoner at this time. It appears to have been after his first imprisonment at Rome, and before the second which closed in his death. Had he not been free, how could he speak of his decision to spend a winter there? But this also convincingly shows us that the traditional appendix to the Epistle is unfounded. It was not really written from Nicopolis, any more than Titus was ordained bishop of Crete. Again, there is no sufficient reason to assume that it was Nicopolis in Macedonia, even if that city then existed. For it is certain that various cities of that name were built after the days of Paul – one or more by the emperor Trajan. Long before there was a Nicopolis in Alexandria, there was another Nicopolis in Cilicia. But the most important town of the name then existing, beyond a doubt, was in Epirus, looking down on a promontory of Actium (in Acarnania), built by Augustus Caesar in honour of the great victory over Antony, which had such a momentous bearing on the future of the Roman empire. It seems therefore reasonable, as there is no particular description given pointing to another quarter, that the apostle means the city that was most notorious.
Further, we may be sure that the zeal which consumed the apostle did not now summon Titus there for rest to himself any more than to the younger workman. In the last Epistle the apostle ever wrote it is said that Titus went to Dalmatia, which was in the neighbourhood of Epirus. This again affords some confirmation that the Nicopolis in question lay in that neighbourhood. The work of the Lord was to be pushed into the West as well as in the East.
Quite a distinct fact appears in the next verse, 13. “But forward Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting to them.” How beautifully unjealous love, and zeal for the Lord’s glory, and care for the comfort of His labourers, are shown! And how confidently too Paul looks for this blessed feeling in Titus, the reflex of his own! Often and long he had proved him to be a faithful and gracious brother. He is sure that an elevated position in Crete had in no way impaired the old spirit of fellowship and value for others.
It is the more to be noticed, because neither of these two commended to his care were at all so associated with the apostle personally as many others. We never hear of them (as ) in the group which accompanied the apostle on his journey. What is or is not said appears to indicate the co-ordinate class of labourers, of whom we read in the Acts of the Apostles as well as in the Epistles, Apollos notably being their type. Yet the heart of the apostle goes out and urges Titus in love no less for such than for his well-known usual associates.
Here again Zenas the lawyer is named before Apollos: this is the order not of the world, but of grace. It is not quite certain what sort of lawyer he was. Calvin dryly considers that he could not have been a forensic one: else he would not have wanted means. A graver but simple if not conclusive reason points in the same direction. Everywhere else in the N.T. “lawyer” is connected with Jewish learning rather than Roman or Greek law. Certain it is that Paul assumes that there might be need of the help enjoined. He had accepted help of the kind himself, as appears from his Epistles, and before this he asked for it on behalf of others. We find the same thing in the still later Third Epistle of John.
But it is a fine trait of Christ to see this gracious consideration laid so confidently on the shoulders of Titus, though the apostle does not stop there. “And let ours also learn to maintain good works for the necessary wants, that they be not unfruitful.” If Titus was not to forget fellow-labourers, how incumbent it was on the saints generally? This is the force of “ours also.” Only here it seems “ours” means the saints in Crete. They are exhorted to learn, what Titus had long learned, to be forward in good works, and, among all other calls, for the encouragement of devoted ministers of the Lord in His work. It is not merely the poor we should think of, but the work of faith and labour of love. Thus should believers be not “unfruitful.” Nor is God unrighteous to forget that work or the love shown toward His name; and if it be so in ministering to the saints, will He fail to remember such as honour those who serve them at all cost?
Lastly, we have the salutation “All that are with me ( ) salute thee;” it is not merely “with me” ( ) as in Gal 1:2 . It is special connection, not simple companionship. This lends the salutation increase of force. Again Paul directs Titus to salute “those that love us dearly in faith.” Faith is the connecting link with all that is eternal and of the Spirit of God, yea with God Himself.
His last word is not to Titus only, but “grace be with you all.” His heart breaks forth in the desire of divine blessing towards all the saints in Crete, as we know it did in a general yet living way to all such on earth. For the faithful stand in a special, divine, and everlasting relationship, which no believer ought ever to forget. In entails duties as varied as their practical condition may demand, and for this scripture provides amply in the goodness and wisdom of God. But grace is needed by all and for everything. Who can wonder then that the apostle concludes with the desire that it might be with them all?
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Tit 3:1-11
1Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, 2to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. 3For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. 4But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. 9But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. 10Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, 11knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.
Tit 3:1 “Remind them” This is a present active imperative, meaning “keep on reminding.” This is obviously linked to Tit 2:15. Titus is to remind them of what they already know (cf. 2Ti 2:14; 2Pe 1:12; 2Pe 3:1-2; Jud 1:5). See SPECIAL TOPIC: VICES AND VIRTUES in the NT at 1Ti 1:9.
“to be subject” This a present middle infinitive, meaning “continue to put yourself under authority.” It was a military term for the chain of command. This same term is used of Christian wives in Tit 2:5 and Christian slaves in Tit 2:9. It is also used of all Christians in Eph 5:20. It is basically an attitude of life for Christians in all areas. See Special Topic: Submission (hupotass) at Tit 2:5.
“to rulers, to authorities” These two terms, exousia (see Special Topic at Tit 2:15) and arch (see Special Topic below), have a wide range of meaning in the Mediterranean world. There is, however, some semantic overlap in the sense of authority or power over another.
1. Exousia is used of civil authority in Rom 13:1 and Tit 3:1. 1Ti 2:2 and 1Pe 2:13-17 are theologically parallel, though these two specific Greek terms are not used.
2. Exousia and arch are used for spiritual authorities and powers in Eph 2:2 and Col 2:15. In Eph 3:10; Eph 6:12 these two terms are linked with “in the heavenlies,” which is unique to Ephesians and refers to the spiritual realm active in human history.
3. There are some Pauline texts that combine civil and spiritual authorities (i.e., 1Co 15:24; Eph 1:21; and Col 1:16).
See SPECIAL TOPIC: HUMAN GOVERNMENT at 1Ti 2:2.
SPECIAL TOPIC: ARCH
“to be obedient” This is a present active infinitive. It is a compound word and word play on “obey” (peithomai) plus “rulers” (arch). It is found only here and in Act 27:21 in the NT. The concept of submission and obedience is repeated in Paul’s admonition to Christian wives, children, and slaves in Eph 5:21 to Eph 6:9 and Col 3:18-25.
“to be ready for every good deed” This phrase in context may refer to believers’ service to the civil authorities and/or community service to their fellow humans. However, similar phrases appear in 2Ti 2:21; 2Ti 3:17, where the context refers to godly living in general (cf. Tit 2:14; 2Co 9:8; Eph 2:10). The false teachers of Tit 1:16 are unqualified for any good work, secular or sacred.
Tit 3:2 This sentence lists four things that Christians should do in relation to their neighbors. Christians were the minority in their neighborhoods. How they acted was a crucial witness. Also, this list may reflect what false teachers do and true believers should not do.
This is good advice for modern believers involved in political action. How we act is as important as what we say! No cause supercedes evangelism!
NASB”to malign no one”
NKJV, NRSV”to speak evil of no one”
TEV”not to speak evil of anyone”
NJB”not to go slandering other people”
This is literally the term “blaspheme” (cf. 1Ti 1:13; 1Ti 1:20; 2Ti 3:2; 1Pe 4:4; 2Pe 2:2; 2Pe 2:10-12). It is usually used of speaking evil of God (cf. Mat 26:65). It came to be used by Paul to assert that the gospel should not be spoken evil of because of Christian’s conduct (cf. Rom 14:16; 1Co 10:30 and here). How believers live is crucial for the evangelistic witness of the church.
“to be peaceable” This, like all three of these terms, refers to believers’ dealings with non-believers. See note at 1Ti 3:3.
“gentle” See note at 1Ti 3:3.
NASB”showing every consideration for all men”
NKJV, NRSV”to show every courtesy to everyone”
TEV”always to show a gentle attitude toward everyone”
NJB”always polite to people of all kinds”
Again the phrase refers to believers’ actions toward non-believers. In 2Ti 2:25 it relates to our actions toward believers (cf. 1Ti 6:11).
The theme of “everybody” is characteristic of the Pastoral Letters. God loves all people; Jesus died for all people; Christians must respond positively toward all people (cf. 1Ti 2:1; 1Ti 2:4; 1Ti 2:6; 1Ti 4:10; Tit 2:11).
Tit 3:3 “For we also once” The actions described in this verse characterize fallen mankind (Genesis 3; Rom 1:19 to Rom 3:31), even Christians before they were saved (cf. Rom 1:29-31; 2Co 6:9-11; Eph 2:3; Eph 4:17-21; Gal 5:19-21).
“foolish” This is the term for “thinking” or “reasoning” negated (cf. Luk 6:11; Luk 24:25; Rom 1:14; Rom 1:21; Gal 3:1; Gal 3:3; 1Ti 6:9; 2Ti 3:9). It is a strong term for wrong, inappropriate thinking.
“disobedient” This is the term “believing” negated. It was used of
1. King Agrippa in Act 26:19
2. pagans in Rom 1:30; Eph 2:2; Eph 5:6
3. Jews in Luk 1:17; Rom 11:30; Rom 11:32; Heb 4:6
4. the false teachers in Tit 1:16; 2Ti 3:2
“deceived” This is a present active participle, which literally means “deceived” or “seduced.” It originally referred to the wanderers (i.e., planets that did not follow the expected course of the constellations) of the night sky and came into English as “planet.” It came to be used metaphorically for that which was in error. This term, like the previous two, is used in Paul’s description of human sin in Rom 1:27 and 2Th 2:11. Also notice its use in 1Ti 4:1-2; 2Ti 3:13; 1Pe 2:25; 2Pe 2:18; 2Pe 3:17; and Jud 1:11.
The passive voice implies the action of an outside agent, here Satan or the demonic.
“enslaved” This is a present active participle, which literally means “serving as slaves” to human lusts (cf. Rom 6:6; Rom 6:12).
“to various” This is the adjective “multi-colored,” which was used of the rainbow. It was used of many-sided things (i.e., [1] in 1Pe 1:6 and Jas 1:2 of the many trials that face believers and [2] in 1Pe 4:10 of the variegated, many-sided nature of God’s grace).
“lusts” This is a compound term from “upon” (epi) and “the mind or soul” (thumos). It referred to a strong desire for something, often in a negative sense. This term is also used in Rom 1:24 to describe fallen mankind.
“pleasures” We get the English term “hedonism” from this Greek word (cf. Luk 8:14; Jas 4:1-3). Personal gratification can become a tyrant!
“spending our life in malice and envy” This is another description from Rom 1:29 of characteristics of fallen humanity.
NASB, NKJV”hateful, hating one another”
NRSV”despicable, hating one another”
TEV”others hated us and we hated them”
NJB”hating each other and hateful ourselves”
This uses two synonymous Greek terms for hatred (the adjective stugtos and the participle mise). This list of problems reminds one of Matthew 7, “by their fruits you shall know them”! This context describes these believers before conversion, but hopefully not after. It still describes the false teachers and their duped followers.
Tit 3:4-7 This is one long sentence in Greek, which defines the gospel (similar to Tit 2:11-14). It may even be from a hymn, creed, or song (see Nestle-Aland Greek NT 26th and 27th editions).
Tit 3:4 “But when the kindness” Oh, what a contrast grace makes! We get the English term “philanthropy” from this word which is from two Greek terms: “brotherly love” (phile) and “mankind” (anthropos). In the NT this word is only found here and in Act 28:2. God loves people made in His image (i.e., Gen 1:26-27), even fallen ones (cf. Rom 5:8).
“of God our Savior” This is a description of YHWH (cf. 2Ki 13:5; Psa 106:21; Isa 19:20; Isa 43:3; Isa 43:11; Isa 45:15; Isa 45:21; Isa 49:26; Isa 60:16; Luk 1:47). This may reflect the contemporary titles for the Emperor (cf. 1Ti 1:1). This is a characteristic phrase of the Pastoral letters. Notice that Jesus is called by the same title in Tit 3:6 (cf. 1Ti 1:1; 1Ti 2:3; 1Ti 4:10; Luk 2:11; Joh 4:42; Act 5:31; Act 13:23; 2Ti 1:10). Compare Tit 1:3-4; Tit 2:10-13; Tit 3:4-6. One way of uniting the Father and the Son was using the same titles for both! The very heart of the creator God is on saving, redeeming, forgiving, restoring, reuniting His rebellious creatures (cf. Joh 3:16; Rom 5:8). See full note at 2Ti 1:10.
“appeared” This refers to Jesus’ first coming. The same term is used in Tit 2:13 for Jesus’ Second Coming (cf. 1Ti 6:14). See Special Topic: NT Terms for Christ’s Return at Tit 2:13. God’s promised salvation (i.e., the Messiah, see Special Topic at 1Ti 1:1) was born at Bethlehem (cf. Tit 2:11).
Tit 3:5 “He saved us” This is an aorist active indicative, which implies completed action in past time. This is the main verb of the long Greek sentence from Tit 3:4 to Tit 3:7. See Special Topic: Greek Verb Tenses used for Salvation at 2Ti 1:9.
“not on the basis of deeds which we have done” This phrase is placed first in the Greek sentence for emphasis. Salvation is based not on mankind’s efforts, but God’s (cf. Titus 3:20; 3:22-28; 4:4-5; Rom 9:11; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-9; Php 3:9; 2Ti 1:9). This is the theological tension between “faith apart from works” and “faith seen in works” (cf. Eph 2:8-10; Jas 2:14-26). The Jewish Gnostic false teachers of the Pastorals were emphasizing human merit!
“in righteousness” Believers are to pursue righteousness (i.e. Christlikeness) after salvation (cf. 1Ti 6:11), but fallen humans can never approach a holy God on the merits of their own self-righteousness (cf. Isa 64:6 and the series of OT quotes in Rom 3:10-18). See SPECIAL TOPIC: RIGHTEOUSNESS at Tit 2:12.
“but according to His mercy” Fallen mankind’s only hope is in the loving, merciful grace of God. It is His character and purposeful action that has brought the opportunity of forgiveness and restoration (cf. Gen 3:15; Gen 12:3; Exo 19:5-6; Mal 3:6; Eph 2:4-7; 1Pe 1:3). See Special Topic at 1Ti 4:10.
“by the washing of regeneration” This is literally “through the bath of regeneration.” The term washing (loutron) is used only twice in the NT (Eph 5:26 and here). It was rarely used in the Septuagint. It can refer to
1. the place of bathing
2. the water of bathing
3. the act of bathing
In Leviticus washings were a symbol of cleansing or purifying persons or things (cf. Dead Sea Scrolls). In Eph 5:26 the bathing refers to a ritual bath before marriage.
The term “regeneration” (palingenesia) is also a rare term, found only in Mat 19:28 and here. It is a compound from “again” (palin) and “birth” (genesis). Therefore, it refers to the new birth brought about by the finished work of Christ and the wooing of the Spirit. The occasion of the new birth is water baptism, the agent is the Holy Spirit (cf. Tit 3:5-6), the means is the death and resurrection of Christ (cf. Tit 3:6), and the basis of it all is the love and mercy of the Father (cf. Tit 3:4). This is not a text that supports baptismal regeneration. Baptism was the occasion for the public confession/profession (cf. Act 2:38) and the symbol of the believer’s death, burial, and resurrection with Christ in symbolic action (cf. Rom 6:3-9; Col 2:12). In the early church baptism was the opportunity for a person’s public profession of faith (“Jesus is Lord” cf. Rom 10:13). The focus is the action of the Holy Spirit (i.e. birthing and renewing).
SPECIAL TOPIC: BAPTISM
“renewing” This is also a rare term used only twice in the NT, here and Rom 12:2. It means to cause someone or something to become new. A related term is found in Col 3:10. Grammatically it is synonymous with “rebirth.” There is only one preposition (dia) for both of them. Therefore, this is not two works of grace, but two aspects of one work. This implies they are one event administered by the Holy Spirit. This would be similar to Joh 3:5-8 and 1Pe 1:23.
Tit 3:6 “poured out” This could refer to the Father (cf. Tit 3:4) or the Holy Spirit (cf. Tit 3:5). The same verb with the same ambiguity is used in Act 2:17-18; Act 2:33; Act 10:45, which is taken from Joe 2:28-30.
“through Jesus Christ our Savior” The title “Savior” applied to God the Father in Tit 3:4 is now applied to God the Son. This same interchange of titles is found in Tit 1:3-4; and Tit 2:10-13.
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE TRINITY
Tit 3:7 “so that” This is a purpose statement (hina) like Tit 3:8; Tit 3:13-14.
NASB”being justified by His grace”
NKJV, NRSV”having been justified by His grace”
TEV”by His grace we might be put right with God”
NJB”justified by his grace”
This is an aorist passive participle (cf. Rom 1:16-17; Rom 3:24) related to the word “righteousness.” See full note at Tit 2:12. The passive voice implies the agency of the Spirit. “Justification by faith” is a forensic (legal) metaphor used so often by Paul emphasizing God’s initiating grace (cf. 1Ti 1:2; 1Ti 1:14; 2Ti 1:2; Tit 1:4). “Justify” and “justification,” so common in Galatians and Romans, occur only twice in Paul’s other letters (1Co 6:11 and here). Believers are forgiven and accepted because of who He is and what He has done, not because of who they are or what they have done!
“we would be made heirs” This is the ultimate application of the family metaphors used to describe believers (cf. Rom 4:13; Rom 8:14-17 : Gal 3:29; Gal 4:7; Heb 6:7; Jas 2:5).
“eternal life” See note at Tit 1:2.
Tit 3:8 “This is a trustworthy statement” This is a common textual marker for five of Paul’s theological affirmations in the Pastoral Letters (cf. 1Ti 1:15; 1Ti 3:1; 1Ti 4:9; 2Ti 2:11). Exactly to what verses this refers has been debated among commentators; most assume Tit 3:4-7.
“to speak confidently” See note at 1Ti 1:7.
“so that” This is another hina (purpose clause), like Tit 3:7; Tit 3:13-14.
“those who have believed God” This is a perfect active participle, which describes a past act with continuing results which becomes a settled state of being. Usually in the NT the object of belief is Jesus, but often the pronoun (Him) used for deity is ambiguous and could refer to the Father or the Son. See SPECIAL TOPIC: BELIEVE, TRUST, FAITH, AND FAITHFULNESS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT () , Believe, and Trust at 1Ti 1:16.
“will be careful to engage in good deeds” The term “careful” is a form of the verb “to reason” or “to consider carefully,” which is found only here in the NT. The infinitive “to engage” is from a word normally translated “manage” (cf. 1Ti 3:4-5; 1Ti 3:12). Believers must constantly think about and take the lead in living godly lives for the sake of the gospel. Paul affirms again that people are right with God apart from personal good works, but also that the goal of God for every believer is personal good works (cf. Eph 2:8-10 and Jas 2:14-23). The motivation is gratitude for the undeserved, unmerited grace of God; the effect is Christlikeness; the goal is evangelism.
“for men” Again, the universal emphasis is that God loves all mankind and wants all to be saved (Joh 3:16; 1Ti 2:4; 2Pe 3:9). A key way to draw unbelievers to God is the changed lives of believers (cf. Mat 5:16; 1Pe 2:12).
Tit 3:9 “But avoid” This is a present middle imperative, meaning “to continue to keep aloof from or avoid” (cf. 2Ti 2:16).
“foolish controversies” This term is first in the Greek text for emphasis (cf. 1Ti 6:4-5; 2Ti 2:14; 2Ti 2:23). Timothy is Paul’s apostolic delegate. He is not to debate or speculate but to pass on apostolic truth with authority.
“genealogies” The same type of false teachers who were in Ephesus (cf. 1Ti 1:4) were on Crete. These genealogies were probably Jewish, relating to Messianic speculations, not Gnostic angelic levels (eons).
There is a series of nouns in Tit 3:9 connected by “and” (kai), which may refer to separate aspects or one general tendency (i.e., “controversies,” “genealogies,” “strifes,” and “disputes”).
“about the Law” This shows the Jewish element in this false teaching (cf. Tit 1:10; Tit 1:14; 1Ti 1:3-7). See Special Topic: Paul’s View of the Mosaic Law at 1Ti 1:8.
“for they are unprofitable and worthless” Theological hair-splitting and speculations are not always helpful to the body of Christ. Titus, like Timothy, speaks with Paul’s apostolic authority.
Tit 3:10 “reject” This is another present middle imperative, like Tit 3:9. The same term, “to refuse, reject, or decline,” is used in 1Ti 4:7; 1Ti 5:11 and 2Ti 2:23. The same concept is used in Rom 16:17; Gal 1:8-9; 2Th 3:6-14.
In our attempt to dialog with factious people we must not give any gesture or greeting that could be seen as an acceptance or affirmation (cf. 2Jn 1:10)!
NASB”a factious man”
NKJV”divisive man”
NRSV”anyone who causes divisions”
TEV”to those who cause divisions”
NJB”if someone disputes what you teach”
This is the Greek term hairetikos (which occurs only here in the NT), from which we get the English term “heretic.” This term originally meant “to take sides” or “to choose for oneself.” It is used in the NT
1. of “sects” in Act 5:17; Act 24:14
2. of “factions” in 1Co 11:19; Gal 5:20
3. of “teachings” in 2Pe 2:1
“after a first and second warning” This is consistent with the other NT passages on church discipline (cf. Mat 18:15-17; Gal 6:1; 2Th 3:15; Jas 5:19). It may reflect Lev 19:17.
Tit 3:11 “knowing that such a man” This is a perfect active participle. Their actions clearly show and continue to show who they really are (cf. Matthew 7).
“is perverted” This is a perfect passive indicative. This form is found only here in the NT. This is a compound term from ek (from) and streph (to turn), meaning therefore, to turn from. It is a word play on the term for turning to Christ (conversion) of Mat 18:3 (epistreph), which reflects the OT term for turning (shub) to God (Mat 13:15; Mar 4:12; Luk 22:32; Joh 12:40; Act 3:19; Act 25:27; Jas 5:19-20). These false teachers are now turning from God (cf. Tit 1:14, apostreph) to heresies and false teachings.
The passive voice implies an outside agent. In this context it has to be Satan or the demonic. For “Satan” see Special Topic at 1Ti 3:6 and for “the demonic” see Special Topic at 1Ti 4:2.
“and is sinning” This is a present active indicative, which implies habitual, on-going, lifestyle characteristics (cf. 1Ti 5:20, also note the present tense in 1Jn 3:6; 1Jn 3:9).
“being self-condemned” This is a present active participle. The form is found only here in the NT. Our actions and words reveal our hearts (cf. 1Ti 5:24; Matthew 7).
Put, &c. Figure of speech Association. App-6.
Put. in mind. Greek. hupomimntsko. Elsewhere, Luk 22:60. Joh 14:26. 2Ti 2:14. 2Pe 1:12. 3Jn 1:10. Jud 1:5.
subject. See Tit 2:5, Tit 2:9.
principalities, powers. See App-192and App-5.
obey magistrates. Greek. peitharcheo. Elsewhere, Act 5:29, Act 5:32; Act 27:21.
to. App-104.,
good work. See Tit 1:16 with Tit 2:7.
1, 2.] Rules concerning behaviour to those without. Put them in mind (as of a duty previously and otherwise well known, but liable to be forgotten) to be in subjection to governments, to authorities, to obey the magistrate ( here probably stands absolutely, not, as Huther, connected with the dat. . So Xen. Cyr. viii. 1. 4, . The other construction has however the reff. in its favour), to be ready towards every good work (the connexion seems to be as in Rom 13:3, where the rulers are said to be , . Compare also the remarkable coincidence in the sentiment of Xen. quoted above. Jerome in loc., Wetst., De W., al., suppose these exhortations to subjection to have found their occasion in the insubordination of the Jews on principle to foreign rule, and more especially of the Cretan Jews. In the presence of similar exhortations in the Epistle to the Romans and elsewhere, we can hardly perhaps say so much as this: but certainly Wetst.s quotations from Diod. Sic., al., seem to establish the fact of Cretan turbulence in general.
The inference drawn by Thdrt., al., from these last words,- , does not seem to be legitimately deduced from them), to speak evil of no one (these words set forth the general duty, but are perhaps introduced owing to what has preceded, cf. 2Pe 2:10; Jud 1:8), to be not quarrelsome (ref. and note), forbearing (ib., and note on Php 4:5. The must have been, it is to be feared, a somewhat exceptional character in Crete, where an , exhibited in outward acts of aggression, (Polyb. vi. 46-9), is described as one of the prevailing and dominant vices. Ellicott), manifesting all meekness towards all men (from what follows, . is evidently to be taken in the widest sense, and especially to be applied to the heathen without: see below).
Chapter 3
But put them in mind to be subject to the principalities and powers, and to obey the magistrates, and to be ready to every good work ( Tit 3:1 ),
So here as in many other places, the Christian is exhorted to obedience to the governmental authorities that are over us. It isn’t just when I like what they are doing, but even in those areas that I find very galling to me. Even in areas where I feel they are wrong, I am still to be in subjection to those authorities that have been placed over me. Rom 13:1-14 , All authority is of God. Be in subjection, Peter tells us to be in subjection. Now Paul is saying the same thing for Titus to teach the people the obedience to the governmental authorities.
To speak evil of no man, not to be a brawler, but be gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. For we ourselves also were at one time foolish, and disobedient, deceived, as we were serving our diverse lust and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another ( Tit 3:2-3 ).
Now, this is much like Ephesians chapter two where Paul gives a very interesting before and after contrast. “And you, [he said] who were dead in your trespasses and sins: who in times past walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, that even now works in the children of disobedience: Among whom you all had your living, as you lived after the lust of your flesh and of your mind; and were by nature the children of wrath even as others. [The before life,] But God, who is rich in His mercy, wherewith He has loved us, and who has seated us together in Christ in heavenly places: And manifested that in the ages to come He might manifest the exceeding riches of His grace and love toward us in Christ. For by grace ye are saved through faith; and that not of yourself” (Ephesians 1-8). So, the before and after.
Now here we have the before and after also. And in the before, he divides it into three sections. The first section, are the foolish things that we did.
For we ourselves also were at one time foolish ( Tit 3:3 ).
It is foolish to disobey God. Foolishness was marked by disobedience, as Samuel rebuked Saul when he did not utterly wipe out the Amalekites and offered some flimsy religious excuse for his failure of total obedience. I brought them back to sacrifice them. He said, “To obey is better than to sacrifice and to hearken unto God is better than the fat of rams” ( 1Sa 15:22 ). In that you have not done what God commanded you, you have done foolishly. It’s always foolish to disobey God.
The second manifestation of his foolishness is his being deceived. And what a deceptive thing sin is. You remember Samson after his hair was cut and Delilah said, Samson the Philistines are upon you. He said, I will jump up as I did before, and he knew not the Spirit of God had departed from him. He was deceived as to his own capacities and his own strength. And a person who is deceived about the truth of their condition is foolish.
Now the second category is under the category of slaves, that is the same Greek word “douleia”, as you were slaves to your “diverse lusts and pleasures”. And it is easy for a man to become a slave to his lusts, all to easy. And all around you can see people who have been enslaved by their lust, their desire for drinking, their desire for alcohol, their desire for sex. These pleasures that they pursue, they become masters over them, tyrants ruling over them, and a man can become so easily enslaved by his fleshly appetites when we carry them to extremes.
The final listing is in the lifestyle, living. What is your lifestyle? “Living in malice and envy”, the world around you. James said, From whence come the fightings and the wars among you? Come they not from your own desires, your lust? You desire and you have not. You envy those that do have. This envy, how hateful it is and how hateful it makes you. And so hateful and being hated, the world around us.
Paul said, That’s the way we were. At one time we were foolish, we were slaves living a miserable lifestyle filled with malice and envy, hateful and being hated. Even as he gave the black picture in Ephesians, concluding that by nature, the children of wrath, he began the next verse with the word “But”, which is a disassociative conjunction. How I thank God for that disassociative conjunction. Here I am in this miserable, hopeless, lost state, alienated from God because of my lifestyle, walking after the flesh, denying the things of the Spirit, but God loved man in that fallen miserable state. The love of God conquered. But God, Paul said, who is rich in His mercy, wherewith He has loved us. And here having again listed these things.
But after that the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared ( Tit 3:4 ),
Here was man in this terrible condition, still loved of God, and in time God’s love was manifested. The kindness of God manifested to man in this helpless, hopeless state. So the time together of the contrasting ideas, man in his wretched fallen state and God in His glorious loving state, desiring to redeem lost, wretched man, but after the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared.
Not by the works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us ( Tit 3:5 ),
Paul, in Ephesians, “By grace are you saved by faith and that not of yourself: it is a gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” ( Eph 2:8-9). So here he declares not by the works of righteousness, which we have done, that doesn’t save me, my works of righteousness can never save me. There is only one work that can save me and that is the work of Jesus Christ.
And when they came to Jesus one day and said, “What must we do to do the work of the Father?” Jesus said, “This is the work of the Father, believe on Him who He has sent” ( Joh 6:28-29 ). And so the only work that will bring you redemption is the work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. And there is not one single work that you can do to save your soul from the damnation that it deserves. But by believing in Jesus Christ, God will grant to you forgiveness, pardon, and eternal life. Oh, the depths of the riches of God’s mercy and love towards us in Christ Jesus. Not by the works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.
When you come to God, we don’t come to God and say, Oh God, justice, I want justice, but I come and say, God mercy, I need mercy. I deserve the judgment of God for my disobedience and rebellion against Him in my past life. But God is merciful towards me. God loves me. God has been so good and kind to me. And “not by the works of righteousness that I have done, but by His mercy He has saved me,”
by washing me with the regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit ( Tit 3:5 );
That is that regeneration being born again by the Spirit. That’s where I find my new life and that’s where I find my hope. I’ve been saved by the work of God’s Spirit within my life, that washing and cleansing of my sin and of my past. That’s the glorious thing about the Gospel is no matter what might be in your past, what horrible, ugly things may exist there. The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son cleanses a man from all sin, and by your coming to Jesus Christ there is a complete washing, a total obliteration of the past. And as far as the east is from the west, so far has He separated our sins from us.
Aren’t you glad He didn’t say as far as the north is from the south He has separated our sins, because my sins would only be eight thousand miles away if I went straight through or twelve and a half-thousand if I went around. Because I can only go north so far and then I hit the North Pole and I start going south. And there is a definite measurement between the North and the South Pole, eight thousand miles going through, twelve and a-half thousand miles going around. But He said as far as the east is from the west.
Now you start out east tonight and you can fly east the rest of your life or you can start out flying west tonight and you can fly west the rest of your life. You’ll never fly east flying west, but you can ultimately fly south flying north. The moment you hit the North Pole, you are flying south from the pole. As far as the east, did David figure that out when he said that or is that inspired of God? As far as the east is from the west, so far has God separated my sins from me. Oh, how good and how loving and how kind God is to me, a hopeless, miserable, wretched sinner. The washing, the regeneration, the being born again, a new creature in Christ and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, who renews me day by day.
Which he shed upon us abundantly ( Tit 3:6 )
Oh, how God has poured out His spirit of mercy and grace upon our lives because we needed it abundantly.
through Jesus Christ our Savior ( Tit 3:6 );
All that God has for you is wrapped up in Jesus. You don’t get anything apart from Him. He is the package and it’s all in Him, all-inclusive. This is the record God has given to us, eternal life; the life is in the Son. He who has the Son has life. God has given us peace; this peace is in the Son. He who has the Son has peace. God has given us love. He who has the Son has love. God has given us joy. He who has the Son has joy. It’s all in Jesus. God has nothing for you apart from Jesus all wrapped up in Him, which He has shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.
That being justified [having been justified] by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life ( Tit 3:7 ).
So having now been justified; that is, declared innocent, declared righteous by God.
The word justified is a declaration of my total complete innocence. How can God do that when I am so guilty? Because all of my guilt was placed upon Jesus Christ and He died for me. So the forgiveness of God towards me is a total forgiveness, so total that my past will never be brought up to me by God.
Paul the apostle said in Romans chapter eight, “Who is he that shall lay any charge to God’s elect?” Oh, he’s a liar. Oh, he’s done this. Oh, he’s guilty of that. And he said, “Who is going to lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” He said, “It is God who has justified.” In other words know this, God isn’t charging you with any wrong. The opposite, God has declared you totally innocent of all charges, justified you through Jesus Christ.
So being justified by His grace, we should be made the heirs. The effect of that is I am now an heir of God, of God’s eternal kingdom. The riches of the glory of eternal kingdom of God is mine. I’m the heir of God. I’m a child of God. And if a son of God, then an heir, an heir of God and a joint heir of Jesus Christ. Oh, the glorious work of God’s salvation, not just saved from the wrath of God, that is to be revealed against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men who hold the truth of God in unrighteousness. But saved for the glory of God, to experience the glory of God through all eternity as a child of God and as an heir of God, this hope that I have of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
Listen, the world has nothing that can even come close to offering to you what God is offering to you tonight. If the world could offer you the whole world, with all of its glitter and all, it would be a sham compared with what God is offering you through Jesus Christ. Because if the whole world were yours, the glory of the kingdoms, the grandeur, the pomp, the circumstance, the adulation, how long would you have it? How long are you going to live? How many more years are you going to be here? Say you could have it for a hundred years, what is that compared with eternity?
Moses made a very wise choice when he chose rather to suffer the affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproaches of Christ, greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. By grace, we’ve been saved, we become heirs, we have the hope of eternal life.
This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that you affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works ( Tit 3:8 ).
Now you say, Oh that is the opposite of what you’ve just been telling us. No, it is not at all. It’s the next step. By grace you have been saved through faith, not of works that we have done, but by the grace of God you are saved. But you that are saved need now to bring forth fruit unto righteousness by your good works. Your good works don’t save you. They cannot save you, but your good works are a proof of your faith, for faith is active. Believing is an active verb not a passive verb, and true belief will manifest itself in the works of a person’s life. So that James said, You show me your works and I will show you your faith. You say you have faith, faith without works is dead. You don’t really believe it.
Now if I would make a prophecy that Southern California is going to be shaken and wiped out into the Pacific tomorrow morning and you called me up. Say I made the prediction for eight o’clock tomorrow morning, you call me up at seven-thirty and say, Still think it’s going to happen? Oh yeah, if I’m still here? You’d say, Oh, he really doesn’t believe it. But if you call me up and you got a recording that said, Sorry I’m not here I’m in Phoenix waiting for the big shake. You’d say, Hey, he must really believe it, his actions now are in keeping with his declaration. My actions, my works, must correspond with what I declare to believe. If I truly believe it, then there will be corresponding works that will be a witness to what I am believing and declaring that I believe.
That’s what the Bible is saying, so that if your works are not in harmony with your profession, your profession is a lie. It is empty and you’ll never be saved by a lie. I believe in Jesus Christ. Oh, great thing to say. Then let’s see what it has done in the changed life. If you’re still living after the flesh, if you’re still doing the same old things that were a part of the past life, and yet you say, Oh, I believe Jesus is my Lord and Savior, you’re a liar.
In the first little epistle of John, which we’ll be coming to pretty soon, very shortly now, John is going to give us several professions that people make. Oh, I walk in the light. Oh, great thing to say, isn’t it, but if you say you walk in the light and are walking in darkness, you are lying, you’re not telling the truth. Oh, I’m not sinning. Hey, hey, wait a minute. If you say you have no sin you make God a liar and the truth isn’t in you. Oh, I abide in Christ, what a glorious thing. If a man says I abide in Him, that is a glorious thing to say. But if you’re abiding in Him then you ought to be walking as He walks. Oh, I love God. Another glorious thing to say. But I hate my brother. John said, You’re wrong, you’ve got a mistake here. How can you love God whom you have not seen and yet hate your brother, whom you have seen, who was made in the image of God? So, it’s not what I say, it’s the works that prove my belief and my faith.
And so Paul said, “Now, affirm to those that believe in God, affirm constantly this truth, that they maintain good works”. Let your works be in harmony with your declaration of faith.
But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies ( Tit 3:9 ),
Ministers can become ensnared in so many foolish questions, which quite often are not really asked with an honest desire for an answer. And there’s a difference between foolish questions and honest, serious questions. I have no time for foolish questions where a person is just wanting to cast doubt on the Scripture. Where did Cain get his wife? I’m always suspicious of a man who is interested in another man’s wife. “Avoid the foolish questions, and genealogies,”
and the contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and they are vain ( Tit 3:9 ).
They’re a waste of time. Every once in a while I get caught up in them, some kid will come along and start asking questions just to create arguments. Sad.
[Now] a man that is a heretic ( Tit 3:10 ),
And that’s a man who believes something that you don’t, his beliefs differ from yours.
after the first and the second admonition then reject him ( Tit 3:10 );
In other words, if he continues after you have admonished him twice, then reject him. Admonish him a couple of times. Give him a couple of chances. If he is a heretic and has got some weird doctrine, give him a couple of admonishments. And if he doesn’t heed the admonishments then put him out of the fellowship, reject him.
Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sins, being condemned of himself ( Tit 3:11 ).
Now he finishes the epistles with different little personal sides to the different ones.
When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me in Nicopolis: for I have determined to stay there this winter ( Tit 3:12 ).
So, he was going to send some relief to Titus. Either Artemas or Tychicus were going to go and take up Titus’s position, so that Titus could meet Paul there in Nicopolis, where Paul was planning to spend the winter.
[Now,] bring Zenas the lawyer with you and Apollos ( Tit 3:13 )
Apollos that great interesting man that ministered in Ephesus and then later in Corinth. He became no doubt, a companion with Paul. I imagine they had a great time together because they were both so knowledgeable of the Hebrew Scriptures and they were both able to convince men mightily from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.
So, he wanted Zenas the lawyer, and Apollos, and take care of them.
don’t let anything be wanting unto them. And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful. All they that are with me, [greet] salute you. And greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen ( Tit 3:13-15 ).
Paul’s letter to Titus. Next week we get to the shortest book in the New Testament, the book of Philemon. But the lessons that are there in Philemon are glorious. A tremendous blessing next Sunday night as we study the intercession of Paul the Apostle, which gives us a little insight of the intercession of Jesus Christ for us. And so it will be a short lesson next Sunday night, but dynamic as we study this book of Philemon.
May God be with you, and may God bless you, and may God keep you in the love of Jesus Christ, and may God help you to abound in all good works, for the glory of His name and of His kingdom. And may God strengthen you in your walk with Him, in Jesus’ name. “
Tit 3:1-2. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.
Gentleness was not reckoned a virtue among the Greeks; I do not suppose that the people in Crete had ever heard of it before Paul wrote this Epistle to Titus. Among the Romans and the Greeks, it seemed to be a virtue to stand up for your own, to be like a gamecock, who is always ready to fight, and will never miss a chance of fighting; but this Christian virtue of gentleness is a most amiable one, and greatly adorns the doctrine of Christ. The world has run away with this word gentle, and now calls many a person a gentleman who has no right to the name. I wish that every gentleman were indeed a gentleman. It is very significant that Moses, the type of the Lord Jesus under the law, was the meekest of men; should not Christians therefore excel in gentleness under this milder dispensation?
Tit 3:3-4. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
The philanthropy of God would be a good translation, or rather, a sort of borrowing from the Greek itself. After we had seen the philanthropy of God,–
Tit 3:5-8. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying,
It would be worth while for you to turn to the other places in which this expression, This is a faithful saying, occurs.
Tit 3:8. And these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
They are saved by faith; let them be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men, that is, to those who practice and observe them.
Tit 3:9. But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.
There are hundreds of questions, which are thought by some people to be very important, but which have no practical bearing whatever, either upon the glory of God, or upon the holiness of man. We are not to go into these matters; let those who have time to waste take up these questions; as for us, we have not time enough for things that are unprofitable and vain.
Tit 3:10-11. A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.
When it comes to unbelief of fundamental and vital doctrines, we who are like Titus, set in office over a church, must deal with such deadly evils with a strong hand.
Tit 3:12-13. When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter. Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them.
Paul had already told Titus to bid the saints in Crete to abound in good works; now he is commanded to take care of certain traveling Christians, and to speed them on their way. It was the custom in olden times, when traveling was very different from what it is now, when the Christians passed from one town to another, to find out the church, and to be entertained and speeded on their journey by their fellow-believers. Thus they kept up a practical fellowship of love to all the saints.
Tit 3:14-15. And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful. All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.
May that final benediction drop like the dew upon this whole company! Grace be with you all. Amen.
This exposition consisted of readings from Tit 2:6-15, and Titus 3.
Tit 3:1. , to principalities and powers) Crete was a Roman province.-, , to be subject, to obey) The words, , foolish (comp. Psa 32:9), , disobedient, Tit 3:3, are opposed to them.
Tit 3:1
Put them in mind to be in subjection to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient,-At the time this letter was written Nero was emperor, who was a persecutor of Christians. Paul had just been released from prison yet showed feeling toward the rulers or authorities. Jesus and the apostles early in their ministry taught by precept and example that they should submit to the civil rulers save when they required something of them contrary to the will of God. Then they answered and said unto them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to hearken unto you rather than unto God, judge ye: for we cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard. (Act 4:19-20.) Here he teaches them to be subject to them. They are to conduct themselves thus toward the governments that are seeking to destroy the religion of Christ from the earth. It does not then involve the support or approval of the governments or of their courses, but God directs them to quietly submit to these powers in whatever they require of them, save when they demand something contrary to the law of God.
In view of the fact that the civil government is an ordinance of God, even to the infamous Nero, a minister of God, we must be subject, not only for wrath (for fear of punishment), but also for consciences sake. That is, as a duty we owe to God, we must submit to them in the place God has put them. Jesus set the example, paying tax. (Mat 17:24-27.) Although in doing so he classed himself as a stranger and not a child of human government, the same government concerning which Paul now writes to Titus to instruct the Christians in Crete to be obedient. The same relationship and duties are required by Peter. (1Pe 2:13-16.) Christians are to submit quietly to the ordinances and laws of human governments, seeking to live a quiet and peaceful life. This involves no support or participation in the strifes and conflicts of the governments of the world.
to be ready unto every good work,-This is connected with and defines the works which the Christians may perform in obedience to the civil powers. They could not do an evil work.
The final section of the epistle has to do with the Church and the State, dealing with the duty of the Church, arguments impelling to the fulfilment of duty, and the method of realization. The duty of the Church is to submit to authority, to be ready for every good work, to be free from evil speech, and to be gentle and meek.
In order to fulfil these ideals, Christian people should remember their own past, and treat with pity those who are yet foolish, disobedient, deceived.” The threefold memory of what we were, of how the change has been wrought, and of what we are, will serve to create the spirit of subjection to authority, equip us for honest toil, silence all evil speech, and generate an unceasing compassion.
Titus was charged to “affirm confidently” these important things. The whole charge to Titus reveals the truth concerning every minister to whom is committed the oversight of the flock of God. For himself the apostle charged him to shun the things unprofitable and vain, and to maintain discipline.
The epistle closes with reference to Tychicus, Apollos, Artemas, and Zenas. The very mention of these names indicates the growth of the Christian movement.
The final word concerning occupations shows clearly the duty of members of the Christian Church to contribute to the support of those devoted to the work of the ministry.
The closing benediction harmonizes with the opening salutation. It is a benediction of grace, the only difference being that whereas at the beginning it was addressed to Titus, at the close all those to whom he ministered were included. For fulfilment of the work as steward of the house of God, and for the Church’s submission, grace is needed and supplied.
3:1-8. The duty of Christians to the outer world: obedience to government, activity in good works, gentleness and meekness in private life, 1, 2. And the motive for such conduct: the duty of imitating Gods love to us who has saved us from our sins, 3-8.
9-11. The duty of avoiding useless discussion 9 and factious opponents, 10, 11.
This section is connected with the preceding chapters: vv. 1-8 with ch. 2; vv. 9-11 with ch. 1Ch_2 had given commands to different classes, this gives one command common to all: that had emphasized the duty of subjection in the younger women and in slaves, this extends it to all classes: that had hinted at the effect of Christian lives on the heathen, this brings out the direct duty which Christians owe to them: that had dwelt on Gods saving grace as enabling Christians to do good works, this on Gods gift of a new birth as putting them under an obligation to do them.
In the same way 9-11 pick up the main thoughts of 1:10-16, the duty of avoiding Jewish discussions (1:14, 3:9), and the duty of rebuke to opponents (1:13, 3:10, 11).
The keynote of the chapter is usefulness. Christians have to be useful citizens, ready for every good work; only such teaching is to be given as is useful to the world (8): our friends are to be ready to help others in need: they are not to be unfruitful (14). Titus himself is to be useful to Zenas and Apollos when they arrive (13).
For the whole section cf. Rom 12:17-7, of which there may be a reminiscence.
Paraphrase. There is one thing of which you must remind them all, free and slaves alike-that is, to be loyal subjects to the Government and its officials, to obey any commands which they issue, to be on the look out to help in any kind of good work, to speak evil of none, to avoid all quarrels, not to stand on their own rights but to be large-hearted, never failing to show gentleness to any one. This is our bounden duty, for there was a time when we were as void of understanding as they are now; we too were disobedient, easily misled, the slaves of passions and pleasures of many kinds, passing our life in ill-will and envy of others, worthy of hate and hating one another.
But when in gracious love for man
Our Saviour God unveiled His plan,
Twas not for merit of our own
But of His pitying care alone
He saved us, by a heavenly birth
Cleansing away the stains of earth
And on our heads in rich largess
Pouring His Spirits holiness.
All this He did that so being justified by His free gift we might become heirs, through hope, of eternal life. This saying is worthy of entire faith, and on all these points I wish you to insist, in the hope that those who have put faith in the message of God may set themselves to make honourable deeds the very business of their life. These truths are excellent in themselves and full of profit to others. But as for foolish speculations and genealogies, and strifes and wranglings about the Jewish law, give them a wide berth, for they are profitless and lead to nothing. If a man is self-willed and factious, warn him once, warn him again, but then avoid him, knowing that a man of such a character is perverted and sins, being condemned by his own action.
As soon as I shall send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make haste to come to Nicopolis to join me, for that is where I have decided to winter. Help forward on their journey with all diligence Zenas and Apollos: see that they have everything they want. Yes, and let all our brethren learn to make a real business of honourable works, that they may be able to help in such cases of need, that so they may not deserve the taunt of being idle drones. All my companions send you greeting: do you give my greeting to all who love us in a common faith. Gods grace be with you all.
3:1-3. Duty to the heathen world: (a) obedience to government, cf. 1Ti 2:1, 1Ti 2:2 notes, and (more closely) Rom 13:1-7, Rom 13:1 P 3:8-17. Such a command would be necessary at any time and place to Christians, who might regard their allegiance to Christ as exempting them from allegiance to the Pagan Emperor (cf. Act 17:6, Act 24:5), and it is specially enforced in St. Pauls letter to Rome and St. Peters letter from Rome; but it has a peculiar appropriateness in writing to Crete, partly because of the large number of Jews (1:10) in the Christian body who doubtless there, as at Rome, would be assidue tumultuantes (Suet. Claud. c. 25); partly because of the turbulent character of the Cretans themselves ( , Polyb. vi. 46. 9), who long fretted against their subjugation by Rome (cf. Dio Cassius, xxxvi. I, quoted in Wetstein).
1. ] perhaps suggests that St. Paul had himself laid stress on this at the time of his visit to Crete; but they need a reminder.
] The omission of is very unnatural; cf. Luk 12:11 : Martyr. Polycarpi, 10, , is apparently a reminiscence of this place, and suggests that has accidentally dropped out; cf. Introd., p. xxxviii.
] of the general attitude, quod superioribus debent subditi reverentiam subjectionis (Thom. Aq.).
] of obedience to particular commands, e.g. the payment of tribute and dues, Rom 13:6; cf. Xen. Cyr. viii. 1, 3, (Alford).
(b) Activity in good works.
] The connexion suggests every good work started by the government, and would include civic and municipal duties; but it need not be limited to these: cf. Clem. Rom. i. c. 33, possibly a reminiscence of, certainly an interesting comment on, this phrase.
] perhaps limiting; provided that it is good; cf. Thom. Aq. alioquin non esset obediendum, cf. 3 note and 2:8 note.
(c) Gentleness in private life.
2. ] (here and 1Ti 3:3 only in N.T.), cf. 9 and 2Ti 2:23, 2Ti 2:24.
] temperate, Wycl.; Softe, Tyndal; modestos, Vulg.; not pressing their own rights, making allowances, remembering that the heathen do not know of the graciousness and love of God our Saviour, they have not the of Christ before their eyes (2Co 10:1); large-hearted, high-hearted, cf.
Truths school for certain doth this same allow,
High-heartedness doth sometimes teach to bow
(Lady E. Carew),
and Ar. Rhet. i. 13, 17, 18, for a full description of , It is the indulgent consideration of human infirmities. To look not to the mere letter of the law but to the mind of the legislator, not merely to the act done but to the intention of the doer, not to a part but to the whole, not to the character of the actor at the moment but to his general character, to re member good deeds received from him rather than the bad, and the benefits you have received rather than those you have conferred (Cope). Such a quality would be needed by masters in the treatment of their slaves (1 P 2:18), but here the reference is wider; cf. Php 4:5 . It would be needed especially in face of persecution; cf. Wisd 2:19 . For good accounts of the word, cf. Lightfoot on Php 4:5, Mayor on Jam 3:17.
.] perhaps reminiscent of 2:10-as gentle to all men as your slaves are faithful to their masters. ] Again-like their Saviour-God, cf. 2Co 10:1. .] for St. Pauls stress on the duty of Christians to the whole world outside, cf. Rom 12:17, Gal 6:10, Php 4:5; and for the result of such teaching, cf. Justin M. Apol. 1. cc. 14-16; Tert. Apol. c. 36, civilitas in imperatorem tam vere quam circa omnes necesse habet exhiberi. Nullum bonum sub exceptione personarum administramus.
3-7. Two reasons are given-(a) we ourselves were no better, and therefore are bound to be tolerant and forgiving, cf. Luk 7:40-50, Exo 22:21: (b) we have been reborn by Gods graciousness and loving-kindness, and ought to imitate these qualities; cf. Eph 2:3-10, 4:17-24, Eph 2:5:1, Eph 2:2 … The similarity suggests a conscious reminiscence of that Epistle.
3. ] in intellect, cf. Eph 4:18, Rom 1:21; , in action; primarily, disobedient to human authority; cf. 1 and 1:6, 10, Rom 1:30, 2Ti 3:2 : but also to divine commands, cf. 1:16.
] passive (cf. 2Ti 3:13, 1Co 12:2, Paris Pap. 47, ): it explains , as explains .
] active malice, cf. Eph 4:31; Eph_1 P 2:1 with Horts note.
4. ] benignitas, Vulg.; benygnity, Wycl.; kindeness, Tynd.; graciousness, goodness, ever ready to bestow His blessings and to forgive; cf. Trench, Syn. 54. The substantive occurs in N.T. only in St. Paul (8 times); but cf. , Luk 6:35, Luk 6:1 P 2:3, and frequently in the Psalms applied to Jehovah.
] here and Act 28:2 (cf. , ibid. 27:3) only in N.T., but frequent in classical writers and in the LXX of the Apocrypha; often in connexion with : love of man as man, humanity, showing itself in kindliness to equals (Acts, ubi s.), in graciousness to subjects (2 Mac 14:9), in pity for those in trouble; cf. Clem. Hom. xii. 25-33 (a most interesting discussion of the word), , , . One special application was to the ransoming of captives ( , Dem. de Chersoneso, 107: 15 (Field)), and that may be consciously present here; cf 3, 2:14. It is applied to Wisdom, , Wisd 1:6, 7:23. Here it adds to the note of pity for mans state and the thought that it extends to all men ( .2); but they are so allied (cf. Field, Ot. Norv., here and on Act 28:2, and Wetstein here for suggestive illustrations) that the verb is in the singular. The two qualities are chosen in contrast to the conduct of men in the past 3, and as examples to Christians in the future 2; cf. Justin Mart. Rev 1:10Rev 1:10 .
] cf. 2:11 note. , i.e. the Father; cf. 1:3, 1Ti 1:1, Psa 109:26 . Gods peculiar people is, as of old, entirely dependent on His initiating choice; cf. Deu 9:4-6 : Psa 115:1 , , . The clause is added to prevent self-complacency and to call for a true response to Gods mercy, but with a side refer ence to past controversy with Pharisaic Judaism; cf. Eph 2:8-10, 2Ti 1:9; Clem. Rom. c. 32 (a full comment on this verse, perhaps a reminiscence of it).
5. ] For the stress on baptism, cf. 1Co 6:11, Eph 5:26 (the instrument of cleansing), 1 P 3:21 (of salvation, as here), Joh 3:5 (of new birth). There is probably a conscious reference to 1:15 and 2:14. We needed cleansing, but with more than Jewish ceremonial ablutions, with a washing that would entirely renew our nature.
] washing rather than a laver (RV margin), fountain, Tynd.; cf. Robinson on Eph 5:26. Justin. Mart. Apol. 1:61 . . . , 66 .
, here only in NT of spiritual birth: cf. , 1 P 1:3 and 23, both perhaps suggested by the Lords saying, afterwards recorded in Joh 3:3-5. Cf. Justin Mart. Apol. 1:61 . . . : Aug. de pecc. mer. iii. 9, Christianos non facit generatio sed regeneratio. Other associations may have led to the choice of the word. (1) The analogy of the Rabbinic title for a convert to Judaism, a new creature, (Gal 6:15, ubi v. Lightfoot). (2) The thought of the new birth of one initiated in the Greek mysteries, a rebirth which followed a ritual bathing; cf. Apul. Met. xi. 23-25. (3) The Stoic use of the word for the periodical restoration of the world after its periodical destruction by fire: this is less obvious, but there may be a conscious contrast between the Stoic and the Christian -the one by fire the other by water: the one physical, the other spiritual; the one subject to periodical relapses and renewal, the other occurring once for all and issuing in an endless life (Swete, The Holy Spirit in N.T., App. M). Philo seems to apply this Stoic thought to the Flood (vit. Mos. ii.12 of Noah, . . . , cf. 1 P 3:21 and Clem. Rom_9, (cf. Dalman, The Words of Jesus, p. 177; Trench, Syn. N.T., xviii.).
] (Rom 12:2 only in N.T. , 2Co 4:16, Col 3:10 only; both perhaps coined by St. Paul, M.M. s.v.), probably governed by , per lavacrum regenerationis et renovationis, Vulg., referring to the moment of baptism; cf. Joh 3:5, Act 9:17-19, 2Co 5:17, Gal 6:15 , Eze 36:25, Eze 36:26 . . . . If governed by it might add the thought of subsequent daily renewal, or of the fuller gift of the laying on of hands in Confirmation (Chase, Confirmation in the Apostolic Age, p. 98).
6. ] recalling Joe 2:28 ( ) as used by St. Peter in Act 2:17; Act 2:33; so with primary reference to Pentecost, but to Pentecost as an abiding reality affecting each Christian.
] cf. Eph 2:4. abunde, Vulg.; ditissime, Theod., sufficient for all men (Cf. 2:11), and for all the needs of each: ad opulentiam sufficit quod, quantulumcunque nobis detur, nunquam deficiat (Calvin). . .; cf. Act 2:33. . His work is at once placed on a level with Gods; cf. 2:13 n.
7. ] not at the Judgment day (which would make meaningless), but at the start of the Christian life, as in Rom 3:4, Gal 3-5: we at once might become heirs of life, yet with a further hope (cf. 2:13) that it will become fuller and eternal; Cf. 1:2, Rom 8:17, Gal 4:6, Gal 4:7.
] like the Jews of Canaan; cf. Deu 9:6 (quoted on p. 154).
8. ] If this phrase stood here alone it might well be Faithful is the whole gospel message entrusted to me (cf. 1:3 and 9), but it is a formula common to and confined to the P.E., 1Ti 1:15, 1Ti 1:3:1, 1Ti 1:4:9, 2Ti 2:11: perhaps a marginal gloss by some scribe subsequently embodied in the text (so C. H. Turner, Inaugural Lecture, p. 21); more probably the writers own note, either calling attention to the importance of what he has said himself (cf. 2Co 1:18, Rev 21:5, Rev 22:6 ), or (more probably, as all the sayings have a gnomic and rhythmical character and bear on salvation) quoting some well-known saying; cf. Rom 13:9 , 1Co 15:54 , and 1 K 10:6 . This would imply the formation of some collection of Christian maxims analogous to the , Act 20:35, and the Oxyrhynchus Sayings, Pap. Oxyr. vi. 654. Here the Saying is contained in 5-7, either in whole or in part, e.g. 5 only, 6 and 7 being the writers own expansion.
An attempt has been made recently (cf. Jour. Th. Stud., April 1923, p. 310) to prove that here and wherever it occurs in the Pastorals is used in the Johannine sense of the personal Word of God, on the analogy of , : but in 1:3 it does not suit the following words, : in 1:9 the personal Logos could scarcely be described as faithful according to the teaching; in the phrase the personal use would be appropriate in 2Ti 2:11, but it is not needed there; it seems tautologous in 1Ti 1:15, and very inappropriate in 1Ti 3:1 and here; whereas the explanation of it as a quotation is appropriate in each passage.
the truths in 4-7, but also the commands in 2:1-3:8. It recalls in 2:15.
] here and 1Ti 1:7 only in N.T. ; here only in N.T. Make a point of; cf. Grenfell and Hunt, Grk. Pap. ii. 121, : contrast 9.
] (cf. 2:14) from the technical use = to stand before a shop as a tradesman selling his goods, to practise a profession (cf. Plutarch, Vit. Per. 24, of Aspasia, : Chrys., p. 443 C, of St. Paul, , and other illustrations in Field, Ot. Norvic.). Here the application may be: (a) literal, to profess honest occupations (R.V. margin), to engage in respectable trades. Cf. 1Th 4:11 , Eph 4:28 (cf. 14 inf.); Did. 12, . In all the Church Orders certain trades are banned for Christians, such as the making of idols, acting, dancing on the stage, fighting as a gladiator, dealing in witchcraft. Cf. Egyptian Church Order, p. 149; Canones Hippol. 65-67; Const. Apost. viii. 3; and Tertullian, de Idololatria, passim.
Or (b) metaphorical, to make a business of all that is ex cellent, to be active in all good works: bonis operibus presse, Vulg.; bona opera exercere, Herm. Sim. x. 4; ad bona opera docenda presse; Pelag. misericordi studere, Ambrosiast., and Chrys. (765 A-767 D) refers it to almsgiving. Cf. Clem. Rom. 34 (which seems to recall this chapter), .
Here the wider sense is strongly supported by 2:14 and 3:2, where there is no limitation, and by the analogy of Eph 2:10; but the narrower reference may have been consciously included and seems to be the primary meaning in 14.
] recalling . Those who have believed a message so worthy of belief.
] cf. 8, q.u. in NT only here, 1Ti 4:8, 2Ti 3:16; not in LXX, but frequently in classical writers in combination with ; v. illustrations in Wetstein.
9. ] 1Ti 6:4, 2Ti 2:23; not in the earlier letters, but frequent in Acts.
] 1Ti 1:4 note. Originum enumerationes, Ambrost., who refers it to Jewish pride in their descent from the patriarchs, and to legends about the burial of Moses, the building of the Temple, etc. Similarly Jerome (whose note here with his account of Origens work on the O.T., and of the teaching of Isaac, his own contemporary at Rome, is full of historical interest).
] here and 2Ti 2:16, only in N.T. in this sense, which is late and censured as a solecism by Lucian, but common in Josephus, M. Aurelius, etc.
here and Heb 7:18 only in N.T.; cf. Ign. Magn. 8, . . . -perhaps a reminiscence of this verse.
10. here only in N.T. It is used in Plato (?), Def. 412 A = having the power of choice: here it is still an adjective, from the secondary meaning of = either a self-chosen party, a sect (Act 5:17, Act 15:5, Act 24:5 (of Jewish sects), Gal 5:20, 1Co 11:19, 1Co 11:2 P 2:1 (of Christian)), or, self-chosen teaching, heresy (Ign. Eph_6Eph_6). Either is possible here. (a) factious (R.V. margin), partisan, an auctor of sectes, Cranmer: cf. , 1Co 11:16 ambitiosos omnes, prfractos, contentiosos, qui libidine impulsi turbant Ecclesi pacem ac dissidia concitant quod nomen, quamvis inter philosophos et politicos homines sit honorificum, merito infame est inter Christianos (Calvin); or (b) given to heresie, Tynd., heretical (cf. Tert. de Prscr. 6). This suits vv. 9, 10 better, and cf. Gal 1:6-9, Rom 16:17 . . . , which shows how close the two thoughts lay in St. Pauls mind. This seems the earliest use of the adjective in this sense: it is not found in the Apostolic Fathers, but is frequent in Irenus and Tertullian, as a substantive = a heretic, though it still preserved the sense of a schismatic, cf. Concil. Constant. Canon 6. with Dr. Brights Note and Suicer, Thes. s.v.
. (For the reading, cf. Introd., p. xxxviii) (1Co 10:11, Eph 6:4 only in N.T.), either of private appeal (cf. Act 20:31) or of public censure (2Th 3:15, 1Ti 1:20). There may be a conscious allusion to Our Lords command, Mat 18:15-17, and also a reminiscence of the practice of the Jews, under which there was a first admonition of an offending Rabbi lasting for thirty days: then a second for another thirty days: then excommunication was pronounced (Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus, ii. p. 183).
] a favourite word in P.E. not in the earlier letters: cf. 1Ti 4:7, 1Ti 4:5:11, 2Ti 2:23.
11. (here only in N.T.), twisted out of straightness, perverted: cf. Deu 32:20 , Eze 13:20 .
] both as factious and as refusing to listen to admonition.
] Condemned by his own action; he can be left to Gods judgment; cf. Mat 18:17, 1Co 5:12, 1Co 5:13; perhaps also by his own conscience, cf. Luk 19:22, Joh 8:9-11.
12-15. Cf. Introduction, p. xxxiv; Harrison, P.E., pp. 115-18.
12. ] (For the name, probably a contraction of Artemidorus, cf. Pap. Oxyr. iii. 505); according to a later tradition, one of the Seventy and bishop of Lystra. of Asia, Act 20:4, frequently trusted with messages by St. Paul. Eph 6:21, Col 4:7, 2Ti 4:12. The contrast with v. 13 suggests that whichever came might be meant to take Titus place in his absence, when he left for Nicopolis; cf. 2Ti 4:12 note.
] probably Nicopolis in Epirus: a good centre for missionary work in Dalmatia (cf. 2Ti 4:10) or for a journey to Rome. Here not many years later Epictetus settled and taught his pupils to live a life true to nature, possibly with some knowledge of St. Pauls work and writings, but without the knowledge of the saving, enabling grace which would help them to live it.
13. (contracted from ), according to tradition bishop of Diospolis and author of an apocryphal Acts of Titus. , possibly a converted Jew, , Chrys.; cf. 9, and so always in the Gospels: or a Roman lawyer, jurisconsultum. His association with Apollos, a Jew, makes the former more probable.
contracted from (which D reads in Act 18:24) or from , a very common name (cf. M.M. s.v.), but here doubtless the same as in Act 18:24, 1Co 1:12ff.
. . . ] probably a new sentence, not dependent on (so Hofmann and apparently Oecum. Theophyl.). See that nothing is wanting to them, cf. Mar 5:23 : 2Co 8:7, Eph 5:33. This use of is fairly common in letters, cf. Cic. ad Att. vi. 5, , , , . Tebt. Pap. 408, , (cf. Moulton, Gk. Gr., Proleg. p. 176; Blass, 64. 4, M.M. s.v. ).
14. as well as yourself. Yes, and let all our people be always prepared to help; perhaps also as well as their pagan neighbours; cf. note on .
not to be limited to all of our friends (= 15; cf. , Oxyr. Pap. i. p. 181, les notres of the Port Royalists) as opposed to the false teachers, 1:10: but = the whole household of faith, our brothers and sisters, in contrast to their pagan neighbours: cf. Mart. Polyc. c. 9, : Iren. adv. Hr. v. 28. 4, .
.] A special application of the general rule, with reference to a new purpose, and here peculiarly applicable to working at trades; cf. 8 note.
. ] common both in classical writers and in the papyri (cf. Wetstein and M.M. s.v.), will include both for their own needs (1Th 4:12 ) and for helping others (Eph 4:28 ). Herm. Sim. x. 4: Dic omnibus ut non cessent, quicunque (Qy. legendum, qucumque) recte facere possunt, bona opera exercere; utile est illis. Dico autem omnem hominem de incommodis eripi oportere; perhaps a reminiscence of this chapter. A comparison of 1Th 4:12, Eph 4:28 with this place is very suggestive as to the gradual deepening of Christian motives, the desire of independence, the willingness to help individuals, the desire to be a useful member of society.
] cf. Rom 7:4, Rom 7:2 P 1:8, Jud 1:12, and the expansion of the simile in Herm. Sim. 4. But here the special reference seems to be to the Roman taunt that Christians were unprofitable to the State, as keeping apart from many trades, that they were infructuosi in negotiis, Tert. Apol. 42, and his reply, Navigamus nos vobiscum et militamus et rusticamur et mercamur: proinde miscemus artes nostras, operas nostras publicamus usui vestro; cf. notes on 3 and 8.
15. ] perhaps my travelling companions, as no place is mentioned; cf. Gal 1:2.
. .] cf. BGU. 332, , other and instances in A. Robinson on Eph., p. 281. Our real friends in contrast to false teachers, 1:9, 2:8.
] possibly in loyalty; cf. Fay. Pap. 118, , but 1:4, 1Ti 1:2 make it almost certain that it is in a common faith, in loyalty to Christ.
] even with those to whom he could not send a warm greeting. This implies that the substance of the letter would become known to the whole church.
Tynd. Tyndales New Testament, 1534.
Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, by Archbishop Trench, 8th edition, 1876.
Clem. Hom. Clementis Romani Homili, ed. Dressel, 1853.
Pap. Oxyr. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, ed. Grenfell and Hunt, vols. i.-xv., London, 1898-
R.V. Revised Version of the English Bible.
Const. Apost. Constitutiones Apostolorum, ed. P. A. de Lagarde, 1862.
Making Return to Gods Loving-Kindness
Tit 3:1-7
Throughout this Epistle, the Apostle insists on good works. See Tit 2:7; Tit 2:14; Tit 3:8; Tit 3:14. The word good might be rendered beautiful. We must not work to be saved, but being saved we must be ready to every good work, and careful to maintain good works. In this last phrase the Apostle apparently refers to the trades and callings by which his converts were to earn their daily bread.
What singular beauty there is in this allusion to the appearance of the kindness and love of God our Savior! These appeared in the person of Jesus, whose human nature alternately veiled and revealed them. The full outshining of Gods love was curtained by the veil of His humanity, but enough was shown to irradiate the life of humanity, if only mens eyes had not been blind. Paul speaks of the laver of regeneration, Tit 3:5, r.v., margin, because the new nature, which we receive when we are born again, is clean, and cleanses the entire life from within outward. This is the result of the daily renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom God is ever pouring richly into our hearts. Is this your experience? Will you not claim an ever-increasing inflow? You have been born again; then, as an heir, enter upon the double portion of the firstborn, Tit 3:7.
Chapter 4
Godliness In The World
Tit 3:1-15
Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself. When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter. Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them. And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful. All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen. (vv. 1-15)
In the third chapter we have the Christians relationship to the world outside. He must not plead heavenly citizenship in order to free himself from his responsibilities as an earthly citizen. The same apostle who wrote to the Philippians, Our citizenship is in heaven, declared himself a Roman citizen on more than one occasion, and claimed rights thereby.
And so Titus was to teach these restless Cretans to be subject to proper authority, always ready to participate in anything for the good of the community; speaking evil of none, but manifesting the meekness and gentleness of Christ unto all.
This of course does not mean that the Christian is to immerse himself in politics. He will only be defiled if he attempts it, and he will fail in the very thing he is trying to do. Lot could not purify conditions in Sodom by running for office, and many a Christian has found that it was in vain for him to attempt to stem the tide of iniquity by becoming a politician. But the Christian is to set an example of piety in his civic responsibilities. He is to be obedient to law and to pay honestly his taxes, or tribute as the case may be, and to pray for all who are in positions of authority. Then, too, he is to remember the admonition, [As much as in you is], do good unto all men. Therefore he should be interested in anything which is for the blessing of mankind. This, however, does not leave him at liberty to take part in plans and schemes that are manifestly contrary to the Word of God, even though they may be loudly vaunted as for the upbuilding of humanity. But by generosity, by uprightness of life, and by compassionate interest in his fellows, he is to commend the doctrine of Christ.
It is by such behavior that Christians prove to the world that they are indeed a new creation in Christ Jesus. There was a time when we were like others, foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving [various unholy desires] and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. We were not all guilty to the same extent, but we were all in non-subjection to God, self-willed, and living in disobedience to His Word.
But He in grace undertook our salvation. Not that we became at last so distressed about our sinfulness that we longed after Him, but He in infinite kindness reached down to where we were. The love of God our Saviour toward man, is literally, the philanthropy of God.
God is a lover of men, and because He so loved He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And so we have been saved not through merit of our own-not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
The washing is the application of the Word of God to heart and conscience, thus producing through the Spirits power, the new nature. Having been thus washed from our old behavior, we are daily being renewed by the Holy Spirit, which God shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.
And Gods purpose in thus working on our behalf and in us was that we, being justified by His grace, should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Every believer has eternal life now as a present possession. Nevertheless, we are exhorted to lay hold on eternal life as a matter of practical experience, and by and by at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall enter into life eternal in all its fullness.
I have eternal life now in a dying body. In that day body, soul, and spirit will be fully conformed to the image of Gods blessed Son. That will be life indeed.
It is a question whether the opening of verse 8 refers to what has already been put before us in verses 4-7 or whether it introduces the words that follow.
If we take it in the latter way, then it balances with 1Ti 1:15, where we read, This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Here we are told, This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. All such things as these are good and profitable to men.
But occupation with idle theories is of no value toward a holy life, and so we read: But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. It is easy to give ones self to the defense of certain views which may not in themselves be of a sanctifying character, but the servant of Christ is exhorted to avoid everything of a merely contentious nature, and first of all to have in mind the edification of the people of God.
Verses 10-11 have to do with one who refuses these admonitions. A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.
The heretic is really a factious person, more concerned about gathering adherents to himself and maintaining some sectarian view of truth, than falling into line with the entire body of revelation, seeking the blessing of all the people of God. His particular hobby may or may not be true, but he uses it to form a school of opinion.
Such a man is to be shunned after he has been twice admonished to refrain from his behavior. It is the same word as in 1Ti 4:7; 1Ti 5:11; and 2Ti 2:23, and in those passages translated refuse and avoid.
There is no hint here of excommunicating the man. False doctrine opposed to fundamental truth is not in question, but the factious man is to be refused; in other words, people are not to listen to him. The result will be, if he persist in his course, that he will eventually go out himself.
The closing verses are all of a personal nature. Paul is about to send either Artemas or Tychicus to Crete to relieve Titus, who is then to come to him at Nicopolis, for there the apostle had made up his mind to winter.
Zenas, the lawyer-possibly a converted Jewish lawyer, that is, a teacher of the law of Moses, or (what seems more likely from his Gentile name) a legal advocate who has become a servant of Christ-and Apollos were evidently also visiting Crete. Titus was exhorted to help them forward in their journey, seeing that they were cared for in temporal things, in order that they might not be left in need.
The saints themselves are exhorted to labor in useful occupations in order to provide for their necessities. This seems to be the true meaning of the admonition. The Christian should shun merely gainful professions or means of livelihood if they are not really honest trades for the good of mankind.
Paul and his companions salute Titus, sending their greetings to all who love them in the faith.
The epistle closes with the customary Pauline benediction, Grace be with you all. Amen.
Tit 3:3, Tit 3:6
I. Up to a certain point, men of all schools of religious and philosophical thought are agreed, both as to the facts of the moral state of the world, and as to the nature of the improvements required for it. They differ widely in their theories of the essence of morality, or the foundation of moral obligation; they differ in the ideals that they hold up to men as embodying the supremest moral excellence; they differ in the attractive power of their ideal, and in the strength of the motives they offer for pursuing it, and for resisting temptation; but they all agree as to their elementary moral precepts. And it is not too much to say that all serious moralists are agreed, further, that according to the simple rule for knowing good from bad, the actual state of the moral world is bad and not good. The world is wicked; that we start with as a fact-not as a part of the Christian or any other theory of the way that the world ought to be conducted, but as to the state in which the world is; a fact which any complete theory of the world must account for, and which any competent guide of the world, if such there be, will have to remedy. To convince the individual of sin is a harder task. The one witness who is competent to adduce all the facts has an interest in keeping silence; the one judge whose verdict is on earth final has an interest in acquittal; and this being so, it is small wonder that an acquittal is often pronounced unhesitatingly, is oftener still pronounced after a decent hesitation and with some moderate reserves. But the world is condemned, whenever it is really judged, and the condemnation of the world must, in the eyes of any thoughtful person, throw grave suspicion on the acquittal of the individual. II. The only way to treat sin like this is to make a clean sweep of it altogether. Here there can be no question of adjusting a machine that is just out of gear, of harmonising elements salutary in themselves, though at present imperfectly combined. It may be that the evil mass is composed of things originally good, but that does not alter the fact that it is now evil, incurably evil. Let a flood sweep over it, and blot out all its features, for so, and so only, we may hope to see it washed clean. A little washing and rubbing here and there will not be enough; the washing of a foul world like ours must do no less than wash us out of ourselves-must rub off our whole self; in fact, we want a washing of regeneration, a washing which shall be, first of all, a death unto sin, and so make a possibility for a new birth unto righteousness. When this washing is effected, when the sinner has died again to his old life and started again in the new, then, and then only, is he capable of receiving the “renewing of the Holy Spirit,” then only is it possible for that power to enter his heart, from which “all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed.” There is no doubt that those men were right who, a hundred years ago or less, declared to a self-satisfied world that this was the Gospel, that the true cure for all moral evil was, not sound moral advice, too good to be followed, not earnest moral effort which the sinful soul was unable to make, or at least to sustain, but the reception of a cleansing power from without, that the soul must be supernaturally, miraculously, divinely, undeservedly, delivered from its evil past, if it were ever to start on a new and better life, if it were ever to be made natural to it to do good, or possible for it to deserve well. Nothing short of a miracle can put a sinner in the way of repentance, and that the blood of Christ has, as history proves, exercised that miraculous power, that when a man has believed in that blood, he has been saved from his sins, even as experience proves the reality of sin, so it proves, not less divinely though unhappily less universally, the reality of repentance and salvation through faith in Christ.
W. H. Simcox, Oxford Undergraduates’ Journal, March 17th, 1881.
References: Tit 3:4-7.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 564; Outline Sermons to Children, p. 264.
Tit 3:8
I. The Gospel is degraded unless it is asserted strongly. “These things I will that thou affirm constantly,” or as the words might be rendered, “asseverate pertinaciously, persistently, positively, affirm and assert constantly and confidently.” That is the way in which Paul thinks it ought to be spoken. If it is a message, the messenger’s business is to deliver it as received and its sender’s business, not his, is to look after it when delivered. And if it is a faithful message, then it ought to be asserted on lips that are eloquent, because they are believing; and to come, not as a word of the speaker’s own, or the result of his thinking, or with a “peradventure,” but as with the force of the “verily, verily, I say unto you,” of the incarnate and personal Truth Himself.
II. Again, there is another thought here worth considering, viz., that this positive assertion of the truths of revelation is the best foundation to lay for practical godliness “in order that they which have believed might be careful to maintain good works.” Now, we are often told that our evangelical teaching is far away from daily life, and some people go the length of saying that the central doctrine of the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ is an immoral doctrine. I am not going to discuss the latter statement now. If the former one is ever true, it is the fault of the preacher, not of the message. Rightly understood and presented, the great body of truth which we call the Gospel, and which is summarised in the preceding context, grips daily life very tightly, while on the other hand, of all the impotent things in this world, none are more impotent than exhortations to be good, which are cut away from the great truths of Christ’s mission. If it be true that the best foundation for all practical godliness is in the proclamation and the possession of the great message of Christ’s love, two things follow, the one is that Christian people ought to familiarise themselves with the practical side of their faith, just as Christian ministers ought to be in the habit of insisting, not merely upon the great revelation of God’s love in Jesus Christ, but upon that revelation considered as the motive and the pattern for holy living. (2) Another consequence is that here is a rough but a pretty effective test of so-called religious truth. Does it help to make a man better? It is worth something if it does: if not, then it may be ruled out as of small consequence.
III. The true test and outcome of professing faith is conduct.
IV. No one will keep up these good works who does not give his mind to it. “That they… might be careful to maintain.” My text suggests one chief means of securing that result-the habit of meditation upon the facts of the Gospel revelation looked at in their practical bearing on our daily life and character.
A. Maclaren, The God of the Amen, p. 148.
References: Tit 3:8-14.-H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 5th series, p. 341. Tit 3:9.-Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 324. Tit 3:12.-W. Morison, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 24.
III. IN RELATION TO THE WORLD AND FALSE TEACHERS
CHAPTER 3
1. Instructions (Tit 3:1-8)
2. Warnings (Tit 3:9-11)
3. Directions (Tit 3:12-15)
Tit 3:1-8
He asks Titus to remind all believers to be subject to rulers, principalities and powers (Greek: Magistracies and authorities, Rom 13:1), to yield obedience and to be ready for every good work. An ancient historian, Diodones Siculus, speaks of the riotous insubordination of the Cretans. They were to speak evil of no man, nor were they to be contentious, but show all gentleness and all meekness towards all men. Our own rights must be yielded, but never the rights of God. If authorities demand what is against sound doctrine then God must be obeyed more than man. This is indicated by the exhortation to be ready for every good work. Meekness towards all men is to characterize those who are no longer of the world, but who are still in it. Such meekness towards all, not only towards fellow-believers, but towards all men, adorns the doctrine of our Saviour-God, and is a commendation of the grace of God which offers salvation to all men.
Then follows an additional reason why Christians should be gentle and meek towards all men. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. It is a look backward, what they were in their unregenerate condition. These are the true characteristics of man in the flesh. Here is an answer to the question, What is sin? Sin is foolishness, disobedience, deception, slavery to lusts and unsatisfying pleasures, a life of malice, envy and hatred. It is lawlessness. And such is the natural man in all ages. What was true of these Cretans nineteen hundred years ago is true today of every unregenerated person.
And then follows a but. (See Eph 2:13.) But when the kindness and love to man [Love to man in the Greek is Philanthropy. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the great Lover of men, Philanthropist, as no human being could ever be.] of our Saviour-God appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He has shed upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that having been justified by His grace, we might be heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
For such as the Cretans were, and we all are, the kindness and love of our Saviour-God appeared; and this Saviour-God is Christ Himself, He by whom and for whom all things were created. All who have believed and trusted in the kindness and love of God as manifested in Christ can testify in fullest assurance, according to His mercy He saved us, and own it likewise that it is not by works of righteousness which we have done.
And this is accomplished by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. The washing (or bath) of regeneration is the new birth. Of this our Lord spoke to Nicodemus (Joh 3:1-36) and also to His disciples when He washed their feet. He that is washed (bathed) needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit; and ye are clean, but not all (Joh 13:10). He spoke in these words of the fact that His disciples, except Judas, were born again, and therefore they were clean every whit. The washing has nothing whatever to do with water-baptism; water-baptism cannot save nor help in the salvation of a sinner, nor produce regeneration. What is the renewing of the Holy Spirit? It is distinct from regeneration. The Holy Spirit is the active agent in the new birth; imparts the new nature and then indwells the believer, and as such He does His blessed work by renewing the inward man day by day (2Co 4:16). He is shed upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, and gives power to all who walk in the Spirit. On the fact that the word regeneration is found only once more in the New Testament (Mat 19:28) the late F.W. Grant made the following interesting comment in connection with this passage.
The Lord promises to the twelve that in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of His kingdom, they also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel . The regeneration is in this passage the millennial state; but thus we may see already the difference between it and the idea of new birth, whatever the connection may be between these. The millennial regeneration is not a new life infused into the world, but it is a new state of things brought about by the new government over it. Thus, the Lord speaks of the throne of the Son of man and of thrones for His disciples. The throne of the world in the hands of the Perfect Ruler is, in fact, what brings about the regeneration. Righteousness now reigns. In the new earth it will dwell; but in the millennium there is yet neither the full reality; nor, therefore, the full permanence of deliverance from evil. Righteousness reigns, and evil is not suffered any more, but the full blessing waits to be manifested in that which is eternal and not millennial. The subjugation of evil, Christs foes put under His feet, goes on through the millennium, in different stages, towards completeness. It is the preparation for eternity, but not the eternal state itself.
it is plain, therefore, that there is a parallel between the stages of Gods preparation of the earth for blessing and that of the individual man. The present stage of the earth is that out of which the Christian has been delivered, the state of bondage to corruption, the dominion of sin. The present state of the Christian is that which the earth itself waits for, the time when the power of sin will be broken and righteousness will reign. For us righteousness reigns now, but the conflict with sin is not over. This, in the millennium, will be fully seen at the end, when there is once more the outbreak of evil, Satan being let loose. What follows this is the dissolution of the present heavens and earth and the coming of the new earth, in which dwelleth righteousness, just as the dissolution or the change of the body makes way for the perfect eternal state with us. Thus there is a complete parallel, which we cannot be wrong in accepting as that which will help us with the expression here. The washing of regeneration is the deliverance from the power of sin, which is no more tolerated, but which is not, by any means, wholly removed. The renewing of the Holy Spirit is that which is constantly needed to supplement this, although the word used does not speak of a mere reviving or refreshing constantly, but rather of a change into that which is new–thus, of ways, habits-as the light more and more penetrates, and the word of God manifests more and more its perfection and its power for the soul.
Being then saved according to His mercy by the washing of regeneration and receiving the Holy Spirit and having been justified by His grace, we become also heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
The practical side, godliness in life and walk, is once more connected with these preceding statements of sound doctrine. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
Tit 3:9-11
Foolish questions and genealogies, contentions and striving about the law must be avoided, for they are unprofitable and vain. How many of these things are about us! Some are more occupied with the ten lost tribes and their supposed recovery, according to the Anglo-Israel hallucination, than with the grace and glory of God; and others are given to questions of law, like Seventh-day Adventism–that evil system. All these things are indeed unprofitable and vain. The heretic is one who sets up his own opinions and then causes division in the body of Christ. If such a one after a second admonition continues in his ways, he is to be rejected, for he proves that he is self-willed and not subject to the Word of God–Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.
Tit 3:12-15
In the closing directions and greetings Artemas is mentioned first; his name does not occur elsewhere. Tychicus is mentioned in 2Ti 4:12. He was sent by Paul to Ephesus ; he probably was sent later to Crete to take the place of Titus. Zenas the lawyer and Apollos (Act 18:24) were travelling companions, and the apostle expresses his loving care and interest in them.
Observe also that we have the two kinds of laborers: those who were in personal connection with the apostle as fellow-laborers, who accompanied him, and whom he sent elsewhere to continue the work he had begun, when he could no longer carry it on himself, and those who labored freely and independently of him. But there was no jealousy of this double activity. He did not neglect the flock that were dear to him. He was glad that any who were sound in the faith should water the plants which he himself had planted. He encourages Titus to show them all affection, and to provide whatever they needed in their journey. This thought suggests to him the counsel that follows: namely, that it would be well for Christians to learn how to do useful work in order to supply the wants of others as well as their own (Synopsis of the Bible).
Then the final exhortations, once more to maintain good works and his final greeting. All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.
Put: Isa 43:26, 1Ti 4:6, 2Ti 1:6, 2Pe 1:12, 2Pe 3:1, 2Pe 3:2, Jud 1:5
to be subject: Deu 17:12, Pro 24:21, Ecc 8:2-5, Ecc 10:4, Jer 27:17, Mat 22:21, Mat 23:2, Mat 23:3, Rom 13:1-7, 1Ti 2:2, 1Pe 2:13-17
to be ready: Tit 3:8, Tit 3:14, Tit 2:14, 1Co 15:58, Gal 6:9, Gal 6:10, Eph 2:10, Phi 1:11, Col 1:10, 1Ti 5:10, 2Ti 2:21, Heb 13:21
Reciprocal: Exo 22:28 – nor curse Deu 17:11 – According to Jos 1:16 – General 1Sa 10:25 – General 1Ch 28:21 – also the princes Job 29:8 – young men Mat 26:10 – a good Rom 13:2 – power Rom 13:5 – ye Rom 15:15 – as 2Co 9:3 – ye may 2Ti 3:17 – thoroughly furnished 1Pe 5:2 – of
THE FIRST AND second verses of chapter 3 follow up the same theme, giving further details of the godly behaviour that the Gospel inculcates. Obedience and subjection to authorities, and gentleness and meekness unto all men are features very much the opposite of all that the Cretians were by nature. They are also very much the opposite of what we all are, and this the Apostle puts on record in verse Tit 3:3. We ourselves he says in contrast with the them of verse Tit 3:1. What a picture he gives us in this verse of himself and Titus and all the rest of us, if viewed in our natural characteristics: a fearful indictment but true! That, being such, we should hate one another is hardly surprising, but then we were hateful ourselves. Coming after this how wonderful is verse Tit 3:4 !
Hateful were we, every one of us. Though we were each blind to the hateful features in ourselves we were quite alive to what was hateful in other people, hence the world is full of hatred. Now God looks down upon this scene and there breaks upon the world of hatred the light of His kindness and love. That God should love the unlovable is wonderful: that He should love the positively hateful is more wonderful still! Yet such is the case. The words, love… toward man are the translation of the one Greek word, philanthropia. The kindness and philanthropy of our Saviour God have appeared. The word indicates not merely that God loves man as
He loves all His creatures but that He has a special affection for man-a specially warm corner in His heart for man, if we may so speak.
His philanthropy expressed itself in kindness and mercy, and by His mercy we have been saved.
In Scripture salvation is generally connected with a work accomplished for us. This is true whether we consider Old Testament types or New Testament doctrine. We have to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which is achieved outside of us. The passage before us is however an exception to this general rule, inasmuch as we are said to be saved by a work wrought upon us and in us. The work in us is quite as necessary as the work for us. This is very plain if we consider the type of Israels deliverance from Egypt. By the mighty work of God wrought for them they were saved out of the land of bondage, yet in spite of all the wonders accomplished on their behalf the vast majority of them fell in the wilderness and never reached the land of promise. Why? The answer of Scripture is, So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief (Heb 3:19); that is, they had no faith, no work of God took place within them.
Salvation then, according to verse Tit 3:5, is not according to our works of righteousness but according to Gods mercy, and the means of it are the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. In Joh 3:1-36 where the new birth is in question we have the Spirit of God as the Agent or Operator and the water as the instrument producing it. Here too we have the Spirit and the water, only the latter is alluded to under the term washing. But we must note that the word, regeneration in our verse is not exactly the equivalent of the new birth. The only other place in the New Testament where the word is used is in Mat 19:28, and it indicates the new order of things which is to be established in the day of Christs glory. We have not got that new order of things yet but we have come under the washing, the cleansing, the moral and spiritual renovation which is in keeping with that day.
This washing is by the Word. It is so stated in Eph 5:26, only there it is the repeated and continuous action of the Word which is in question, here it is the once-for-all, never-to-be-repeated action of the Word in our new birth. The Word however is not operative upon us apart from the action of the Holy Spirit who works in renewing power.
This Scripture speaks not only of the Spirits initial work in us in new birth, and of the renewing which is consequent upon that, but also of the gift of the Spirit. He has been poured out on us abundantly. Thus bestowed He energizes the new life that we now have and works a day-by-day renewing within us, which works out a continuous and increasing salvation from the old life in which once we lived. The Spirit has been poured on us through Jesus Christ our Saviour, and as the fruit of His work. He has been poured on us abundantly, and hence it is that we may enjoy that which really is life in abundant measure. We not only have life but have it abundantly, as the Lord himself tells us in Joh 10:10.
The work in us, then, is quite as necessary as the work for us. It is equally true that the work for us is quite as necessary as the work in us, and this is indicated in verse 7. We could not become heirs of God merely by the work of the Spirit in us, for we needed to be justified before God and this is accomplished by the grace that wrought for us in Christ. Washed, renewed and justified it was possible for grace to go further and make us heirs, but all these three things were equally necessary.
We are made heirs, you will notice, according to the hope of eternal life; that is, we share equally with Paul in this wonderful hope, as may be seen by comparing this verse with the second verse of chapter 1; though we are none of us apostles as he was.
God saves us in order to make us His heirs and it is striking how He is presented as Saviour in this epistle. It is even more striking how the term Saviour is applied to both God and the Lord Jesus in such a way as to assure us that Jesus is God. In Tit 1:1-16, it is God our Saviour in verse Tit 3:3, and Christ our Saviour in verse 4. In Tit 3:1-15, it is God our Saviour in verse Tit 3:4, and Christ our Saviour in verse 6. In Tit 2:1-15, it is our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ in verse 13.
When at the beginning of verse Tit 3:8 the Apostle says, This is a faithful saying it is not easy to determine whether he refers to what he has just written or whether to what immediately follows, but it would appear to be the former. It seems that Titus was to constantly bring before these conversed Cretians the way in which they had been washed and renewed and justified and made heirs, in order that they might be stirred up to the maintenance of those good works which were in keeping with such grace, and not only in keeping with grace but also good and profitable to men.
How clearly this illustrates what is often said, namely that all suitable conduct flows from an understanding of the place in which we are set. Here again we meet with the fact that the knowledge of grace promotes practical holiness and does not lead to carelessness.
By constantly maintaining and affirming the truth Titus would be enabled to avoid all those foolish questions and contentions about the law which were so common in those days. There is nothing like diligence in what is good to shut out evil. There might of course be a man who carried these questions and strivings to such a point that he became a leader of a faction in the church, a maker of a sect-for this is what the word, heretic means. Such an one was to be admonished once and twice, but if then he still remained obdurate he was to be rejected. To make oneself into a leader of a party is a serious sin.
The epistle closes with a few words as to other labourers in the service of the Lord. They were to be supplied with all necessary things, and this leads the Apostle to lay it as an obligation upon all saints to apply themselves to labour of a good kind that they might not only have themselves the necessities of life but have the wherewithal to give and thus be fruitful. The once lazy Cretian is now to be a diligent worker and a helper of others.
Tit 3:1-2. Put them in mind means for Titus to remind the brethren in Crete of the following obligations. Principalities and powers refers to the units of authority in the civil government in force over the country. Magistrates are the particular officers who execute the government referred to in the preceding sentence. This obligation of Christians to the law of the land is taught also in Rom 13:1-7. To be ready to every good work. If the country calls upon Christians to perform some kind of service, they should be ready to serve. All of this is with the proviso expressed at Act 5:29. Speak evil of no man does not prohibit us from condemning a man who does wrong, but we should not use evil expressions that are not founded upon facts. To be no brawler means not to be contentious, or dispute merely for the sake of opposition. Gentleness does not mean we need compromise with evil, but in our approach to persons in error, let us use language that is appropriate. Meekness is the same about as humility.
Tit 3:1. Duty to rulers. Crete, formerly self-governed on a popular basis, bad since B.C. 67 been attached to the Roman province of Cyrene, and was restive under the yoke. Similar reminders that Christians should avoid sedition are frequent in the apostolic letters. The hand of Rome was a very heavy one, and the imperial court, at its height of insolence and extravagance,was ever provoking revolt among the conquered nations. The primitive Church, drawn mainly from the discontented classes, the poor and the servile, taught the equality and dignity of all mena doctrine which might readily ferment into a spirit of repugnance to all authority. It included also large numbers of Jews, the most seditious of the subjects of the Empire. It was secretly spread over many provinces, and bound its converts in a society, with pass-words and an organization of its own, which might be easily abused for political ends by agitators, and which could scarcely fail to awaken suspicion in the government. Not strange therefore that the leaders of the new body deemed it prudent frequently to counsel submission.
For principalities and powers, which now carries a vague sense, read to rulers, to authorities.
Observe here, that in those early days of Christianity, great scandal was brought upon religion by the undutiful carriage of servants and subjects towards their masters and magistrates; and this upon a false notion of Christian liberty, advanced and propagated by the false apostles, judaizing teachers, and gnostic libertines; whereupon he requires Titus to put Christians in mind of their duty in that particular, and to inculcate it earnestly upon them, that the Christian religion might not be slandered upon this account. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers.
Learn hence, that the duty of subjection to governors and governments, and of obedience to magistrates and rulers, is of very great importance, and ought to be enforced and frequently inculcated upon the people by the ministers of God; because by nature all men desire liberty, and to cast off the yoke of God. Every one would rule and govern, although the duty of subjection be much the easier duty.
2. From St. Paul’s pressing Titus to preach up the doctrine of obedience and subjection to governors and government, learn, That there is no such way and method to bring the world to live regularly under government, like planting the gospel among them, and making them subject to our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Christian and Government
When the Pharisees questioned the Lord about paying taxes to Caesar, Jesus drew their attention to Caesar’s image on the coin. He said, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. He even paid the temple tax to avoid giving offense ( Mat 22:15-22 ; Mat 17:24-27 ).
Peter learned well the Lord’s teaching on submission to those in authority. He insisted our obedience reflects the thinking of our Lord. Of course, he also knew those in authority had no right to ask anyone to disobey his Lord ( 1Pe 2:13-17 ; Act 4:18-20 ; Act 5:29 ). Civil disobedience becomes necessary when man’s law requires one to violate God’s law. That may be the reason Paul said “to be ready for every good work.” Certainly, we would not, even in obedience to man’s law, want to be ready to do any evil work.
Nero was a wicked ruler who did much harm to Christians in his day. Yet, he would be included in the admonition of Tit 3:2 . No Christian should allow any evil to come out of his mouth ( Eph 4:29-32 ; Col 4:5-6 ). The New King James Version says to be peaceable where the King James puts, “to be no brawlers” and the Revised Standard has, “to avoid quarreling.” Christians should also be known for their gentle nature and humble spirit ( 1Ti 3:3 ; Gal 6:1 ). Such attitudes ought to make the Christian stand out and will open doors of opportunity ( 2Ti 2:24 ).
Tit 3:1-3. Put them. All the Cretian Christians; in mind to be subject Passively, not resisting; to principalities Supreme rulers; and powers Subordinate governors; and to obey magistrates Actively, as far as conscience permits. It is probable that the reason whey the apostle enjoined this so particularly was, because the Judaizing teachers in Crete affirmed, that no obedience was due from the worshippers of the true God to magistrates who were idolaters, and because by that doctrine they were beginning to make not only the Jewish, but the Gentile believers, bad subjects, and liable to be punished as evil-doers. To be ready to every good work In every relation which they sustain; to speak evil of no man Neither of magistrates, nor of any others. The word , besides evil-speaking, denotes all those vices of the tongue which proceed either from hatred or from contempt of others, and which tend to hurt their reputation, such as railing, reviling, mocking speeches, whisperings, &c.
To be no brawlers Greek, , not to be contentious: or quarrelsome, to assault none; but gentle , yielding, when assaulted, and often giving up their own right rather than contend; showing In their tempers, words, and actions; all meekness A mild, inoffensive, and kind behaviour; unto all men Even enemies, and such as we ourselves once were. For we ourselves also Or, even we ourselves, though now new creatures in Christ Jesus; were sometimes, , formerly, foolish , ignorant, of God and divine things; unreasonable, particularly in rejecting the Lord Jesus, though demonstrated to be the true Messiah by the most incontrovertible evidences; and imprudent, or destitute of true wisdom, (as the word also implies,) being enemies to ourselves, in that we were disobedient to the divine commands, though holy, just, and good; and refused to hearken to the glad tidings of salvation announced in the gospel of his grace. The cause of this unreasonable and foolish conduct was, that we were deceived by the grand enemy of our souls, the subtle serpent that lies in wait to deceive; deluded by the allurements of this insnaring world, and erred, or wandered, (as the word means,) from the right way of truth and righteousness into by-paths of error and sin, promising ourselves liberty; but serving , enslaved to, divers lusts , desires, irregular and inordinate; (see on Tit 2:12;) and pleasures Which perished in the using, but nevertheless were alluring us forward to everlasting miseries. Such was the state of our understanding, will, and affections. But what were our tempers? Such was our conduct toward God and ourselves; but what was it toward our fellow-creatures? The apostle tells us: living in malice Instead of exercising benevolence and love toward all men; and envy Grieving at the good enjoyed by others, instead of rejoicing therein, as it was our duty to have done; hateful Ourselves, while under the tyranny of such detestable passions, worthy to be abhorred by God and man; and hating one another On account of little clashings and oppositions in our temporal interests, while we forgot the great ties and bonds which ought to have endeared us to each other. Dr. Whitby, arguing from Act 23:1; 2Ti 1:3; Php 3:6, pleads that the above description could not be applicable to Paul himself, even while he was in his unconverted state; and with him Dr. Macknight agrees; forgetting, it seems, the malicious and vengeful passions which evidently dwelt in him while he was Saul the persecutor, breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the best people upon earth, the disciples of the Lord Jesus; binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, and being exceedingly mad against them, punishing them oft in every synagogue, pursuing them into strange cities, and persecuting them even unto death, Act 9:1; Act 22:4; Act 26:11. On account of which conduct, when the eyes of his understanding were opened by the wonderful miracle of grace which the Lord Jesus wrought for him, he always reckoned himself the chief of sinners. But besides the persecuting spirit which he manifested toward the Christians, when he had a just view of his temper and behaviour in other respects, and became acquainted with the purity of Gods holy law, he was so convinced of the depravity of his nature, and of the imperfection of his best obedience, that, notwithstanding all he says in the passages above quoted by Whitby, he could undoubtedly, as Dr. Doddridge justly observes, apply what he here wrote to much of his own character while an enemy to Christianity. The reader will easily see that the duty inculcated in this passage is highly reasonable, and of peculiar importance, namely, that we should be ready to show that mercy to others which God hath shown to us; and that, from a recollection of the errors and sins which we were chargeable with in our unconverted state, we should exercise compassion toward those who are still ignorant and out of the way, but who may hereafter be brought to the saving knowledge of the truth, and be created anew in Christ Jesus, as we have been.
Titus Chapter 3
With respect to the conduct of Christians towards the world, grace has banished violence, and the spirit of rebellion and resistance which agitates the heart of those who believe hot, and which has its source in the self-will that strives to maintain its own rights relatively to others.
The Christian has his portion, his inheritance, elsewhere; he is tranquil and submissive here and ready to do good. Even when others are violent and unjust towards him, he bears it in remembrance that once it was no otherwise with himself: a difficult lesson, for violence and injustice stir up the heart; but the thought that it is sin, and that we also were formerly its slaves, produces patience and piety. Grace alone has made the difference, and according to that grace are we to act towards others.
The apostle gives a grievous summary of the characteristics of man after the flesh-that which we once were. Sin was foolishness-was disobedience; the sinner was deceived-was the slave of lusts, filled with malice and envy, hateful, and hating others. Such is man characterized by sin. But the kindness of God, of a Saviour-God, His good-will and charity towards men (sweet and precious character of God!) [2] has appeared. The character that He assumed is that of Saviour, a name especially given Him in these three epistles, in order that we should bear its stamp in our walk, that it should pervade our spirit. Our walk in the world and our conduct towards others depend on the principles of our relationships with God. That which has made us different from others is not some merit in ourselves, some personal superiority: we were sometime even as they. It is the tender love and grace of the God of mercy. He has been kind and merciful to us: we have known what it is, and are so to others. It si true that in cleansing and renewing us this mercy has wrought by a principle, and in a sphere of a life, that are entirely new,, so that we cannot walk with the world as we did before; but we act towards others who are still in the mire of this world, as God has acted towards us to bring us out of it, that we might enjoy those things which, according to the same principle of grace, we desire that others also should enjoy. The sense of what we once were, and of the way in which God has acted towards us, combine to govern our conduct towards others.
Now when the kindness of a Saviour-God appeared, it was not something vague and uncertain; He has saved us, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy by washing and renewing us. This is the double character of the work in us, the same two points which we find in Joh 3:1-36 in the Lords discourse with Nicodemus; except that here is added that which has now its place because of the work of Christ, namely, that the Holy Ghost is also shed on us abundantly to be the strength of that new life of which He is the source. The man is washed, cleansed. He is washed from his former habits, thoughts, desires, in the practical sense. We wash a thing that exists. The man was morally bad and defiled in his inward and outward life. God has saved us by purifying us; He could not do it otherwise. To be in relationship with Himself there must be practical purity.
But this purification was thorough. It was not the outside of the vessel. It was purification by means of regeneration; identified with the communication of a new life no doubt, which is the source of new thoughts, in connection with Gods new creation, and capable of enjoying His presence and in the light of His countenance, but which in itself is a passage from the state we were in into a wholly new one, from flesh by death into the status of a risen Christ.
But there was a power which acted in this new life and accompanies it in the Christian. It is not merely a subjective change, as they say. There is an active divine Agent who imparts something new, of which He is Himself the source-the Holy Ghost Himself. It is God acting in the creature (for it is by the Spirit that God always acts immediately on the creature); and it is in the character of the Holy Ghost that He acts in this work of renewal. It is a new source of thoughts in relationship with God; not only a vital capacity, but an energy which produces that which is new in us.
It has been a question, When does this renewal by the Holy Ghost take place? Is it at the commencement, or is it after the regeneration [3] of which the apostle speaks? I think that the apostle speaks of it according to the character of the work; and adds shed on us (that which characterizes the grace of this present period) to shew that there is an additional truth, namely, that the Holy Ghost, as shed on us, continues in order to maintain by His power the enjoyment of the relationship into which He has brought us. The man is cleansed in connection with the new order of things; but the Holy Ghost is a source of an entirely new life, entirely new thoughts; not only of a new moral being, but of the communication of all that in which this new being develops itself. We cannot separate the nature from the objects with regard to which the nature develops itself, and which form the sphere of its existence and characterize it.
It is the Holy Ghost who gives the thoughts, who creates and forms the whole moral being of the new man. The thought and that which thinks, cannot be separated, morally, when the heart is occupied with it. The Holy Ghost is the source of all in the saved man: he is ultimately saved, because this is the case with him.
The Holy Ghost does not only give a new nature; He gives it us in connection with an entirely new order of things (a new creation), and fills us as to our thoughts with the things that are in this new creation. This is the reason, that, although we are placed in it once for all, this work-as to the operation of the Holy Ghost-continues; because He ever communicates to us more and more of the things of this new world into which He has brought us. He takes of the things of Christ and shews them to us; and all that the Father has is Christs. I think that the renewing of the Holy Ghost embraces all this; because he says, which shed on us abundantly. So that it is not only that we are born of Him, but that He works in us, communicating to us all that is ours in Christ.
The Holy Ghost is shed on us abundantly by means of Jesus Christ our Saviour, in order that, having been justified by the grace of this Saviour, we should be heirs according to the hope of eternal life. I think that the antecedent of in order that is the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost; and that the sentence, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, is an accessory parenthesis introduced to shew us that we have the fullness of the enjoyment of these things by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Thus he has saved us by this renewing that we may be heirs according to the hope of eternal life, It is nothing outward, earthly, or corporeal. Grace has given us eternal life, In order to this, we have been justified by the grace of Christ. [4] Thus there is energy, power, hope, through the rich gift of the Holy Ghost. In order to our participating in it we have been justified by His grace, and our inheritance is in the incorruptible joy of eternal life.
God has saved us, not by works-nor by means of [5] anything that we are, but by His mercy. But the He has acted towards us according to the riches of His own grace, according to the thoughts of His own heart.
With these things the apostle desires that Titus would be occupied-with that which brings us with thanksgiving into practical connection with God Himself and makes us feel what our portion is, our eternal portion, before Him. This acts upon the conscience, fills us with love and good works, makes us respect all the relationships of which God Himself is the center. We are in relationship with God according to His rights; we are before God, who causes everything that He has Himself established to be respected by the conscience.
Idle questions and disputes on the law Titus was to avoid, together with everything that would destroy the simplicity of our relationship with God according to the immediate revelation of Himself and of His will in Jesus Christ. It is still the Gnostic Judaism setting itself up against the simplicity of the gospel; it is the law and human righteousness, and that which, by means of intermediate beings, destroys the simplicity and the immediate character of our relationship with the God of grace.
When a man tried to set up his own opinions, and by that means to form parties in the assembly, after having admonished him once and a second time, he was to be rejected; his faith was subverted. He sins, he is judged of himself. He is not satisfied with the assembly of God, with the truth of God: he wants to make a truth of his won. Why is he a Christian, if Christianity, as God has given it, does no suffice him? By making a party for his own opinions he condemns himself.
We have, at the end of the epistle, a little glimpse of the Christian activity which the love of God produces, the pains taken that the flock should enjoy all the help with which God supplies the assembly. Paul wished that Titus should come to him: but the Cretans needed his services; and the apostle makes the arrival of Artemas or Tychicus (the latter well known by the services he had rendered to Paul) the condition of the departure of Titus from the field in which he was laboring. We find too that Zena, a lawyer, and Apollos, who had also displayed his active zeal at Ephesus and Corinth , were disposed to occupy themselves in Crete with the work of the Lord.
Observe also that we have the two kinds of labourers: those who were in personal connection with the apostle as fellow-laborers, who accompanied him, and whom he sent elsewhere to continue the work he had begun, when he could no longer carry it on himself; and those who labored freely and independently of him. But there was no jealousy of this double activity. He did not neglect the flock that were dear to him. He was glad that any who were sound in the faith should water the plants which he had planted. He encourages Titus to show them all affection, and to provide whatever they needed in their journey. thought suggest to him the counsel that follows; namely, that it would be well for Christians to learn how to do useful work in order to supply the wants of others as well as their own.
The apostle ends his epistle with the salutations that Christian love always produces; but, as we saw at the beginning, there is not here the same expansion of heart that we find in Pauls communications to Timothy. Grace is the same everywhere; but there are special affections and relationships in the assembly of God.
Footnotes for Titus Chapter 3
2: In Greek it is the word philanthropy, which in scripture is only used in speaking of God; and which moreover has much greater force than the English word, because phil is an especial affection for anything, a friendship.
3: palinggenisia the word here used, is not being born again (anagennao). It is used, besides this passage, only in the end of Mat 19:1-30 for the millennium. The renewing of the Holy Ghost is a distinctthing from the regeneration. This last is a change of one state of things to another.
4: It is because Christ is in the parenthesis, and not in the principal sentence, that we read ekeinos.
5: Here, as everywhere, the responsibility of man and Gods saving grace, by which purpose also is accomplished, are clearly distinguished.
Tit 3:1. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers. See on Rom 13:1-2.
Tit 3:5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done. Good works being strongly enforced here, we are cautioned to forget them when performed, for we are saved by grace. The Lord himself will keep the record. According to his mercy he saved us. In other places we read, according to the riches of his glory, according to the fulness of the promises; the grace of God must never be circumscribed.
By the washing of regeneration. , which Mr. Joseph Mede, following Castellio, reads, by the washing of the new birth; preferable, it would seem, to the Vulgate and Montanus, copied in the English. Professor Coccejus, a little before Mede, wrote, renascenti; or the new birth. This reading distinguishes the entrance of the soul into a state of grace, often instantaneous, from the renewing of the Holy Ghost by sanctifying grace. The old registers used to read natus, born such a day; renatus, baptized such a day. Though we should not lower the virtue of sacraments, we must at the same time admit, that the twelve at Ephesus had received the baptism of water, but not that of the Holy Ghost, while the church in Corneliuss house had received the Spirit prior to the baptism of water. Act 19:6; Act 10:34. Without doubt the conscious mind, contemplating the glory of Christ by faith and prayer, experiences the divine change for which we devoutly pray in the sixth collect after Trinity sunday. After that, the inward man is renewed day by day.
Tit 3:8. These things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These are the only proofs to the world, that the deity dwells in our hearts, and the only way to gain the world to believe that Christ is sent of God to save us from our sins. Joh 17:20.
Tit 3:10-11. A man that is a heretic, one who follows his own opinion, after the first and second admonition, reject. If fair arguments, if the weight of antiquity will not gain him, he is proud; he loves that notion better than all the other doctrines of revelation. He will only trouble and misguide the simple. Novelty in doctrine we mostly find is nothing when the novelty is gone.
Tit 3:13. Bring Zenas the lawyer, and Apollos on their journey. The former had left the bar to plead in the sanctuary. The other was eminent for his eloquence. Act 18:24. Let nothing be wanting to them. The Cretians were able to supply all travelling expenses. Christianity must have become strong in that island, or they could not have spared three such able men.
GENERAL REFLECTIONS.
This epistle opens with apostolic greeting, conformably to the faith of Gods elect, who openly confess the truth; and with the wide and cheering promise of eternal life, coval with the purposes of our redemption. What else could cheer a drooping race, travailing in pain, and hasting to the tomb?
When Elijah, in an evil day, requested to die, the Redeemer of Israel, ever making the church his first delight, would not allow his request till he had first thrown his mantle on Elisha. So it is here. Pauls first care was to see pastors and bishops in Crete after Gods own heart, who should feed the flock with knowledge and understanding; ministers clothed with charity, and adorned with the meekness of wisdom. Also that in their own families they should be paternal men, and unspotted; for the stain of concupiscence in a presbyter cannot be wiped away. The priests must be clothed with righteousness and salvation.
Paul was solicitous that Titus should give an example to the bishops and elders of Crete, by sharply rebuking public vices. The slow bellies, lovers of wine, and given to appetite; the men whose tongues destroy absent characters more ferociously than the wild beasts devour their food. Thus the ancient seers struck at the reigning vices of their country with all good fidelity. And what is our ministry worth, if we do not, like the skilful surgeon, cauterize the old and ulcerous wounds of the human heart. Our own age peculiarly requires this; it abounds with men who profess the christian name, and deny the Lord by wicked works.
After the pastors, whose piety should excel others, Paul required all orders and degrees of men to adorn the church with relative virtues proper to their stations in life. With these, composing the body of believers, the moral glory of Zion is intimately connected, and with their character and conduct. Masters must be gentle and just, servants must be faithful and industrious. The aged and the young, whether male or female, must be chaste in speech, modest in behaviour, prudent in conduct, and just in trade. Then the Lord will shame every profane tongue that speaks against his people.
And all this moral glory is the more required, because of the superior light of the gospel, which like the light of the sun, opens with righteousness and salvation to all the nations of men. It teaches us to deny ungodliness, and concupiscence in all evil desire; to be devout, sober, and full of love, awaiting the advent of the great God, with whom the gods of earth are not to be compared: the only wise God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ. This moral glory of the church is the more required, to coincide with the designations of the Saviour, who gave himself an atoning sacrifice to purify us, and make us zealous of good works; that the washing of the new birth, and the daily renovations of the Holy Spirit may shine out before men, beauteous as the flowers, and grateful as the fruitful fields.
Tit 3:1-7. Further Instruction on Christian Conduct.
(a) Tit 3:1 f. Behaviour to those Outside.In his relation with unbelievers the Christian must show (i) towards those in authority, obedience (1Ti 2:1-7*); (ii) towards his neighbours generally, right-living and forbearance; (iii) towards all alike, meekness.
(b) Tit 3:3-8 a. Its Doctrinal Basis.Any other spirit than that of meekness is ruled out (i) by the character of the believers own pre-Christian life (Rom 1:28 ff., cf. 1Ti 1:12 ff.), (ii) by the fact that his own salvation was of Gods grace (see on Tit 2:11-15). A difficulty follows. We have (i) a characteristically Pauline statement of evangelical doctrine (men are justified not by works, but by grace); (ii) an allusion to baptism which, to many, appears un-Pauline. If Tit 3:5 b implies that the rite of itself effects the cleansing from sin, it is certainly different from Pauls usual doctrine of baptismthat of the believers mystical union with Christs death. The teaching, however, is not that the regeneration is through the physical washinga view which would require the sentence to be rewrittenbut that God uses baptism as the act with which He associates cleansing from sin. This sacramental doctrine is apostolic (Act 2:38; Act 22:16, Gal 3:27. Eph 5:26, 1Pe 3:21), and must not be confused with the very different theory that the act itself possesses a quasi-magical power. The latter view would place baptism among those very works by which, the context affirms, we are not saved.
Tit 3:3. cf. Introduction, 2.
Tit 3:8 a. The saying covers Tit 3:4-6; 1Ti 1:15*.
Though we are not of this world, as the blessed hope of Chapter 2:13 reminds us, yet while in it, our relationships toward it are to bear true Christian character. God has Himself constituted proper authority in the world’s government: therefore the Christian is to be subject to it, whether or not he feels it is acting rightly or wisely, and though he may suffer from it materially. Of course, if in any given case such subjection would involve disobedience to God, then it is God, and not man, he must obey. Along with the character of subjection, however, is the virtue of being prepared to every good work, so that, when occasion arises, the goodness in meeting the occasion will be spontaneous.
Decisively we are told to speak evil of no man: in no case is this right. Even if it is necessary to expose evil, it is to be done with genuine desire for the recovery and blessing of the guilty person, rather than in any spirit of denunciation. No contentious attitude is to be present, but gentleness, and “all meekness unto all men.” This does not mean giving in to evil, but neither is it self-defensiveness.
For we are reminded that we too were once in the condition that now we dislike in others. This should both humble us, and give us a spirit of patient consideration as regards them. The evils listed in verse 3 characterize all men generally: some things may be more pronounced in some than in others, but all have the same nature from which such things proceed. In us, nothing could change this but the grace of God in Christ: others too require the same grace if their condition is to be any different.
At a time when man was manifested in his hopelessly sinful state, it would be natural to think that judgment would fall, but at such a time, the kindness and love of God appeared. God is seen as Savior rather than as Judge. This is presented here to show that we who have been blessed by such love and kindness are now in a position to act in the same spirit toward others.
For our own salvation was not by works of righteousness, but by God’s mercy, His meeting us in our circumstances of sin and shame, and having compassion. The washing of regeneration implies the communication of new life, but emphasizes the moral change that new life brings with it, for it is a cleansing process. And the Holy Spirit has renewed once and for all every soul who has received this mercy. The “old man” has been forever put off, and the “new man” put on.
We have seen that the “renewing of the Holy Ghost” is not a thing to be repeated, but has been done once as to every believer: this has renewed the believer in the spirit of his mind; for the Spirit has been poured on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. God does not give the Spirit by measure, for the Spirit is a living Person, and not limited by human limitations. And this blessing has come through Jesus Christ our Savior, He to whom all the riches of God have been given, and who delights to share unstintingly with His saints.
God’s kindness, love and mercy have been seen in verses 4
and 5: now added to this is grace in verse 7. Grace justifies, for it lifts one completely out of a condition of guilt, and sets him rather in a condition of established righteousness before God. Mercy is not said to do this, for mercy is that which has come down to meet souls in the circumstances of their need, of distress, or poverty, or misery, and has had compassion upon them in those circumstances. Grace justifies, that is, it both clears from every charge of guilt, and imparts to us a positive credit of righteousness.
This leads to the sublime blessing of being made heirs of God, with the secure hope of eternal life in view. Rom 8:17 shows that we are heirs of God because of our identification with Christ, Who is Himself the true Heir of all things. By being joined to Christ, we become “joint-heirs with Christ,” inheriting with Him all of that which He alone is worthy to inherit. Marvellous grace indeed!
As to eternal life, John’s writings insist that the believer possesses this now, for the very nature of God is implanted within him, by new birth. But the viewpoint in Titus is that we look forward to eternal life in its fullest and purest manifestation; that is, in the very circumstances into which we enter at the coming of the Lord; and all that is merely natural life will be fully displaced by the life that is eternal; so that not only within us, but in everything around us, all will be radiant with the beauty of eternal life.
The apostle stresses now the faithfulness of his words, words dependable and basic in every way, and which are to have such effect upon Titus that he is to strenuously insist that believers are to be diligent in maintaining good works. It has before been established that our works have no place ‘whatever in the salvation of our souls; but having been aved, good works are a proper result. It is not a question of merely refraining from the wrongdoing that once engaged us while we were in our sins; but of the positive doing of good for the sake of others. These things are good and profitable to men, for it is these things that men observe, not the inner motives, which of course God alone fully discerns.
But foolish questions require no answer: they should be avoided. Tracing of genealogies too is vain, for it is only glorying in flesh, which profits nothing. Contentions are merely the resource of those seeking to win an argument. The same is true of strivings about the law, for this makes mere law-keeping an object, and Christ, the Center of all pure truth, is actually ignored. All this is vain. How good rather if the servant of the Lord should follow the example of John the Baptist – always turning the attention back to the Lord Jesus, when others sought to engage him with questions intended to stir contention (Joh 1:20-27).
Verse 10 is clear as regards the case of an heretical man. It has been a mistaken thought that a heretic is one who teaches fundamental error, such as the denial of the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, the resurrection, or other vitally important doctrines. Such cases as this would call for decisive action in putting the guilty man away from fellowship.
Heresy however is the pressing of a certain line of things to the exclusion of another line, also important in its place, and tending to make followers for oneself by this means. It may be, for instance, the pressing of God’s grace so strongly that it would tend to nullify God’s government in the assembly: or, on the other hand, possibly stressing God’s government in such a way that God’s grace is forgotten. This is dangerous imbalance. Such an one was to be admonished, and if the second admonition was not heeded, Titus was to “have done with” him. This is not excommunicating from fellowship, but refusal to listen to him, or to have any discussion as to his views. It may seem severe treatment, but it is God’s way: if anything will lead to his recovery, it is this. No saint should give such a man the satisfaction of a hearing, for everyone who will listen to him he will seek to influence to his point of view in opposition to saints who seek to walk soberly as subject to the pure truth of God.
This is not of course the case of a weak brother who needs help, but of one who has proven himself determined in his wrong course. It is a perverse attitude, not simply ignorant, but sinful, for his own attitude condemns him. If in leaving him to God, the man is not recovered, he is likely to become more perverted, and go elsewhere to seek a following, for it is this he wants.
Paul evidently much desired to see Titus, and urges that when he (Paul) sends one of two brethren to Crete, Titus should do his utmost to come to Paul at Nicopolis in Macedonia. It may be that either the brother was to be a traveling companion for Titus, or that he was to remain in Crete for the help of the saints while Titus was absent.
However this may be, yet it appears there was a very real necessity of Paul’s having personal fellowship with Titus. It may be that, having labored long in Crete as he had, Titus needed the encouragement and strengthening of the fellowship of such a man as Paul. And the apostle had a heart of shepherd care for every servant, as well as for all saints.
But Titus is encouraged to give every consideration and help to Zenas the lawyer and Apollos, as they evidently were to visit Crete for the ministry of the Word of God. No doubt these were capable men, and one might ask if they could not supply the encouragement Titus needed. Yet one can be a capable teacher, and not have the gift and wisdom of a shepherd. And moreover, it might be as well for Titus to leave the scene of his labors for a time, to gain a more objective view of his circumstances and associations.
“Ours also” no doubt refers to Zenas and Apollos, or indeed any servant identified with Paul. They were not merely to depend on the kindness of others, but be diligent in maintaining good works in view of whatever necessities. For diligence in practical things is a becoming accompaniment of gift in spiritual things: this is faithfulness in daily, practical living.
Paul now sends greetings to Titus from all who were with him, and widens this to include all in Crete in whom the truth had wrought to produce love in the faith toward the Lord’s servants. All these are included in the grace he wishes Titus.
Verse 1
To be subject; to be obedient.
1. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, 2 To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, [but] gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.
Wow! Paul hadn’t laid enough on them. He had to give them another dose! PUT THEM IN MIND TO BE SUBJECT TO PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS.
In their own context this meant they were to be subject to leaders that were probably corrupt if not evil. Not a pleasant thought! Somewhat akin to being subject to a Democratic president backed by a democratic congress! BE SUBJECT is the admonition.
Even when the taxes go up and the services go down.
Even when the government takes more from you. You know, when you can’t trim your own trees in your own yard, because the city controls them.
Even when they make the speed limit 55.
Even when they pass a DUMB law like 24/7 20 mph school zone speed limits – one of the latest accomplishments of the Oregon Legislature.
Even when they aren’t what they are supposed to be – as in liars, cheats and crooks.
Even when you see your hard earned taxes turned over to those that are unwilling to work.
Even when you see the burglar that hit your house going free because there is no tax money left to keep them in jail.
Be subject. Yes, there are limits to this. Be subject as long as they don’t overstep the bounds of Scriptural right and wrong. If the government does decide to do wrong, then you have the right and allegation to do what is right. You must at the same time take the consequences that the government hands out.
Cases in point:
The 55-mph speed limit. It is clearly against the Bible so I can break that law – right? WRONG. I don’t know how many Christians I know, that break the speed limit and then brag about it to other believers. If you don’t believe me, go into a church parking lot and count the radar detectors in the cars.
How about abortion? Abortion is clearly wrong Biblically, yet the government says that it is okay. It is not commanded or ordered by the government so we don’t have to say no to it. We do have the problem of our taxes paying for abortions. That is a problem that seems to be growing today.
Obey magistrates or judges. You aren’t to go against what they say, unless, as we have mentioned they go against the clear teaching of Scripture. Again, be ready to take the consequences.
If we are placed in a position of disobeying a government, we will suffer the consequences, but the Lord will keep tabs on what the government has been doing and those responsible will be held accountable one day.
To be ready to every good work. Here we go again on those good works. This by the way is in the context of being subject to principalities and powers.
Let’s consider what good works might be accomplished within the realm of the government.
a. How about volunteering to help in some areas. We have volunteer trash pick up, we have volunteer help with foster homes, with problem teens, and many others, I suspect.
b. How about running for office? Local, state, federal. It is not wrong to hold public office. It won’t be easy – but not wrong.
There are many that see being in office un-Biblical, but I see nothing against it as long as you are not going against your call from the Lord to do something else. If we had more Christians in office, we would be making more headway toward good.
I have read recently that Europeans are finally becoming concerned about the Islamic take over of Europe. How dumb is that statement you say, however fact bears it out. The Muslims have been spending billions on evangelization for many years. They are moving into Europe at an increasing number. They are having large families and the Europeans are having small families. Now, it doesn’t take a math wizz to figure it out that sometime in the future the Muslims will out number the Europeans and the nations will begin to move toward Muslim thought.
It is not unlike our own Midwest. My hometown has one less Spanish church than it does Anglo churches – this is in mid-Nebraska. In some parts of California and, I would guess, Texas the Spanish are the majority.
Is this bad? Well if you consider we are paying the way for the illegal Spanish to come and live, we are in essence inviting them and paying them to take over our country. In the past the nations battled and the stronger moved their people in to take over the other country. Today we are seeing natural take overs by the lack of imposition of common sense laws in our own country and most likely the same in Europe if things don’t change.
Are these people horrible radicals looking to overthrow our country? Not in the least, they are just people that want a better life. It is our own blind inactive lawmakers that are allowing it to happen.
Why not give Mexico and the other countries supplying this influx the assistance they need to set up free economic systems that will foster better lives for them at home. I doubt many Mexican folks would leave their homeland if they could make the life for themselves there that they can make here.
Back to the government, there have been Catholic priests in congress for many years. Roman Catholics have been elected to school boards, and in years past actually controlled boards to the point where qualified nuns were hired to teach in the public classroom. Wrong? No, they are exercising their Biblical and public right. It would be considered, by the liberals, a separation of church and state if it were Christians that were controlling the board and hiring Christian teachers, but that is another discussion.
More and more believers are exercising this right and I am glad to see it. It is too bad that the fanatics are running for office. They detract from what they might be able to do by their radical statements and radical views.
We really need conservative Christian people getting involved in the system to guide it. Our system of government is great if the majority is moral and upright, but when the majority becomes immoral and unethical, the country cannot be on the right track for God.
The following are also in the context of being subject to the government:
Speak evil of no man
be no brawlers
gentle
shewing all meekness
Within our being subject and if the case should come, not being subject Biblically this should be our course of action. Speaking no evil, not being brawlers, being gentle and meek.
That does limit what we do as we disobey the government if we deem the government incorrect Biblically.
Since you asked, let’s consider our modern abortion problem. Are the anti-abortionist protesters acting in a Biblical manner?
For the most part they are, but when it comes to confrontation, they are not gentle and meek, but rather quite toward the brawler end of the spectrum.
We are seeing a radical element entering into the protests with burning, fighting and now killing which are not right in any stretch of the imagination.
Speak evil of no man is of note in that it is the word usually translated blaspheme. It normally relates to speaking ill of God Himself, yet Paul puts it here in this context. We are not to speak ill of those over us. Since, as in Rom 13:1-14 we know that the government is placed over us by God then if we blaspheme the government we in essence blaspheme the one that instituted the government – God.
Now, if you have a police officer that is yelling at you (and it seems today they only have one mode of speech – full yell), remember it is God that put him over you – if he is doing wrong it will be up to God to deal with him, not you. That is a harsh wake up call for the officer that mistreats those he has jurisdiction over. If he mistreats or abuses those God has placed over him, then he will be held accountable.
Just how do we watch the governmental goings on and still obey this phrase of Paul’s? When they are making city codes dealing with your private properties that restrict your use of your property, just how do you not speak evil of them, for at times the government is getting evil in its intrusion into our lives. Keep a good attitude and watch your tongue – hold it if you need to, but don’t speak evil of them.
This may well be hard. Years ago a friend had a man, a huge auto dealership owner that bought property next to their rural secluded home. As time went on the dealer began building a huge horse barn. Not only did the zoning and roads people not know that the barn was part of his plan, no one knew it until the construction was under way. All legal avenues were spent and the law sided with a man that was devious in many of his dealings with them.
Not only did he build this huge barn, but he built it as close to the property line as he could legally, so our friends looked out their windows at this huge barn. They planted a tall hedge row to block the view, but there was no way they could block out all the smells and traffic generated by the facility.
I must admit I am not sure I could have followed Paul’s encouragement not to speak evil. I wonder at the patience and calm resoluteness of our friends as they waded through these hard times. I probably would have become a brawler as Paul tells us not to be.
Next, Paul tells us to “be no brawlers” or not to be fighters. In relation to the above illustration, the friends did go through all the legal processes available to them and I think that this is right and correct. The Lord asks us to be in submission to our government, but says nothing of using the rights that the government gives to us. To use the legal system is quite appropriate if needed. However, due note should be given to the whole of Scripture where we are told not to go to law with a brother – that should be dealt within the church itself. (The word used here of “no brawlers” is only found elsewhere in 1Ti 3:3)
I personally feel that going to law in any case where you would be perceived as being vindictive or being evil should be avoided. In fact many believers can’t afford a lawyer so this is a mute point for many of us. This principle is based on the next few thoughts of Paul.
We are to be gentle – quiet, patient, equitable or fair according to the lexicon. To go to court out of retaliation does not seem right and correct for the believer. To go to stop injustice would seem to be a good use of the judicial system. To correct wrong would also be a good use, but to go for maliciousness sake, I don’t think we are on Biblical ground.
We are to show gentleness or mildness to all men. The two words “all” in this verse are that concept of all but not necessarily every. In general we are to be gentle to all men – does that allow you to blast some now and then and be okay – NO. The idea might be something along the line of be gentle to all you have dealings with. You don’t necessarily have to be gentle to the man in China that you will never in this lifetime meet – but if you do meet him show him all meekness and gentleness.
3:1 Put {1} them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
(1) He declares particularly and separately that which he said before generally, noting out certain main and principal duties which men owe to men, and especially subjects to their magistrates.
2. The behavior of all in the church 3:1-11
Paul broadened the focus of his instructions to clarify the responsibilities of all Christians in view of God’s grace.
Individual responsibility 3:1-8
"After a brief exhortation to Titus (Tit 2:15) to ’teach these things’ (at least Tit 2:1-14), Paul returns in this section to the major concern of the letter-’good works’ (i.e., genuinely Christian behavior) for the sake of the outsider (Tit 3:1-8) and in contrast to the false teachers (Tit 3:9-11)." [Note: Fee, p. 200.]
Instructions 3:1-2
Several duties of all Christians follow. We should (1) be subject to governmental rulers and other authorities by being obedient to them and (2) be ready to do whatever is good. We should (3) slander no one and (4) be peaceable (Gr. amachous, lit. non-fighting), gentle, and considerate toward everyone (cf. 1Pe 2:23).
"The Christian must not adopt the arts of the agitator." [Note: Hiebert, "Titus," p. 443.]
"So far Paul has been concerned with the internal arrangements of the Cretan churches and the duties of their members to one another. Now he comments briefly on their relationship to the civil power and their pagan environment generally. The point he makes is that they should be models of good citizenship precisely because the new, supernatural life of the Spirit bestowed by [Spirit] baptism finds expression in such an attitude." [Note: Kelly, p. 249.]
"People who are ever fighting are wretched citizens and neighbors; people who are willing to yield in gentleness are admirable, especially when they follow the gentle spirit of Jesus." [Note: Richard C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians, to the Thessalonians, to Timothy, to Titus, and to Philemon, p. 928.]
Chapter 24
THE DUTY OF OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY, WITH ITS LIMITS; THE DUTY OF COURTESY WITHOUT LIMITS. – Tit 3:1-3
ST. PAUL, having in the previous chapter sketched the special duties which Titus is to inculcate upon different classes of Christians, – aged men and aged women, young women, young men, and slaves, – now passes on to point out what must be impressed on all Christians alike, especially as regards their conduct towards those who are in authority and who are not Christians.
Here he is on delicate ground. The Cretans are said to have been a turbulent race, or rather a group of turbulent races; neither peaceable among themselves, nor very patient of foreign dominion: and the Roman rule had been established there for less than a century and a half. Previous to their conquest by Metellus in B.C. 67, they had been accustomed to democratic forms of government, and therefore would be likely to feel the change to the Roman yoke all the more acutely. As our own experiences in a neighboring island have taught us, people who have been allowed to misgovern themselves, and to fight among themselves, for many generations, do not readily give a welcome to a power which deprives them of these liberties, even when it offers in exchange for them the solid but prosaic advantages of peace and security. Besides this, there was in Crete a strong mixture of Jews, whose rebellious propensities seemed to be unquenchable. Nor was this all. Within the Church itself the spirit of anarchy had displayed itself: partly because, as in the Churches of Corinth and Galatia, the characteristic faults of the people still continued to show themselves after the acceptance of Christianity; partly because, as everywhere in the Churches of that age the contests between Jewish and Gentile converts were always producing disorder. This appears in the first chapter of our Epistle, in which the Apostle states that “there are many unruly men specially they of the circumcision,” and in which he finds it necessary to make it a qualification for the office of bishop or overseer, that the persons appointed should be such as “are not accused of riot or are unruly.” Besides which, as we learn from numerous sources in the New Testament, there was in various quarters a tendency to gross misconceptions respecting Christian liberty. Through Gnostic and other anti-nomian influences there was a disposition in many minds to translate liberty into license, and to suppose that the Christian was above the distinctions of the moral law, which for him had no meaning. Lastly, there were probably some earnest Christians, who, without going to any of these disastrous extremes, or sympathizing with the factious and seditious spirit of their fellow-countrymen, nevertheless had serious doubts as to whether Christians were under any obligation to obey a pagan magistrate, and perhaps were inclined to believe that it was their duty to disobey him.
For all these reasons St. Paul must have known that he was charging Titus to give instructions which would be very unwelcome to a large number of Cretan converts, when he told him to “put them in mind to be in subjection to rulers and authorities, and to be obedient.” But it was the very fact that the instructions would be unwelcome to many that made it so necessary that they should be given. Both for the internal well-being of the Church, and for the maintenance of right relations with the State, it was imperative that the principle of obedience to authority, whether ecclesiastical or civil, should be upheld. There must be peace, and there must be liberty: but there could be neither the one nor the other without a respect for law and for those who have to administer it.
The Apostle does not here argue the case. He lays down certain positions as indisputable. The loyal Christian must submit himself to those who are placed over him; he must render obedience to existing authorities. There is one obvious limit to this which he indicates by a single word to be noticed hereafter, but with that one qualification the duty of obedience is imperative and absolute. Jew and Gentile Christian alike must obey the laws, not only of the Church, as administered by its overseers, but also of the State, as administered by the magistrates, even though the State be a heathen power and the magistrate an idolater. The reason why St. Paul does not argue the matter is obvious. He is not writing to those who are likely to dispute or disobey these injunctions, but to one who has to see that they are obeyed. His object is not to prove the excellence of the rules which he lays down, but to advise Titus as to what rules are to be most insisted upon. Titus was well aware of the principles upon which these rules were based and of the arguments by which the Apostle was accustomed to defend them. He does not need information on that point. What the Apostle thinks may be necessary for his guidance is a clear intimation of those practical lessons of which the Cretans needed most to be reminded. It was quite possible that Titus might have taken the view that the question about obedience to existing authorities was a burning one, and that it would be better for the present to say as little about it as possible. To object, therefore, that these directions in the second and third chapters of this Epistle are unworthy of St. Paul, and consequently not written by him, because they contain nothing which might serve as a sufficient refutation of the adversaries, is to beat the air without effect. They contain nothing calculated to serve as a refutation of the adversaries, because the apostle writes with no intention of refuting opponents, but in order to give practical instructions to his delegate.
But although the Apostle does not here argue the case, we are not left in ignorance as to the principles upon which he based the rules here laid down so emphatically. The thirteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans is quite clear on that point. “There is no power but of God; and the powers that be are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, withstandeth the ordinance of God.” That is the kernel of the whole matter. The fact that a few rule over the many is not to be traced to a world-wide usurpation of the rights of the simple and the weak by the selfishness of the crafty and the strong. That theory may explain the terrorism of a bully, or of a band of brigands, or of a secret society; it is no explanation of the universal relations between governors and the governed. Nor is it the result of a primeval “social compact,” in which the weak voluntarily surrendered some of their rights in order to have the advantage of the protection of the strong: that theory is pure fiction, and finds no support either in the fact of mans nature, or in the relics of primitive society, or in the records of the past. The one explanation which is at once both adequate and true, is, that all authority is of Divine origin. This was the declaration of the Forerunner, when his disciples complained to him of the influence which Jesus exercised over those who came in contact with His teaching: “A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven.” {Joh 3:27} This was the declaration of the Christ, when the Roman Procurator pointed out to Him that He had power of life and death over Him: “Thou wouldest have no power against Me, except it were given thee from above”. {Joh 19:11} The power of the Redeemer over the minds of men and the power of a heathen governor over the bodies of men have one and the same source, – Almighty God. Christ declared His innocence and asserted His claims; but He made no protest against being tried by a pagan official, who represented the power that had deprived the Jewish nation of its liberties, because he also represented the principle of law and order, and as such was the representative of God Himself.
St. Paul, therefore, is doing more than restating what the Lord had already taught both by word and example. Christians must show submission to rulers and constituted authorities, and must yield ready obedience to magistrates, even when they are heathen. As heathen they were no doubt rebels against God, however little they might be aware of the fact. But as magistrates they were His delegates, however little they were aware of the fact. The Christian is aware of both facts; and he must not suppose that the one cancels the other. The magistrate still remains Gods delegate, however inconsistent his own life may be with such a position. Therefore it is not only allowable for Christians to obey him; but they must make it a matter of conscience to do so: and the history of the Church throughout the eras of persecution shows how greatly such teaching was needed. Whatever may have been the case when St. Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans, we may safely maintain that persecution had already taken place when he wrote these instructions to Titus. Not that he seems to have a persecuting power in his mind, when he enjoins simple obedience to existing authority; but he writes with full knowledge of the extreme cases that might occur. A moralist who could insist upon the duty of submission to rulers, when a Nero had been on the throne for twelve or fourteen years, was certainly not one who could be ignorant of what his principles involved. Nor could it be said that the evils of Neros insolent despotism were counteracted by the excellence of his subordinates. The infamous Tigellinus was Praetorian Prefect and the Emperors chief adviser. Helius, who acted as governor of Italy during the Emperors absence in Greece, was in character a second Nero. And Gessius Florus, one of Pilates successors as Procurator of Judea, was so shameless in his enormities that the Jews regretted the departure of his predecessor Albinus, although he had mercilessly oppressed them. But all these facts, together with many more of the same kind, and some also of an opposite character, were beside the question. Christians were not to concern themselves with discussing whether rulers governed well or ill, or whether their private lives were good or bad. The one fact which concerned them was that the rulers were there to administer the law, and as such must be respected and obeyed. The conscience of Christians and the experiences of politicians, whether rulers or ruled, throughout all the subsequent ages have ratified the wisdom of St. Pauls injunctions; and not only their wisdom, but their profound morality. Renan says with truth, but with a great deal less than the whole truth, that “Paul had too much tact to be a preacher of sedition: he wished that the name of Christian should stand well, and that a Christian should be a man of order, on good terms with the police, and of good repute in the eyes of the pagans” (“St. Paul,” p. 477). The criticism which resolves a profound moral principle into a mere question of tact is worthy of the critic who makes it. Certainly St. Paul was far-sighted enough to see that frequent collisions between Christians and the recognized administrators of the law would be no good thing for Christianity: but it was not because he believed obedience to be the best policy that he charged Titus to insist upon it.
It is of the very essence of a ruler that he is “not a terror to the good work, but to the evil: for he is a minister of God to thee for good an avenger for wrath to him that doeth evil.” It is quite possible that the law which he administers is unjust, or that he administers it in such a way as to make it work injustice, so that good deeds are punished and evil deeds are rewarded. But nowhere is good punished as good, or evil rewarded as evil. When Naboth was judicially murdered to gratify Jezebel, it was on the assumption that he was a blasphemer and a rebel; and when Jesus of Nazareth was condemned to death by the Sanhedrin and by the Procurator, it was on the assumption that he was guilty of similar crimes. So also with all the monstrous and iniquitous laws which have been made against Christianity and Christians. The persecuting edict “cast out their name as evil.”
It was because men believed, or professed to believe, that Christians were grievous offenders or dangerous citizens, that they brought them before the magistrates. And the same holds good of the religious persecutions of which Christians have been guilty against other Christians. Nowhere can we point to a case in which a person has been condemned for having been virtuous, or for having failed to commit a crime. Many have been condemned for what was really meritorious, or for refusing to do what was really wicked; but in all such cases the meritorious conduct and the wicked conduct were held to be of exactly the opposite character by the representatives of the law. Legally constituted authority, therefore, is always by profession, and generally in fact also, a terror to the evil and a supporter of the good. It is charged with the all-important duty of upholding right and punishing wrong in human conduct, a duty which it never disowns. For even when through blindness or perversity it upholds what is wrong or punishes what is right, it professes to be doing the opposite. Therefore to rebel against it is to rebel against the principle of moral government; it is a revolt against that principle which reflects and represents, and that by his ordinance, the moral government of Almighty God.
St. Paul assumes that rulers aim at what is just and right. The Christian is “to be ready unto every good work”: and, although the words are no doubt intended to have a general meaning as well, yet the context suggests that their primary meaning in this place is that Christians are always, not only to be obedient to rulers and magistrates, but to be ready to support and assist them in any good work: the presumption being that what the authorities direct is good. But, without perhaps having this object in view, the Apostle here indirectly intimates the limits to Christians obedience and support. They are to be given to further “every good work”: they cannot of course be given to further what is evil. What then must a Christian do when lawful authority requires him to do what he knows to be wrong? Is he to rebel? to stir up a revolt against those who make this demand? No, he is still “to be in subjection to rulers”: that is, he must disobey and quietly take the consequences. He owes it to his conscience to refuse to do what it condemns: but he also owes it to the representative of Divine law and order to abstain from shaking its authority. It has the power to give commands and the right to punish disobedience, and he has no right to refuse both obedience and punishment. To disobey and submissively take the consequences of disobedience is his plain duty in so painful a case. In this way, and in this way only, will loyalty to conscience and loyalty to authority both alike be preserved. In this way, and in this way best (as history has again and again shown), is the reformation of unjust laws effected. The moral sense of society is far more impressed by the man who disobeys for conscience sake and unresistingly goes to prison or mounts the scaffold for his disobedience, than by him who violently resists all attempts to punish him and stirs up rebellion against the authority which he cannot conscientiously obey. Rebellion may succeed in redressing injustice, but at a cost which is likely to be more grievous than the injustice which it redresses. Conscientious disobedience, accompanied by loyal submission to the penalty of disobedience, is sure to succeed in reforming unjust laws, and that without any cost to counterbalance the good thus gained.
Having thus trenchantly determined the duty of believers towards rulers and magistrates, St. Paul passes on to sketch their proper attitude towards other members of society. And just as in speaking of conduct towards authorities he evidently has in his mind the fact that most authorities are unbelievers, so in speaking of conduct in society he evidently is thinking of a state of society in which many of its members are unbelievers. What kind of conduct will Titus have to insist upon as befitting a Christian? “To speak evil of no man, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all meekness towards all men.”
It would he difficult to point to a precept which is more habitually violated by Christians at the present day, and therefore more worthy of constantly being brought to the front and urged upon their consideration. There are plenty of precepts both of the Old and of the New Testaments, which are habitually violated by the godless and the irreligious, by those who, while bearing the name of Christian, scarcely make even a pretence of endeavoring to live Christian lives. But here we have a group of precepts, which a large number, not only of those who profess to live soberly and righteously, but of those who do indeed in other respects live as Christians should, consent to forget or ignore. “To speak evil of no man; not to be contentious; to be gentle, showing all meekness towards all men.” Let us consider calmly what such words as these really mean; and then let us consider what we constantly meet with in the controversial writing, and still more in the controversial speaking, of the present day. Consider the tone of our party newspapers, and especially our religious newspapers, on the burning questions of the hour and on the men who take a leading part in them. Read what a High Church paper says of a Low Church Bishop, or what a Low Church paper says of a High Church Bishop, and measure it by the injunction “to speak evil of no man.” Or, again, read what some of the organs of Dissent allow themselves to say respecting the clergy of the Established Church, or what some Church Defense orators have allowed themselves to say respecting Liberationists, and measure it by the injunctions “not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all meekness towards all men.” It is sometimes necessary to speak out and call attention to real or suspected evils; although not nearly so frequently as we like to think. But it is never necessary to throw mud and deal in personal abuse.
Moreover, it is very unbecoming to do so. It is doubly unbecoming, as St. Paul reminds us. First, such conduct is utterly unchristian. Secondly, it is very much out of place in those who before now have been guilty of quite as grave faults as those for which we now abuse others. We are just the persons who ought to remember, because we know from personal experience how much the grace of God can effect. If we have by His mercy been brought out of the sins which we now condemn in other people, what may we not hope for in their case, provided we do not disgust them with virtue by our acrimonious and uncharitable fault-finding? Abuse is the wrong weapon to use against unrighteous conduct, just as rebellion is the wrong weapon to use against unrighteous laws.
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Fuente: International Critical Commentary New Testament
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: John Darby’s Synopsis of the New Testament
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary