Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Titus 1:1
Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
1 4. Apostolic Greeting
1. Paul, a servant of God ] A bond-servant (as R.V. margin) or slave of God; in St Paul’s other uses of this word as his title it is ‘slave of Jesus Christ.’ The variation has been well pointed to as an evidence of genuineness; ‘a forger would not have made a deviation so very noticeable.’ The reason for the variation is probably the same as for the phrase ‘God our Saviour’ here and through these epistles; see note 1Ti 1:1. Here in the Salutation itself we have ‘God’s slave,’ ‘God’s elect,’ ‘God who cannot lie,’ ‘God our Saviour.’ Paul is the minister of the One Personal Eternal God; it is ‘faith in Him,’ full knowledge of Him that is wanted where, as Lewin remarks was the case in Crete, ‘Judaism and then Gnosticism, its offspring, had corrupted the Word, and the Gospel had become so disfigured by strange phantasies that its features could scarcely be recognised.’
and an apostle of Jesus Christ ] The ‘and’ is in Vulgate ‘autem’ not ‘et’ or ‘sed,’ the exact force being almost ‘and so as a consequence.’
‘Jesus Christ’ is here the right order, as Tischendorf 8th ed. admits, though in 1Ti 1:1 ; 2Ti 1:1 ‘Christ Jesus’ should be read. See notes there. It is natural enough that the new order of the words should sometimes be displaced by the older and more familiar.
according to the faith ] Vulg. ‘secundum’; and the R.V. keeps according to rightly enough in spite of all modern commentators who wish for the meaning ‘with a view to’ as in Php 3:14, ‘I press on toward the goal,’ and think that ‘according to’ must imply that the faith and knowledge is the rule or norma of the Apostle’s office. But surely the word is not so narrow. Its common use, e.g. in ‘The Gospel according to St Matthew,’ gives a wider sense, ‘in the sphere of,’ ‘on the side of truth where St Matthew stands and sees and teaches.’ And this sense is of course directly derived from the proper meaning of the preposition ‘along,’ ‘throughout.’ So here, the faith and full knowledge of the Cretan Christians is the sphere within which he is to execute this commission from Jesus Christ as an apostle to them. His apostleship might have other spheres for other times and other Churches. Calvin says of St Paul’s commendation of his apostleship here ‘indicat ecclesiae magis quam unius Titi habitam a Paulo rationem.’
God’s elect ] Among the N.T. words corresponding to the universal later use of the word ‘Christians,’ 1Pe 4:16, are ‘those who are being saved,’ ‘the called,’ ‘the chosen’ or ‘elect,’ ‘the consecrated’ or ‘saints,’ ‘the faithful’ or ‘believers.’ The first chapter of St Peter’s first epistle touches all; ‘to the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion’ 1Pe 4: 1 ‘receiving now the salvation of your souls,’ 1Pe 4: 9 ‘like the Holy One which called you, be ye yourselves also holy ’ 1Pe 4: 15 ‘who through him are believers in God’ 1Pe 4: 21. Cf. 2Pe 1:10 ‘make your calling and election sure,’ 2Pe 1:1 ‘who have obtained faith,’ 2Pe 2:21 ‘the holy commandment delivered,’ cf. Rev 17:14 ‘ called and chosen and faithful.’ The name ‘faithful’ evidently means ‘those who have been made partakers of and received the faith’; and all the names describe a present state of privilege and sonship and grace, the same as that assigned to the baptized in the Catechism, ‘he hath called me to this state of salvation ’ ‘the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me and all the elect people of God,’ and in the Baptismal Services, ‘Grant that this child, now to be baptized therein, may receive the fulness of thy grace and ever remain in the number of thy faithful and elect children,’ ‘walk answerably to your Christian calling.’
the acknowledging of the truth ] Rather, the full knowledge, in opposition to the ‘knowledge falsely so called’ of Gnostic teachers; see Tit 1:16 and note on 1Ti 2:5.
after godliness ] The old English use of ‘after,’ according to; cf. Heb 5:6, ‘a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.’ The same preposition being used and in the same sense as just above ‘according to the faith.’ ‘The truth’ is not speculative but moral truth, affecting the life that they ‘may learn the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments, and all other things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul’s health.’ Pr.-Bk. Baptismal Service. For ‘godliness’ see note on 1Ti 2:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ – See notes at Rom 1:1; compare the notes at 1Co 9:1-5.
According to the faith of Gods elect – Compare the Rom 8:33 note; Eph 1:4 note; 2Ti 2:10 note. The meaning of the word rendered here, according to – kata – is, probably, with reference to; that is, he was appointed to be an apostle with respect to the faith of those whom God had chosen, or, in order that they might be led to believe the gospel. God had chosen them to salvation, but he intended that it should be in connection with their believing, and, in order to that, he had appointed Paul to be an apostle that he might go and make known to them the gospel. It is the purpose of God to save His people, but he does not mean to save them as infidels, or unbelievers. He intends that they shall be believers first – and hence he sends his ministers that they may become such.
And the acknowledging of the truth – In order to secure the acknowledgment or recognition of the truth. The object of the apostleship, as it is of the ministry in general, is to secure the proper acknowledgment of the truth among men.
Which is after godliness – Which tends to promote piety towards God. On the word rendered godliness, see the notes at 1Ti 2:2; 1Ti 3:16. – The truth, the acknowledgment of which Paul was appointed to secure, was not scientific, historical, or political truth: it was that of religion – that which was adapted to lead men to a holy life, and to prepare them for a holy heaven.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Tit 1:1
Paul, a servant of God
A servant of God
Servant of God, servant of Jesus Christ–this is the title by which each one of the writers of the Epistles of the New Testament describes himself in one place or another.
The title indicates their work in life, the place they hold in the world, and the definite object to which all their powers are devoted. For them God had tasks as much above the tasks and trials of Christians generally as the tasks of a great servant of State are above the responsibilities of those whom the State protects. St. Paul had parted company with what men care for and work for here, as the enthusiast for distant travel parts company with his home.
I. This character is exclusive in its object and complete in its self-dedication. St. Paul knew no other interest here but the immense one of his Masters purpose in the world; this scene of experience, of pain and pleasure, of life and death, was as if it had ceased to be, except as the field on which he was to spend and be spent in persuading men of what his Master meant for them.
II. It contemplates as the centre of all interest and hope, the highest object of human thought and devotion, a presence beyond the facts of experience, the presence of the invisible god. What St. Paul lived for, so whole-hearted, so single-minded, was to be one with the will and purpose of Him who had chosen him from the millions of mankind to bear His name before the world.
III. It accepts, as the measure of its labour and its endurance, the cross of jesus christ. For such a life a price had to be paid, and St. Pauls price was the acceptance of the fellowship of the cross of Christ. The likeness of the cross pervades every life of duty and earnestness–in lifelong trouble, in bereavement, in misunderstanding, in unjust suffering, in weary labour, in failure and defeat–Gods proof and test of strength is laid upon us all. But we must not confound with this that partnership in their Masters sufferings which was the portion of servants like St. Paul, and for which he sought expression in the awful language recalling the Passion–I am crucified with Christ; I fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ, etc. There is no reason why, without extravagance, without foolish or overstrained enthusiasm, we should not still believe that a life like St. Pauls is a natural one for a Christian to choose. We still reverence his words; and his words have all along the history of the Church found echoes in many hearts. There is a great past behind us–a past which is not dead, but lives–lives in every thought we think and every word we speak, lives in our hopes, in our confidences and joy in life, lives in those high feelings which thrill and soothe us at the grave. May we not be unworthy of such a past! (Dean Church.)
The honour of being a servant of God
This being the first title whereby the apostle would get himself authority, teacheth that the very name of a servant of God is full of honour and authority. The apostle, comparing the glory of Christ with the glory of the angels (Heb 1:14), advanceth them as far as possibly he can, that Christs glory, being so much more excellent than theirs there described, might be most highly exalted; and yet the highest ascent of their honour which he can rise unto is to title them ministering spirits standing about God, from which service they are honoured with glorious names, of thrones, dominations, powers, rulers, principalities; and although the Scriptures most usually under this title express the low and humble condition of Christ, who took on Him the form of a servant, yet also thereby the Lord would sometimes signify His great glory, as Isa 42:1.
1. This serves to teach ministers their duty, that seeing the Lord hath so highly honoured them as to draw them so near unto Himself, as it were admitting them into His presence chamber–yea, and unto His council table–they are in a way of thankfulness more straightly bound to two main duties
(1) Diligence;
(2) thankfulness.
2. This doctrine ministereth comfort unto those that are faithful in their ministry, whom, howsoever the world esteemeth of them, their Lord highly respecteth, admitteth them into His privy councils, and employeth in a service which the angels themselves desire to pry into.
3. Teacheth people how to esteem of their ministers, namely, as the servants of God, and consequently of their ministry as the message of God, which if it be, Moses must not be murmured at when he speaks freely and roughly; and if Micaiah resolve of faithfulness, saying, As the Lord liveth, whatsoever the Lord saith, be it good or evil, that will I speak, why should he be hated and fed with bread and water of affliction? Is it not a reasonable plea, and full of pacification in civil messages–I pray you be not angry with me; I am but a servant?
4. Let every private Christian account it also his honour that the Lord vouchsafeth him to become His servant; and hereby harden thyself against the scorns and derisions of mocking Michals, who seek to disgrace thy sincerity. If the ungodly of the world would turn thy glory into shame, even as thou wouldest have the Son of man not to be ashamed of thee in His kingdom, be not thou ashamed to profess thyself His servant, which is thy glory. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Willing service
Before the time when Abraham Lincoln emancipated three millions of coloured people in the Southern States of America, there was one day a slave auction in New Orleans. Amongst the number was a beautiful Mulatto girl, who was put upon the block to be sold to the highest bidder, like a cow or a horse. The auctioneer, dilating on the graces of the girl, her skill in working, and the beauty of her form, asked for a bid. The first offer was five hundred dollars, and the bids quickly rose to seven hundred dollars. Then a voice called from the outside of the crowd, Seven hundred and fifty dollars! The slave owners thereupon advanced their bids to eight hundred, eight hundred and fifty, and nine hundred dollars. The bids continued to rise, but whenever there was a pause the unseen bidder offered fifty dollars more, and at last the girl was knocked down to him for 1,450 dollars. He then came forward, and, paying the money, arranged to receive delivery of the lot in the morning. The slave girl saw that her purchaser was a Northerner, one of the hated Yankees, and was much disgusted to become his slave. The next morning her new owner called at the house, when the poor girl said with tears, Sir, I am ready to go with you. He gently replied, But I do not want you to go with me; please look over this paper! She opened the paper, and found that it was the gift of her freedom. The Northerner said, I bought you that you might be free! She exclaimed, You bought me that I might be free! Am I free? Free! Can I do as I like with myself? He answered, Yes, you are free! Then she fell down and kissed his feet, and almost choking with sobs of joy, she cried, Oh, sir, I will go with you, and be your servant for evermore!
And an apostle of Jesus Christ
High office means chief service in the Church
The apostle, by joining these two together, a servant and apostle, teacheth us that the chiefest offices in the Church are for the service of it. Was there any office above the apostles in the Church? And yet they preached the Lord Jesus, and themselves servants for His sake. Nay, our Lord Jesus Himself, although He was the Head of His Church, yet He came not into the world to be served, but to minister and serve.
1. Ministers must never conceive of their calling, but also of this service, which is not accomplished but by service; thus shall they be answerable to Peters exhortation (1Pe 3:3) to feed the flock of God depending upon them, not by constraint, but willingly; not as lords over Gods heritage, but as examples to the flock.
2. Wouldst thou know what ambition Christ hath permitted unto His ministers? It is even this, that he that would be chief of all should become servant of all. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
According to the faith of Gods elect
Gods elect
I. God hath some who are elect and chosen, and others are not. Men may be called the elect of God three ways.
1. In respect of some temporal function or ministry to which the Lord hath designed them (Joh 6:70).
2. In regard of that actual election and choice of some people and nations above others, unto the true means of life and salvation, so to become the people of Gods election.
3. In respect of that eternal election of God, which is according to grace, whereby of His good pleasure He chooseth from all eternity, out of all sorts of men, some to the certain fruition and fellowship of life eternal and salvation by Christ. These elect of God are here meant, the number of which is comparatively small; for many are called, but few chosen–a little flock, and a few that have found the narrow way.
II. These elect have a special faith, distinct by themselves.
1. For there is an historical faith, standing in an assent and acknowledgment of the truth of things written and taught.
2. There is also an hypocritical faith, which passeth the former in two degrees. First, in that with knowledge and assent is joined such a profession of the truth as shall carry a great show and form of godliness. Secondly, a kind of gladness and glorying in that knowledge; for it is ascribed to some, who in temptation shall fall away, to receive the Word with joy. To both which may be joined sometimes a gift of prophecy, sometimes of working miracles, as some in the last day shall say, Lord, have we not prophesied and cast out devils in Thy name? and yet they shall be unknown of Christ. Neither of these is the faith of the elect here mentioned, but a third kind, called saving faith, the inheritance of which is the property of the elect; for the just man only liveth by this faith, which in excellency passeth both the former in three worthy properties.
(1) In that here, with the act of understanding and assent unto the truth, there goeth such a disposition and affection of the heart as apprehendeth and applieth unto it the promise of grace unto salvation, causing a man to rejoice in God, framing him unto the fear of God and to the waiting through hope for the accomplishment of the promise of life.
(2) In that whereas both the former are dead, and not raising unto a new life in Christ, what shows soever be made for the time, the sun of persecution riseth, and such moisture is dried up. This is a lively and quickening grace, reaching into the heart Christ and His merits, who is the life of the soul and the mover of it to all godly actions, not suffering the believer to be either idle or unfruitful in the work of the Lord.
(3) Whereas both the former are but temporary, this is perpetual and lasting. The other, rising upon temporary causes and reasons, can last only for a time, as when men, for the pleasure of knowledge or the name of it, by industry attain a great measure of understanding in Divine things, or when, for note and glory or commodity, true or apparent, men profess the gospel. Let but these grounds fail a little, or persecution approach, they lay the key under the door, give up the house, and bid farewell to all profession. Thus many of Christs disciples, who thought they had truly believed in Him, and that many months, when they heard Him speak of the eating of His flesh and drinking His blood, went back, and walked with Him no more. But the matter is here far otherwise, seeing this faith of the elect hath the promise made good to it that the gates of hell shall never prevail against it.
III. This peculiar faith is wrought in the elect by the ministry of the word.
1. If this be the principal end of the ministry, let ministers herein employ their first and principal pains to bring men unto the faith.
2. The minister ought to propound before him Gods end in performance of every ministerial duty, and that is by enlightening, converting, confirming, comforting, to bring and stablish men in the faith.
3. The Lord having set out the ministry for this use, let every hearer acknowledge herein Gods ordinance, and yield themselves with all submission unto the ministry and the Word there preached, that thereby they may have faith wrought in their hearts.
4. Every man may hence examine himself, whether in the use of the ministry he finds saving faith begotten and wrought in his heart; and by examination some may find their understandings more enlightened, their judgments more settled, their practice in some things reformed; but a very few shall find Christ apprehended and rested in unto salvation, seeing so few there are that live by faith in the Son of God, for of all the sins that the Spirit may and shall rebuke the world of, this is the chief, because they believe not in Christ. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
And the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness
On the gospel being the truth after godliness
Here we have a full though compendious account of the nature of the gospel, ennobled by two excellent qualities. One, the end of all philosophical inquiries, which is truth; the other, the design of all religious institutions, which is godliness; both united, and as it were blended together in the constitution of Christianity. Those who discourse metaphysically of the nature of truth, as to the reality of the thing, affirm a perfect coincidence between truth and goodness; and I believe it might be easily made out that there is nothing in nature perfectly true but what is also really good. It would be endless to strike forth into the eulogies of truth; for, as we know, it was the adored prize for which the sublimest wits in the world have always run, and sacrificed their time, their health, their lives, to the acquist of; so let it suffice us to say here that as reason is the great rule of mans nature, so truth is the great regulator of reason.
I. Now in this expression of the gospels being the truth which is after godliness, these three things are couched.
1. It is a truth, and upon that account dares look its most inquisitive adversaries in the face. The most intricate and mysterious passages in it are vouched by an infinite veracity: and truth is truth, though clothed in riddles and surrounded with darkness and obscurity; as the sun has still the same native inherent brightness, though wrapped up in a cloud. Now, the gospel being a truth, it follows yet further that if we run through the whole catalogue of its principles, nothing can be drawn from thence, by legitimate and certain consequence, but what is also true. It is impossible for truth to afford anything but truth. Every such principle begets a consequence after its own likeness.
2. The next advance of the gospels excellency is that it is such a truth as is operative. It does not dwell in the mind like furniture, only for ornament, but for use, and the great concernments of life. The knowledge of astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, music, and the like, they may fill the mind, and yet never step forth into one experiment; but the knowledge of the Divine truths of Christianity is quick and restless, like an imprisoned flame, which will be sure to force its passage and to display its brightness.
3. The third and highest degree of its perfection is that it is not only operative, but also operative to the best of purposes, which is to godliness: it carries on a design for heaven and eternity. It serves the two greatest interests in the world, which are, the glory of the Creator and the salvation of the creature; and this the gospel does by being the truth which is after godliness. Which words may admit of a double sense
(1) That the gospel is so called because it actually produces the effects of godliness in those that embrace and profess it.
(2) That it is directly improvable into such consequences and deductions as have in them a natural fitness, if complied with, to engage the practice of mankind in such a course.
II. There are three things that I shall deduce from this description of the gospel.
1. That the nature and prime essential design of religion is to be an instrument of good life, by administering arguments and motives inducing to it.
(1) Religion designs the service of God, by gaining over to His obedience that which is most excellent in man, and that is the actions of his life and continual converse. That these are the most considerable is clear from hence, because all other actions naturally proceed in a subserviency to these.
(2) The design of religion is mans salvation; but men are not saved as they are more knowing or assent to more propositions, but as they are more pious than others. Practice is the thing that sanctifies knowledge; and faith without works expires, and becomes a dead thing, a carcase, and consequently noisome to God, who, even to those who know the best things, pronounces no blessing till they do them.
(3) The discriminating excellency of Christianity consists not so much in this, that it discovers more sublime truths, or indeed more excellent precepts, than philosophy (though it does this also), as that it suggests more efficacious arguments to enforce the performance of those precepts than any other religion or institution whatsoever.
(4) Notwithstanding the diversity of religions in the world, yet men hereafter will generally be condemned for the same things; that is, for their breaches of morality.
2. That so much knowledge of truth as is sufficient to engage mens lives in the practice of godliness serves the necessary ends of religion; for if godliness be the design, it ought also, by consequence, to be the measure of mens knowledge in this particular.
3. That whatsoever does in itself or its direct consequences undermine the motives of a good life is contrary to, and destructive of Christian religion. (R. South, D. D.)
The doctrine of the gospel
I. The doctrine of the gospel is the truth itself
1. Because the Author of it is truth itself, and cannot lie, it being a part of His Word, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.
2. Because the penmen of it were inspired by the Holy Ghost, and spake and wrote as they were moved by Him, who is called the Spirit of Truth (Joh 14:17).
3. Because it is a doctrine of Christ, and aimeth at Him who is the Truth principally, as well as the Way of our salvation.
II. The knowledge of this truth is the ground of faith.
1. Then slight is the faith of most, whatsoever men profess.
2. Waverers in religion and unsettled persons in their profession may hence be informed to judge of themselves and their present estate. We hear more than a few uttering such voices as these: There is such difference of opinion among teachers that I know not what to hold or whom to believe; but is not this openly to proclaim the want of faith, which is not only assuredly persuaded of, but certainly knoweth the truth of that it apprehendeth?
3. If the elect are brought to the faith by the acknowledging of the truth, then, after long teaching and much means, to be still blind and not to see the things of our peace is a most heavy judgment of God; for here is a forfeit of faith and salvation.
III. Whosoever in truth entertain the doctrine of the gospel, the hearts of such are framed unto godliness.
1. If this be the preeminence of the Word, to frame the soul to true godliness, then it is a matter above the reach of all human learning; and therefore the folly of those men is hence discovered who devote and bury themselves in profane studies, of what kind soever they be, thinking therein to obtain more wisdom than in the study of the Scriptures.
2. Every hearer of the truth must examine whether by it his heart be thus framed unto godliness, for else it is not rightly learned; for as this grace hath appeared to this purpose, to teach men to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly and justly and godly in this present world, so it is not then learned when men can only discourse of the death of Christ, of His resurrection, of His ascension, except withal there be some experience of the virtue of His death in themselves. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Redemptive truth
I. A grand enterprise.
1. An enterprise devoted to the highest purpose.
(1) The promotion of the faith of Gods elect;
(2) the promotion of the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness.
2. An enterprise employing the highest human agency.
II. A transcendent promise.
1. Transcendent in value.
2. In certitude.
3. In age.
III. A gradual revelation.
1. It was manifested at a proper time.
2. By apostolic preaching.
3. By the Divine command.
IV. A love-begetting power. Mine own son. The gospel converter becomes the father in the highest and divinest sense of the converted. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Lessons
I. An honourable designation.
1. Servant of God.
2. Apostle of Christ.
II. A glorious purpose–According to, or rather, perhaps, with reference to, the faith of Gods people. Sent by Jesus Christ in order to promote the faith of Gods elect.
III. The reasonableness of religion–The acknowledging of the truth. Faith is the central doctrine of Christianity, but is to be distinguished from blind credulity. The faith of the Christian is based on knowledge, on fact, on truth (2Pe 1:16; 1Jn 1:1-3).
IV. The practical character of religion–The truth which is after godliness; that is, piety. Original word probably derived from one signifying good, brave, noble. Paul was himself emphatically a model of manliness and devout courage. (F. Wagstaff.)
The grandest end and means of life
In this verse the apostle speaks of himself as
1. Possessing a character common to the good of all worlds–Servant of God. All creatures are servants of God–some without their will, some according to their will. Paul served God freely, cordially, devotedly.
2. Sustaining an office peculiar to a few–Apostle. Peculiar in appointment, number, and authority.
3. Engaged in a work binding on all Christians. To promote the faith of Gods elect–that is, of His people–and the knowledge of the truth which leads to godliness.
I. Godliness is the grandest end of being. In the Old Testament the good are called godly (Psa 4:3; Psa 12:1; Psa 32:6; Mal 2:15). In the New Testament goodness is called godliness (1Ti 2:2; 1Ti 4:7-8; 1Ti 6:3; 1Ti 6:5-6; 2Ti 3:5; 2Pe 1:3; 2Pe 1:6-7; 2Pe 3:11). Godliness is moral likeness to God.
II. Truth is the grandest means of being. All truth is of God, natural and spiritual. The truth here referred to is the gospel truth–the truth as it is in Jesus–which, while it illustrates, vivifies and emphasises all other truth, goes beyond it, opens up new chapters of Divine revelation. It is not only moral truth, but redemptive truth, and redemptive truth not in mere propositions, but in a Divine life. This truth is the power of God unto salvation; it delivers from depravity, prejudice, guilt; it raises to purity, truth, peace. (Homilist.)
Truth as a medium of godliness
Suppose that a person wishing to send a message from London to Edinburgh by lightning knows how to construct an electric battery; but, when he comes to consider how he will transmit the impulse through hundreds of miles, he looks at an iron wire and says, This is dull, senseless, cold; has no sympathy with light: it is unnatural, in fact irrational, to imagine that this dark thing can convey a lightning message in a moment. From this he turns and looks at a prism. It glows with the many-coloured sunbeam. He might say, This is sympathetic with light, and in its flashing imagine that he saw proof that his message would speed through it; but when he puts it to the experiment, it proves that the shining prism will convey no touch of his silent fire, but that the dull iron will transmit it to the farthest end of the land. And so with Gods holy truth. It alone is adapted to carry into the soul of man the secret fire, which writes before the inner eye of the soul a message from the Unseen One in the skies. (T. W. Jenkyn, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO TITUS.
Chronological Notes relative to this Epistle.
-Year of the Constantinopolitan era of the world, or that used by the Byzantine historians, 5573.
-Year of the Alexandrian era of the world, 5567.
-Year of the Antiochian era of the world, 5557.
-Year of the Julian period, 4775.
-Year of the world, according to Archbishop Usher, 4069.
-Year of the world, according to Eusebius, in his Chronicon, 4293.
-Year of the minor Jewish era of the world, or that in common use, 3825.
-Year of the Greater Rabbinical era of the world, 4424.
-Year from the Flood, according to Archbishop Usher, and the English Bible, 2413.
-Year of the Cali yuga, or Indian era of the Deluge, 3167.
-Year of the era of Iphitus, or since the first commencement of the Olympic games, 1005.
-Year of the era of Nabonassar, king of Babylon, 812.
-Year of the CCXIth Olympiad, 1.
-Year from the building of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor, 812.
-Year from the building of Rome, according to Frontinus, 816.
-Year from the building of Rome, according to the Fasti Capitolini, 817.
-Year from the building of Rome, according to Varro, which was that most generally used, 818.
-Year of the era of the Seleucidae, 377.
-Year of the Caesarean era of Antioch, 113.
-Year of the Julian era, 110.
-Year of the Spanish era, 103.
-Year from the birth of Jesus Christ according to Archbishop Usher, 69.
-Year of the vulgar era of Christ’s nativity, 65 or 66.
-Year of Gessius Florus, governor of the Jews, 1.
-Year of Vologesus, king of the Parthians, 16.
-Year of L. C. Gallus, governor of Syria, 1.
-Year of Matthias, high priest of the Jews, 3.
-Year of the Dionysian period, or Easter Cycle, 66.
-Year of the Grecian Cycle of nineteen years, or Common Golden Number, 9; or the first after the third embolismic.
-Year of the Jewish Cycle of nineteen years, 6, or the second embolismic.
-Year of the Solar Cycle, 18.
-Dominical Letter, it being the first after the Bissextile, or Leap Year, F.
-Day of the Jewish Passover, according to the Roman computation of time, the VIIth of the ides of April, or, in our common mode of reckoning, the seventh of April, which happened in this year on the day after the Jewish Sabbath.
-Easter Sunday, the day after the ides of April, or the XVIIIth of the Calends of May, named by the Jews the 22d of Nisan or Abib; and by Europeans in general, the 14th of April.
-Epact, or age of the moon on the 22d of March, (the day of the earliest Easter Sunday possible,) 28.
-Epact, according to the present mode of computation, or the moon’s age on New Year’s day, or the Calends of January, 5.
-Monthly Epacts, or age of the moon on the Calends of each month respectively, (beginning with January,) 5, 7, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 12, 14, 14.
-Number of Direction, or the number of days from the twenty-first of March to the Jewish Passover, 17.
-Year of the reign of Caius Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar, the fifth Roman emperor computing from Augustus Caesar, 12.
-Roman Consuls, A. Licinius Nerva Silanus, and M. Vestinius Atticus; the latter of whom was succeeded by Aninius Cerealis, on July 1st.
CHAPTER I.
The apostle’s statement of his character, his hope, and his
function, 1-3.
His address to Titus, and the end for which he left him in
Crete, 4,5.
The qualifications requisite in those who should be appointed
elders and bishops in the Church of God, 6-9.
Of false teachers, 10, 11.
The character of the Cretans, and how they were to be dealt
with, 12-14.
Of the pure, the impure, and false professors of religion,
15, 16.
NOTES ON CHAP. I.
Verse 1. Paul, a servant of God] In several places of his other epistles St. Paul styles himself the servant of Jesus Christ, but this is the only place where he calls himself the servant of God. Some think that he did this to vindicate himself against the Jews, who supposed he had renounced God when he admitted the Gentiles into his Church. But if thus to vindicate himself was at all necessary, why was it not done in his Epistle to the Romans, the grand object of which was to prove that the Gentiles came legally into the Church on believing in Christ, with out submitting to circumcision, or being laid under obligation to observe the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish law? This reason seems too fanciful. It is very likely that in the use of the phrase the apostle had no particular design; for, according to him, he who is the servant of Christ is the servant of God, and he who is God’s servant is also the servant of Christ.
The faith of God’s elect] The Christians, who were now chosen in the place of the Jews, who, for their obstinate rejection of the Messiah, were reprobated; i.e. cast out of the Divine favour.
The acknowledging of the truth] For the propagation of that truth, or system of doctrines, which is calculated to promote godliness, or a holy and useful life.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Paul, a servant of God; that is, in the work of the ministry.
And an apostle of Jesus Christ; who glory in this as my greatest honour and dignity, that I was one immediately sent by Jesus Christ to preach the gospel.
According to the faith of God’s elect; according to what the elect, or chosen of God from the beginning of the world, have believed; so as it is no new doctrine which I bring: or else here should be translated for, denoting the final cause, as some judge it signifieth, 2Ti 1:1, and in Tit 1:9 of this chapter; then the sense is, that he was sent to be an instrument to beget faith in such as God had chosen unto life. Act 26:18, for those only ordained to eternal life believe, Act 13:48, and Paul was sent to be a helper of their faith. Some think the apostle by this phrase only distinguisheth himself from the ministers of the law.
And the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; to which faith men are brought by the knowledge of the truth, and it worketh by the owning, profession, and acknowledgment of the truth; not all propositions of truth, but that which is productive of a godly life, lying in the true worship of God, and a universal obedience to the Divine will.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. servant of Godnot foundelsewhere in the same connection. In Ro1:1 it is “servant of Jesus Christ” (Gal 1:10;Phi 1:1; compare Act 16:17;Rev 1:1; Rev 15:3).In Ro 1:1, there follows,”called to be an apostle,” which corresponds to thegeneral designation of the office first, “servant ofGOD,” here, followedby the special description, “apostle of Jesus Christ.“The full expression of his apostolic office answers, in bothEpistles, to the design, and is a comprehensive index to thecontents. The peculiar form here would never have proceededfrom a forger.
according to thefaithrather, “for,” “with a view to subservethe faith”; this is the object of my apostleship (compareTit 1:4; Tit 1:9;Rom 1:5).
the electfor whosesake we ought to endure all things (2Ti2:10). This election has its ground, not in anything belonging tothose thus distinguished, but in the purpose and will of God fromeverlasting (2Ti 1:9; Rom 8:30-33;compare Luk 18:7; Eph 1:4;Col 3:12). Ac13:48 shows that all faith on the part of the elect, rests on thedivine foreordination: they do not become elect by theirfaith, but receive faith, and so become believers, becausethey are elect.
and the acknowledging of thetruth“and (for promoting) the full knowledge ofthe truth,” that is, the Christian truth (Eph1:13).
after godlinessthatis, which belongs to piety: opposed to the knowledge which hasnot for its object the truth, but error, doctrinal and practical(Tit 1:11; Tit 1:16;1Ti 6:3); or even which has forits object mere earthly truth, not growth in the divine life.”Godliness,” or “piety,” is a term peculiar tothe Pastoral Epistles: a fact explained by the apostle having in themto combat doctrine tending to “ungodliness” (2Ti2:16; compare Tit 2:11;Tit 2:12).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Paul, a servant of God,…. So James styles himself, Jas 1:1 and others of the apostles, as Peter and Jude, call themselves the servants of Jesus Christ; and as does the Apostle Paul also; and both seem to be esteemed by them as high characters and titles of honour, by which they chose to be described and known. Paul, before his conversion, was a servant of sin, of divers lusts and pleasures, and which he owns in this epistle, Tit 3:3 but being called by grace, he became free from the vassalage of sin, and became a servant of God, and of righteousness; and henceforward, from a principle of grace, and being constrained by love, served the Lord, and yielded obedience to his commands and ordinances, with all readiness and cheerfulness: though this character belongs to him in a higher sense than it does to believers in common; and respects his ministerial service, or his serving God in the Gospel of his Son; in which he, and others, were eminently the servants of the most high God, whose business greatly lay in showing unto men the way of salvation.
And an apostle of Jesus Christ: constituted, qualified, and sent by him to preach his Gospel; and who had his mission, commission, and doctrine from him; and was an ambassador of his, who represented him, and preached him; and had a power of working miracles to confirm his mission and ministry; and so had all the signs and proofs of an apostle in him; [See comments on Ro 1:1].
And according to the faith of God’s elect: which may either denote the agreement there was between the ministry of the apostle, and the faith of the choice and eminent saints of God, under the former dispensation; he saying no other things than what Moses, and the prophets did; and laying no other foundation of salvation than they did, and which is therefore called the foundation of the apostles and prophets; and directing souls to the righteousness, sacrifice, and blood of Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, to which the faith of Old Testament saints looked, and by whose grace they were justified, pardoned, and saved, as we are: or else the way and manner in which he became an apostle; it was “by, in, or through the faith of God’s elect”, as the Syriac version renders it; he was chosen of God, and brought as such to believe in Christ, and then called to be an apostle: or rather this may regard the end of his apostleship, and be rendered, “unto the faith of God’s elect”; that is, either he was appointed an apostle, to preach the doctrine of faith, which once he destroyed, and which is but one, and is common to all the elect, and what is commonly received, and embraced by the elect of God, in all ages; or to be a means and instrument of bringing the elect of God to that faith in Christ, which is peculiar to them; see Ro 1:5. There are some persons who are styled the elect of God; these are not all men, some are vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, ungodly men, foreordained to condemnation and given up to believe a lie, that they might be damned; nor the Jews only, nor all of them, for though, as a nation, they were chosen, above all others, to many outward privileges, yet they were not chosen to special grace, and eternal glory; only a remnant, according to the election of grace: but these are some of both, Jews and Gentiles; some of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation; these were chosen in Christ from eternity, and are the peculiar objects of the affection and care of God, whom he calls, justifies, and glorifies: and there is a special “faith” that belongs to these; which is a spiritual looking to Christ, a going to him, a laying hold and leaning on him, and trusting in him for salvation; and this faith is peculiar to the elect of God; all men have it not, and those that have it, have it through the free gift of God; nor is it given to any but to the chosen ones. The reason why the Jews did not believe in Christ, was, because they were not of this number, Joh 10:26. And this faith is secured and, made sure to them by their election; they are chosen to it, and through it to salvation; they believe in consequence, and by virtue of it; and certainly obtain it in all ages, as well as righteousness, life, and salvation; and it is that by which they are known to be the elect of God: and the apostle mentions it in this form, and manner, to distinguish it from other faith; the faith of devils, and of reprobates, and the historical and temporal faith of hypocrites, and nominal professors.
And the acknowledging of the truth; by which is meant the Gospel, often called the truth, and the word of truth; in distinction from that which was shadowy, the ceremonies of the law; and in opposition to that which is false, it being from the God of truth, concerning Christ, who is the truth; and containing nothing but truth, and what is led into by the Spirit of truth. Now to preach, spread, and defend this, was the apostle constituted in his office as such; and which he did preach with all clearness and faithfulness, to bring souls to a spiritual and experimental knowledge of it, and so to an acknowledgment, a public owning and professing of it:
which is after godliness; the Gospel is a doctrine according to godliness; the truths of it have an influence, both on internal and external godliness; they direct to, and promote the worship and fear of God, and a religious, righteous, sober, and godly life and conversation.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Introduction; The Apostle’s Charge to Titus. | A. D. 66. |
1 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; 2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; 3 But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour; 4 To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Here is the preface to the epistle, showing,
I. The writer. Paul, a Gentile name taken by the apostle of the Gentiles, Act 13:9; Act 13:46; Act 13:47. Ministers will accommodate even smaller matters, so that they may be any furthering of acceptance in their work. When the Jews rejected the gospel, and the Gentiles received it, we read no more of this apostle by his Jewish name Saul, but by his Roman one, Paul. A servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Here he is described by his relation and office: A servant of God, not in the general sense only, as a man and a Christian, but especially as a minister, serving God in the gospel of his Son, Rom. i. 9. This is a high honour; it is the glory of angels that they are ministering spirits, and sent forth to minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation, Heb. i. 14. Paul is described more especially as a chief minister, an apostle of Jesus Christ; one who had seen the Lord, and was immediately called and commissioned by him, and had his doctrine from him. Observe, The highest officers in the church are but servants. (Much divinity and devotion are comprehended in the inscriptions of the epistles.) The apostles of Jesus Christ, who were employed to spread and propagate his religion, were therein also the servants of God; they did not set up any thing inconsistent with the truths and duties of natural religion. Christianity, which they preached, was in order to clear and enforce those natural principles, as well as to advance them, and to superadd what was fit and necessary in man’s degenerate and revolted state: therefore the apostles of Jesus Christ were the servants of God, according to the faith of God’s elect. Their doctrine agreed with the faith of all the elect from the beginning of the world, and was for propagating and promoting the same. Observe, There are elect of God (1 Pet. i. 2), and in these the Holy Spirit works precious divine faith, proper to those who are chosen to eternal life (2Th 2:13; 2Th 2:14): God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel. Faith is the first principle of sanctification. And the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. The gospel is truth; the great, sure, and saving truth (Col. i. 5), the word of the truth of the gospel. Divine faith rests not on fallible reasonings and probable opinions, but on the infallible word, the truth itself, which is after godliness, of a godly nature and tendency, pure, and purifying the heart of the believer. By this mark judge of doctrines and of spirits–whether they be of God or not; what is impure, and prejudicial to true piety and practical religion, cannot be of divine original. All gospel truth is after godliness, teaching and nourishing reverence and fear of God, and obedience to him; it is truth not only to be known, but acknowledged; it must be held forth in word and practice, Phi 2:15; Phi 2:16. With the heart man believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, Rom. x. 10. Such as retain the truth in unrighteousness neither know nor believe as they ought. To bring to this knowledge and faith, and to the acknowledging and professing of the truth which is after godliness, is the great end of the gospel ministry, even of the highest degree and order in it; their teachings should have this chief aim, to beget faith and confirm in it. In (orfor) hope of eternal life, v. 2. This is the further intent of the gospel, to beget hope as well as faith; to take off the mind and heart from the world, and to raise them to heaven and the things above. The faith and godliness of Christians lead to eternal life, and give hope and well-grounded expectation of it; for God, that cannot lie, hath promised it. It is the honour of God that he cannot lie or deceive: and this is the comfort of believers, whose treasure is laid up in his faithful promises. But how is he said to promise before the world began? Answer, By promise some understand his decree: he purposed it in his eternal counsels, which were as it were his promise in embryo: or rather, say some, pro chronon aionion is before ancient times, or many years ago, referring to the promise darkly delivered, Gen. iii. 15. Here is the stability and antiquity of the promise of eternal life to the saints. God, who cannot lie, hath promised before the world began, that is, many ages since. How excellent then is the gospel, which was the matter of divine promise so early! how much to be esteemed by us, and what thanks due for our privilege beyond those before us! Blessed are your eyes, for they see, c. No wonder if the contempt of it be punished severely, since he has not only promised it of old, but (<i>v. 3) has in due times manifested his word through preaching; that is, made that his promise, so darkly delivered of old, in due time (the proper season before appointed) more plain by preaching; that which some called foolishness of preaching has been thus honoured. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, by the word preached. Which is committed unto me. The ministry is a trust; none taketh this honour, but he who is thereunto appointed; and whoso is appointed and called must preach the word. 1 Cor. ix. 16, Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Nonpreaching ministers are none of the apostle’s successors. According to the commandment of God our Saviour. Preaching is a work appointed by a God as a Saviour. See a proof here of Christ’s deity, for by him was the gospel committed to Paul when he was converted (Act 9:15; Act 9:17; Act 22:10; Act 22:14; Act 22:15), and again when Christ appeared to him, v. 17-21. He therefore is this Saviour; not but that the whole Timothy concur therein: the Father saves by the Son through the Spirit, and all concur in sending ministers. Let none rest therefore in men’s calling, without God’s; he furnishes, inclines, authorizes, and gives opportunity for the work.
II. The person written to, who is described, 1. By his name, Titus, a Gentile Greek, yet called both to the faith and ministry. Observe, the grace of God is free and powerful. What worthiness or preparation was there in one of heathen stock and education? 2. By his spiritual relation to the apostle: My own (or my genuine) son, not by natural generation, but by supernatural regeneration. I have begotten you through the gospel, said he to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. iv. 15. Ministers are spiritual fathers to those whom they are the means of converting, and will tenderly affect and care for them, and must be answerably regarded by them. “My own son after the common faith, that faith which is common to all the regenerate, and which thou hast in truth, and expressest to the life.” This might be said to distinguish Titus from hypocrites and false teachers, and to recommend him to the regard of the Cretans, as being among them a lively image of the apostle himself, in faith, and life, and heavenly doctrine. To this Titus, deservedly so dear to the apostle, is,
III. The salutation and prayer, wishing all blessings to him: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. Here are, 1. The blessings wished: Grace, mercy, and peace. Grace, the free favour of God, and acceptance with him. Mercy, the fruits of that favour, in pardon of sins, and freedom from all miseries by it, both here and hereafter. And peace, the positive effect and fruit of mercy. Peace with God through Christ who is our peace, and with the creatures and ourselves; outward and inward peace, comprehending all good whatsoever, that makes for our happiness in time and to eternity. Observe, Grace is the fountain of all blessings. Mercy, and peace, and all good, spring out of this. Get into God’s favour, and all must be well; for, 2. These are the persons from whom blessings are wished: From God the Father, the fountain of all good. Every blessing, every comfort, comes to us from God as a Father; he is the Father of all by creation, but of the good by adoption and regeneration. And the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour, as the way and means of procurement and conveyance. All is from the Father by the Son, who is Lord by nature, heir of all things, and our Lord, Redeemer, and head, ordering and ruling his members. All are put under him; we hold of him, as in capite, and owe subjection and obedience to him, who is also Jesus and Christ, the anointed Saviour, and especially our Saviour, who believe in him, delivering us from sin and hell, and bringing us to heaven and happiness.
Thus far is the preface to the epistle; then follows the entrance into the matter, by signifying the end of Titus’s being left in Crete.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
According to the faith of God’s elect ( ). Here expresses the aim of Paul’s apostleship, not the standard by which he was chosen as in Php 3:14; a classic idiom, repeated here with , , , “with a view to” in each case. For “God’s elect” see Rom 8:33; Col 3:12.
The knowledge (). “Full knowledge,” one of Paul’s favourite words. For the phrase see 1Ti 2:4.
Which is according to godliness ( ‘ ). “The (truth) with a view to godliness.” The combination of faith and full knowledge of the truth is to bring godliness on the basis of the hope of life eternal.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
An apostle – according to the faith of God ‘s elect, etc. The norm of the apostolate in each of the three Epistles is unique, and not Pauline. In 1 Timothy, according to the commandment of God : in 2 Timothy, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus. Kata according to, not for the faith, but corresponding to the norm or standard of faith which is set for God ‘s elect.
And acknowledging of the truth [ ] . For acknowledging rend. knowledge. For the phrase, see on 1Ti 2:4. Governed, like pistin faith, by kata. The writer is an apostle according to the faith of God ‘s elect, and according to the truth which is contained in the faith, as that truth is intelligently apprehended and held.
‘Which is after godliness [ ] . Or according to godliness. Comp. 1Ti 6:3. This addition describes the peculiar and essential character of the truth which is held and known by God ‘s elect, namely, that it is concerned with the fear and obedience of God – all that constitutes true piety. See on 1Ti 1:10.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
INTRODUCTION TO TITUS
A) Writer – Paul, Tit 1:1.
B) To – Titus, Pastor at Crete, Tit 1:4-5.
C) About 65 A.D.
D) Occasion 1) To warn those in Crete who were careless with the truth and 2) To correct moral, ethical, and doctrinal errors and set in order, worship and services in the church, Tit 1:5-6.
OUTLINE OF THE BOOK
CHAPTER 1- DIVINE ORDER FOR CHURCHES
a) 1: 1-5 Greetings and Hope
b) 1:6 Setting in Order things locking & ordaining Elders
c) 1:7-9 Qualifications & Duties of Bishops
CHAPTER 2
a) Pastoral Duties For age levels or Doctrine
1. Aged men v. 2
2. Aged women v. 3
3. Younger women v. 4-5
4. Younger men v. 6-8
5. Servants v. 9, 10
b) Saving, Separation, and Working Grace v. 11,12
c) looking for the Blessed Hope v. 13,15
CHAPTER 3
a) Respect for civil government v. 1-3
b)Salvation revealed by mercy & grace v. 4-7
c) Maintaining good works v. 8
d) Avoiding contentions, strivings, etc., v. 9-11
e) Final Greetings and Exhortations, v. 12-15
DIVINE ORDER FOR LOCAL CONGREGATIONS
A) Writer – Paul, Tit 1:1.
B) To – Titus, Tit 1:4-5.
C) About 65 A.D.
D) Occasion 1) To warn those in Crete who were careless with the truth and 2) To correct, set in order, worship and services in the church, Tit 1:5.
1) “Paul a servant of God.” Once a slave to Satan and sin, but now as a (Gk. doulos) slave; from the slave-market, (purchased); he considered himself to be a slave to Jesus, swallowed up in the will of God. Rom 1:15-16.
2) “And an apostle of Jesus Christ.” – (apostolos de ieson christon) “Moreover, an apostle of Jesus Christ” – The term (apostolos) indicates “one sent by special commission or designated authoritatively to act in behalf of the sender.” Act 9:15-16; Act 22:15-18.
3) “According to the faith of God’s elect.” (kata pistin eklekton theou) “According to the faith (system of teachings) of chosen, elected, or called out ones of God.” Paul’s special call to preach the Gospel was in perfect accord with the call and commission of the church. Mat 28:20.
4) “And the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness.” (kai epignosin aletheias tes kat’ eusebeion) “And a full comprehension of the truth according to standards of piety.” Paul established his identity as first a bondservant of God, wholly sold to his will, and sent authoritatively by Jesus Christ, according to the faith of the elect (church) to preach the truth, while living a standard of godliness. 1Co 11:1.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. A servant of God This extended and laborious commendation of his apostleship shows that Paul had in view the whole Church, and not Titus alone; for his apostleship was not disputed by Titus, and Paul is in the habit of proclaiming the titles of his calling, in order to maintain his authority. Accordingly, just as he perceives those to whom he writes to be disposed, he deals largely or sparingly in those ornaments. Here his design was, to bring into subjection those who had haughtily rebelled; and for this reason he extols his apostleship in lofty terms. He therefore writes this Epistle, not that it may be read in solitude by Titus in his closet, but that it may be openly published.
An Apostle of Jesus Christ First, he calls himself “a servant of God,” and next adds the particular kind of his ministry, namely, that he is “an Apostle of Christ;” for there are various ranks among the servants of God. Thus he descends from the general description to the particular class. We ought also to keep in remembrance what I have said elsewhere, that the word servant means something else than ordinary subjection, (on account of which all believers are called “servants of God,”) and denotes a minister who has received a particular office. In this sense the prophets were formerly distinguished by this title, and Christ himself is the chief of the prophets:
“
Behold my servant, I have chosen him.” (Isa 42:1.)
Thus David, with a view to his royal dignity calls himself “a servant of God.” Perhaps, also, it is on account of the Jews that he designates himself “a servant of God;” for they were wont to lower his authority by alleging the law against him. He therefore wishes to be accounted an Apostle of Christ in such a manner that he may likewise glory in being a servant of the eternal God. Thus he shows not only that those two titles are quite consistent with each other, but that they are joined by a bond which cannot be dissolved.
According to the faith of the elect of God (209) If any one doubt about his apostleship, he procures credit for it by a very strong reason, connecting it with the salvation “of the elect of God.” As if he had said, “There is a mutual agreement between my apostleship and the faith of the elect of God; and, therefore, it will not be rejected by any man who is not a reprobate and opposed to the true faith.”
By “the elect” he means not only those who were at that time alive, but all that had been from the beginning of the world; for he declares that he teaches no doctrine which does not agree with the faith of Abraham and of all the fathers. So, then, if any person in the present day wishes to be accounted a successor of Paul, he must prove that he is the minister of the same doctrine. But these words contain also an implied contrast, that the gospel may suffer no damage from the unbelief and obstinacy of many; for at that time, as well as in the present day, weak minds were greatly disturbed by this scandal, that the greater part of those who boasted of the title of the Church rejected the pure doctrine of Christ. For this reason Paul shows that, though all indiscriminately boast of the name of God, there are many of that multitude who are reprobates; as he elsewhere (Rom 9:7) affirms, that not all who are descended from Abraham according to the flesh, are the lawful children of Abraham.
And the knowledge of that truth I consider the copulative and to be here equivalent to that is; so that the passage might run thus: “according to the faith of the elect of God, that is, the knowledge of that truth which is according to godliness.” This clause explains what is the nature of that “faith” which he has mentioned, though it is not a full definition of it, but a description framed so as to apply to the present context. For the purpose of maintaining that his apostleship is free from all imposture and error, he solemnly declares that it contains nothing but known and ascertained truth, by which men are instructed in the pure worship of God. But as every word has its own weight, it is highly proper to enter into a detailed explanation.
First, when “faith” is called “knowledge,” it is distinguished not only from opinion, but from that shapeless faith which the Papists have contrived; for they have forged an implicit faith destitute of all light of the understanding. But when Paul describes it to be a quality which essentially belongs to faith — to know the truth, he plainly shews that there is no faith without knowledge.
The word truth expresses still more clearly the certainty which is demanded by the nature of faith; for faith is not satisfied with probable arguments, but holds what is true. Besides, he does not speak of every kind of truth, but of the heavenly doctrine, which is contrasted with the vanity of the human understanding. As God has revealed himself to us by means of that truth, so it is alone worthy of the honor of being called “the truth” — a name which is bestowed on it in many parts of Scripture.
“
And the Spirit will lead you into all truth.” (Joh 16:13.)
“
Thy word is the truth.” (Joh 17:17.)
“
Who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth?” (Gal 3:1.)
“
Having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of the Son of God.” (Col 1:5.)
“
He wisheth all to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1Ti 2:4.)
“
The Church is the pillar and foundation of the truth.” (1Ti 3:15.)
In a word, that truth is the right and sincere knowledge of God, which frees us from all error and falsehood. So much the more ought it to be valued by us, since nothing is more wretched than to wander like cattle during our whole life.
Which is according to godliness. This clause especially limits “the truth” of which he had spoken, but at the same time commends the doctrine of Paul from the fruit and end of it, because it has no other object than that God should be worshipped in a right manner, and that pure religion should flourish among men. In this manner he defends his doctrine from every suspicion of vain curiosity, as he did before Felix, (Act 24:10,) and afterwards before Agrippa, (Act 26:1😉 for, since all questions which do not tend to edification ought justly to be suspected and even hated by good men, the only lawful commendation of doctrine is this, that it instructs us to fear God and to bow before him with reverence. And hence we are also informed, that the greater progress any one has made in godliness, he is so much the better disciple of Christ; and that he ought to be reckoned a true theologian who edifies consciences in the fear of God.
(209) “If faith be the fruit of election, the prescience of faith does not influence the electing act of God. It is called ‘the faith of God’s elect,’ Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, (Tit 1:1,) that is, settled in this office to bring the elect of God to faith. If men be chosen by God upon the foresight of faith, or not chosen till they have faith, they are not so much God’s elect as God is their elect: they choose God by faith, before God chooseth them by love. It had not been the faith of God’s elect, that is, of those already chosen, but the faith of those that were to be chosen by God afterwards. Election is the cause of faith, and not faith the cause of election. Fire is the cause of heat, and not heat of fire; the sun is the cause of day, and not the day the cause of the rising of the sun. Men are not chosen because they believe, but they believe because they are chosen. The Apostle did ill else to appropriate that to the elect, which they had no more interest in by virtue of their election than the veriest reprobate in the world. If the foresight of what works might be done by his creatures was the motive of his choosing them why did he not choose the devils to redemption, who could have done him better service, by the strength of their nature, than the whole mass of Adam’s posterity? Well, then, there is no possible way to lay the original foundation of this act of election and preterition in anything but the absolute sovereignty of God.” — Charnock.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE EPISTLE TO TITUS
Tit 1:1-16
THE authorship of this Epistle would scarcely seem to be in doubt. To put that past dispute Paul signed his name, not at the end of the Letter, but at its beginning:
Paul, a servant of God, and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of Gods elect, and the acknowledging of the Truth which is after Godliness;
In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
But hath in due times manifested His Word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
To Titus, mine own son after the Common Faith (Tit 1:1-4).
The history of Paul is an open book. The Acts tells of his conversion, and reports his consecration; and the multitude of Epistles from his pen gives one a deeper insight into his remarkable character and service.
Of Titus we have learned from Paul, whose son in the Gospel he was. From his Letter to the Galatians (Tit 2:3) we know that Titus was a Greek who had been converted to Christianity, and who, with Barnabas, had gone with Paul to Jerusalem fourteen years after the latters conversion (Gal 2:1).
The esteem in which the great Apostle held this son in the Gospel is expressed more than once by Pauls pen. Writing to the Corinthians, in the Second Letter (2Co 7:6), he speaks of the visit to Macedonia, where they encountered unspeakable troubles, and says of Titus,
Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus (2Co 7:6),
and later remarks:
Therefore we were comforted in your Comfort; yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all (2Co 7:13).
In the next chapter (2Co 8:16-23) he writes:
But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you.
For indeed he accepted the exhortation; but being more forward, of his own accord he went unto you.
And we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches;
And not that only, but who was also chosen of the Churches to travel with its with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind:
Avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us:
Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.
And we have sent with them our brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, upon the great confidence which I have in you.
Whether any do enquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellowhelper concerning you.
While in the twelfth chapter of the same Epistle (2Co 12:18) he writes:
I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?
It is not often in a life time that the senior meets a junior who seems identical in spirit with him, and to whom he can confidently commit the most weighty cause. A Moses finds but a single Joshua in all Israel; an Eli but one lad Samuel, and an Elijah but a solitary Elisha.
Paul, by his very greatness attracted to himself the worlds noblest souls, and so he discovers a Barnabas, a Timothy, and a Titus; and truly, there was need of three men to succeed this one mammoth soul.
A careful study of the Epistle to Titus involves Pauls Opinions on Administration in the Church, Education for the Church, and Regeneration in Order to the Church.
ADMINISTRATION
There is no more important feature of spiritual life than a proper administration in the Church of God; and Paul makes bold to say that for this cause he left Titus in Crete, laying upon him some definite and certain injunctions.
Permit me to state them under three heads: First, That he should set things in order in the Church of God: Second, That he should select officials for the Church of God: Third, That he should silence the critics in the Church of God.
Setting things in order in the Church of God. Paul believed in order in the Church of God. In his Epistle to the Corinthians, after having given special command concerning the Lords Supper, and other debatable questions, the Apostle concludes: And the rest will I set in order when I come.
That minister who can organize a church for effective service reveals at once a rare and a needful talent. I believe Dr. R. S. McArthur declared an important truth when he said: The success of many pastors is largely due to their ability to organize, and added: The great need of today, in the Church of God, as well as in political and mercantile organizations, is inspiring leadership. Gods greatest work is not carried on by simpletons. Paul, Augustine, Calvin would have been men of great mark in any walk in life. Luther, Wesley, and Whitefield were kings even among the kingly of earth. Mr. Spurgeon would have been Prime Minister of England in another sense than that in which he was Prime Minister, had he given attention to political life.
It cannot be forgotten that each of these knew how to marshall and command the forces of a church; and when Paul urged upon Titus that he set in order the things that are wanting, he expressed the highest possible confidence in the junior disciple.
In the fulfilment of that first command, he came upon the discharge of the second.
He was to select officials for the Church of God.
And ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee (Tit 1:5)
Two or three facts are involved in this statement, with those that follow. The first is, that our exceeding democracy is not always well supported by Scripture. From this, and kindred statements, it seems fairly clear that the Apostle did not hesitate to exercise the special prerogative of official appointment; and the second is, that in that selection he was moved by no consideration other than the honor of God, and the progress of His Church. He never elevated a man to office on the ground of intimate friendship, such a thing, as selecting for the same on account of social or financial standing was too remote for imagination even. Can any one imagine Paul as advising that a man be selected to office lest, if he was not, his sensitive feelings would be excited, and the Church would hear from him in the future? Character and spiritual accomplishments were with the great Apostle, the sole consideration:
If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
That is a remarkable description, when one stops to reflect upon it: a man without reproach; head of a house; whose daily walk and conversation has been such as to do better than keep his children from contention and disobedience, but to bring them to Christ. Such a man is fit indeed to be an elder.
The next sentence holds a twofold suggestion:
For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self willed, Hot soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
Holding fast the faithful Word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by Sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers (Tit 1:7-9).
The impression with some people is that an elder is necessarily an old man. That is not the Biblical use of the word. In its original employment that may have given meaning to it; but in the New Testament, altogether another significance attaches to it, as suggested by this very Scripture. Here a bishop, or over-seer of the flock, is synonymous with the elder, the man to be appointed by Titus. It is the two sides of an individuals service! By the use of the first work the office of spiritual counsellor is emphasized; and by the use of the second work, that of oversight of Gods Church is suggested. We do not believe that the New Testament knows anything of those distinctions as between official brethren, which now sometimes appear in our modern denominations. We do not believe that Peter held any higher office than Thomas. We do not believe that James was called by any other official title than that which would have equally applied to Bartholomew; and we are fully persuaded that the most of these Apostles, Elders, or Bishops, as one may be pleased to name them, were young men.
R. S. McArthur, for forty years pastor of one church, and when already well advanced in life, urged the duty of electing young men to responsible office in the church. He says: The idea that none but men of advanced age and antiquated ideas should be deacons is an utter mistake. It is not a question of age, but of character, efficiency and consecration. There were in Johns day young men who were strong; young men in whom the Word of God was abiding; young men who had overcome the wicked one. * * Thank God there are still young men in the Church who are strong; young men in whom Gods Word abides; young men who have overcome the wicked one! Though they are in the world, they are not of the world; they are girded with strength, armed with the shield of faith, wearing the girdle of truth, and the breastplate of righteousness; they are panoplied with the whole armour of God. Their names are unsullied; their business ability is marked; they walk with their heads among the stars. The Church has room for the enthusiasm, hopefulness, and enterprise of the young, as well as for the ripened wisdom, the matured experience, and mellowed beauty of the old.
Why is not Pauls advice to Titus with reference to the appointment of officials in the early Church applicable to the present-day Church when it comes to selecting men for kindred office?
But, alas for Titus, Paul imposes upon him a yet more important and far more difficult task.
He must silence the critics in the Church of God.
For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucres sake.
One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the Faith;
Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate (Tit 1:10-16).
If one could remove from the membership of his church vain talkers and deceivers; if one could shut the mouths of those who subvert whole houses; if one could still the tongues which teach things that they ought not; if one could successfully rebuke those that are not sound in the Faith; if the Church could be represented by those who are pure themselves, and to whom all things are pure, instead of those who are unbelieving and whose mind and conscience are defiled, by those who practice Godliness rather than those who profess it, while in works denying Him who redeemed themwho can tell what marvelous growth; would mark such a body of believers? The time has come when no preacher is supposed to attempt the ruling of the unruly, or to silence the talk of vain deceivers, or to stop the mouths of subverters, or to resent false testimony, or to excoriate fables foisted in the name of command. The day has dawned when the Prophets words have found literal fulfilment:
Which say to the Seers, See not; and to the Prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
And who is the man who does not obey! And yet, if we hark back to the Book which we hold to be inspired, we find this young pastor Titus absolutely commanded to accomplish all of these things, and by that command, we believe vested with authority in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and in the interest of His Church.
In the second chapter we pass directly to the thought of
EDUCATION
This was hinted in the first when Paul demanded among other features of an elders life that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
Here it is thoroughly elaborated:
But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the Word of God be not blasphemed.
Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
Sound teaching is essential to Christian education. The early Apostles never went awry upon this subject. If they did, it was not while the Holy Ghost was upon them in fulness and power for then they continued stedfastly in the Apostles doctrine.
John Watson, in The Cure of Souls makes an extremely sage remark, to which all ministers should give attention! He says: We are all apt as preachers to be brow-beaten and reduced to silence by the impudent assertion that an average audience has no interest in theology, and will only listen to us upon the astounding condition that we do not give them the one thing we are supposed to have thoroughly learned. They expect from a historian history, from a geologist geology, but from a teacher of theologyand we are the only teachers of theology for the publicanything however remote from the subject, provided it be neither very solid nor thoughtful. May I suggest that the dumb public is often libelled by blatant spokesmen, and means to say something different. Examine the literature which finds favor with the people and it would not occur to you that the people dislike theology. Within the last few years, for instance, four works of fiction that excited great attention and have been read on every hand then he names four books: John Inglesant, The Story of an African Farm, John Ward, Preacher, and Robert Elsmere, everyone of which deals with some phase of theology; the first with the question of Quietism, the second with the unlovely doctrines of the Dutch Boers, the third with Calvinism, and the fourth with New Theology.
Is it not strange if the people have ceased to be interested in theology that they should have devoured these books, as the entire public did? And does it not justify Watsons remark: People will lie becalmed in morals, and even in physical science, weary unto death, but if any one dares to deal with questions of faith after an understanding fashion, he has the wind with him. Then, in my judgment, he proceeds immediately to give a better illustration of the interest that men have in theology, by reminding us of the popularity of Balfours Foundations of Belief, Piersons National Life and Character, Drapers History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science, and winds up by saying, It would be interesting to know how Lux Mundi compares in sale with any book on politics of the last ten years.
I do not regard myself a fool, and yet if my observation has the least ground for foundation, it is this, that with rare exceptions, the only men in the world who are holding the crowds to the churches they serve, or are advancing the cause they are supposed to represent, are the very men whose theology is as sound as was that of Joseph Parker, Charles Spurgeon, Alex. MacLaren, the greatest trio of Old Country names; as sound as were A. J. Gordon, Reuben Torrey, or A. C. Dixon, Americas best pulpit representatives. If Paul were alive today and were writing another Epistle to the young ministers, he would not change the point of emphasis, but put it upon sound doctrine, in the interest of the old men and old women, the young men and young women, yea, even in the interest of servants and children.
But teaching is most effective when illustrated by example.
In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,
Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you,
Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;
Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things,
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and Godly, in this present world (Tit 2:7-12).
The man who combines precept and practice brings to the world the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Precept apart from example discredits Christianity! Unless one can bring his life into line with the language of his lips, silence were the better part of valor. The young minister who deserted his family in order to gratify the lusts of the flesh and the desire of the heart, marrying another, cannot imagine why his ministry should be brought to an end. Pauls injunction to Titus would be a sufficient explanation!
Charles Spurgeon says: We have heard men talk of their experience who can give us whole yards of Godliness, if that consists in the tongue; but when they come to practice, ah, their religion is not made to bear every-day pressure. It is a kind of confectionary religion, an ornament for their drawing-room; a coat for Sundays to be carried to a place of worship, but not intended for business. Religion in their shop! Religion in their ordinary dealings! They never thought of such a thing; they thought religion was intended for the closet, though that had its door listed over. Do such men know Christ? Alas, no! Those who live near Jesus will become like Him. There is no such thing as having an interest in the Blood of Jesus and holding fellowship with Him, and yet living in sin. Have you heard the fable told by the Persian Saadi moralist? He took up in his hand a piece of scented clay and said to it, Oh, clay, whence hast thou thy perfume? And the clay said, I was once a piece of common clay but they laid me for a time in company with a rose, and I drank in its fragrance and have now become scented clay.
Believer, thou art nothing but a piece of common clay, but if thou liest with the Rose of Sharon, if thou hast Jesus in thy company, thou wilt be a piece of scented clay, and whereer thou goest, the fragrance from the Man of Nazareth will be with thee. In that company sound speech will be suggested; servants will readily submit to their own masters, purloiners will be put to shame, ungodly and unruly lusts will stand aside, and men will be impressed with the necessity of living purely and righteously and Godly in this present world.
And then the Apostle urges the climax of educational accomplishments, namely,
The second appearance of Jesus, the souls sufficient inspiration. For, adds he,
Looking for that Blessed Hope, and the Glorious Appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee (Tit 2:13-15).
There are those who object when a young man is a premillennialist. One does not take pleasure in growing old. At middle life we would fain stop, with our powers at their full, and there abide, not on selfish grounds, but for the sake of exerting the widest possible influence for good and for God; and yet there is no denying that age has its advantages. How advantageous for Paul, the man who had seen his threescore summers, to stand beside Titus the young man, and say: Dare to talk of the Second Coming, and dare to look Tor that Blessed Hope of the Glorious Appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, for that is the foundation stone to the temple of ones faith, and the cap-stone of Christian doctrine. Dare it then! These things speak!
Once more let me remark, if Paul came back to the world and addressed himself to young preachers, he would emphasize that point. Those who do not know Gods Word on the subject of the Second Coming, face at this very moment the peril of all the centuries. The mails are heavy with literature from Anna Besant, Ghandi, and their sort, telling the world that a great spiritual teacher is just about ready to appear and, asking them to subscribe to that expectation, to begin now doing deeds in his name, to devote a portion of each day to some work in preparation of his coming, to make devotion, steadfastness and gentleness prominent characteristics of conduct; and to recognize and reverence greatness in whom so ever seen, to strive to co-operate in so far as we can with those who appear to be our superiors as teachers.
They do not know the name of the one even for whom they look. This movement, founded in Benares, India; Bahia and his followers; peace conferences; corporate politicslooking to the federation of the kingdoms of the earth; the Inter-Church World-Movement, are all indeed destined to pave the path for the feet of that man to come, after whom the whole world will wonder; and that system and organization which is to compel obedience and put the mark of the beast upon the inheritance of the earth; and whose name is Anti-Christ; but more biblically described son of perdition.
As Paul said to the ignorant people of Athens, who were worshiping a god whose name they knew not, I come to tell you a better way. As it is expressed in the language of that layman Philip Mauro: Believers are not taught to look for a system to rise out of the earth, but to look for the Saviour, to come out of heaven (Php 3:20). They have turned to God from idols, not to wait for that man of sin * *, the son of perdition (2Th 2:3), but to serve the Living and True God; and to wait for His Son from Heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come (1Th 1:9-10).
Oh, beloved, join with me! These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
Finally, the third chapter of this Epistle is devoted to
REGENERATION
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.
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 (Tit 3:1-6).
Works of righteousness are to be accomplished in the political realm, as suggested in the first verse, in the social realm, as suggested by the second, in the domestic realm, as suggested in the third, and in the religious realm, as suggested by the fourth verse.
But let us not be deceived! Our salvation is Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, and the process of it is clearly by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost: which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
For that spiritual experience there is no possible substitute! One may be baptized in water and yet remain in the paths of iniquity; one may take the blessed bread, symbol of the broken Body, and yet enter not with Christ into His sufferings; one may sip the sacrificial cup, and yet while he is in the act, by unbelief, crucify [Christ] afresh, and put Him to an open shame; one may join the church without having Christ formed in him the hope of glory. Truly, as Charles Spurgeon said, It is an astonishing thing how near the painter can go to the expression of life, and yet the canvas is dead and motionless; and it is equally astonishing how near a man may go to a Christian, and yet not be born again, and with all his profession, with all the gorgeous plumes of experience, yet must be turned away from Heavens gate. And then Spurgeon adds: If you charge me with uncharitableness, I answer, I do not care to be more charitable than Christ. If you have a quarrel, settle it with Him. I am not the maker of truth; simply the speaker of it. If a man be not born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. It is His Word! Our salvation is by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
That regeneration insures an inheritance through the grace of God. For the Apostle proceeds: That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you. Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. What a revelation! Who can imagine it?
In 1906 Patrick Kern, an Irish day-laborer, Was faithfully polishing windows of the Belvue Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia. He did not look like an heir to a fortune; but as he wrought, an attorney appeared at the foot of the ladder and said, Are you Patrick Kern? Yes, answered the young man. Well, your uncle Patrick, of the county of Galway, has died and left you $100,000.00 in his will.
It was said that Patrick spilled a few drops of water as he scrambled down the ladder to learn the details of the good news. A newspaper reporter, to whom the information leaked, went after Patrick and asked him, When will you quit your work here? To which the sensible man answered, When I see the coin, and went on scrubbing windows as though no great fortune had befallen him. But down in his heart, the sense of his riches was singing all the time.
Hear me, beloved, in a dusty world like this, where the ways are difficult and the experiences are hard, and the services exhausting, the saved ought never to forget the fact that because they have been justified by the grace of God, they are heirs to the hope of eternal life, and all service will be lightened, and sweetened in memory of that blessed assurance.
And the Apostles final injunction will be made palatable, yea, positively easynamely, that those who have believed God may be diligent to maintain good works.
The regenerate man offers good works to the glory of God. They are not the ground of his salvation; and he knows it, for by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified. It is not by deeds of righteousness that men are justified; it is the expression of Gods mercy. That is why it is written: Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
If I could only get one thing straight with men, the Gospel of my God would at least be better understood, and more perfectly practiced; and that is, that regeneration by the Holy Spirit must be made the basis of good works. Some writer has said: There is no novelty about early Christian methods. People think today that in order to influence men you must start a polytechnic like Quentin Hogg, or a Salvation Army like Booth, or a social settlement like Arnold Toynbee. The originality of the early Christians was the originality of holiness, the power of Christian character. They were like their Father. They were good and they did good as the simple consequence. Like Christ they were anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power, and they went about doing good as the logical result. We have committees and organizations, and homes and clubs and schemes without end; but the net result is less than we desire; it is even poor in comparison with the effort thrown out. We want to get Christian character to the point where, by its mere presence in the community, it operates. It must act directly by presence, and without means!
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Tit. 1:1. Paul, a servant of God.R.V. margin, Gr. bond-servant. This designation, which indicates generally the official position, is not usually found in the inscriptions of the Pauline epistles. In Romans and Philippians we have servant of Jesus Christ. According to the faith.A somewhat difficult expression, but meaning apparently with reference to the faith.
Tit. 1:2. God, that cannot lie.Since we have no negative term that says what the adjective says in the original, we must so translate. The apostle wants to bring out Gods eternal antipathy to falsity.
Tit. 1:3. In due times.R.V. in his own seasonsa contrast to the words before the world began (A.V.) or before times eternal (R.V.) in Tit. 1:2.
Tit. 1:4. Titus, mine own son.R.V. my true child. The same title of honour is given to Timothy (1Ti. 1:2). After the common faith.The faith in which Paul and Titus alike are sharers. How the inclusion of all Christians with them would be too general does not appear.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Tit. 1:1-4
An Apostolic Salutation
I. Sets forth the authority and scope of the apostolic office.
1. Its authority is Divine. Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ (Tit. 1:1). Which is committed unto me (Tit. 1:3). In confronting the false teachers, Paul is always careful to insist upon his Divine call to the apostleship, in contrast with their self-constituted authority. There are times of doubt and trial when the minister of the gospel has to fall back upon the assurance of the Divine call: about this he has no doubt; here the anchor holds.
2. Its scope is the preaching of the gospel of hope.
(1) The hope of eternal life. In hope of eternal life (Tit. 1:2). On this hope the apostle rested his desire and aim to advance the faith of Gods people and their fuller knowledge of the truth.
(2) A gospel long promised and at length revealed. Which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; but hath in due times manifested His word through preaching (Tit. 1:2-3). The gospel was in the Divine mind before the ages began, was then promised to the world in the earliest history of man, was dimly and gradually unfolded to suit the stages of human development, and finally was fully revealed by preaching.
(3) A gospel intended to promote godliness through faith. According to the faith of Gods elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness (Tit. 1:1). Faith is a faculty susceptible of growth. Faith apprehends the meaning of the gospel, and then appropriates its power to live a godly life.
II. Addressed to one who is highly esteemed.To Titus, mine own son after the common faith (Tit. 1:4). Paul regards Titus as his genuine child, as he was the instrument of his conversion to the faith which is common to all the people of God, comprising believers in all nations into a common brotherhood, Gentiles as well as Jews, and therefore including Titus, who was himself a Gentile. The preacher regards his converts with unusual affection, and is deeply interested in their progress in grace and usefulness.
III. Invokes the impartation of richest blessings.Grace, mercy, and peace (Tit. 1:4). Mercy is omitted in some of the oldest manuscripts; but one of the best and oldest manuscripts supports it. Mercy and peace spring out of grace, the fountain of all blessings. If we have Gods favour, we have every blessing the soul can need or that Christ can bestow.
Lessons.
1. The Christian teacher should have a firm grasp of truth.
2. The veteran minister is full of wise and loving counsels to the young.
3. Good wishes to others is genuine Christian courtesy.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Tit. 1:1. The truth which is after godliness.
The Gospel of Truth.
I. The gospel is simply a truth.
II. It is an operative truth.
III. It operates to the best effect.It produces godliness.
1. Giving a right notion of God.
2. A right notion of what concerns the duty of man.
Lessons.
1. The nature and prime design of religion is to be an instrument of good life.
2. That so much knowledge as is sufficient to engage men in the practice of godliness serves the necessary ends of religion.
3. That whatever undermines the motives of a good life is contrary to and destructive of religion.South.
Tit. 1:2. The Gospel Revelation.
I. A glorious prospect.Eternal life.
II. A truth-speaking God.
III. An old-standing promise.Before the world began.
Tit. 1:3. The Preaching of the Word.
I. A timely revelation.
II. A sacred trust.
III. A Divine commission.
Tit. 1:4. A Christian Greeting.
I. Recognising a spiritual relationship.
II. Invoking a threefold blessing.
III. Describing the source and medium of the blessing.F. W.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
GREETINGS 1:14
Text 1:14
1 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of Gods elect, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before times eternal; 3 but in his own seasons manifested his word in the message, wherewith I was intrusted according to the commandment of God our Saviour; 4 to Titus, my true child after a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.
Thought Questions 1:14
1.
Someone said, the expression Gods bond servant occurs nowhere else at the head of his Epistles.. Is this true? Please take time and thought enough to answer,
2.
Give the meaning of the name apostle; show how it has special reference to Paul.
3.
How could the faith of Gods elect regulate the apostleship of Paul?
4.
Is the faith in Tit. 1:1 subjective or objective? Explain why you answer as you do.
5.
How does one become one of Gods elect?
6.
Does Paul say here that he was appointed an apostle for the purpose of leading the elect into a knowledge of the truth? How did you arrive at your conclusion?
7.
Does the truth lead to godliness or proceed from it?
8.
Are we to understand the hope of eternal life is a part of the truth into which Paul was to lead the elect?
9.
Are we to equate eternal life with heaven? Is eternal life an extension of this present life? Explain.
10.
Is Paul saying here (Tit. 1:2) that God had provisions made for the eternal life of His elect even before He created the world?
11.
What has been manifested in due season? (Cf. Gal. 4:4). Please be careful in your answer to this question did God manifest His Son His gospel or His purpose?
12.
What is the commandor commandmentof Tit. 1:3?
13.
In what sense was Titus Pauls true child?
14.
Explain the phrase common faith.
15.
Show the distinction in the use of the words grace and peace.
Paraphrase 1:14
1 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, sent forth by him in order to promote the faith of the Gentiles, the elected people of God, and to persuade them to acknowledge the gospel, whose end is to make men godly and virtuous in every respect;
2 In hope that they shall also obtain that resurrection to eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised to believers of all nations in the persons of Adam and Abraham, long before the Jewish dispensation began.
3 The knowledge of Gods promise was long confined to the Jews; but He hath manifested to all, in its proper season, his promise, by the preaching of the gospel, with which I am entrusted by Christ, according to the commandment of God, the original contriver of the method of our salvation:
4 To Titus, my genuine son by the common faith, the faith in Christ which the Gentiles are permitted to have in common with the Jews, I wish gracious assistances, merciful deliverances, and eternal life, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, the accomplisher of our salvation.
Comment 1:14
Tit. 1:1. Paul refers to himself as a slave to Jesus Christ in Rom. 1:1, Gal. 1:10, Php. 1:1; but here and only here he identifies himself as a slave of God. Actually there are two characteristics of the Apostle given by himself to himself:
(1) Slave of God, (2) Apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul says he is a slave and an apostle, with the approval of and in agreement with the faith known and believed by the Christians of his day. Such Christians are here called the elect.
Those believers on the isle of Crete, who knew the revealed truth as given by the inspired writers of that day, would immediately accept Pauls apostleship as from Christ, and his service as to God.
Such revealed truth leads to being like God, or godly,
We are aware that the above interpretation is not acceptable to some; however, after a very careful study of both sides of the issue, we feel Paul was saying his service to God and his apostleship from Christ was in agreement with the faith of Gods elect, and not for the purpose of inducing faith in the elect. Of course, we believe that elsewhere Paul states that his apostleship was for the purpose of producing faithbut not here.
We refer you to another book in The Bible Study Textbook Series for a study of the expression Gods elect: Romans Realized, pp. 155158. Suffice it to say here that God elects those who elect to follow Him, The choice of election is in the sure knowledge of God and the free will of man at the same time, with no conflict to either.
The use made of this epistle by Titus on the isle of Crete must not be forgotten. Whenever the teaching of Titus is called into question he can refer immediately to this letter, which is in perfect harmony with the faith or the truth. The elect of God who have a knowledge of the truth will accept the message of Paul through Titusthose who do not accept it are in error.
Tit. 1:2. Paul was called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ in the hope of eternal life. Paul served God as a slave serves his master in the hope of reward. He will not be disappointed, for the never-lying-God has made this promise of eternal life; indeed, this promise has been in preparation for ages past.
How are we to understand the little expression eternal life? Is this to be equated with heaven? We believe it is. However, it carries the same overtones as the expression of the rich young ruler; (Mar. 10:17) he inquired, what must I do that I might inherit eternal life? This young man wanted life that could not be found in morality, The rich young man came to the right source. Jesus came to give us life (Joh. 10:10) and life that is life indeed. Paul found this life here and now; but he knew, as we do, that the largest share of it is yet to come. Enjoying the benefits of life here; having promise of continuing such life in ideal conditions in the new earth; such promise issuing from the undying-God is enough to give incentive to anyone!
How shall we understand the expression before times eternal? Shall we look in the Old Testament for the promise of eternal life? In other wordsdoes the expression refer to the Old Testament age? We rather prefer the thought that God promised to His Son before the foundation of the world, that all who would come through His death would have eternal life.
Tit. 1:3. It is through the good news that life and immortality are brought to light. Whereas the offer and hope of eternal life had been in the mind of God before times eternal, He did not announce it until the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4). His word mentioned in Tit. 1:3 is to be understood as a synonym for Gospel, in which the promise of eternal life is embodied. To Paul was this message entrusted. What a fearful responsibility; what a high and holy privilege. It was on the Damascus road, Saul of Tarsus was confronted with the subject and object of this message: the subject was Jesus of Nazareththe object was to herald forth the message that Christ Jesus died to save sinners. This commission by Christ Jesus is called here the commandment of God our Saviour. Paul could never forget the heavenly vision and to it he could not be disobedient. Six times in Pauls letters to Timothy and Titus he uses the expression God our Saviour (Cf. 1Ti. 1:1; 1Ti. 2:3; 1Ti. 4:10; Tit. 1:3; Tit. 2:10; Tit. 3:4). Since God is the ultimate source of all that relates to our salvation, it seems appropriate to refer to Him as our Saviour. Paul felt his personal relationship to God as indicated by his use of our Saviour.
Tit. 1:4. It has been suggested by some that, since the name of Titus does not appear in the Book of Acts, perhaps Luke left him out for personal reasons. Maybe Titus was Lukes brother, and through a desire to be humble he was not mentioned. The above is only an opinion, but it is a fact that the name of Titus occurs only in the Pauline epistles.
Titus is a true child after a common faith. Was Titus a convert of Paul? We believe he was, but it is only a matter of conjecture. It can not be asserted from this reference. The expression my true child could be one of endearment, as Paul thought of the age of Titus as compared with himself. Pauls hope and life proceeded from the same source as Titusfaith in the Lord Jesus Christ; thus a common faith. We believe, however, that the emphasis here should be on the objective quality of the faith. As measured by the common faith held by all Christians, Titus is a genuine child of God. (Kent)
The greeting here given to Titus is the same as given to Timothy, minus the thought of mercy. It was the sincere concern and prayer of Paul that Titus have the favor and peace of God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour. In verse three God is called Saviour, here Christ Jesus is called by the same name. This is not strange, since both are the source of our salvation. Since the Holy Spirit brought the message of salvation, we could also refer to Him as our Saviour.
Fact Questions 1:14
1.
Only in this letter does Paul use an expression of his relationship to God. What is it?
2.
Explain the expression according to the faith of Gods elect.
3.
What is the truth as in Tit. 1:1 b?
4.
Who are the electhow were they elected?
5.
What was in the hope of eternal lifeGods elect or Paul? i.e., to whom does this expression refer?
6.
Discuss the meaning of eternal life.
7.
To what does the expression eternal life refer?
8.
How shall we understand the use of the expression His word in Tit. 1:3?
9.
Why was Paul so willing to obey the heavenly vision?
10.
Was Titus related to Luke? Why suggest such?
11.
Doesnt the use of the term my true child indicate that Titus was a convert of Paul? Discuss.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ.The titles here assumed by St. Paul in his introductory greeting are in some respects slightly different to any of his usual designations. In the other two so-called Pastoral Epistles addressed to Timothy, St. Paul simply styles himself an Apostle of Jesus Christ. Possibly, the longer and more formal title is here adopted because his relations were hardly ever of so intimate a character with Titus as with Timothy; the latter would seem to have held the position of St. Pauls adopted son. (See Note below on Tit. 1:4, To Titus.)
According to the faith of Gods elect.The English version here entirely fails to give the meaning of the Greek preposition. The rendering should be, for (the furtherance of) the faith, or, in other words, the object of my (Pauls) apostleship was, that through my instrumentality the chosen of God should believe. The whole question respecting these elect, or chosen of God, is surrounded with deep mystery; three or four guiding thoughts may, however, be safely laid down. (1) In the visible world such an apparently arbitrary election to special privileges, fortune, happiness. utterly irrespective, in the first instance, of individual merit, does exist. This is clear to all of us. (2) In grace we are distinctly told repeatedly that a similar election exists, and our own observation certainly coincides here with revelation. (3) Such election in no case seemingly affects our position here as free agents; surrounded with the most precious privileges, gifted with much knowledge, it is possible, as we, alas, too often see, deliberately to refuse the good and to choose the evil. (4) All such allusions to the elect as, for instance, the one here before us, are intended, not as a stumbling-block for the believer, but as a comfort for the faithful, struggling man of God, for it tells him how the Eternal before the ages had chosen him to be His servant.
And the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness.More accurately rendered, and the full knowledge of the truth which is designed for godliness, or, which leadeth to godliness. Here the further purpose of St. Pauls apostleship is specified. St. Paul was appointed an Apostle that through him the elect of God might believe and heed the truththat truth, the knowledge of which produces as its fruit in the individual a holy, useful life.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 1
THE MAINSPRINGS OF APOSTLESHIP ( Tit 1:1-4 ) 1:1-4 This is a letter from Paul, the slave of God and the envoy of Jesus Christ, whose task it is to awaken faith in God’s chosen ones, and to equip them with a fuller knowledge of that truth, which enables a man to live a really religious life, and whose whole work is founded on the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began. In his own good time God set forth his message plain for all to see in the proclamation with which I have been entrusted by the royal command of God our Saviour. This letter is to Titus, his true son in the faith they both share. Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Saviour.
When Paul summoned one of his henchmen to a task, he always began by setting forth his own right to speak and, as it were, laying again the foundations of the gospel. So he begins here by saying certain things about his apostleship.
(i) It set him in a great succession. Right at the beginning Paul calls himself “the slave (doulos, G1401) of God.” That was a title of mingled humility and legitimate pride. It meant that his life was totally submitted to God; at the same time–and here was where the pride came in–it was the title that was given to the prophets and the great ones of the past. Moses was the slave of God ( Jos 1:2); and Joshua, his successor, would have claimed no higher title ( Jos 24:29). It was to the prophets, his slaves, that God revealed all his intentions ( Amo 3:7); it was his slaves the prophets whom God had repeatedly sent to Israel throughout the history of the nation ( Jer 7:25). The title slave of God was one which gave Paul the right to walk in a great succession.
When anyone enters the Church, he does not enter an institution which began yesterday. The Church has centuries of human history behind it and goes back before the eternities in the mind and intention of God. When anyone takes upon himself anything of the preaching, or the teaching, or the serving work of the Church, he does not enter on a service which is without traditions; he walks where the saints have trod.
(ii) It gave him a great authority. He was the envoy of Jesus Christ. Paul never thought of his authority as coming from his own mental excellence, still less from his own moral goodness. It was in the authority of Christ that he spoke. The man who preaches the gospel of Christ or teaches his truth, if he is truly dedicated, does not talk about his own opinions or offer his own conclusions; he comes with Christ’s message and with God’s word. The true envoy of Christ has reached past the stage of perhapses and maybes and possiblys, and speaks with the certainty of one who knows.
AN APOSTLE’S GOSPEL ( Tit 1:1-4 continued) Further, in this passage we can see the essence of an apostle’s gospel and the central things in his task.
(i) The whole message of the apostle is founded on the hope of eternal life. Again and again the phrase eternal life recurs in the pages of the New Testament. The word for eternal is aionios ( G166) ; and properly the only one person in the whole universe to whom that word may correctly be applied is God. The Christian offer is nothing less than the offer of a share in the life of God. It is the offer of God’s power for our frustration, of God’s serenity for our dispeace, of God’s truth for our guessing, of God’s goodness for our moral failure, of God’s joy for our sorrow. The Christian gospel does not in the first place offer men an intellectual creed or a moral code; it offers them life, the very life of God.
(ii) To enable a man to enter into that life, two things are necessary. It is the apostle’s duty to awaken faith in men. With Paul, faith always means one thing–absolute trust in God. The first step in the Christian life is to realize that we can do nothing except receive. In every sphere of life, no matter how precious an offer may be, it remains inoperative until it is received. The first duty of the Christian is to persuade others to accept the offer of God. In the last analysis, we can never argue a man into Christianity. All we can say is, “Try it, and see!”
(iii) It is the apostle’s duty also to equip others with knowledge. Christian evangelism and Christian education must go hand in hand. Faith may begin by being a response of the heart, but it must go on to be the possession of the mind. The Christian gospel must be thought out in order to be tried out. No man can live for ever on the crest of a wave of emotion. The Christian life must be a daily loving Christ more and understanding him better.
(iv) The result of faith and knowledge must be a truly religious life. Faith must always issue in life and Christian knowledge is not merely intellectual knowledge but knowledge how to live. Many people have been great scholars and yet completely inefficient in the ordinary things of life and total failures in their personal relationships. A truly religious life is one in which a man is on the right terms with God, with himself and with his fellow-men. It is a life in which a man can cope alike with the great moments and the everyday duties. It is a life in which Jesus Christ lives again.
It is the duty of the Christian to offer to men the very life of God; to awaken faith in their hearts and to deepen knowledge in their minds; to enable them to live in such a way that others will see the reflection of the Master in them.
GOD’S PURPOSE AND GOD’S GOOD TIME ( Tit 1:1-4 continued) This passage tells us of God’s purpose and of his way of working that purpose out.
(i) God’s purpose for man was always one of salvation. His promise of eternal life was there before the world began. It is important to note that here Paul applies the word Saviour both to God and to Jesus. We sometimes hear the gospel presented in a way that seems to draw a distinction between a gentle, loving, and gracious Jesus, and a hard, stern, and severe God. Sometimes it sounds as if Jesus had done something to change God’s attitude to men and had persuaded him to lay aside his wrath and not to punish them. There is no justification for that in the New Testament. But at the back of the whole process of salvation is the eternal and unchanging love of God, and it was of that love Jesus came to tell men. God is characteristically the Saviour God, whose last desire is to condemn men and whose first desire is to save them. He is the Father who desires only that his children should come home so that he may gather them to his breast.
(ii) But this passage does more than speak of God’s eternal purpose; it also speaks of his method. It tells us that he sent his message in his own good time. That means to say that all history was a preparation for the coming of Jesus. We cannot teach any kind of knowledge to a man until he is fit to receive it. In all human knowledge we have to start at the beginning; so men had to be prepared for the coming of Jesus. All the history of the Old Testament and all the searchings of the Greek philosophers were preparations for that event. God’s Spirit was moving both amongst the Jews and amongst all other peoples so that they should be ready to receive his Son when he came. We must look on all history as God’s education of men.
(iii) Further, Christianity came into this world at a time when it was uniquely possible for its message to spread. There were five elements in the world situation which facilitated its spread.
(a) Practically all the world spoke Greek. That is not to say that the nations had forgotten their own language; but nearly all men spoke Greek in addition. It was the language of trade, of commerce, of literature. If a man was going to take any part in public life and activity he had to know Greek. People were bilingual and the first age of Christianity was one of the very few when the missionary had no language problem to solve.
(b) There were to all intents and purposes no frontiers. The Roman Empire was coextensive with the known world. Wherever the traveller might go, he was within that Empire. Nowadays, if a man intended to cross Europe, he would need a passport; he would be held up at frontiers; he would find iron curtains. In the first age of Christianity a missionary could move without hindrance from one end of the known world to the other.
(c) Travel was comparatively easy. True, it was slow, because there was no mechanized travel, and most journeys had to be done on foot, with the baggage carried by slow-moving animals. But the Romans had built their great roads from country to country and had, for the most part, cleared the land of brigands and the sea of pirates. Travel was easier than it had ever been before.
(d) The first age of Christianity was one of the few when the world was very largely at peace. If wars had been raging all over Europe, the progress of the missionary would have been rendered impossible. But the pax Romana, the Roman peace, held sway; and the traveller could move within the Roman Empire in safety.
(e) It was a world which was conscious of its needs. The old faiths had broken down and the new philosophies were beyond the mind of simple people. Men were looking, as Seneca said, ad salutem, towards salvation. They were increasingly conscious of “their weakness in necessary things.” They were searching for “a hand let down to lift them up.” They were looking for “a peace, not of Caesar’s proclamation, but of God’s.” There never was a time when the hearts of men were more open to receive the message of salvation which the Christian missionaries brought.
It was no accident that Christianity came when it did. It came in God’s own time; all history had been a preparation for it; and the circumstances were such that the way was open for the tide to spread.
A FAITHFUL HENCHMAN ( Tit 1:1-4 continued) We do not know a great deal about Titus, to whom this letter was written, but from the scattered references to him, there emerges a picture of a man who was one of Paul’s most trusted and most valuable helpers. Paul calls him “my true son,” so it is most likely that he himself converted him, perhaps at Iconium.
Titus was the companion for an awkward and a difficult time. When Paul paid his visit to Jerusalem, to a Church which suspected him and was prepared to mistrust and dislike him, it was Titus whom he took with him along with Barnabas ( Gal 2:1). It was said of Dundas, the famous Scotsman, by one of his friends, “Dundas is no orator; but he will go out with you in any kind of weather.” Titus was like that. When Paul was up against it, Titus was by his side.
Titus was the man for a tough assignment. When the trouble at Corinth was at its peak, it was he who was sent with one of the severest letters Paul ever wrote ( 2Co 8:16). Titus clearly had the strength of mind and the toughness of fibre which enabled him to face and to handle a difficult situation. There are two kinds of people. There are the people who can make a bad situation worse, and there are the people who can bring order out of chaos and peace out of strife. Titus was the man to send to the place where there was trouble. He had a gift for practical administration. It was Titus whom Paul chose to organize the collection for the poor members of the Church at Jerusalem ( 2Co 8:6; 2Co 8:10). It is clear that he had no great gifts of speech, but he was the man for practical administration. The Church ought to thank God for the people to whom we turn whenever we want a practical job well done.
Paul has certain great titles for Titus.
He calls him his true child. That must mean that he was Paul’s convert and child in the faith ( Tit 1:4). Nothing in this world gives a preacher and teacher more joy than to see someone whom he has taught rise to usefulness within the Church. Titus was the son who brought joy to the heart of Paul, his father in the faith.
He calls him his brother ( 2Co 2:13) and his sharer in work and toil ( 2Co 8:23). The great day for a preacher or a teacher is the day when his child in the faith becomes his brother in the faith, when the one whom he has taught is able to take his place in the work of the Church, no longer as a junior, but as an equal.
He says that Titus walked in the same spirit ( 2Co 12:18). He knew that Titus would deal with things as he would have dealt with them himself. Happy is the man who has a lieutenant to whom he can commit his work, certain that it will be done in the way in which he himself would have wished to do it.
He gives to Titus a great task. He sends him to Crete to be a pattern to the Christians who are there ( Tit 2:7). The greatest compliment Paul paid Titus was that he sent him to Crete, not to talk to them about what a Christian should be, but to show them what he should be. There could be no greater responsibility and no higher compliment than that.
One very interesting suggestion has been made. 2Co 8:18 and 2Co 12:18 both say that when Titus was sent to Corinth another brother was sent with him, described in the former passage as “the brother who is famous among all the churches,” and commonly identified with Luke. It has been suggested that Titus was Luke’s brother. It is rather an odd fact that Titus is never mentioned in Acts; but we know that Luke wrote Acts and often tells the story in the first person plural, saying: “We did this,” or, “We did that,” and it has been suggested that in such passages he includes Titus with himself. Whether or not that suggestion is true we cannot tell, but certainly Titus and Luke have a family resemblance in that they were both men of practical service.
In the Western Church Titus is commemorated on 4th January, and in the Eastern Church on 25th August.
THE ELDER OF THE CHURCH ( Tit 1:5-7 a) 1:5-7a The reason why I left you in Crete was that any deficiencies in the organization of the Church should be rectified, and that you might appoint elders in each city as I instructed you. An elder is a man whose conduct must be beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, with children who are also believers, who cannot be accused of profligacy, and who are not undisciplined. For he who oversees the Church of God must be beyond reproach, as befits a steward of God.
We have already studied in detail the qualifications of the elder as set out by Paul in 1Ti 3:1-7. It is therefore not necessary to examine them in detail again.
It was always Paul’s custom to ordain elders as soon as a Church had been founded ( Act 14:23). Crete was an island of many cities. “Crete of the hundred cities.” Homer called it. It was Paul’s principle that his little Churches should be encouraged to stand on their own feet as soon as possible.
In this repeated list of the qualifications of the elder, one thing is specially stressed. He must be a man who has taught his own family in the faith. The Council of Carthage later laid it down: “Bishops, elders and deacons shall not be ordained to office before they have made all in their own households members of the Catholic Church.” Christianity begins at home. It is no virtue for any man to be so engaged in public work that he neglects his own home. All the Church service in the world will not atone for neglect of a man’s own family.
Paul uses one very vivid word. The family of the elder must be such that they cannot be accused of profligacy. The Greek word is asotia ( G810) . It is the word used in Luk 15:13 for the riotous living of the prodigal son. The man who is asotos ( G811) is incapable of saving; he is wasteful and extravagant and pours out his substance on personal pleasure; he destroys his substance and in the end ruins himself. One who is asotos ( G811) is the old English scatterling, the Scots ne’er-do-well, the modern waster. Aristotle who always described a virtue as the mean between two extremes, declares that on the one hand there is stinginess, on the other there is asotia ( G810) , reckless and selfish extravagance, and the relevant virtue is liberality. The household of the elder must never be guilty of the bad example of reckless spending on personal pleasure.
Further, the family of the elder must not be undisciplined. Nothing can make up for the lack of parental control. Falconer quotes a saying about the household of Sir Thomas More: “He controls his family with the same easy hand: no tragedies, no quarrels. If a dispute begins, it is promptly settled. His whole house breathes happiness, and no one enters it who is not the better for the visit.” The true training ground for the eldership is at least as much in the home as it is in the Church.
WHAT THE ELDER MUST NOT BE ( Tit 1:7 b) 1:7b He must not be obstinately self-willed; he must not be an angry man; he must not be given to drunken and outrageous conduct; he must not be a man ready to come to blows; he must not be a seeker of gain in disgraceful ways.
Here is a summary of the qualities from which the elder of the Church must be free; and every one is described in a vivid word.
(i) He must not be obstinately self-willed. The Greek is authades ( G829) , which literally means pleasing himself. The man who is authades ( G829) has been described as the man who is so pleased with himself that nothing else pleases him and he cares to please nobody. R. C. Trench said of such a man that, “he obstinately maintains his own opinion, or asserts his own rights, while he is reckless of the rights, opinions and interests of others.”
The Greek ethical writers had much to say about this fault of authadeia. Aristotle set on the one extreme the man who pleases everybody (areskos, compare G700) , and on the other extreme the man who pleases nobody (authades, G829) , and between them the man who had in his life a proper dignity (semnos, G4586) . He said of the authades ( G829) that he was the man who would not converse or associate with any man. Eudemus said that the authades ( G829) was the man who “regulates his life with no respect to others, but who is contemptuous.” Euripides said of him that he was “harsh to his fellow citizens through want of culture.” Philodemus said that his character was compounded in equal parts of conceit, arrogance and contemptuousness. His conceit made him think too highly of himself; his contemptuousness made him think too meanly of others; and his arrogance made him act on his estimate of himself and others.
Clearly the man who is authades ( G829) is an unpleasant character. He is intolerant, condemning everything that he cannot understand and thinking that there is no way of doing anything except his. Such a quality, as Lock said, “is fatal to the rule of free men.” No man of contemptuous and arrogant intolerance is fit to be an office-bearer of the Church.
(ii) He must not be an angry man. The Greek is orgilos ( G3711) . There are two Greek words for anger. There is thumos ( G2372) , which is the anger that quickly blazes up and just as quickly subsides, like a fire in straw. There is orge ( G3709) , the noun connected with orgilos ( G3711) , and it means inveterate anger. It is not the anger of the sudden blaze, but the wrath which a man nurses to keep it warm. A blaze of anger is an unhappy thing; but this long-lived, purposely maintained anger is still worse. The man who nourishes his anger against any man is not fit to be an office-bearer of the Church.
(iii) He must not be given to drunken and outrageous conduct. The word is paroinos ( G3943) , which literally means given to over-indulgence in wine. But the word widened its meaning until it came to describe all conduct which is outrageous. The Jews, for instance, used it of the conduct of Jews who married Midianite women; the Christians used it of the conduct of those who crucified Christ. It describes the character of the man who, even in his sober moments, acts with the outrageousness of a drunken man.
(iv) He must not be a man ready to come to blows. The word is plektes ( G4131) , which literally means a striker. It would seem that in the early Church there were over-zealous bishops who chastised erring members of their flock with physical violence, for the Apostolic Canons lay it down: “We order that the bishop who strikes an erring believer should be deposed.” Pelagius says: “He cannot strike anyone who is the disciple of that Christ who, being struck, returned no answering blow.” The Greeks themselves widened the meaning of this word to include, not only violence in action, but also violence in speech. The word came to mean one who browbeats his fellow-men, and it may well be that it should be so translated here. The man who abandons love and resorts to violence of action or of speech is not fit to be an office-bearer of the Christian Church.
(v) He must not be a seeker of gain in disgraceful ways. The word is aischrokerdes ( G146) , and it describes a man who does not care how he makes money so long as he makes it. It so happens that this was a fault for which the Cretans were notorious. Polybius said: “They are so given to making gain in disgraceful and acquisitive ways that among the Cretans alone of all men no gain is counted disgraceful.” Plutarch said that they stuck to money like bees to honey. The Cretans counted material gain far above honesty and honour. They did not care how much their money cost them; but the Christian knows that there are some things which cost too much. The man whose only aim in life is to amass material things, irrespective of how he does so, is not fit to be an office-bearer of the Christian Church.
WHAT THE ELDER MUST BE ( Tit 1:8-9 ) 1:8-9 Rather he must be hospitable, a lover of all good things and all good people, prudent, just, pious, self-controlled, with a strong grip on the truly reliable message which Christian teaching gave to him, that he may be well able to encourage the members of the Church with health-giving teaching, and to convict the opponents of the faith.
The previous passage set out the things which the elder of the Church must not be; this one sets out what he must be. These necessary qualities group themselves into three sections.
(i) First, there are the qualities which the elder of the Church must display to other people.
He must be hospitable. The Greek is philoxenos ( G5383) , which literally means a lover of strangers. In the ancient world there were always many who were on the move. Inns were notoriously expensive, dirty and immoral; and it was essential that the wayfaring Christian should find an open door within the Christian community. To this day no one needs Christian fellowship more than the stranger in a strange place.
He must also be philagathos ( G5358) , a word which means either a lover of good things, or a lover of good people, and which Aristotle uses in the sense of unselfish, that is, a lover of good actions. We do not have to choose between these three meanings; they are all included. The Christian office-bearer must be a man whose heart answers to the good in whatever person, in whatever place and in whatever action he finds it.
(ii) Second, there comes a group of terms which tell us the qualities which the Christian office-bearer must have within himself.
He must be prudent (sophron, G4998) . Euripides called this prudence “the fairest gift the gods have given to men.” Socrates called it “the foundation stone of virtue.” Xenophon said that it was that spirit which shunned evil, not only when evil could be seen but even when no one would ever see it. Trench defined it as “entire command over the passions and desires, so that they receive no further allowance than that which the law and right reason admit and approve.” Sophron ( G4998) is the adjective to be applied to the man, as the Greeks said themselves, “whose thoughts are saving thoughts.” The Christian office-bearer must be a man who wisely controls every instinct.
He must be “just” (dikaios, G1342) . The Greeks defined the just man as he who gives both to men and to the gods what is due to them. The Christian office-bearer must be such that he gives to man the respect and to God the reverence, which are their due.
He must be pious (hosios, G3741) . The Greek word is hard to translate, for it describes the man who reverences the fundamental decencies of life, the things which go back beyond any man-made law.
He must be self-controlled (egkrates, G1468) . The Greek word describes the man who has achieved complete self-mastery. Any man who would serve others must first be master of himself.
(iii) Finally, there comes a description of the qualities of the Christian office-bearer within the Church.
He must be able to encourage the members of the Church. The navy has a rule which says that no officer shall speak discouragingly to any other officer in the performance of his duties. There is always something wrong with preaching or teaching whose effect is to discourage others. The function of the true Christian preacher and teacher is not to drive a man to despair, but to lift him up to hope.
He must be able to convict the opponents of the faith. The Greek is elegchein ( G1651) and is a most meaningful word. It means to rebuke a man in such a way that he is compelled to admit the error of his ways. Trench says that it means “to rebuke another, with such an effectual wielding of the victorious arms of the truth, as to bring him, if not always to a confession, yet at least to a conviction, of his sin.” Demosthenes said that it describes the situation in which a man unanswerably demonstrates the truth of the things that he has said. Aristotle said that it means to prove that things cannot be otherwise than as we have stated them. Christian rebuke means far more than flinging angry and condemning words at a man. It means speaking in such a way that he sees the error of his ways and accepts the truth.
THE FALSE TEACHERS OF CRETE ( Tit 1:10-11 ) 1:10-11 For there are many who are undisciplined, empty talkers, deceivers. Those of the circumcision are especially so. They must be muzzled. They are the kind of people who upset whole households, by teaching things which should not be taught in order to acquire a shameful gain.
Here we have a picture of the false teachers who were troubling Crete. The worst were apparently Jews. They tried to persuade the Cretan converts of two things. They tried to persuade them that the simple story of Jesus and the Cross was not sufficient, but that, to be really wise, they needed all the subtle stories and the long genealogies and the elaborate allegories of the Rabbis. Further, they tried to teach them that grace was not enough, but that, to be really good, they needed to take upon themselves all the rules and regulations about foods and washings which were so characteristic of Judaism. The false teachers were seeking to persuade men that they needed more than Christ and more than grace in order to be saved. They were intellectualists for whom the truth of God was too simple and too good to be true.
One by one the characteristics of these false teachers pass before us.
They were undisciplined; they were like disloyal soldiers who refused to obey the word of command. They refused to accept the creed or the control of the Church. It is perfectly true that the Church does not seek to impose upon men a flat uniformity of belief; but there are certain things which a man must believe to be a Christian, the greatest of which is the all-sufficiency of Christ. Even in the Protestant Church discipline is not eliminated.
They were empty talkers; the word is mataiologoi ( G3151) , and the adjective mataios ( G3152) , vain, empty, profitless, was the adjective applied to heathen worship. The main idea was of a worship which produced no goodness of life. These people in Crete could talk glibly but all their talk was ineffective in bringing anyone one step nearer goodness. The Cynics used to say that all knowledge which is not profitable for virtue is vain. The teacher who simply provides his pupils with a forum for pleasant intellectual and speculative discussion teaches in vain.
They were deceivers. Instead of leading men to the truth they led them away from it.
Their teaching upset whole households. There are two things to notice there. First, their teaching was fundamentally upsetting. It is true that truth must often make a man rethink his ideas and that Christianity does not run away from doubts and questions, but faces them fairly and squarely. But it is also true that teaching which ends in nothing but doubts and questionings is bad teaching. In true teaching, out of the mental disturbance should come in the end a new and greater certainty. Second, they upset households. That is to say, they had an ill effect on family life. Any teaching which tends to disrupt the family is false for the Christian Church is built on the basis of the Christian family.
Their teaching was designed for gain. They were more concerned with what they could get out of the people they were teaching than with what they could put into them. Parry has said that this is indeed the besetting temptation of the professional teacher. When he looks on his teaching simply as a career designed for personal advancement and profit, he is in a perilous condition.
These men are to be muzzled. That does not imply that they are to be silenced by violence or by persecution. The Greek (epistomizein, G1993) does mean to muzzle, but it became the normal word for to silence a person by reason. The way to combat false teaching is to offer true teaching, and the only truly unanswerable teaching is the teaching of a Christian life.
A BAD REPUTATION ( Tit 1:12 ) 1:12 One of themselves, a prophet of their own, has said: “The Cretans are always liars, wild and evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” His testimony is true!
No people ever had a worse reputation than the Cretans. The ancient world spoke of the three most evil C’s–the Cretans, the Cilicians, and the Cappadocians. The Cretans were famed as a drunken, insolent, untrustworthy, lying, gluttonous people.
Their avarice was proverbial. “The Cretans,” said Polybius, “on account of their innate avarice, live in a perpetual state of private quarrel and public feud and civil strife…and you will hardly find anywhere characters more tricky and deceitful than those of Crete.” He writes of them: “Money is so highly valued among them, that its possession is not only thought to be necessary, but highly creditable; and in fact greed and avarice are so native to the soil in Crete, that they are the only people in the world among whom no stigma attaches to any sort of gain whatever.”
Polybius tells of a certain compact that a traitor called Bolis made with a leader called Cambylus, also a Cretan. Bolis approached Cambylus “with all the subtlety of a Cretan.” “This was now made the subject of discussion between them in a truly Cretan spirit. They never took into consideration the saving of the person in danger, or their obligations of honour to those who had entrusted them with the undertaking, but confined the discussion entirely to questions of their own safety and their own advantage. As they were both Cretans they were not long in coming to a unanimous agreement.”
So notorious were the Cretans that the Greeks actually formed a verb kretizein, to cretize, which meant to lie and to cheat; and they had a proverbial phrase, kretizein pros Kreta, to cretize against a Cretan, which meant to match lies with lies, as diamond cuts diamond.
The quotation which Paul makes is actually from a Greek poet called Epimenides. He lived about 600 B.C. and was ranked as one of the seven wise men of Greece. The first phrase, “The Cretans are chronic liars,” had been made famous by a later and equally well-known poet called Callimachus. In Crete there was a monument called The Tomb of Zeus. Obviously the greatest of the gods cannot die and be buried in a tomb, and Callimachus quoted this as a perfect example of Cretan lying. In his Hymn to Zeus he writes:
“Cretans are chronic liars,
For they built a tomb, O King,
And called it thine; but you die not;
Your life is everlasting.”
The Cretans were notorious liars and cheats and gluttons and traitors but here is the wonderful thing. Knowing that, and actually experiencing it, Paul does not say to Timothy: “Leave them alone. They are hopeless and all men know it.” He says: “They are bad and all men know it. Go and convert them.” Few passages so demonstrate the divine optimism of the Christian evangelist, who refuses to regard any man as hopeless. The greater the evil, the greater the challenge. It is the Christian conviction that there is no sin too great for the grace of Jesus Christ to conquer.
THE PURE IN HEART ( Tit 1:13-16 )
1:13-16 For that very reason correct them with severity, that they may grow healthy in the faith and not pay attention to Jewish fables and to rules and regulations made by men who persist in turning their backs on the truth.
“To the pure all things are pure.”
But to those who are defiled and who do not believe, nothing is pure, because their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny their profession by their deeds, because they are repulsive and disobedient and useless for any good work.
The great characteristic of the Jewish faith was its thousands of rules and regulations. This, that and the next thing were branded as unclean; this, that and the next food were held to be tabu. When Judaism and Gnosticism joined hands even the body became unclean and the natural instincts of the body were held to be evil. The inevitable result was that long lists of sins were constantly being created. It became a sin to touch this or that; it became a sin to eat this or that food; it even became a sin to marry and to beget children. Things which were either good in themselves or quite natural became defiled.
So Paul strikes out the great principle–To the pure all things are pure. He had already said that even more definitely in Rom 14:20 when, to those who were constantly involved in questions about clean and unclean foods, he said: “All things are pure.” It may well be that this phrase is not only a proverb but an actual saying of Jesus. When Jesus was speaking about these countless Jewish rules and regulations, he said: “There is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him” ( Mar 7:15).
It is a man’s heart which makes all the difference. If he is pure in heart, all things are pure to him. If he is unclean in heart, then he makes unclean everything he thinks about or speaks about or touches. This was a principle which the great classical writers had often stated. “Unless the vessel is pure,” said Horace, “everything you pour into it grows bitter.” Seneca said: “Just as a diseased stomach alters the food which it receives, so the darkened mind turns everything you commit to it to its own burden and ruin. Nothing can come to evil men which is of any good to them, nay nothing can come to them which does not actually harm them. They change whatever touches them into their own nature. And even things which would be of profit to others become pernicious to them.” The man with a dirty mind makes all things dirty. He can take the loveliest things and cover them with smut. But the man whose mind is pure finds all things pure.
It is said of these men that both their mind and conscience are defiled. A man comes to his decisions and forms his conclusions by using two faculties. He uses intellect to think things out; he uses conscience to listen to the voice of God. But if his intellect is warped in such a way that it can see the unclean thing anywhere, and if his conscience is darkened and numbed by his continual consent to evil, he can take no good decision at all.
A man must keep the white shield of his innocence unstained. If he lets impurity infect his mind, he sees all things through a mist of uncleanness. His mind soils every thought that enters into it; his imagination turns to lust every picture which it forms; he misinterprets every motive; he gives a double meaning to every statement. To escape that uncleanness we must walk in the cleansing presence of Jesus Christ.
THE UGLY AND THE USELESS LIFE ( Tit 1:13-16 continued) When a man gets into this state of impurity, he may know God intellectually but his life is a denial of that knowledge. Three things are singled out here about such a man.
(i) He is repulsive. The word (bdeluktos, G947) is the word particularly used of heathen idols and images. It is the word from which the noun bdelugma ( G946) , an abomination, comes. There is something repulsive about a man with an obscene mind, who makes sniggering jests and is a master of the unclean innuendo.
(ii) He is disobedient. Such a man cannot obey the will of God. His conscience is darkened. He has made himself such that he can hardly hear the voice of God, let alone obey it. A man like that cannot be anything else but an evil influence and is therefore unfit to be an instrument in the hand of God.
(iii) That is just another way of saying that he has become useless to God and to his fellow-men. The word used for useless (adokimos, G96) is interesting. It is used to describe a counterfeit coin which is below standard weight. It is used to describe a cowardly soldier who fails in the testing hour of battle. It is used of a rejected candidate for office, a man whom the citizens regarded as useless. It is used of a stone which the builders rejected. (If a stone had a flaw in it, it was marked with a capital A, for adokimos ( G96) , and left aside, as being unfit to have any place in the building.) The ultimate test of life is usefulness, and the man whose influence is ever towards that which is unclean is of no use to God or to his fellow-men. Instead of helping God’s work in the world, he hinders it; and uselessness always invites disaster.
-Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
Fuente: Barclay Daily Study Bible
Apostolic Title and Address, Tit 1:1-4.
1. Paul See note on 1Ti 1:1.
Servant of God apostle of Christ An antithesis of the general against the special. He is God’s servant, as a generality, shared with all good men; but apostle of Christ is his rare specialty, shared with a choice very few. The and of the English translation, which obscures the antithesis, should be but. The whole passage, after this divine epithet apostle, to the end of Tit 1:3, is an expansion of the great import of that epithet; an assertion of the divinity of Paul’s office, as based upon the divinity of the gospel system, with which it accords, and of which it is an integral part. It takes the whole three verses to fully express Paul’s style and prerogative as apostle, preparatory to his to Titus, mine own son. Even then it is but a summary of his self-assertion in Part First of 1 Timothy, as shown in our Plan, vol. iv, p. 411. Hence this is an official letter a certificate and a diploma, which apostolically authenticates Titus to the Churches of Crete, while it warns him to stand firmly and exclusively upon the high apostolic platform as against surrounding errorists.
According to See notes on this phrase Eph 1:9 and Rom 16:25-27. In that passage of Ephesians the Greek , according to, occurs five times, as here four times an occult proof that Paul was author of both; so occult, indeed, as to have escaped the critical commentators. We are, also, warned thereby from giving different meanings to the words in the different parts of this passage. The apostleship, as an institute, accords with the whole Gospel as a doctrine and a plan. Both, fitting to each other, form the divine system. This apostleship accords with the faith of God’s elect, as being embraced therein in the belief of all the faithful. Hence the substitution by Alford (following Huther) of for, instead of according to, is not only unjustified by the Greek, but contrary to Paul’s special use of the word , and unrequired by the current of this passage.
The faith of God’s elect Namely, that faith by which they become and stay the chosen of God harmonizes with and sustains the apotolate; and if any professed faith rejects it, as does the prevalent Jewish fabulism; it is not the faith of God’s elect. And hence the apostolate of St. Paul accords with the genuine acknowledging of the truth which is after ( , according to) godliness. The meaning is not (as Wiesinger, Huther, Alford, and others) that the apostolate is “for,” that is, conducive to, the acknowledging, but that the apostolate, and a right acknowledging, correspond and are firmly bound together. He who questions the apostolate does not acknowledge the truth.
According to Another , which all are obliged to render rightly. The apostleship accords with just that truth which accords with godliness, or piety. Godliness is a rectitude of heart and faith in communion with God, and under control of the Divine. Yet the divine name does not enter into the Greek word, which word is compounded of , ( right,) and , ( worship,) and signifies true devotion, or piety. The words of Chrysostom, approvingly quoted by Huther, do not hit the mark: “Other truth there is which is not according to godliness, as truth of agriculture or trade.” St. Paul’s phrase is not opposed to any secular truths, but only to the pretended truths, though real falsehoods, of Gnosticism and fallen Judaism, with which both Timothy and Titus were to contend in their respective charges. For throughout this entire paragraph of St. Paul’s self-assertion, the opposition of the Ephesian and Cretan gainsayers is silently presupposed. His office is in accordance with God’s truth; their teaching is in accordance with a conscience defiled. Tit 1:15.
The truth which is after godliness It must be emphatically noticed that this accordance and identification of truth with rectitude is St. Paul’s leading test of his true Christianity. To stay Christian, as he holds Christianity, is to stay (Tit 1:8) sober, just, holy, temperate; to leave Christianity and relapse into heathenism, or run into Gnosticism, is to become like the Cretans, (Tit 1:12,) or like the reprobate, (Tit 1:16.) It is, therefore, not of mere theoretic or doctrinal truth, but it is of reformatory, saving, divine truth truth which is after godliness that he is, and Titus in his place must be, the unflinching champion at Crete. He purposes to raise Crete into a true Christian civilization through his Gospel and organized Church.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Paul, a bondservant (doulos) of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,’
This is the only place where Paul opens his letter by claiming to be the ‘servant (bondservant) of God’, although he uses the title ‘bondservant of Jesus Christ/Christ Jesus’ in Rom 1:1; Php 1:1. He likes to vary his introductions. He is here paralleling it with ‘an Apostle of Jesus Christ’, which, with variations, is a more regular title. James, in Jas 1:1, has ‘a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ’.
The title ‘servant of God’ (doulos theou) is applied to Moses (and only Moses) as a title of honour (1Ch 6:49; 2Ch 24:9; Neh 10:29; Dan 9:11). Although in LXX the references in Chronicles are translated as ‘pais theou’, those in Nehemiah and Daniel are translated ‘doulos tou theou’. It therefore indicates high status as a proclaimer of God’s truth directly appointed by God, on a parallel with Moses, and parallel with ‘an Apostle of Jesus Christ’. A parallel title ‘the servant of YHWH’ was more common in the Old Testament.
The titles may, however, also be seen as a title of humility as Paul presents himself as the slave of God. In that sense we also can use the title.
‘Apostle of Jesus Christ.’ This is the parallel New Testament status to ‘Servant of God’ as used of Moses. He was set apart from his mother’s womb to be one in whom ‘His Son’ was revealed (Gal 1:15-16), to the unique Apostleship which he shared with Jesus’ twelve Apostles (Gal 1:17; Gal 2:8 ; 1Co 9:1; 1Co 9:5; Rom 11:13), and James, the Lord’s brother (Gal 1:19) and possibly with Barnabas (Act 14:14), although the last reference may be a lesser temporary use as of those ‘sent forth’ by the church (but see 1Co 9:6 in context). Paul is here claiming his full status as a unique representative of Jesus Christ as he does in most of his letters in one way or another. Compare especially 2Co 1:1; Eph 1:1; Col 1:1; 1Ti 1:1; 2Ti 1:1.
‘According to the faith of God’s elect, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness.’ Some see this as indication that somehow Paul’s servanthood and apostleship were regulated by the faith of God’s elect, being determined by it (compare 1Co 9:2) others, however argue that ‘according to’ means ‘with regard to’. Thus Paul is simply stating that his position as a servant of God and an Apostle is for the benefit of God’s elect and for the furtherance of the knowledge of the truth. ‘According to’ could also mean ‘in accordance with’, indicating that that was how the faith of God’s elect saw it. All are in their own way true. The phrase ‘God’s elect is Pauline, being found otherwise only in Rom 8:33; Col 3:12. But the idea that God’s people are the elect of God is found more widely, e.g. Mat 24:22; Mat 24:24; Mat 24:31; Luk 18:7; 2Ti 2:10 ; 1Pe 1:2. They are those who have been chosen in Him before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4).
‘And the knowledge (epignosis) of the truth which is according to godliness.’ This might be seen as tending to support the idea that it was how his position was seen both by the elect and by the genuine truth, or it may be seen as signifying that he was a source of the knowledge of the genuine truth. Epignosis was a popular word for knowledge with Paul, containing within it an element of ‘spiritual knowledge’ or ‘true knowledge’ in contrast with false knowledge for which gnosis is always used (1Ti 6:20). But the distinction is not rigid. What we can say is that false knowledge is never called epignosis in the New Testament.
‘The truth which is according to godliness.’ Compare 2Pe 1:3. True knowledge produces godliness. True godliness and true truth go together. ‘Godliness.’ Godliness (eusebia), is not necessarily a satisfactory translation as the word does not necessarily involve God, It signifies ‘the fulfilment of obligation’, whether to God (and therefore true worship and piety) or men (and therefore loving one’s neighbour as oneself for His sake). So we may see it as Godly faith, resulting in a genuineness towards God from a worshipful heart, which also results in our fulfilment of our obligation towards our fellowman. This is always the case for those who come to spiritual knowledge of the truth.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Salutation Tit 1:1-4 is called the salutation of Paul’s letter to Titus and is found in all thirteen of Paul’s New Testament epistles and is used as an introduction to his letters. Paul wrote his salutations as a signature of authenticity (2Th 3:17) just like we place our signature today at the end of a document. He may have written entire epistles as indicated in Phm 1:19. However, there are indications in six of his epistles that Paul used an amanuensis to write most of his letters (see Rom 16:22, 1Co 16:21, Gal 6:11, Col 4:18, 2Th 3:17, Phm 1:19).
2Th 3:17, “The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write.”
Tit 1:14 is the opening salutation of Paul with a clear emphasis upon the office and ministry of God the Father.
The Salutation Reflects the Theme of Titus The opening verses of most books of the Scriptures introduces its theme. Thus, we are able to find references to the theme of the epistle of Titus in its opening salutation (Tit 1:1-4). In this letter Paul charges Titus with the commission of setting in order the churches planted in Crete. Paul tells Titus that his apostleship is related to establishing faith in God’s elect people (Tit 1:1) to establish them in their hope of eternal life (Tit 1:2).
In this opening salutation Paul humbly declares himself as a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ “in accordance to” God the Father’s redemptive plan (Tit 1:1 a). This plan of the Father is to (1) establish faith in the heart of God’s elect (Tit 1:1 b), (2) which establishes the love walk, or sanctification, through the teaching of God’s Word, which is according to a godly lifestyle (Tit 1:1 c), (3) all for the purpose of establishing a believer’s hope in eternal life (Tit 1:2). Paul fulfills God the Father’s redemptive plan by preaching His Word (Tit 1:3). He will delegate this same duty to Titus, who is to teach God’s Word to the churches planted in Crete. Therefore, Paul tells Titus to elect godly leaders (Tit 1:5-16), hand over to them sound doctrine (Tit 2:1-15) which establishes godly conduct among the believers (Tit 3:1-7), and all for the purpose of bringing these believers into their blessed hope of eternal life through Christ Jesus.
This opening salutation has a clear emphasis upon the office and ministry of God the Father. While Titus emphasizes the Father’s role in using His servants to teach His elect the Word, 1 and 2 Timothy emphasize the evangelistic role of His servants in bringing men to a saving knowledge of Jesus, and Philemon illustrates the pastor’s role in leading a local congregation in the love walk by his example of receiving a former slave back into his church.
Tit 1:1 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
Tit 1:1
Rom 1:1, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,”
Gal 1:10, “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”
Php 1:1, “Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ , to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:”
Tit 1:1, “Paul, a servant of God , and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;”
Comments – Lev 25:39-40 makes a distinction between a hired servant and a bondservant (slave).
Lev 25:39-40, “And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant : But as an hired servant , and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee:”
Comments – One reason why Paul uses the phrase “servant of Jesus Christ” often in his epistles is because many Old Testament people used this word in their relationship to God:
Abraham:
Gen 26:24, “And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake .”
Job:
Job 42:7-8, “And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job , and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.”
Moses:
Jos 1:1, “Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,”
Samuel:
1Sa 3:9, “Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.”
David:
2Sa 3:18, “Now then do it: for the LORD hath spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies.”
2Ki 19:34, “For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake .”
Solomon:
1Ki 3:9, “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?”
Elijah:
2Ki 9:36, “Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel:”
Hezekiah:
2Ch 32:16, “And his servants spake yet more against the LORD God, and against his servant Hezekiah .”
Israel and Jacob:
Isa 44:21, “Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant : I have formed thee; thou art my servant : O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.”
Daniel:
Dan 6:20, “And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God , is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?”
Zerubbabel:
Hag 2:23, “In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant , the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.”
Jesus:
Isa 52:13, “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.”
Isa 53:11, “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.”
Paul became a servant at his conversion in Damascus (Act 9:1-22), although Ananias prophesied of his future divine calling unto the nations. He spent about fourteen years evangelizing Damascus and the regions of Syria and Cilicia prior to being sent out with Barnabas as an apostle. Notice that Paul calls himself a servant before declaring himself an apostle. The Greek language often lacks our familiar word order of Subject-Verb-Object. Instead, the Greek places words in the order of their emphasis, or the order of importance to the thought being presented. Because Greek is so highly inflected, there is little or no confusion when distinguishing between the subject and the object to its respective verb.
Therefore, in Rom 1:1 we see Paul placing his servitude to Jesus Christ before his office of apostleship. Paul’s anointing to walk as an apostle is in direct proportion to his servitude to his Master. In the natural world, no business manager is worthy of his hire who is not first willing to carry out the will of the business owner. This is because the authority to rule over man is always based upon one’s willingness to yield to a higher authority. Paul knew that the secret to walking in the anointing as a apostle was to daily crucify his own will and serve his Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Illustration – If anyone has ever had a servant that lived and worked in their home, they know that a servant is a person who abandons his own pursuits, and daily takes care of the pursuits and needs of the master. A servant does not have great plans for his own life. He literally gives his life so that the master’s goals and plans may be achieved. This is the heart of a servant.
Illustration I was trying to comfort my precious wife one morning while we were serving the Lord in the mission field. After fifteen years working overseas, having left wonderful opportunities and a comfortable life in the United States, she said that she felt like a prisoner. She could not do what she wanted to do. She had her own dreams that she did not pursue. I then reminded her of Paul’s description of himself in his epistles as a slave and even a prisoner of Jesus Christ. We talked about our feelings and concluded that life is very short, and all that we have gained in this world is left behind when we die. Thus, we reconciled ourselves to our fate of serving the Lord at the cost of sacrificing our own will and desires. Paul must have felt the same on occasions, looking at his family and loved ones who were able to enjoy a normal lifestyle, and stable home, and the many comforts that a home and family brings to one’s life. While in the mission field planting churches in the Greco-Roman cities teaming with slavery, Paul identified himself with the life of a slave. While in prison, he called himself a prisoner of Jesus Christ. He gave himself daily to the will of God, often laying aside his own desires. (4 October 2012)
Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Tit 1:2
Tit 1:3 But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
Tit 1:4 Tit 1:4
(1) First Appearance – His outstanding character is demonstrated during his first appearance with Paul at the first Jerusalem Council (Gal 2:1-3, Acts 15), where Paul used him to demonstrate that salvation was indeed for the Gentiles with no need for them to adhere to Jewish traditions. Paul won his argument that the Gentile churches should not be under Mosaic Law largely due to the fact that Titus was not forced to be circumcised, though he as accepted as a Christian by the church at Jerusalem. Paul’s description of him as his “mine own son after the common faith” most likely indicates that Titus was his convert.
(2) Second Appearance – Titus remained loyal to Paul and joined him at Ephesus. We can conclude this because he is next seen in Paul’s second epistle to Corinthians, where he was sent to Corinth a number of times during Paul’s third missionary journey. We know that he is enlisted to prepare the believers there for the collection of the saints (1Co 16:1-4; 2Co 9:2; 2Co 12:18). Titus was again sent to help Paul straighten out the problems there some time after the writing of 1 Corinthians. We know that Paul was to depart from Ephesus and meet Titus at Troas upon his return from Corinth (2Co 2:12-13). Not finding Titus as Troas, Paul made his way into Macedonia where they finally met up (2Co 7:5-7). Being greatly encouraged at that time by the testimony of Titus about the church at Corinth (2Co 7:6-7; 2Co 7:13-15) Paul then wrote his second epistle to the Corinthians and sent it by the hands of this co-worker (2Co 8:6-7; 2Co 8:16-22). Paul sent two men with him and gave them his strong recommendation as someone who could be fully trusted (2Co 8:23-24; 2Co 12:17-18). When Paul arrived at Corinth (Act 20:1-3) he found the collection complete and the problems addressed; for Titus had done his job well. Thus, Titus is seen now as a loyal and trusted co-worker of Paul.
(3) Third Appearance – Titus does not reappear again until Paul writes his Pastoral Epistles, a period of eight or ten years later. Apparently, upon release from his first Roman imprisonment Paul rushed through a fourth and final missionary journey, leaving Titus in Crete to set the churches in order (Tit 1:4-5). Titus must have been working some time in Crete in order to be given this assignment. But Paul’s instructions were for them to now meet in Nicopolis (Tit 3:12), where it seems a further assignment would be delegated to him.
(4) Four Appearance – The last words we read of Titus is found in 2 Timothy, where we are informed that Titus had departed for Dalmatia (2Ti 4:10). Thus, we can only guess that Titus may have been with Paul in Rome during his second imprisonment, and was sent on his final assignment by Paul.
Extra-biblical References to Titus – We find some additional biographical information about Titus in the writings of the early Church fathers. According to Ignatius (A.D. 35-107), bishop of Antioch, Titus is said to have never married. [2] Eusebius (A.D. 260-340), the early Church historian, testifies of his office as bishop in Crete. [3] The Apostolic Constitutions (late 4 th c.), a collection of ecclesiastical law that is believed to have been compiled during the latter half of the fourth century, gives us a list of the earliest bishops, stating that there was a man by the name of “Titus” who became the bishop of the church in Crete. [4] John Chrysostom (A.D. 347-407) believes Titus may have been a Corinthian, [5] and notes that Paul entrusted the entire island of Crete to him. [6] Paulinus of Nola (A.D. 353-431) places him in Crete. [7] Theodoret (393-466) calls Titus an apostle of Crete. [8] We find a eulogy to him in the writings of Andrew of Crete (c. A.D. 660 to 740). [9] Theophylact (11 th c.) calls Titus the great bishop of Crete. [10]
[2] Ignatius writes, “May I have pleasure in your purity, as that of Elijah, or as of Joshua the son of Nun, as of Melchizedek, or as of Elisha, as of Jeremiah, or as of John the Baptist, as of the beloved disciple, as of Timothy, as of Titus, as of Evodius, as of Clement, who departed this life in [perfect] chastity,” ( The Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians 4).
[3] Eusebius writes, “Timothy, so it is recorded, was the first to receive the episcopate of the parish in Ephesus, Titus of the churches in Crete.” ( Ecclesiastical History 3.4.6).
[4] The Apostolic Constitutions ways, “Now concerning those bishops which have been ordained in our lifetime, we let you know that they are theseof Crete, Titus.” ( Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, 7.4.46).
[5] See Homilies on the Epistle of St. Paul to Titus: Homily I.
[6] John Chrysostom writes, “If it should be asked why he addresses Epistles to Titus and Timothy alone, though Silas was approved, as also was Luke, for he writes, “Only Luke is with me,” and Clement was one of his associates, of whom he says, “with Clement and other my fellow-laborers,” for what reason then does he write only to Titus and Timothy? It is because he had already committed the care of churches to these, and certain marked places had been assigned to them, but the others were in attendance upon him.” ( Homilies on the First Epistle of Paul to Timothy: Argument) He also says, “For Titus was one of the most admirable men, so that to him he intrusted the affairs of the island, no small island, I mean, but that great one of Crete.” ( Homilies on the Second Epistle of Paul to Timothy: Homily 10)
[7] Paulinus of Nola writes, “Parthia receives Matthew, India Thomas, Thaddaeus Libya, Phrygia Philip, Titus took Crete, doctor Luke Boetia, Mark Alexandria.” ( Poema 19.80-84) See PL 61 col. 514A.
[8] See Theodoret’s commentary on 1 Timothy 3 in PG 82 columns 803-812.
[9] See Andrew of Crete’s eulogy to Titus in PG 97, columns 1141-1168.
[10] See Theophylact’s Proem. Ad Titum in PG 125 columns 141-142.
Church tradition says that Titus died peaceably in Crete, as archbishop of Gortyna, at the age of ninety-four. [11] Scholars cite de Vita et Actis Titi, which calls Titus the bishop of Gortyna, an ancient city of Crete. [12] Alfred Plummer tells us that during the Middle Ages the Cretans honored Titus “as their patron saint.” [13] Smith says that the ruins of an ancient church at this site still bear his name.
[11] The traditional views of the life of Titus can be found in several books. See William Cave, “The Life of S. Titus Bishop of Crete,” in Apostolici: or The History of the Lives, Acts, Death, and Martyrdoms of those Who were Contemporary with, or Immediately Succeeded by the Apostles (London: Richard Chiswel, 1682), 55-63; S. Baring-Gould, “S. Titus,” in Lives of the Saints, vol. 1 (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897), 53-56. However, I find no citations from the Church fathers or modern commentators to support the popular statement that Titus dies at the age of ninety-four.
[12] A translation of the fragment de Vita et Actis Titi or Acts of Titus, said to be written by the lawyer Zenas (cited by Smith in Fabrie. Cod. Apocry. N. T. ii. 831-832) can be found in Richard Adelbert Lipsius, Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichen und Apostellegenden, vol. 3 (Braunschweig: C. A. Schwetschke und Sohn, 1884), 401-406. An English translation is available by Richard Pervo, trans., “The ‘Acts of Titus’: A Preliminary Translation With an Introduction, Notes, and Appendices,” Society of Biblical Literature: Seminar Papers, Number 35 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996): 455-482.
[13] Alfred Plummer, The Pastoral Epistles: The Epistle to Titus, in The Expositor’s Bible, ed. W. Robertson Nicoll (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1891), 209.
Tit 1:4 “mine own son after the common faith” Comments – Paul’s description of Titus as his own son in the faith puts Titus in the role of a son subject to his father. This obligates him to obey the instructions given to him in this epistle written by his spiritual father.
Tit 1:4 “Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour” Comments (The Pauline Greeting) – J. Vernon McGee says the word “grace” in Paul’s greetings was a formal greeting used in Greek letters of his day, while the word “peace” was the customary Jewish greeting. [14] More specifically, John Grassmick says the Greek word was a common greeting in classical Greek epistles, so that was a “word play” that Paul began to use in conjunction with the Hebrew greeting “peace.” [15] Thus, Paul would be addressing both Greeks and Jews. However, Paul uses these same two words in his epistles to Timothy, Titus and Philemon, which weakens the idea that Paul intended to make such a distinction between two ethnic groups when using “grace” and “peace.” Perhaps this greeting became customary for Paul and lost its distinctive elements. A different view is proposed by James Denny, who explains the relationship of these two words as a cause and effect. He says that grace is God’s unmerited favor upon mankind, and the peace is the result of receiving His grace and forgiveness of sins. [16] In a similar statement, Charles Simeon says the phrase “‘grace and peace’ comprehended all the blessings of the Gospel.” [17]
[14] J. Vernon McGee, The Epistle to the Romans, in Thru the Bible With J. Vernon McGee (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Pub., 1998), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), comments on Romans 1:1.
[15] John D. Grassmick, “Epistolary Genre,” in Interpreting the New Testament Text, eds. Darrell L. Bock and Buist M. Fanning (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2006), 232.
[16] James Denney, The Epistles to the Thessalonians, in The Expositor’s Bible, eds. William R. Nicoll and Oscar L. Joseph (New York: Hodder and Stoughton, n.d.), 15-16.
[17] Charles Simeon, 2 Peter, in Horae Homileticae, vol. 20: James to Jude (London: Holdsworth and Ball, 1833), 285.
Comments (The Pauline Blessing) – In a similar way that the early apostles were instructed by Jesus to let their peace come upon the home of their host (Mat 10:13), so did Paul the apostle open every one of his thirteen New Testament epistles with a blessing of God’s peace and grace upon his readers. Mat 10:13 shows that you can bless a house by speaking God’s peace upon it.
Mat 10:13, “And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.”
This practice of speaking blessings upon God’s children may have its roots in the Priestly blessing of Num 6:22-27, where God instructed Moses to have the priests speak a blessing upon the children of Israel. We see in Rth 2:4 that this blessing became a part of the Jewish culture when greeting people. Boaz blessed his workers in the field and his reapers replied with a blessing.
Rth 2:4, “And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee.”
We also see this practiced by the king in 2Sa 15:20 where David says, “mercy and truth be with thee”.
2Sa 15:20, “Whereas thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us? seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take back thy brethren: mercy and truth be with thee.”
So, this word of blessing was a part of the Hebrew and Jewish culture. This provides us the background as to why Paul was speaking a blessing upon Timothy, especially that God would grant him more of His grace and abiding peace that he would have otherwise not known. In faith, we too, can receive this same blessing into our lives. Paul actually pronounces and invokes a blessing of divine grace and peace upon his readers with these words, “Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” I do not believe this blessing is unconditional, but rather conditional. In other words, it is based upon the response of his hearers. The more they obey these divine truths laid forth in this epistle, the more God’s grace and peace is multiplied in their lives. We recall how the children of Israel entered the Promised Land, with six tribes standing upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people and six tribes upon Mount Ebal to curse the disobedient (Deu 27:11-26). Thus, the blessings and curses of Deu 28:1-68 were placed upon the land. All who obeyed the Law received these blessings, and all who disobeyed received this list of curses. In the same way Paul invokes a blessing into the body of Christ for all who will hearken unto the divine truths of this epistle. We see this obligation of the recipients in the translation by Beck of 2Pe 1:2, “As you know God and our Lord Jesus, may you enjoy more and more of His love and peace. ”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Address and Opening Salutation.
v. 1. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
v. 2. in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
v. 3. but hath in due times manifested His Word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God, our Savior;
v. 4. to Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the father and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. The character of the letter is immediately indicated by the expression of apostolic dignity combined with the glory of the evangelical ministry: Paul, a servant of God, but an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of the elect of God and the knowledge of truth which is in agreement with godliness. A servant of God the apostle calls himself, finding an especial distinction in connecting the idea of milling and humble service with the work of his office. For his is a ministry entrusted to him by God and in the interest of God’s kingdom for the purpose of gaining souls for heaven. But not only does he bear this honoring distinction, it is rather his highest honor to be an apostle of Jesus Christ in the most restricted sense of the term. He furthermore explains his apostolic work and office as being in accordance with the faith of the elect of God and the knowledge of the truth which is in agreement with godliness. Paul himself possessed the faith which is peculiar to the elect of God, and this faith furnished both the motive and the power for the proper exercise of the duties which devolved upon him in this office. This faith is based upon the knowledge of the truth of the Gospel, of the salvation in Christ Jesus. It was no mere head-knowledge of which he speaks, for this would at best have made him a competent servant of men, but it was a grasping of the truth with spirit and mind, a realization of its wonderful blessings. The fact that the Word of the Gospel is the truth was his firm conviction, and he knew that this was in agreement with true piety. The pure doctrine of the Gospel and true righteousness of life are correlates; if a person has sincerely accepted the former, he will give evidence in his whole life of the latter.
The apostle gives a further characterization of his office: Upon the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the times of the world, but has revealed at His own time in the preaching with which I was entrusted according to the precept of God, our Savior. Paul is a servant of God and an apostle of Christ Jesus on the basis of the hope of eternal life, 1Co 15:14-15; 2Ti 1:1: Rom 6:22. The hope: the firm conviction of the certainty of salvation, fills the apostle with courage and joy and strength to fulfill the duties of his office properly. This hope of the Christians cannot fail, because God has already given the promise, and this promise is certain by virtue of his faithfulness and truth; for God cannot lie, Psa 33:4. Before the times of this world, before the foundations of the earth were laid, from eternity, He gave a promise based upon the grace which He also granted in Christ Jesus, namely, to give eternal life to His own. This counsel of God, according to which He set forth eternal life as a prize or reward of merry, was then proclaimed. At His own time, in the fullness of time as determined by Him. He revealed His Word in the preaching of the Gospel as it was entrusted to Paul. This counsel and will had indeed been made known ever since the first announcement of the Savior’s coming, in the Garden of Eden, but chiefly in type and prophecy. The full revelation came with the incarnation of Christ, Heb 1:1: Gal 4:4-5, but particularly through the Gospel as preached by Christ and the apostles. The Word of the Gospel thus, as a true means of grace, actually transmits the true spiritual life from God, as the Source of all life. And God, who chose Paul to be His apostle, thereby entrusted him with the proclamation of this life-giving message. It was not his own choice, he did not seek the honor for himself, but now that it has been given to him, he emphasizes very strongly that he holds his office according to the precept or commandment of God, the Savior. It is the same thought which the apostle voices also in other passages of the Pastoral Letters. Titus, therefore, as the recipient of the letter, could claim for its contents apostolic and therefore divine authority. Note that the designation of God as the Savior serves as a tender invitation to all men not to regard Him as a stern Judge, whose greatest delight is the damnation of sinners, but as a loving Father in Christ Jesus, who wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Having established his authority and thus that of Titus as his representative in proclaiming the truths contained in this letter. Paul now addresses his pupil directly: To Titus, my true son according to the common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus, our Savior. It appears from these words that Titus had also been converted through the preaching of the great apostle, that he was his spiritual son. At the same time Paul’s words indicate that Titus had his spiritual father’s mind and spirit. Even though Titus, who was a descendant of Gentiles, had not grown up in the blessings of the Old Testament people, yet his relation to Paul was no less intimate for that reason. On the contrary, they are united by the bonds of the same faith, whose object is Christ the Savior, as revealed in the Gospel. And so Paul adds his apostolic salutation and wish that grace and peace from above might rest upon Titus. He is to become a partaker of the riches of God’s grace and mercy, of the peace which belongs to the believers the reconciliation effected by Christ, and thus of the fullness of salvation. In calling God the Father and Christ Jesus the Savior, Paul again stresses the character of the Gospel as a message of redemption, as a proclamation of salvation, in the granting of which the Father and the Son are equally interested.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Tit 1:1
Knowledge for acknowledging, A.V.; according to for after, A.V. A servant of God ( ); so in the superscriptions: Rom 1:1; Php 1:1, ; Jas 1:1; 2Pe 1:1; Jud 2Pe 1:1; Rev 1:1. St. Paul also calls himself “the servant of Christ” (Gal 1:10); and the phrase, , occurs in 2Ti 2:24. But neither “servant of God” nor any equivalent is in the superscription of either 1 or 2 Timothy. “Servant” is a better rendering than “slave,” as Farrar renders it. An apostle, etc.; as in both 1 and 2 Timothy, and also in Rom 1:1; 1Co 1:1 2Co 1:1, etc.; showing that this is not a private letter, but a public and official document, conveying official authority to Titus over the Church in Crete. According to the faith of God’s elect. The phrase is peculiar to this passage, and the exact force of is not easy to determine (see Bishop Ellicott’s notes, who renders “for,” and explains that “the faith of God’s elect is the destination of the apostleship,” with the further explanation that this meaning of is about equivalent to “with special reference to,” or “destination for,” as its object). It is nearly the same thing to say that the true faith, and the perfect knowledge of the truth, and the hope of eternal life promised by God, are the sphere in which the apostolic office moves and acts. “The faith of God’s elect,” etc., seems to imply that there was in some who were not elect (1Jn 2:19, 1Jn 2:20) a corruption of the faith, a departure from ita faith that was no faith, and something calling itself truth which was not “according to godliness,” and so to point to rising heresies. The authors of these heresies were chiefly Jews (verse 10), of whom there was a considerable colony in Crete. According to godliness (for the use of in the pastoral Epistles, see 1Ti 2:2; 1Ti 3:16; 1Ti 4:7, 1Ti 4:8; 1Ti 6:3, 1Ti 6:5, 1Ti 6:6, 1Ti 6:11; 2Ti 3:5, and notes).
Tit 1:2
Who for that, A.V.; times eternal for the world began, A.V. In hope of eternal life. This seems to be a further description of the scope or sphere of the apostolate, which, as some take , is based upon the hope of eternal life. Who cannot lie (); here only in the New Testament, rarely in the LXX., but common in classical Greek. The epithet is here used to show the certainty of the fulfillment of the promise made before the ages (comp. Heb 6:18; Num 23:19). Before times eternal (see 2Ti 1:9, note). The translation, “before times eternal,” conveys no sense; are “the times of ages past” (Rom 16:25), placed in opposition to the , or to the “now” of 2Ti 1:10, in which the manifestation of the promise took place.
Tit 1:3
In his own seasons for hath due times, A.V.; in the message for through preaching, A.V.; wherewith 1 was entrusted for which is committed unto me, A.V. In his own seasons. The margin, its own seasons, is preferable (see 1Ti 2:7, note). The phrase is equivalent to “the fullness of the time” (Gal 4:4). Manifested his Word. There is a change of construction. “The relative sentence passes almost imperceptibly into a primary sentence” (Buttmann in Huther); “his Word” becomes the object of the verb “made manifest,” instead of “eternal life,” as one would have expected. His Word is the whole revelation of the gospel, including the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Compare St. Peter’s address to Cornelius (Act 10:36). This “Word,” which lay in the mind of God through the ages, and was only dimly expressed in the promises given from time to time (1Pe 1:10-12), was now “made manifest,” and proclaimed openly in that preaching of the gospel of God’s grace which was entrusted to St. Paul. This same idea is frequently expressed (see Rom 16:25; Eph 1:9, Eph 1:10; Eph 3:3-11; 2Ti 1:9-11; 1Pe 1:20), In the message. Surely a poor and a false rendering. means “by the open proclamation” which St. Paul, as God’s herald, , was commanded to make. But this is better expressed by the word which is appropriated to the proclamation of the gospel, viz. “preaching.” So, as above quoted, Rom 16:25; 2Ti 1:11, and elsewhere frequently. According to the commandment ( ….); Rom 16:26; 1Ti 1:1 (comp. Gal 1:1). God our Savior (1Ti 1:1; 1Ti 2:3; Tit 2:10; Tit 3:4; Jud 1:25; and also Luk 1:47). Elsewhere in the New Testament the term “Savior” () is always applied to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tit 1:4
My true child for mine own son, A.V.; a common for the common, A.V.; grace and peace for grace, mercy, and peace, A.V. and T.R.; Christ Jesus for the Lord Jesus Christ, A.V. and T.R. My true child ( : 1Ti 1:2) after a common faith ( ). In 1Ti 1:2 it is (where see note). Beyond all doubt, Alford is right in both cases in rendering “the faith” (see his note on 1Ti 1:2). The “common faith” means the faith of all God’s elect. Grace and peace. So the R.T., omitting , mercy, which is found in 1Ti 1:2 and 2Ti 1:2. But the manuscripts vary, and the critics are divided as to whether ought to be retained here or not.
Tit 1:5
Were for are, A.V.; appoint for ordain, A.V.; gave thee charge for had appointed thee, A.V. Left I thee in Crete. We have no account of St. Paul’s visit to Crete, nor do we know how the gospel was first brought to Crete. It may have been by some of those “Cretes” who were at Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, and heard the apostles speak in their tongue “the wonderful works of God” (Act 2:11), or by other Christian Jews visiting the Jewish community in Crete (note to Tit 1:1). If St. Paul was returning from Spain, and travelling by ship eastward, Crete would be on his way. The importance of the island, with which he made some acquaintance on his voyage from Caesarea to Rome (Act 27:7, Act 27:8), and the large Jewish colony there, may naturally have inclined him to visit it. How long he remained there we do not know, but he did not stay long enough to organize the Church there completely. There were still things “wanting” ( ), as it follows. This mention of Crete is an important chronological mark. The order of St. Paul’s progress, as gathered from the three pastoral Epistles, is very distinctCrete, Miletus, Troas, Macedonia, Corinth, Nicopolis, Rome. He dropped Titus at Crete, and left Timothy behind at Ephesus. The Epistle to Titus, therefore, is the first of the three pastoral Epistles, and this is borne out by another circumstance. When he wrote to Titus he had not made up his mind whether he should send Artemas or Tychicus to take his place in Crete when he rejoined the apostle (Tit 3:12). But when he wrote 2 Timothy he had sent Tychicus to Ephesus to replace Timothy (2Ti 4:12), and Titus had already joined him, and been sent on by him to Dalmatia, presumably from Nicopolis. Set in order (); only here in the New Testament, and not found in the LXX. nor in classical Greek, except as a technical word in the art of rhetoric. But is very common in classical Greek (see , 2Ti 3:16). The force of in the compound here is “further,” or “in addition.” St. Paul had set the Church in order up to a certain point. But there were still certain things wanting, (see Tit 3:13; Luk 18:22); and these Titus was to supply and give the finishing touch to. Appoint (). This is a better rendering than the A.V. “ordain,” because it is a general word for “to appoint, make.” Probably the A.V. “ordain” was not intended to be taken in a strictly technical sense, but is used as in Heb 5:1; Heb 8:3. The technical word was usually “to order.” “The Ordering of Deacons,” or “of Priests,” is the title of the service in the Book of Common Prayer. “Meet to be ordered,” “shall surcease from ordering,” occur repeatedly in the rubrics, Elders (); i.e. presbyters, or priests (comp. Act 14:23; and see Act 11:30, note). In every city ( ); city by city. The phrase has a peculiar significance in Crete, which used to be famous for its hundred cities. It shows, too, that Christianity was widely spread among the cities of the island. The germ of the episcopal office, one bishop and many presbyters, is here very conspicuous.
Tit 1:6
Any man is for any be, A.V.; children that believe for faithful children, A.V.; who are not for not, A.V. Blameless (); see 1Ti 3:10, note. The husband of one wife (see 1Ti 3:2, note). Having children that believe (see 1Ti 3:4). Mark the importance given to the “elder’s” family as well as to his personal character. Not accused ( ….); literally, not under an accusation (see 1Ti 5:19). Riot (); see Eph 5:18; 1Pe 4:4; Luk 15:13. Used in Plato and Aristotle for “debauchery” or “profligacy,” with the kindred words , etc. Unruly (); Luk 15:10 and 1Ti 1:9, note.
Tit 1:7
The for a, A.V.: God‘s steward for the steward of God, A.V.; no brawler for not given to wine, A.V.; greedy of for given to, A.V. Blameless (see Tit 1:6). God’s steward (); comp. 1Co 4:1, 1Co 4:2; 1Pe 4:10. (For the office of the steward, see Luk 12:42, Luk 12:43.) Self-willed (); elsewhere in the New Testament only in 2Pe 2:10; in the LXX. Gen 49:3, Gen 49:9 and Pro 21:24; and common in classical Greek. It is always used in a bad sensestubborn, harsh, remorseless, and the like. Soon angry (); only here in the New Testament, found occasionally in the LXX., and common in classical Greekpassionate, quick-tempered, irascible (comp. Eph 4:31; Col 3:8). Brawler (); see 1Ti 3:3, note. Striker (1Ti 3:3, note). Greedy of filthy lucre () 1Ti 3:3, 1Ti 3:8, note.
Tit 1:8
Given to for a lover of, A.V.; good for good men, A.V.; sober-minded for sober, A.V. Given to hospitality (); 1Ti 3:2, note. A lover of good () see 2Ti 3:3, note on . Only here in the New Testament, and only once in the LXX., Wis. 7:22, where it seems to mean “a lover of that which is good,” and where the long string of adjectives is very similar to that here; found occasionally in classical Greek. Sober-minded (); see Tit 2:2, Tit 2:5, and 1Ti 3:2, note. The rendering “discreet” in Tit 2:5 (A.V.) expresses the meaning very well. Just, holy. is usually considered as describing that side of a good man’s character which is in relation to his fellow-men, and that side which has respect to God. Joseph was (Mat 1:19) in his conduct towards Mary; the Lord Jesus was God’s Holy One ( ). In classical Greek the words are more commonly applied to things. are things sanctioned by Divine and human laws respectively. Temperate (); only here in the New Testament, and never in this sense in the LXX.; but it has exactly the same meaning in Aristotle, viz. “master of one’s self,” having the appetites under control.
Tit 1:9
Holding to for holding fast, A.V.; which is according to the teaching for as he hath been taught, A.V.; both to exhort in the sound doctrine for by sound doctrine, both to exhort, A.V.; convict for convince, A.V. Holding to (). Holding fast is a better and more forcible rendering than holding to. It answers to the Latin adherere, to cling to. The faithful word which is according to the teaching is awkwardly expressed. is “the Christian truth” as taught by the apostles, and “the faithful” or “sure word” to which Titusus is to cleave is described as being” according to that truth” (comp. Tit 1:1, ). The A.V. gives substantially the apostle’s meaning. The result of this adhesion to the faithful word is that he will be able to comfort and encourage believers by () his wholesome teaching, and also to convict the opposers of the truth. The gainsayers; or, contradictors ( ); such as those Jews described in Act 13:45 and Act 28:19 as “contradicting and blaspheming.”
Tit 1:10
Unruly men for unruly and, A.V. and T.R. Unruly (); see Tit 1:6. Vain talkers (); only here in the New Testament, not found in the LXX., and rare in classical Greek (see , 1Ti 1:6). and are used in the same sense of “vain, empty, talking.” Deceivers(); here only in the New Testament, not found in the LXX. or in classical Greekliterally, soul-deceivers, or, as some take St, self-deceivers. Here the word means “deceivers,” whoso character is described in 2Pe 2:14 as “beguiling unstable souls.” They of the circumcision; Judaizing Christians, the most obstinate and difficult adversaries with whom St. Paul had to cope (see Galatians passim; Php 3:2, Php 3:3, etc.).
Tit 1:11
Men who overthrow for who subvert, A.V. Whose mouths must be stopped ( ); here only in the New Testament, not found in the LXX., but common in classical Greek. “To curb” (comp. Psa 32:9; Jas 3:2, Jas 3:3). The meaning is nearly the same as that of in Jas 1:26; some, however, assign to it the sense of “to muzzle” (Olshausen, etc.) or “stop the mouth,” which Bishop Ellicott thinks is “perhaps the most common” and “the most suitable.” So also Huther. It often means simply “to silence” (see Stephan, ‘Thesaur.’), and is applied to wind instruments. Overthrow (); as 2Ti 2:18, which shows the kind of overthrow here meant, that viz. of the faith of whole families, well expressed in the A.V. by “subvert.” The phrase, , of the literal overthrow of houses, occurs in Plato (Alford). For filthy lucre’s sake; contrary to the apostolic precept to bishops and deacons (1Ti 3:3, 1Ti 3:8, and above, 1Ti 3:7). Polybius has a striking passage on the of the Cretans, quoted by Bishop Ellicott (‘Hist.,’ 6:146.3).
Tit 1:12
A prophet for even a prophet, A.V.; Cretan, s for the Cretinous, A.V.; idle gluttons for slow bellies, A.V. A prophet of their own; viz. Epimenides, a native either of Phaestus or of Cnossus in Crete, the original author of this line, which is also quoted by Callimachus. Epimenides is here called a prophet, not simply as a poet, but from his peculiar character as priest, bard, and seer; called by Plato , and coupled by Cicero with Bacis the Bceotian prophet, and the sibyl (Bishop Ellicott); described by other ancient writers as a prophet (Alford); “everything we hear of him is of a priestly or religious nature” (‘Dict. of Gr. and Romans Biogr. and Mythol.’). Cretans are always liars, etc. So truly was this their characteristic, that was used to denote” telling lies””to lie like a Cretan” (Plutarch, etc.). From their general bad character arose the line, , ; and Livy, Polybius, and Plutarch alike hear witness to their covetousness and dishonesty: ; “When was there ever an upright Cretan?” asks Leonides in an ‘ Epigram’. Evil beasts. is “a wild beast;” applied to men as a term of reproach (1Co 15:32), it implies brutality, stupidity, unreasonableness, and, with the epithet , mischief, like the French mechante bete. The ‘Epigram’ above quoted calls them , “pirates and wreckers.” Idle gluttons; literally, idle bellies. The substantive denotes their gluttony and sensuality (comp. Rom 16:18; Php 3:19, where is equivalent to ), and the adjective their sloth (, i.e. ); in old Greek it is usually of the common gender.
Tit 1:13
Testimony for witness, A.V.; for which cause for wherefore, A.V.; reprove for rebuke, A.V. Sharply (); elsewhere only in 2Co 13:10 (see also Rom 11:22). That they may be sound (see Tit 2:2). The faithful pastor must use severity when it is necessary to the spiritual health of the flock, just as the skilful surgeon uses the knife to save the patient’s life.
Tit 1:14
Who for that, A.V.; turn away for turn, A.V. Jewish fables (see 1Ti 1:4; 1Ti 4:7; 2Ti 4:4, where the Jewish origin of the fables is implied, though not so distinctly stated as here). Commandments of men ( ); so in Col 2:22 the apostle speaks of the precepts “touch not,” “taste not” (originating with the Judaizing teachers), as (see following note). Turning away from (); see 2Ti 1:15, note.
Tit 1:15
To for unto, A.V. (twice); nothing is for is nothing, A.V.; both for even, A.V.; their conscience for conscience, A.V.; are for is, A.V. To the pure, etc. This allusion shows dearly that the “commandments of men,” here condemned, are of the same kind as those referred to in the above-quoted passage in the Colossians. We learn also from Rom 14:1-23.; 1Co 8:1-13.; and elsewhere, what were the kind of questions which agitated the Judaizing Christians. But St. Paul in a few wise words shows the utter worthlessness of such controversies. “To the pure all things are pure.” “There is nothing from without a man,” said our Lord, “that entering into him can defile him” (Mar 7:15); “Neither if we cat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse” (1Co 8:8); “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom 14:17). But unto those that are defiled by what comes from within them, and have no faith (Rom 14:23), nothing is pure. Their mind and conscience, being defiled, defile everything they do. The words and are the proper words for ceremonial “cleanness” and “defilement” respectively.
Tit 1:16
By their for in, A.V. They profess that they know God (comp. Rom 2:17-20). The arrogant claim to be God’s people and to superior holiness, while all the while they were denying God by their evil deeds, and bringing dishonor upon his Name among the Gentiles, was a marked feature of the Jews in St. Paul’s time. Abominable (); objects or causes of disgust; only here in the New Testament, but found in the LXX. But and are not uncommon. Reprobate (); as 2Ti 3:8 (where see note). This picture of the circumcision is indeed sad.
HOMILETICS
Tit 1:1-16
The ministry of character.
The pastoral Epistles, and this chapter in particular, bring prominently before us the Christian ministry as of commanding importance in the scheme of Christianity. Christianity, the sum and substance of Christian doctrine, was to be diffused among all nations; and the great instrument for maintaining it in efficiency and power was to be the ministry. But in describing the ministerial qualifications the apostle lays so much stress upon the personal character of the ministers, as to make us feel that the Christian ministry of which he speaks is a ministry of character as much as of preaching, or teaching, or any other ministration. Looking at this side of the ministry, we learn that it is the purpose of the great Head of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, that his doctrine and the truth which he brought down from heaven should be presented to the world in the lives and characters of his accredited servants and ambassadors. Those servants of his were to be scattered among the people, “in every city,” and every village, where the gospel message had been brought, and the people were not only to hear from their lips, but were to see in their lives, the nature and practical effect of the doctrine delivered to them. And, in truth, the eloquence of holy, loving, and self-denying lives is more persuasive than that of any words, however good and however beautiful. We feel, even after reading the words of the Master himself, and having felt their power, that there is a still greater power in that life and death, wherein were embodied, in all the beauty of love and goodness, the sublime precepts which he taught. While, therefore, we see the importance of a learned clergy, an eloquent clergy, an orthodox clergy, and withal a clergy of business habits, we shall do well to keep steadily in view the commanding and essential quality of high and consistent Christian character, showing itself in all the details of the daily intercourse of life. The clergy of the Church should be the epistle of Christ, known and read of all men in every place where they are located, as bishops, priests, or deacons. In their manner of life and whole conversation should be seen worked out in practice what the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is intended to effect in the renewal of human nature. Their conduct and character should be a living commentary on the Word of God which they preach to the people, and their silent argument for pressing it upon the people’s acceptance. And hence we may deduce the importance of a resident ministry. The functions of preaching and ministering the sacraments may be performed by strangers. The effectual sermon of a holy Christian life requires “elders” resident amidst the community to whom they preach. The pure morals, the well-ordered families, the meek and patient behavior under provocation, the kindly genial sympathies, the fair and equitable dealing, the sober gravity, the self-control and self-mastery of the servant of God, must be seen near in the daily intercourse of life, to be judged of and appreciated. It is the glory of the English Church that, by means of her endowments, she is able to place a minister of Christ to reside in every parish. Let every such minister remember that the interests of the Christian faith are bound up with his own manner of life and that of his household, and do his utmost endeavor that that life may be a faithful reflection of the grace of God, which teaches men to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, while we wait for the appearing of the glory of our Savior Jesus Christ.
HOMILIES BY T. CROSKERY.
Tit 1:1-4
Apostolic address and salutation.
The full representation which the apostle gives of his apostolic office is designed at once to mark the authority by which he gives the instructions that follow, and to serve as an index to the contents of the whole Epistle.
I. THE CLAIMS OF THE APOSTLE. “Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ.”
1. He is a servant of God. Not, as he often describes himself, “a servant of Jesus Christ.” The title seems to mark the relation
(1) of one who had once been a slave to sin, but, having become free through Christ Jesus, was still, so far as obligation, service, and life were concerned, a servant of God;
(2) his devotion to God after the type of Old Testament service, Moses and the prophets being pre-eminently called the “servants of God;”
(3) his ministry in the service of a royal Master (Mat 18:23-32), who makes him a member of his household, a pillar of his temple, a sharer of his throne (Rev 3:21).
2. He is an apostle of Jesus Christ. This is a more exact definition of his office.
(1) He had his commission and his doctrine from him.
(2) He had all the signs and proofs of an apostle in him, for he had received power to work miracles as well as to declare Divine truth.
(3) It is, therefore, vain and deceptive for any to assume the name who cannot show the signs of an apostle.
II. THE END OF THE APOSTOLIC OFFICE. “For the faith of God’s elect, and the full knowledge of the truth which is after godliness.” It was designed for the furtherance of the faith and knowledge of believers.
1. The apostle felt that he was appointed to preach the doctrine of faith, and to be the instrument of bringing men to the obedience of faith. (Rom 1:5; Rom 10:17.)
(1) Therefore all claims to apostolic authority by men who have abandoned the faith, or overlaid it with error and superstition, are to be rejected by the Church of God.
(2) All true faith rests on the Divine foreordination; for it is “the faith of God’s elect.” Election is, therefore, not to be regarded as equivalent to faith, much less as its consequence (Eph 1:4); for it is its true cause. The Father is the Elector, as the Son is the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit the Sanctifier.
2. The apostolic office was designed likewise to impart the full knowledge of the truth which is after godliness.
(1) Truth is the objectthe Word of truth, which comes from him who is the God of truth, who is Christ the Truth itself, who is the Spirit of truth. It was this truth that the apostle preached with all faithfullness and clearness.
(2) Knowledge is the subjective aspect of it, and becomes ours through faith.
(3) The fruit of this truth is “godliness” It is designed to promote holiness of life and character. It is impossible that this knowledge can be morally unfruitful.
III. THE BASIS OF THIS TRUTH. “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before eternal times.” The ground and condition of this truth is the hope of eternal life, which is the animating principle at once of the apostle and of the Church of God.
1. The principle of hope. The word occurs fifty-two times in the New Testament, and is always connected with God, with the Mediator, and with believers.
(1) Its author is God, who is “the God of hope” (Rom 15:13), who has given us “a good hope through grace” (2Th 2:16), and given us Christ as “our Hope,” even “the Hope of glory.”
(2) Hope connects us with the future as memory with the past, and is intended to neutralize the materializing influence of earthly life around us. Thus, God has given us prophecy and promise to gratify the wants, the longings, and the anticipations of the human soul.
2. The object and sum of Christian hope. “Eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before eternal times.”
(1) This life is in Christ Jesus; “for the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23). But it includes
(a) the full fruition of God to all eternity;
(b) the fellowship of the Redeemer’s throne;
(c) the fullness of joy;
(d) likeness to Christ.
(2) It is eternal life, without a break in the happy continuity of bliss; for it is life without sin or death to mar its perfectness. It is eternal, because he is at once its Author and Support, as being that “Eternal Life that was with the Father” (1Jn 1:2).
(3) The age of this promise. “Before eternal times.”
(a) This is not merely before the times of the world, or
(b) before the world began,
(c) but really in the eternity past;
because the reference is not to the covenants of Adam or Abraham, but to the covenant of redemption in Christ before the foundation of the world (2Ti 1:9-11). The apostle does not merely say that the promise of eternal life was the result of a Divine purpose fixed from eternity, but that it was made from eternity to believers, because it was made to Christ, whose members they are. It is impossible to understand the meaning of these words without reference to the federal transaction between the Father and the Son (Zec 6:13). This was the very “promise of life in Christ Jesus” of which the apostle speaks to Timothy (2Ti 1:1).
(4) The guarantee for the fulfillment of this promise. “God, that cannot lie, promised” it. God gave both a promise and an oath to Abraham, that “by two immutable things, in which it was impossible that God should lie,” we should have a sure hope (Heb 6:18).
IV. THE MANIFESTATION OF THIS ANCIENT PROMISE. “But in his own seasons manifested his Word in the message wherewith I was entrusted, according to the commandment of God our Savior.”
1. The manifestation was made in God‘s own seasons.
(1) It is not to be supposed that it was made only by the Apostle Paul, for it was made by the other apostles; and ages before their day it was manifested, with more or less clearness, under the Old Testament dispensation.
(2) But the Apostle Paul was one of those specially entrusted with the Word, and specially with “the revelation of the mystery hid for ages” (Rom 16:25).
2. The Word of God, and the whole order and fullness of the Church, are to be regarded as the unfolding of the ancient promise of eternal life.
3. The Word is made manifest by preaching. (Rom 10:17.) Preaching is an institute peculiar to Christianity, which it formed for itself as its chosen mode of utterance. Christianity is not a philosophy or a thaumaturgy. It is propagated, not by priests, but by preachers. There are no priests in Christianity but the one High Priest of our profession, who, if he were on earth, would not be a priest (Heb 8:4).
4. The preaching is done in virtue of a Divine call or commission. “Wherewith I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior.” All the ministries of the New Testament, high and low, are committed as trusts to the Church. Therefore a minister ought to have a true call from on high before accepting the responsibilities of office. The apostle was very emphatic in announcing his call to the apostleship, not as in any way due to his own wilt or wish, but to Divine command, it was the command of “God his Savior;” not the Son, but the Fatherthe usual phrase of the apostle being “according to the will of God” (2Ti 1:1).
V. THE APOSTOLIC SALUTATION. “To Titus, my true son after the common faith.”
1. The person thus addressed.
(1) Titus was a pure Gentile. It is interesting to remember that the dearest friends and companions of the apostle’s life were Gentiles, and not Jewssuch as Luke, Titus, and Timothy, who was half-Gentile. Was this leaning caused in any degree by the distrusts and enmities with which he was pursued through life by his Jewish countrymen?
(2) Titus was, like Timothy, one of the apostle’s converts. This fact would endear him to the apostle’s heart. He was a genuine son of the apostle in virtue of the faith common to all Christians; implying that
(a) there is but one faith (Eph 4:5);
(b) one Object of faith, Jesus Christ;
(c) one end of faith, eternal life.
(3) Titus was evidently one of the apostle’s most trusty disciples, though he was less a companion than Timothy, and less allied to him on the terms of an affectionate intimacy. Titus was firm, strong, and capable, with adaptability in the way of administration and of repressing moral disorders among distracted or disturbed communities.
2. The greeting. “Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.”
(1) The blessings sought for Titus. “Grace and peace.”
(a) Grace is the full and eternal fountain of the goodness of God, opened to the wants of men in the blessed gospel;
(b) peace is the blessing of the saints, to which they are called in one body, and the safeguard of heart and mind through him who is their Peace (Php 4:7).
(2) The source of these blessings, alike God the Father and God the Son, as being equally the Author and Giver of all spiritual blessings. The whole structure of the Epistle is based on the doctrine of the Deity of Christ.T.C.
Tit 1:5
Titus’s commission in Crete.
Its object was principally to supply the deficiencies in the Church organization of the island.
I. THE SCENE OF TITUS‘S LABORSCRETE.
1. Its situation and history. It lies almost equidistant from Europe, Asia, and Africa; a large and populous island of the Mediterranean; the Caphtor of the Old Testament, and now known as Candia. It was a place of ancient civilization, noted for its hundred cities, and became a Roman possession about seventy years before Christ.
2. The foundation of the Cretan Church. This probably occurred immediately after Pentecost, for it is said that men of Crete were present on that occasion (Act 2:11), and we know that the island abounded with Jews of wealth and influence. The false teachers in Crete were Judaists. There are several reasons for believing that the Church must have been a considerable time in existence. Time must be allowed for the development of heresy. Time must likewise be allowed for the growth of character and reputation, so that Titus, guided by the Church, might have no difficulty in selecting the right class of office-bearers. The fact, likewise, that the bishops were to “have believing children” affords a strong presumption that the Church must have been in existence at least twenty or thirty years.
3. Its existence without organization. The Church in Crete seems to have had no regular parties, the ordinances were probably in confusion, and though the power of heathenism had been broken in one of its quasi-strongholds, the Christians had not utterly escaped contamination. The state of matters in this interesting island proves
(1) that there may be a true Church where there is no regular ministry. Thus there is no foundation for the theory that the clergy are the Church, or even essential to its existence, though they are necessary to its edification.
(2) It proves also that a regular ministry is necessary. Therefore the arguments of Darbyites go for nothing. A ministry was specially needed to check the unruly and vain talkers in Crete, as well as to apply the sanctifying influence of the gospel, as well as a wholesome Christian discipline to the cure of moral disorders.
II. THE SCORE OF TITUS‘S LABORS. “For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou mightest set in order the things that were wanting, and ordain elders in every city.” The apostle had himself successfully labored in the island, and the gospel had in consequence spread among many of its cities. But he had been summoned away from the scene before he could do anything to organize the community or regulate its varied Church life. He therefore sent Titus as his delegate to discharge this duty.
1. Titus was to set in order the things that were wanting. As Crete was a most luxurious and corrupt place, as heathenism affected its whole family and public life, as the Church bad got into disorder through its contiguity to paganism, or was unable to organize itself strongly in the face of a hostile world, Titus was left behind to fix the order and circumstances of public worship, including the celebration of Christian ordinances, to establish a godly discipline which would purify family life, to instruct the Cretans more fully in the doctrines of the gospel which were attacked by designing Judaists, and generally to superintend the development of all matters affecting Christian faith and practice.
2. He was to ordain elders in every city.
(1) The elders were the pastors or teachers of congregations, and were so called on account of their age and gravity of manner. They were also called “bishops” (verse 2; Act 20:17, Act 20:28), on account of their office as overseers of the flock. It is now universally conceded that these names are but different designations of the same office-bearers. We read in Scripture of “bishops and deacons” (Php 1:1), but never of “bishops and elders,” simply because bishops and deacons represent two different orders, but bishops and eiders do not. These bishops were simply the pastors of congregations.
(2) There were several elders in each congregation. Titus was “to ordain elders in every city,” that is, a plurality of elders for each Church. There was certainly a plurality in several Churches (Act 14:23; Act 15:22).
(3) These elders were to be ordained or solemnly set apart to their office.
(a) The word “ordain” throws no light on the question whether the appointment took place with or without the co-operation of the Church. But the same word is used in the account of the ordination of the deacons who were chosen by the Christian people (Act 6:3). In another case (Act 14:23) the ordination of elders did not take place without the co-operation of the Church, which selected by a show of hands, as the word signifies, the candidates for ordination. The directions given by the apostle to Titus with regard to the qualifications of elders imply that the choice lay, not with Titus, who was a complete stranger to Crete, but with the body of the Christian people who were familiarly acquainted with the private work and public gifts of believers.
(b) The ordination was the act of Titus, who was the delegate of the apostle. It is not improbable that Zenas and Apollos, who were then in Crete, were associated with him in the act of ordination. It is now generally admitted that he was net appointed permanent Bishop of Crete, for his stay was designed to be short (Tit 3:12). This whole passage proves the importance of Church organization, while it presupposes a certain amount of Christian knowledge and feeling, among the members of the Cretan Church.T.C.
Tit 1:6, Tit 1:7
The character of bishopstheir negative qualifications.
The apostle first mentions their qualifications in a moral point of view before he speaks of their duties as teachers.
I. BLAMELESSNESS. The minister must be one against whom no charge can be brought. His name must be spotless (1Co 1:8; Col 1:22). The Church must be able to respect him.
1. Because he must be an example to the believers.
2. Because he could not otherwise consistently check or reprove the blameworthy ways of others. (Tit 1:13.) Christian life in Crete was unsound both as to morals and doctrine.
3. Because as “a steward of God“ he has grave responsibilities, both to God and to the flock. He must be both wise and faithful in relation to the “house of God the Church of the living God” (1Ti 3:15), which is entrusted to his keeping.
II. THE HUSBAND OF ONE WIFE. His family relationships are of much moment, for polygamy was the established rule of heathenism.
1. This passage does not make the marriage of ministers compulsory, as it is in the case of priests in the Greek Church.
2. It is totally inconsistent with the principle of the celibacy of ministers in the Church of Rome.
3. It does not prevent the second marriage of a minister, which is sanctioned by Scripture. (Rom 7:1; l Corinthians Rom 7:8, Rom 7:9, 39.)
4. It simply condemns polygamy.
III. THE CONDUCT OF HIS CHILDREN. “Having believing children, who are not accused of riot or unruly.”
1. The bishop will be judged by his family life. The family is the nursery of the Church, and these two societies act and react upon each other reciprocally, so that a bad or weak or injudicious father can never be an efficient or respected minister. If he cannot rule his children, how can he rule the Church of God (1Ti 3:5)?
2. His children ought to be:
(1) Believers, adorning the doctrine of the gospel by purity and obedience. There must be evidence that they have been brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
(2) They ought to be free from the imputation of dissoluteness. There must be no ill reports concerning profligacy.
(3) They must not be unruly, that is, disobedient to parents. Those ministers would be unfit to govern the Church whose authority was disregarded by their own children. The minister’s home in Crete was, therefore, to be a pattern of order, purity, and piety.
IV. NOT SELF–WILLED. The elder ought not to cherish:
1. A self-loving spirit, which leads to the disregard of the rights, or claims, or feelings of others.
2. A haughty and imperious temper. One who is both obstinate and proud can have no influence over his flock, tie ought to be humble, easy to be entreated, able to rule his own spirit, and considerate to others.
V. NOT SOON ANGRY.
1. He ought to have a temper not quickly provoked by contradiction or evil-speaking. Many tongues will be busy with him, as many eyes will be watchfully turned upon his walk.
2. He ought to remember the temper of his Master, “who, when he was reviled, reviled not again.” He ought to be “slow to wrath,” and imitate the Divine long-suffering and patience.
VI. NO BRAWLER. The word suggests the conduct of one insolent through wine, quarrelsome and furious. The minister must not only abstain from drunkenness, but avoid the passionate folly of men carried away by this sin.
VII. NO STRIKER. He must never lift his hand against his fellows.
1. He is the peacemaker of his parish.
2. How can he restrain the violence of others if he cannot hold his own hands?
VIII. NOT GIVEN TO FILTHY LUCRE.
1. Covetousness is idolatry in a minister as well as in the members of his flock. It implies the existence of a divided heart.
2. An avaricious temper is condemned by the example of Christ, who, “though he was rich, became poor” to make many rich.
3. It is a peculiarly heinous sin to make a gain of godliness.
4. A covetous minister will seek his own things, not the things of Jesus Christ.T.C.
Tit 1:8
The bishop’s positive qualifications.
I. BUT A LOVER OF HOSPITALITY.
1. This trait was specially suitable to a time when Christians, travelling from one place to another, were in the habit of receiving kindly entertainment from brethren.
2. This habit may bring blessing to our houses. Some have thereby “entertained angels unawares” (Heb 13:2).
3. It recommends the gospel to find its ministers ready at all times to feed the hungry, opening heart and house to the poor and needy (Luk 14:13).
4. Yet the hospitality is not to be that of luxury or sensuality.
II. A LOVER OF GOOD. It points to a heart in sympathy with everything good and noble and of good report, as opposed to the corrupt tendencies at work in Cretan society.
III. SORER.
1. The word points to the stir-restraint which controls the passions, in accordance with the dictates of conscience, reason, and the gospel of Christ. It is opposed to the irascibility already condemned in ministers (Tit 1:7).
2. It points to sobriety of intellect; for the minister must not be led away by false enthusiasm, or entangled with spiritual fanaticism. He is to follow quietly the even tenor of his way, under the guidance of truth.
IV. JUST.
1. There must be the full recognition of the rights of others.
2. There must be such a management of pastoral duty that poor and rich, ignorant and learned, will be treated with the most impartial fairness. There must he “no respect of persons.”
3. There must be no casting of stumbling-blocks in the way of others.
4. There must be sincerity, uprightness, and faithfulness in admonitions and counsels.
V. HOLY. The minister must he true in his relations to God.
1. He rejoices to be numbered with the company of the saints.
2. His conduct must flow from a holy heart, as the effect of a new heart.
3. His holiness must rebuke the ungodly, and make his words like ointment poured forth.
4. It implies a separateness of walk, like him “who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.”
VI. TEMPERATE. This word points to eating and drinking, to lusts of the flesh, to abstinence even from things lawful for the sake of peace and the glory of God.T.C.
Tit 1:9
The bishop’s qualification as to doctrine.
The apostle reserves to the last place the most important of all the qualifications needed by elders.
I. THE DUTY OF ADHERING TO THE TRUTH. “Holding fast the faithful Word which is according to the teaching.”
1. The doctrine of the gospel is “the faithful word:”
(1) Because it contains nothing but the truth.
(2) Because it never deceived any that trusted in it.
(3) Because it truly displays the faithfulness of God.
2. It is no mere subjective opinion of the preacher, but is based upon or in agreement with the teaching of the apostles. “Which is according to the teaching.” The truth is not to be discovered by the preacher, but delivered to him.
3. It is to be steadfastly maintained. The preacher is not to allow it to be wrested from his grasp by false teachers. The apostle was always emphatic as to the importance of this duty. “Hold fast the form of sound doctrine, which thou heardest from me” (2Ti 1:13); “Continue thou in the things thou hast learned” (2Ti 3:14). It was a powerful lever in his hands for moving the hearts of men.
II. THE DESIGN OF THIS QUALIFICATION. “That he may be able both to exhort in the sound doctrine and to convince the gainsayers.”
1. The preacher must be qualified for exhortation in the sphere of a sound, healthy, practical teaching. This implies that men had some knowledge of the truth, but they need to be persuaded to follow it rather than a morbid and unpractical teaching that can in no way minister to edification.
2. He must be qualified to refute the arguments of false teachers. And nothing is so powerfully conducive to this end as sound doctrine firmly held and wisely applied.T.C.
Tit 1:10-13
The character of the adversaries at Crete.
They were within the communion of the Christian Church. It was, therefore, all the more necessary that the ministers should be holy, laborious, and uncorrupt.
I. THE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THESE ADVERSARIES. “For there are many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision.”
1. They were refractory. Though standing in Church relationships, they refused all obedience, and pursued purely factious and divisive courses, that led to the subversion of discipline and the distraction of families. Such persons mar the prosperity of many a Church.
2. They were vain talkers. Corruption quickly makes its way from the heart to the lips, and flows forth in glib and empty babbling.
(1) There is no allusion here to heresy, for the vain talking is merely opposed to useful and solid doctrine. The teachers were fluent and superficial, speaking, perhaps, great swelling words of vanity, which were of no profit to the hearers.
(2) The tongue was made for speaking, but it is the Lord’s will that it should always he used for iris glory. It ought to be the utterer of the “wisdom that is from above,” which is “first pure, then peaceable.”
(3) Vain talkers are the pest of Churches and families, sowing the seeds of distrust and turning men’s minds against the gospel.
3. They were deceivers. They deceived others by their good words and fair speeches, their vain speculations and their dexterous arguments, and thus became very dangerous persons.
4. They were of “the circumcision“ party in the Church.
(1) They were members of the Church, and therefore in a position to do much mischief.
(2) They were Judaizing Christians, who blended the Law and the gospel, teaching that circumcision was necessary to salvation.
(3) They were the persistent enemies of the Apostle Paul through his whole life, and thwarted him in his labors in every part of Asia and Europe.
II. THE EFFECT OF THEIR SEDUCTION. “Subverting whole houses.” They pursued a process of sapping and mining, subverting the faith (2Ti 2:18), and bringing whole families to disorder and ruin. It was not a case of mischief done to a few isolated individuals. Thus they undermined the peace and stability of the Church itself.
III. THE MOTIVE OF THEIR TEACHING. “Teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.” The real root of the evil is laid bare by the apostle. It was a sordid love of gain. Therefore the teaching was such as would accommodate itself to the prejudices of men. These men had no regard for God’s honor, for the interest of Christ, or for the welfare of souls; they only sought to increase their worldly substance by gaining popular applause.
1. Money in itself is no evil, for it has no moral character. It is only a blessing or a curse according to the use that is made of it.
2. “The love of money is the root of all evil? It leads men to dishonor God, to ignore the claims of truth, to sacrifice the peace of the Church. The Pharisees in our Lord’s time devoured widows’ houses. How many people still sacrifice religion so far as they imagine it to conflict with their worldly advancement!”
3. The motive of these Cretan adversaries was baser than if it had been mere fanaticism or the love of proselytism. (Mat 23:15.)
IV. THE JUSTIFICATION OF THE APOSTLE‘S STRONG LANGUAGE CONCERNING THEM. “One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons.” This testimony is true. These words refer not to “those of the circumcision,” but to the inhabitants of Crete, who had generally welcomed the injurious teaching referred to.
1. The apostle‘s quotation of a heathen poet, Epimenides, shows that it is not improper for Christians to study the literature of heathen nations. Classical studies were once, on moral grounds, discouraged by the Church. Calvin says that nothing learned ought to be rejected, even though it should proceed from “the godless.”
2. The quotation is the unbiased judgment of a Cretan poet, held in high honor for so-called prophetical gifts. It represents the character of the Cretans in the darkest light, as if to justify a heathen proverb, “The three worst C’s in the world are Cappadocia, Crete, and Cilicia.”
(1) “Cretans are always liars.” This estimate is fully borne out by profane writers, as well as by the proverb that makes “Cretizing” synonymous with “deception.”
(2) They were evil beasts. In allusion to their fierceness, their wildness, their cruelty.
(3) They were “idle gluttons.” They were sensual and slothful, corpulent and idle, and therefore fit disciples of teachers whose “god was their belly,” and were content to eat the bread of others without working.
3. The apostle endorses this heathen testimony, showing that the Cretans had not changed their national character in six hundred years.
V. THE TRUE METHOD OF DEALING WITH THE CRETAN ADVERSARIES. “Whose mouths must be stopped.”
1. This does not warrant civil persecution.
2. It warrants the use of cogent arguments to silence gainsayers, such as those by which our Lord silenced the Sadducees and the Pharisees, as well as the use of faithful and stringent discipline to repress ecclesiastical and moral disorders. The adversaries were to be opposed by reason, faithfulness, and love, above all, by the faithful preaching of the gospel in its positive as well as its negative aspects.T.C.
Tit 1:13, Tit 1:14
The necessity of godly rebuke.
At this point the apostle drops the reference to bishops, and lays upon Titus himself the duty of applying the proper remedy.
I. THE UTILITY OF REBUKE. “Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.” The nature of the people demanded sharp treatment. “Sharpness and severity are but the other side of love itself, when the wounds can only be healed by cutting.” Ministers are sent to give rebuke (Jer 44:4; Mic 3:8).
1. They may give it privately.
2. Or publicly (1Ti 5:20).
3. Fearlessly (Eze 2:3-7).
4. With all authority (Tit 2:15).
5. With long-suffering (2Ti 4:2).
6. If sharply, yet with Christian love (2Th 3:15).
7. The good receive rebuke
(1) kindly (Psa 141:5);
(2) with love to those who administer it (Pro 9:8; Pro 24:25);
(3) they attend to rebuke (Pro 15:5).
II. THE DESIGN OF THE REBUKE. “That they may be sound in the faith.” It was:
1. That they might be recovered from their errors, and receive sound doctrine, and use sound speech that cannot be condemned.
2. That they may be sound in the grace of faith, and manifest it by departing from their evil works. This soundness of faith is described negatively by their “not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.”
(1) Jewish fables. These are mentioned in 1Ti 1:4; 1Ti 4:7; 2Ti 4:4. They were, no doubt, rabbinical, and ultimately crystallized into the Talmud. Our Lord condemned them (Mat 15:3). The traditionary principle has, in spite of this warning, spread widely in the Church. We see it in the Latin Church, in the Greek Church, in Islamism. It is, in fact, the ruling principle of all these communities, which have no real love for the Scriptures.
(2) The commandments of men.
(a) They stand in antithesis to the commandments of God (Mat 15:9; Col 2:22).
(b) They evidently were of a ceremonial character, and involved ascetic peculiarities, touching the question of abstinence from meats, and from other things created by God for man’s enjoyment.
(c) Their origin was evil, for they sprang from men turning away from the truth. It was not merely Mosaical prohibitions with regard to food that they enforced, but ascetic additions and exaggerations in the spirit of the later Gnosticism. The course of these men was downward. They were departing fast from the gospel.T.C.
Tit 1:15
A great counter-Principle against this ascetic tendency.
“Unto the pure all things are pure: but to the defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.”
I. THE PRIVILEGES OF THE PURE.
1. The pure are not those ceremonially pure, but those
(1) justified from all sin by Christ’s righteousness;
(2) clean through the Word spoken to them;
(3) with hearts purified by faith;
(4) with the graces of faith unfeigned, love without dissimulation, and hope without hypocrisy.
2. Their privilege, purchased by the blood of Christ, was the lawful liberty of using all meats under the gospel which were forbidden by the ceremonial law.
(1) Jesus had taught that defilement conies from the heart, not from the shambles (Luk 11:39-41).
(2) The Church solemnly at Jerusalem decreed the abolition of this old distinction of meats (Act 15:1-41.).
3. The apostle elsewhere teaches the same truth. “For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for that man that eateth with offense” (Rom 14:20). All meats are pure to the pure in heart.
4. The distinction of meats among Roman Catholics tends to the neglect of the Divine Law altogether. People on the Continent go to balls on the Lord’s day who will feel their souls in danger from eating an egg on Friday.
5. The saying of the apostle has an almost proverbial east; for it asserts that “all things”that is, more than mere foodmay have a purifying tendency in the case of the pure. Nothing is unclean of itself, but good, and to be received with thanksgiving (1Ti 4:3-5).
II. THE MORAL RETRIBUTION OF THE IMPURE. It is that they pollute all they touch, and everything becomes the means of increasing their depravity.
1. There is nothing impure or evil in creation; it is in the mind and heart of men; these can turn the choicest gifts of God into the means of moral defilement.
2. Unbelief is the fountain from which all the evil flows; for to the “defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure.” The worshippers may, by their distinctions of food, only foster pride and self-righteousness; but all alike springs from unbelief, which disregards the authority of the Word of God.
3. The impurity is not merely external, such as many dread, but internal; for it extends to “the mind and conscience,” to the whole intellectual, volitional, and moral nature of man. Thus the last safeguard of the soul disappears, as the retribution upon man’s neglect of God, truth, and purity. There is no longer a taste for the simple truth of the gospel, but a frightful facility for self-deception.T.C.
Tit 1:16
The great contradiction.
The apostle here describes their moral deficiency. “They confess that they know God, but in works they deny him.”
I. THEY WERE MERE PROFESSORS OF RELIGION, POSSESSING ITS FORM BUT DENYING ITS POWER.
1. Their knowledge of God was purely theoretical or speculative, but they were practical atheists.
2. Hypocrites often profess great knowledge of God.
3. Even in apostolic times the communion of the Church was considerably mixed. There is no trace of a pure Church anywhere on earth. The Church in Crete had unbelievers in its visible membership.
II. THEIR DENIAL OF GOD TOOK A MOST PRACTICAL SHAPE. Their conduct gave the lie to their profession. They wore:
1. Abominable in the sight of God. They were morally abandoned. They were as hateful in the sight of God as the idols of the nations.
2. Disobedient. They were refractory and incorrigible, despising all order and repudiating obligation.
3. Reprobate unto every good work. They were as useless for the service of God as reprobate silver, which cannot bear the fire of the refiner.
(1) They did no good works.
(2) They had neither knowledge nor inclination to do good works.
(3) Therefore they were quite useless in the service of God and man.T.C.
HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM
Tit 1:1
Christian ministry.
“A servant of God.” One of the great revelations of the gospel is the dignity of service. “To be ministered unto” was the end of Roman ambition. Pride and precedence ruled supreme. The Jews sought to be “Herods;” the Gentiles sought for consulships and proctorships. Everywhere we see patrician selfishness in proud palaces, and, as a dark opposite, whole colonies of slaves. The words that fell from the lips of the Master were illustrated in his life: “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
I. A SERVANT OF A STRONG MASTER. God! None can stand against him. In the end sin will reveal its weakness. It may storm and plot and fume against his will, but it is impotent at heart. “The Lord reigneth.“ The dominion of sin is undermined, and through the cross its leadership in the prince of this world is destroyed. Christ is “henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.” He must reign!
II. A SERVANT OF A KIND MASTER. One who will not expect more service than we can render, and who knows and appreciates the kited of service we can render, and who will “reward every man according to his works.” Kind in the law of service, which is a law of blessedness; causing it to be not a yokedom, but the joy of a child’s freedom. “Blessed are they that do his will.” Happiness never to be attained when sought as an end, is here found in the highway of duty.
III. A SERVANT OF A FAITHFUL MASTER. One who will stand by his servants in all times of disheartenment, obloquy, and difficulty. One who keeps his promises, so that they are all “Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus.” Ever faithful to his holy tryst. “Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you.” Faithful to his vouchsafed protection. “Giving his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” Faithful to the great Messianic promise, that to his Son “shall the gathering of the people be.” Paul gloried in such a service, and he would have Titus know him by no higher name than “a servant of God.”W.M.S.
Tit 1:1
Truth and life.
“The truth which is after godliness.” This was to be “acknowledged” or obeyed. For truth is not a library for the leisurely, or a mine for the curious. It is the present truththe practical truth; a truth that is always to be translated into life.
I. THIS IS A DIVINE TEST OF TRUTH. “After godliness.” Like inspiration, it is profitable for instruction in righteousness. It is a seed whose preciousness is tested by the golden grain in its ripened ear. It does not produce a mere “pietism” or sentimental emotionalism; it produces godliness. Some are valiant for theoretical and doctrinal truths who bring forth no “fruit unto holiness.” We are able to take the vantage-ground of Christian history, and to argue that there are no lives like Christian lives: that in this type of character are all the essentials of godlinessa life within, which cleanses the heart, energizes the will, quickens the conscience, elevates the taste, and purifies and sanctifies the life. This is the Divine test of truth: “By those fruits ye shall know them.”
II. THIS IS A DIVINE MARK OF THE APOSTOLATE. Paul claims to be “an apostle of Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect.” He does not say that the evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, gave sacred and special commission to him; for there is no record that they did. He does not claim, like Peter, to have been with Christ on the holy mount; or to have been with those disciples who were with Christ at his ascension, when “he led them out as far as to Bethany, and lifted up his hands and blessed them,” or to have heard the command then given, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Nor does he rest his apostolate on anything ceremonial or formal alone. By the manifestation of the truth he commended himself to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. The truth of his message was one ground of authority and the godliness of it another, and those two bases of authoritytruth and goodnessare strong and eternal. None can shake the temple built on such granite foundations as these. Philosophies may change and councils may err, but these abide forever. So Titus had to learn that his ministry was connected with a truth that must be lived, as well as a truth that must be taught.W.M.S.
Tit 1:2
The immortal hope.
“In hope of eternal life.” How often these words have been inscribed over the resting-place of the dead! How restful they are! How such inscriptions in the dark catacombs tell of the new and blessed era that Christianity introduced! But it would be a mistake to connect them only with heaven. “This is life eternal,“ we read, “to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.“
I. HOPE AND LIFE ARE HERE CONNECTED. It was not so in paganism. Men lost hope. They lived in and for the present day, and when tired of life committed suicide. Hope, such as the great Christian hope, brightens all human duties and joys. Life is real and earnest, all through the years. Age does not dim the brightness of the eye of the soul. So “we are saved by hope”saved from ennui, disheartenment, and misery. We find Paul rejoicing in hope and patient in tribulation because of the life within, that was hid with Christ in God.
II. SERVICE IS ASSOCIATED WITH ETERNAL LIFE. Paul is a servant of God, and that service is quickened by faith and sustained by hope. The Christian teacher sees not only man in his fall and misery, but he sees the ideal man in himone who may be re-created in Christ Jesus. The desert blossoms as the rose, as hope cheers the sower who plants the immortal seed of the kingdom in human hearts. The measure of our life is the measure of
(1) the cheerfulness and
(2) the continuance of our service.
And what hope! It includes glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life. W.M.S.
Tit 1:2
The Divine veracity.
“God, who cannot lie.” Man can lie. Man does lie. His word is not always his bond. He indulges in exaggeration. He tells half-truths, which are ever the worst of lies.
I. SOME THINGS GOD CANNOT DO. He who gave the moral Law embodies in himself that Law. He cannot do that which is untrue, unrighteous, unjust! “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent.” This is our consolation in trouble. God is faithful, who hath promisedfaithful in all that is exquisitely minute as well as all that is magnificently great. And in the wide sweep of the Divine promises we may find our rest in all times of tribulation. “All the promises of God in him [in Christ] are Yea and Amen, to the glory of God the Father.” He cannot lie.
II. SOME THINGS THAT WE TOO OFTEN DO.
1. Carry our own cares, because we will not trust our Father, and cast all our care on him.
2. Recall our Fast sins, and so torture our hearts with remembrance of them, when God has said that he has blotted them all out, and will remember them against us no more.
3. Lose the bright vision of heaven, and so become cast down in old age, forgetting that there can be no suppressio veri, or suppression of truth, with our Savior. “I go to prepare a place for you; if it were not so, I would have told you.“ This should be the rest of our hearts, if we have believed in Christ to the salvation of our souls. “We are in him that is true.“W.M.S.
Tit 1:2
The Divine foresight.
“Before the world began.” This is one of the glories of the gospel. It foresees all events in history, and provides for all the necessities of a being who is born to be redeemed.
I. THERE ARE NO AFTER–THOUGHTS WITH GOD. Our vision is imperfect. Our plans miscarry, because we have not taken in all aspects of the future. Sometimes our provision for that future is too limited; sometimes it is ill adapted, and we say, had we foreseen, we could have avoided disappointment, disaster, and defeat. All the future lies clearly before the omniscient gaze of God. “The Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world.”
II. GOD‘S PURPOSES ARE REVEALED IN HIS PROMISES. ]Not before the earth began, but before the world beganthe world of busy men and women; the world of toil and strife, of sin and sorrow, and the developments of guilt and grief. Then it was that God declared that “the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head.” This involves all. Sin would have involved death; but the eternal life which St. Paul speaks of here was the gift of God in the incarnate Savior. “This is life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”W.M.S.
Tit 1:3
The Divine proclamation.
“But hath in due times manifested tits Word through preaching according to the commandment of God our Savior.” The entire dispensation of Divine mercy from the earliest ages is a manifestations, or a “showing forth.” This takes place in God’s own way and in God’s own time. We who are Christians now wait for “the manifestation of the sons of God.”
I. THERE IS ALWAYS A DUE TIME. The clock of time is set to the order of Divine events. Generations give place to the age, and the age to the day, and the day to the hour. “Father, the hour is come.” This was the fullness of time. Then the Romans had prepared the roads for the ambassadors of Christ to travel; and the Greeks had provided a perfect language for the written record of the revelation; and the dispersed Jews had circulated the Old Testament Scriptures, and had settled in foreign lands and planted synagogues; and Philosophy had confessed her failures in the opinion of her leaders, that there must be a Divine Deliverer, if deliverance comes at all; so that when men by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God in such a fullness of time to send forth his Son.
II. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE THE PREACHER. Truth, like the gospel, needs a loving heart and a living voice and a living experience to utter its sweet enchantments. It has pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save such as believe. That is to say, what the world calls foolishness. But men will always listen to and love the human voice when charged with truth and tenderness and pity. The press is doing a noble work, but it will not supplant the pulpit. Style changes, and methods change; but God “fashioneth their hearts alike.” Dickens spoke his own works, and thousands flocked to hear. Carlyle and Emerson both acknowledge the mighty and immortal power of speech. A preaching which has intellect, conscience, and heart in it, and which is filled with the Spirit of Christ and the cross, will never become effete. It is God’s own way, and his ways are higher than our ways.W.M.S.
Tit 1:4
Believed in everywhere.
“The common faith.” Amid all diversities there is unity. In this sense we know that what is called “Catholic” authority rests on what was believed “always, everywhere, and by all.” Theories of religion vary, but the great facts and doctrines are the things which cannot be shaken, and still remain. The word “faith” is sometimes used for that experience of the soul which we call trust, and as such is an inward reception of Christ and his cross; but it is also used, and is so used here, as descriptive of the gospel revelation itself.
I. THE APOSTLES DIE, BUT THE FAITH REMAINS. We are not disciples of Paul, or Barnabas, or Timothy, or Titus, but of Christ. These apostles did not draw men to themselves, but to Christ. They were, as Paul declares, “ministers by whom ye believed.” To be in the true succession is to have the spirit of the apostles, and to hold the faith of the apostles. So far as the gospel has been perverted by mediaeval superstition or the earlier traditions of the fathers, it is not the common faith. An inspired revelation of truth enables us in every age to preserve the common faith. As the philosophic Coleridge said, “It is evident that John and Paul held Christ to be Divine.” The glorious gospel of the grace of God is preserved to us intact by the holy Gospels and the Epistles, and men true to the Bible harmonize in their acceptance of “the common faith.”
II. THE LIFE OF THE TRUE CHURCH IS THE SAME IN EVERY AGE. The root must be the same, because the fruit is the same. First truth and then life. The cry for forgiveness, and the peace that comes through the cross. The power of the atonement to crucify selfishness, and to lead men to live as not their own. The consciousness of human impotence, and of the might of the Holy Spirit in the inner man. All these are inward experiences of life, resulting from a common faith. Added to these are the experiences which attest life in conduct. We know the same artist’s touch in the picture, the same sculptor’s hand in the molding of a figure, the same architect’s design in the buildings; and we know Christians by the “life hid with Christ in God,” producing those “fruits of the Spirit” which attest, in their beauty and their purity, the energy and the sanctity of the Divine life. It is “the common faith” which gives to Christians, in every land and every age, the same likeness to their Lord.W.M.S.
Tit 1:5
Apostolic-preparation.
“Set in order the things that are wanting.” Christian life is destined for development and for continuance. To this end the Church is to be the center alike of evangelistic effort and of Christian culture. Here is
I. THE JUSTIFICATION OF THE ECCLESIA, OR THE “CHURCH.” “And ordain elders in every city.” The New Testament gives no sanction to the idea that an unorganized Christianity is the simplest and the best. The precedents of the early Christian Church were to be faithfully adhered to. Whether the organization of the Church was to be a growth conditioned by the circumstance of every age, is a question we do not hero discuss; but that there was to he organization is here settled forever. The expression, “in every city,” shows that the life of the Church was not to be spasmodic, but settled.
II. THERE MUST BE LIFE AS WELL AS ORGANIZATION. This, too, is manifest here. Christians were enjoying “grace, mercy, and peace;” were “renewed in the spirit of their minds.” Divine life comes from faith in Christ alone, and is not dependent upon aught else. The declaration of Paul is there always and everywhere, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” We are, therefore, to recognize the fruits of the Spirit everywhere, whether the gardens in which they grow be according to our plan and ideal or no. But as all Christian life needs constant care and discipline, as the disciple needs teaching, and the justified need sanctification, so there was to be the “setting in order” of all that we mean by the organized Christian Church; not that every detail is to be binding, or to be reproduced by every Church in every age.W.M.S.
Tit 1:7-9
The overseers.
“For a bishop,” etc. Here we have the moral qualification necessary for an overseer or bishop of the Churches. These bishops were to be an order by themselves, not, as Baxter would have them,” Primus inter pares,” or “first among equals.” Each overseer who was naturally placed in a leading city ought, from his prominence as overseer of the district, to be a ministerial example to his brethren. The practical counsels here given apply equally to all aspects of the “overseer,” or bishop.
I. THE BISHOP AT HOME. Polygamy was so widespread that it could not be arrested and done away with at once. But the bishops, as leaders of men, were to set the example. Polygamy, like slavery, was to be destroyed by the influence of the crossby the crucifixion of human selfishness, and the realization of God’s ideals in the dignity of woman and in the sacredness of human life. “Having faithful children,” to whom “riot,” or the indulgence of unruly appetites and habits, was unknown.
II. THE BISHOP AS A STEWARD. Having elevated position and large opportunity for good. We must remember that character makes the good steward, not ex-cathedra commands and exhortations. “Not self-willed;” but remembering that the measure of his power is to be the measure of his humility. “Not soon angry;” for if there be no self-repression, if the volcanic fires of the heart be not subdued, it will be of no use for him to preach about the cross which crucifies self. “Not given to wine;” for intemperance bereaves a man alike of reason and of religion. “No striker;” for although the Romans of that day used their power over slaves and dependents by buffeting them, and sometimes killing them, the servant of Christ must be gentle unto all men. “Not given to filthy lucre;” for covetousness kills other virtues, and draws by its tap-root all nourishment from the plants of grace.
III. THE BISHOP AS A BROTHER. “A lover of hospitality.” Remembering how many would like to share his counsels, to walk in the light of his influence, and to be refreshed by his sympathies. “A lover of good men.” Not great men, merely as men of genius and power; but men whose hearts were true and pure. “Sober, just, holy, temperate “a “city that lieth four-square.”
IV. THE BISHOP AS A TEACHER. Not indulging in novelties or new philosophies. Not a creator of truth, but a teacher of it, remembering that he is a trustee of truth. “Holding fast the faithful Word as he hath been taught.”
Finally, we see that all was not so harmonious and peaceful even in the early Church; for the bishop is to exhort and convince the gainsayers, which show that he must be “able” as well as “good.”W.M.S.
Tit 1:15
Pure-heartedness.
“Unto the pure all things are pure.” The gospel centers morality as well as religion in the heart. Men of corrupt tastes cannot have correct morals, because a man may sin against himself as well as against society. An impure heart makes an impure world of its own within; and that, if it hurts none else, hurts the man himself, wrongs his own soul. Here we see that the eye sees what it wishes to see, or what the inward taste desires to see. A pure man does not under stand the double entendre; does not see the vision of evil beneath the veil of words or the disguise of art.
I. THE FIRST REQUIREMENT. “A pure heart.” Make the tree good. A bad man will find impure suggestion anywhere and everywhereeven in religious literature, even in the unsuspecting words of holy menfor his heart is not renewed. So possible is it for men to find evil even in things good.
II. THE GREAT SAFEGUARD. “All things are pure.” There is no false delicacy. No prudery, no affectation. In meditation or conversation they catch no stain of defilement from the subjects they are mentally brought into contact with. Their safety is from within; for “out of the heart are the issues of life.”W.M.S.
Tit 1:15
Inner defilement.
“But unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.” This is the worst Nemesis of evil; it hurts the man. We can injure the physical sensesthe eye, the ear; so we can injure the mind and the moral senses.
I. THE DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTER. Why this couplet? “Defiled and unbelieving” seems at first a strange combination of ideas. Not so. To defile is to march offto file away from. So men leave the King’s highway of holiness, purity, truth, and righteousness; and they do this because they are unbelieving. They will not accept the revelation of God, that sin is loss, shame, misery, death; and that holiness is happiness and life eternal.
II. THE DREAD ISSUE. Nothing is pure. All waters take the color of the soil over which they pass. The stained windows make a stained light. An impure heart colors everythingthought, imagination, observation, conversation, and common life. And this is the doom! Their mind and conscience are defiled. They feel it. They know it, and at times they confess it. Many shrink from themselves who have never had resolution to seek him who can “create a clean heart and renew a right spirit within them.”W.M.S.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
Tit 1:1-4
Redemptive truth.
“Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ,” etc. These words direct our attention to certain phases of redemptive truth. The substratum of the gospel is not merely truth, but redemptive truth. Truth, not merely to enlighten the intellect and to discipline the mental faculties, but to raise the human soul from spiritual ignorance to intelligence, from spiritual bondage to liberty, from selfishness to benevolence, from materialism to spirituality, from the “prince of darkness” to the true and living God. Here it appears
I. AS A GRAND ENTERPRISE.
1. An enterprise devoted to the highest purpose. What is the purpose? It is here described:
(1) As the promotion of the faith of God’s elect. “According to the faith of God’s elect.” The idea is, perhaps, the furtherance of true faith amongst those to whom God had, in the exercise of his sovereignty, sent the gospel. As a fact, all men have not had the opportunity of receiving the gospel; indeed, only an insignificant fraction of the race have had it brought to them. This fraction is a class so highly privileged that they may be designated the “elect.” Why should they have the gospel sent to them, and not others? Ask why some should inherit health, others disease; some wealth, others poverty; some intellectual powers of a high order, others minds but little removed from brute intelligence. “All these worketh the selfsame Spirit, devising to every man severally as he will.” Now, to further and promote faith among those to whom the gospel goes is one of its grand purposes.
(2) As the promotion of the knowledge “of the truth which is after [according to] godliness.” More accurately rendered, “The knowledge of the truth which is beside, or which leadeth to godliness” (Ellicott). The grand purpose here indicated seems to be that all who are divinely favored with the gospel should so believe it, and practice it, that they may become godly in their lives. What a sublime design is this, to make men God-like! Or, as it is expressed in the next chapter, “The grace of God hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.”
2. An enterprise employing the highest human agency. “Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ.” “Paul’s mode of designating himself here,” says Dr. Fairbairn, “does not exactly coincide with his form of expression in any other Epistle. Elsewhere he calls himself a servant, a bondman of Christ (Rom 1:1; Gal 1:10; Php 1:1; Col 4:12), but here only of God. A noteworthy variation, not on its own account, but as a mark of genuineness; for it is impossible to conceive what motive could have induced any imitator to depart in such a manner from the apostle’s usual phraseology. The coupling his calling as an apostle of Christ with his relation to God as a servant, cannot be taken in an adversative sense, for there is really no opposition; but it is used, as not infrequently, to subjoin something new, different and distinct from what precedes, though not strictly opposed to it.” Paul was one of the greatest of men. In natural endowments, penetrating insight, vigor of thought, logical force, and rhetorical aptitude, he had in his age but few equals. His acquirements, too, were great. Brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, acquainted with Grecian culture, and master of rabbinic law, he could stand side by side with the greatest reasoners, sages, and orators of his time. But, beyond all this, he was specially called and qualified by God for propagating the gospel of his Son. There is no enterprise on this earth demanding a higher kind of human agency than the gospel, nor (notwithstanding the mental feebleness and the moral meanness cf the thousands in every age who have worked, and are working, in connection with it) can there be found a higher class of men, both intellectual and moral, than some who have been, and still are, employed in indoctrinating men with the truths of the gospel.
II. AS A TRANSCENDENT PROMISE. “In hope of eternal life, which God, that [who] cannot lie, promised before the world began [times eternal].” This promise is:
1. Transcendent in value. “Eternal life.” This means something more than an endless existence. An interminable existence might be an interminable curse. It means not only an existence without end, but an existence without evil, without sin, error, sorrow, misery. Ay, and more than this, an endless existence in connection with good, and with good only, with knowledge, holiness, liberty, and companionship with the best created spirits, and with the great God himself. Eternal life is eternal goodness.
2. Transcendent in certitude. It is made by God, “that cannot lie.“ Are not all things possible with him? Yes, in what may be called a physical sense. It is possible for him to destroy, in the twinkling of an eye, the present creation, and to produce a new one. But, in a moral sense, there is an impotency. His “cannot” here is his will not, and his “will not” is his glory. A higher eulogy you cannot pronounce on any man than to say he cannot be ungenerous, he cannot be false, he cannot be unjust, he cannot be dishonorable. Inability to do wrong is the glory of the Infinite. This promise, then, cannot fail; it must be realized. “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass away.”
3. Transcendent in age. “Promised before the world began [times eternal].” When was that? Before the foundation of the earth was laid, or the wheels of time began their revolutions. When he occupied the boundlessness of immensity alone. The gospel is an old promise: the Lamb was slain “before the foundation of the world.“ The gospel is not a threat, but a promise.
III. As A GRADUAL REVELATION. “But hath in due times [in his own seasons] manifested his Word through preaching, [in the message] which is committed unto me [wherewith I was entrusted] according to the commandment of God our Savior.” There are three thoughts here suggested concerning the revelation of this promise of eternal life.
1. It was manifested at a proper time. “In due times [in his own seasons] manifested his Word.” God has a season for everything, everything in the material and the moral. Nothing but sin appears in his universe that does not come “according to his time.” Oceans ebb and flow, planets perform their revolutions, kingdoms rise and fall, generations come and go “according to his time.” He had a time for the revelation of his redemptive truth, and when the time dawned it beamed on the world.
2. It was manifested by apostolic preaching. “Through preaching.’ Redemptive truth came into the world through man, and it is Heaven’s design that it should be propagated through the world by man. It is to be preached, not only with the lips, but by the life. The true preacher must incarnate it. His life must illustrate and confirm the doctrine that his lips declare. It was before the gospel came to men in written documents that it won its greatest victories. Some think that too much importance is attached to the Bible in this work, and that it is vain to expect that the circulation of the Scriptures will answer the end. History shows it has not done so, and the philosophy of the work explains the reason; hence it must be revealed in the voice and the life.
3. It was manifested by the Divine command. “Which was committed unto me [wherewith I was entrusted] according to the commandment of God our Savior.” The Divine command came to the apostle to preach the gospel at various timescame to him on the road to Damascus, came to him in the temple at Jerusalem, came to him in the ship on the Adriatic. Yes; the Divine command comes to all: “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel.” Not only was it by command that Paul preached to mankind, but now to Titus.
IV. As A LOVE–BEGETTING rower. “To Titus, mine own son [my true child] after the common faith.” “Mine own son.” What an endearing expression! The gospel converter becomes the father in the highest and divinest sense of the converted. No relation so close, vital, and tender as the spiritual relation of souls. Paul’s desire is, for Titus, “Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.” Here is the wish of heavenly philanthropy, a philanthropy that embraces the complete and everlasting well-being of its object. Having the “grace, peace, and mercy” of God, we have everything we require; we have “all and abound.”
CONCLUSION. Prize this redemptive truth, practice this redemptive truth, preach this redemptive truth. It is the “power of God unto salvation.”D.T.
Tit 1:5-9
Church order.
“For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting,” etc. Titus was now at Crete. “Crete, over whose Christian population Titus had been placed by Paul, was a well-known, large, and populous island in the Mediterranean. It lies geographically further south than any of the European islands, and, roughly speaking, almost at an equal distance from each of the three Old World continents, Europe, Asia, Africa. We identify it with the Caphtor of the Old Testament (Deu 2:23; Jer 47:4; Amo 9:7). In modern times it is known by us as Candid. Very early it was the scene of an advanced civilization. In the ‘Odyssey’ it is mentioned as possessing ninety cities; in the Iliad’ as many as one hundred. Metullus added it, b.c. 69, to the Roman dominion. In the days of Augustus it was united into one province with Cyrene. It abounded with Jews of wealth and influence; this we learn from the testimony of Philo and of Josephus. It probably received the gospel from some of those of Crete who, we are expressly told, were present when the Spirit was poured on the apostles on the first Pentecost after the Resurrection (Act 2:11). The apparently flourishing state of Christianity on the island at this time was in great measure, no doubt, owing to the residence and labors among them of the Apostle St. Paul, whose work appears to have been mainly directed to preaching the gospel, and to increasing the number of the converts, which, from the wording of verse 5, was evidently very great, elders being required in every city.” The following thoughts are deducible from these words.
I. THAT IN EVERY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY THERE SHOULD BE THE MAINTENANCE OF ORDER. “Thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting.” “The words,” says Dean Spence, “explain the cause of Titus’s appointment in Crete. The ‘things that are wanting’ were what Paul meant, no doubt, to have done himself, but was prevented by being hurried away; for him the cud was nigh at hand. These ‘things’ were want of Church officials, lack of Church government, want of cohesion between the Churches of the island; in a word, there was plenty of Christian life, but no Christian organization as yet in Crete. It was rather a number of Christian brotherhoods than one.” “Set in order.” God is the God of order, as witnessed in the harmonious operations of nature. Disorder, both in the mental and moral domains, is abnormal and pernicious; it implies evermore a deviation from the established law of Almighty love. A disordered body is diseased, so is a disordered soul. A disordered family lacks the condition both of peace and prosperity. A disordered Church, for many reasons, is the greatest of all evils. Confusion in a Church is a calumny of Christ, and obstructive at once to its peace, power, prosperity, and usefulness. “Order,” says Southey, “is the sanity of the mind, the health of the body, the peace of the city, the security of the state. As the beams to a house, as the bones to the microcosm of man, so is order to all things.”
II. THAT THE MAINTENANCE OF CHURCH ORDER MAY REQUIRE THE MINISTRY OF SPECIAL SUPERINTENDENTS. The words “elder,“ “bishop,” “pastor,” etc., all refer to the same office, and that office means “superintendent,” or “overseer.” “These presbyters were to be most carefully selected, according to the instructions Titus must remember Paul had given him on some previous occasion.” There was to be some one to overlook all. Such a one is to maintain order, not by legislating but by loving; not by the assumption of authority, but by a humble devotion to the spiritual interests of all. The ministry of such a man is needed because of the many elements of discord that exist, even in the best communities, such as temper, self-will, pride, etc.
III. THAT THE SUPERINTENDENTS SHOULD BE MEN OF DISTINGUISHED EXCELLENCE. “Blameless,” etc. The highest offices in Church and state should always be filled by the highest characters. The morally small man, elevated to a high office, is an incongruity and a curse; and yet how common is such a sight! Moral serfs on thrones, moral rogues on the bench, moral sycophants in the ecclesiastical world! Here Paul denotes the style of men required to superintend the Church. “If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly,” etc. “The expressions,” says Dr. Fairbairn, “indicate one possessed of that prudence and self-control, that uprightness of character, that kind, generous, disinterested, gracious disposition, which were fitted to command the respect and secure the confidence and affection of a Christian communityone altogether such as might serve for a pattern to a flock over whom he was appointed to preside, and guide their affairs with discretion.” The qualifications of this office are here given in:
1. A negative form. “Not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre.”
2. A positive form. “The husband of one wife, having faithful children, a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate, holding fast the faithful Word as he hath been taught.”D.T.
Tit 1:10-14
The sins of the sect and the sins of the tribe.
“For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision,” etc. In the preceding verses Paul stated one purpose for which he left Titus in Crete, viz. to set in order “the things that are wanting,” and to ordain elders in every city. He recognized at once, not only the importance of order in the new community, but also the importance of appointing men who, intellectually and morally, were qualified for its establishment and continuance., In these verses he gives Titus directions as to his aggressive work in Crete. He was to do battle with sin. “For there are many unruly [men] and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert [overthrow] whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.” The great work of the gospel minister is to do battle with sin. In the text, sin is referred to as appearing in two aspects, in religious sect and in national character.
I. IN RELIGIOUS SECT. “Specially they of the circumcision.” These, undoubtedly, are Judaizing Christians, men who pretended to be converted to Christianity, men who sought not only to mingle Judaic elements with the new religion, but to inculcate and disseminate it in that form. Observe the description of sin as it appeared in this religious sectthese men of the circumcision. Here is:
1. Factiousness. “Unruly.” Not only would they not bow to the established order of the Church, but not to the spirit and principles of the new religion. They would not yield to the masterhood of Christ, the Author and Substance of the gospel; they were stir-willed. They would have a sect of their own.
2. Ostentation. “Vain talkers.” Vain, not merely in the sense of proud, but in the sense of emptiness. In truth, as a rule, the emptiest men, intellectually, are at once the most conceited and loquacious. They talk, not for the edification of others, but for the gratification of themselves. Their fluency, whilst it wins the admiration of fools, deludes the ignorant, and disgusts the thoughtful.
3. Falsehood. “Deceivers.” All merely nominal Christians are deceivers. They practically misrepresent the doctrines they profess to hold.
4. Mischievousness. “Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert [overthrow] whole houses.” “The translation should ran, ‘seeing they subvert,’ etc. There was, indeed, grave cause why these men should be put to silence: the mischief they were doing in Crete to the Christian cause was incalculable. It was no longer individuals that their poisonous teaching affected, but they were undermining the faith of whole families. For an example how Titus and his presbyters were to stop the mouths of these teachers of what was false, comp. Mat 22:34-46, where the Lord, by his wise, powerful, yet gentle words, first put the Sadducees to silence, and then so answered the Pharisees ‘ that neither durst any man from that day ask him any more questions'” (Dr. Ellicott).
5. Greed. “Teaching things which they ought not, ton filthy lucre’s sake.” All the speeches they made, all the influence they exerted, sprang from sordid motives. Sin has a thousand branches and but one root, and that root is selfishness. How many, in what we call the religious world, are found teaching things which they ought not, for “filthy lucre’s sake”things that gratify popular taste, that agree with popular prejudice, chime in with the popular thought! All this to fill their pews and to enrich their coffers. Now, these sins which are discovered, in the religious sect are prevalent outside of all religions; but they receive a peculiar color, shape, enormity, and mischievousness when we find them in the religious realm. The devil is less hideous amongst his fellows in hell than he is amongst the sons of God. Hence, to do battle with sin in these religious forms is the grand work of a true preacher; and truly, in this age, and here in England, he will find these sins on every hand. He will see factiousness building up sects, and little sects within sects; ostentationvain speaking, braggardism, sometimes cooing and sometimes bawling, everywhere; falsehoodrogues robing themselves in the garb of sainthood, wolves in sheep’s clothing; mischievousnessby their empty words and pernicious example subverting “whole houses,” filling the domestic air with poisonous cant; greedthe gospel itself made a trade, and vested interests created in connection with doctrines and doings antagonistic to the life and spirit of him whom they call Master. Ah me! conventional religion is a calumny on the religion of Christ. Never was a Luther wanted in Christendom more than now. He is wanted to substitute the pure gospel of Christ for the denominationalized gospel.
II. IN NATIONAL CHARACTER. “One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies [idle gluttons].” There are three sins mentioned here which seem to have prevailed amongst the Cretans as a race.
1. Lying. “The Cretans are always liars.” Who made this charge against the Cretans? Paul says, “One of themselves, even a prophet of their own.” The quotation is from a poem on ‘Oracles,’ by Epimenides, of Phoestus, who flourished b.c. 600, lived to the age of a hundred and fifty, and was supposed to have been a sleeper in a cave for fifty-seven years. He appears to have deserved the title prophet in the fullest sense. Plato speaks of him as a Divine man. The Cretans were characterized by the sin of lying”always liars.” This expression was quoted by Callimachus in his ‘ Hymn to Zeus,’ and well known in antiquity. “The very word ‘to Cretize’ (Kretizein), or to play the part of a Cretan, was invented as a word synonymous with ‘to deceive,’ ‘to utter a lie; ‘just as Corinthiazein, ‘to play the part of a Corinthian,’ signified ‘to commit a still darker moral offence.’ Some writers suggest that this despicable vice of lying was received as a bequest from the early Phoenician colonists.”
2. Sensuality. “Evil beasts.” Not only liars, but gross and sensual, living in animalism and for it. All men may be called “beasts” who attend to their animal appetites as means of gratification rather than of relief. He who seeks happiness from his senses rather than from his soul is a beast; he who seeks it from without rather than from within is not better than a beast. The happiness of a true man cannot stream into him from without; it must well up from the depths of his own high thinkings and pure affections. Gluttony. “Slow bellies [idle gluttons].” Their gluttony made them dull, heavy, and indolent. Such are what may be called tribal or national sins. They were not confined to the Cretans, but for them the Cretans were notorious. These are national. But are these sins extinct in England? Have we no lying here? Our social air is impregnated with falsehood. Have we no sensuality and gluttony? Yes, alas! tens of thousands are every day pampering themselves with luxuries, whilst millions are being starved to death. Here, then, are common sins with which the preacher has to do battle. He has to “rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.”
CONCLUSION. A true preacher, then, has no easy task. He has to wage fierce battle with the sins that are around himthe sins of the sect and. the sins of the tribe. He is not to pander to men’s tastes, nor to battle with mere opinions and theories, but with sins; he must “resist unto blood, striving against sin.” “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”D.T.
Tit 1:15, Tit 1:16
The supreme importance of moral character.
“Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure,” etc. We notice, at the outset, two facts suggested by the passage.
1. That there is an essential difference in the moral characters of men. There are some “pure” and some “defiled,“ some holy and some unholy. What is the underlying inspiring principle that makes this difference? The predominant disposition. Perhaps there is no moral being in the universe who is not under the masterhood of some one sentiment or passion, to which can be traced, as to a mainspring, all the motions of his being. This controlling tendency is the moral monarch of souls, or, in Scripture language, is the moral “heart of the man.” This supreme disposition exists in all men in two distinct and opposite forms, either in sympathy with the true, the right, and the spiritual, or in sympathy with the false, the wrong, and the material. That soul alone is pure whose governing sympathy is God and the true. Supreme love for the supremely good is the true life of the soul, and the fountain of all its virtues. He whose controlling sympathies run not thus, is impure and corrupt.
2. Pleat the outward world is to men according to this difference. The whole external universe is to a man according to the moral state of his soul. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”so is he in relation to himself, to all without, and to God. This being so, the text teaches the supreme importance of moral character. Let us look at
I. THE MORALLY PURE IN RELATION TO ALL THINGS. “Unto the pure all things are pure.” This is true in relation to three things.
1. In relation to appearance. The proverb goes that the greatest rogues are ever the most suspicious. A thoroughly selfish, ungodly soul will see but little good even in the best men. It is a law that man judges his fellow by himself, and the more corrupt a man is, the more severe his judgment on others. A good man is neither given to suspicion nor censoriousness; he sees some good in all men.
2. In relation to influence. The influence of all outward things upon men is dependent on their moral character. Our Lord says, “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth defileth a man.” The moral character is an all-transformative power in the center of man’s being. It turns the unclean into the clean, and the reverse. A good man, like the bee, can extract honey from the bitterest plant; or, like the AEolian harp, can turn the shrieking wind into music.
3. In relation to appropriation. As the body lives by appropriating the outward, so does the soul; and as the effects of the appropriation, whether universal or otherwise, depend on the condition of the body’s health, as the appropriation of a diseased body only increases the physical ailment; so with the soul. A corrupt soul appropriates, even from the most strengthening and refreshing means of spiritual improvement, that which weakens and destroys. Pharaoh and his host got moral mischief out of the ministry of Moses; and the men of Capernaum were pressed into a deeper and darker hell through the elevating and enlightening ministry of Jesus of-Nazareth. Mark, then, the supreme importance of moral character.
II. THE MORALLY DEFILED IN RELATION TO ALL THINGS. “Unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.” Here is the converse. Mark, in passing, three things.
1. The sphere of the defilement. “The mind and conscience.” “The mind,” says a modern expositor, “is the willing as well as the thinking part of man, as it has been well defined the human spirit (pneuma) in one of its aspects, not simply quatenus cogitat, et intelligit, but also quatenus vult. Defilement of this mind (nous) means that the thoughts, wishes, purposes, activities, are all stained and debased. The second of these, the conscience (suneidesis), is the moral consciousness within, and that which is ever bringing up the memory of the past, with its omissions and commissions, its errors, its cruel, heartless unkindness, its selfish disregard of others. When this is defiled, then this last safeguard of the soul is broken down. The man and woman of the defiled conscience is self-satisfied, hard, impenitent to the last. Every part and faculty of the soul is stained with sin. The body may be cleansed by ceremonial ablutions, and the external manners and speech kept pure by culture and civilization, but the soul be black; the outside of the “cup and of the platter clean,” but inside full of corruption.
2. The cause of the defilement. “They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him.” There is nothing, perhaps, so morally defiling to the soul as religious hypocrisy. The man who with the lip professes to know God, and who in the life denies him, gets deeper stains upon his soul than the agnostic who professes that he knows nothing about him. What millions in our churches every Sunday publicly, at each service, avow with their lip their belief in God, but in their week-day life “he is not in all their thoughts”! Thus souls get deeply dyed in corruption in Christian churches.
3. The hideousness of the defilement. “Being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” However fair their conduct in the religious observances, they are “abominable” within, hideous to the eye of God. However rigorous in their observances and religious ordinances, they are “disobedient” in heart, they outrage moral laws; however useful they regard themselves and appear to others, they are “reprobate,“ they are rejected and worthless. These “defiled” in soul defile everything without; all outward things in their appearance, influences, and appropriation are to them corrupt.
CONCLUSION. Mark:
1. The natural sovereignty of the human son. We are not necessarily the creatures of the outward; we have within the power to bend circumstances to our will, to get good out of evil, to turn outward dissonance into music, deformity into beauty, poison into nourishment. Let us adore our Maker for this wonderful endowmentan endowment which guards us from the coercion of outward forces, secures to us an inward freedom of action, and enables us to put all outward things in subjection to our own spiritual selves.
2. The dependency of the soul‘s destiny on itself. A man’s destiny depends upon his moral character, and his character depends upon himself. As food, however nutritious, cannot administer strength to a man’s body without the digestive and appropriative power, so no external influences, however good and useful in themselves, can raise a man’s soul without the right action of its faculties. Man cannot be made good. His body may be borne to the summit of a lofty mountain without the use of his limbs, but if his soul is to ascend “the holy hill of the Lord,” he must climb it every inch himself. Fortune or patronage may raise him to some eminent social position, but he cannot reach a single stage of moral dignitythe true dignity of manapart from his own earnest endeavors. The transformative power of the soul is to external circumstances what the builder is to the materials out of which he rears his edifice. The choicest materials may be brought togethergold, marble, and cedarbut unless the builder use them with artistic skill they will never take the form of a beautiful structure. So the providence of God may gather around man all the facilities and elements for the raising of a noble character, but unless he use them with his own spiritual hand, he will never produce such a structure.
3. The grand end of true teaching. What is that? The supreme importance of every man obtaining a true moral character. “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” In moral goodness of soul alone, can we not only find our heaven, but find our way safely and happily through this life. We live in a world of evil. We cannot escape its sinful influence by endeavoring, like the anchorite, to avoid its touch. Whilst no man should put himself in the way of temptation, no man should be afraid to confront evil, to go into its most malarial regions if duty call. In truth, if man’s well-being depended upon escaping outward evil, it could never be realized, because to live in the world he is bound to live in its midst, and evil must stream into him every day. How, then, is he to reach a blessed destiny? Not merely by endeavoring to frame his life according to the outward rules of morality and religion, but by a right use of his own spiritual powers. There is a power in the body, when in a healthy state, to appropriate whatever goes into it from external nature that is wholesome and necessary, and to expel that which is noxious and superfluous. The soul has a power analogous to this; a power to appropriate the wholesome and to expel the injurious. This power we call the transformative. Let us use it rightlyuse it as Noah used it, who, amidst the blasphemy and ridicule of a corrupt generation, walked with God, and fulfilled a noble destiny; as Paul used it at skeptical Athens, in dissolute Corinth, and in pagan Rome, who from experience left the world this testimony: “All things work together for good to them that love God.”D.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Tit 1:1. Paul, a servant of God, This is the only epistle of St. Paul, wherein he begins with calling himself a servant, or slave, devoted for ever to the service of God. According to the flesh, would be rendered more properly, for the faith; that is to say, for promoting the faith of Christians; who, under the Messiah, are the elect people of God, as the Jews were under the Mosaic dispensation. Dr. Heylin well expresses the meaning of the passage,To preach the faith of God’s elect, and make known the truth, as it promotes piety.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Tit 1:1 . For , Buttm. and Tisch. 7, following A, al. , adopted ; but the majority of the most important MSS. (D** E F G H J K L ) support the Rec. (Lachm. Tisch. 8).
Tit 1:4 . ] So Scholz, Tisch., following C* D E F G J 73, al., Syr. Copt. Chrys. Aug. al.
Lachm. and Buttm. retained the usual reading: , , ; it is found in A C** K L, etc., but seems nevertheless to be a correction from the analogy of 1Ti 1:2 ; 2Ti 1:2 .
Tittmann’s reading: , , , is quite arbitrary.
Matthaei: nullus meorum omittit, nec ex quinque iis, quos postea consului. Reiche decided for the reading of Tisch.
] For this Lachm. Buttm. Tisch. read , on the authority of A C D* al., Vulg. Copt. Arm. Theodoret, etc.
Tit 1:5 . So far as internal evidence goes, we cannot decide whether the Rec. or the reading (Lachm. Tisch.) is the original one; both may be corrections, the latter on the analogy of 2Ti 4:20 , the former on the analogy of Act 18:19 ; Act 24:27 . Hofmann prefers , because it means: “leaving some one behind in going away;” but the simple verb is in no way unsuitable in the passage. The external evidence (A C D* F G, al., Or. Basil, ms.) is in favour of . It is uncertain, too, whether the aor. (Rec. supported by D E K , al., Lachm. Buttm. Tisch. 8) or the imperf. (A C F G J L, al., Tisch. 7) is the original reading. Hofmann prefers the imperf. “because it was part of the purpose for which Paul at that time left Titus behind;” but this would not prevent the apostle from writing the aor.
The authorities waver between the middle (Rec. Tisch.) and the act. (Scholz, Lachm. Buttm.). Since in classic Greek the middle is more current than the active, it may be supposed that the middle was a correction. It can hardly be supposed that the copyists did not know the middle form (Hofmann).
Tit 1:10 . In A C J , many cursives, etc., is wanting between and , for which reason it was omitted by Lachm. and Tisch. 8. Tisch. 7 retained it, on the authority of D E F G K L, several cursives, etc. The was perhaps added to be in accordance with classical usage.
In several MSS. (F G 67* 73, al.), as well as in some versions, Oecum. Hilar., a was inserted after .
Tit 1:15 . The following in the Rec. is to be deleted, on the authority of A C D* E* F G 17, al., Vulg. It. Or. Tert. etc.
For , is found in A C K L , many cursives, etc., and was adopted by Lachm. Buttm. and Tisch. (see Winer, p. 84 [E. T. p. 108]). D* has .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Tit 1:1 . ] This designation, which indicates generally the official position (Wiesinger: “ here in the same sense as in Act 16:17 , Rev 1:1 ; Rev 15:3 , etc., not as in 1Pe 2:16 , Rev 7:3 ,” etc.), is not usually found in the inscriptions of the Pauline Epistles. In the Epistle of James we have: . . , and in writing to the Romans and Philippians Paul says . .
. .] indicates here not so much a contrast (as Mack thinks) as a further definition (Matthies: a more distinct description); comp. Jud 1:1 . With this double designation comp. Rom 1:1 : . ., .
] is explained by Matthies to mean: “according to faith, so that the apostleship is described in its normal state, in its evangelic character;” but it is altogether opposed to the apostolic spirit to make appeal on behalf of the apostleship to its harmony with the faith of the elect. rather expresses here the general relation of reference to something: “in regard to faith;” the more precise definition must be supplied. This, however, can be nothing else than that which in Rom 1:5 is expressed by ( . ). It is on account of the . that he is a . and . ., and to this his office is related, see 2Ti 1:1 . This general relation is limited too precisely by the common exposition: “for producing faith,” etc. Hofmann thinks the apostle uses . . to describe faith as that which is presupposed in his apostleship, as that without which he would not be an apostle; but, on the one hand, we should in that case have had ; and, on the other hand, , does not express a presupposition or condition.
The expression is taken by de Wette in a proleptic sense, to mean those who, by the free counsel of God, are predestinated to faith; and . . , according to him, declares the faith of these elect to be the aim of the apostolic office. Wiesinger, on the contrary, thinks the expression quite abstract, leaving it uncertain “whether the has already taken place in their case or not;” but he agrees with de Wette in taking the to be the object of the apostolic labours, so that the meaning is: in order to produce or further faith in the elect. But in the N. T. the expression is always used of those who have already become believers, never of those who have not yet received the . Since it cannot be said that the purpose of the apostolic office is to produce faith in the (Plitt: “that the elect may believe”), who as such already possess faith, nor that it is to further their faith, must be taken as one thought, the genitive serving to define more precisely the faith to which Paul’s apostolic office is dedicated. We have therefore here a contrast between the true faith and the false , of which the heretics boasted.
] In genuine faith the knowledge of the truth is a substantial element; and Paul here lays stress on this element to point the contrast with the heretics. The is the subjective aspect, as the is the objective.
serves to define more precisely, as Chrysostom says: , , , , . De Wette, Wiesinger, van Oosterzee, Plitt interpret : “leading to holiness,” thus, indeed, naming a right element in truth, but one rather indicated than expressed by ; it is merely said that here a truth is under discussion which is in nature akin to . Hofmann translates it “piously,” asserting that without the article stands for an adjective; but had Paul used the clause as an adjective, he would certainly have written: (as in Rom 9:11 : ). Besides, the translation “piously” is not sufficiently clear.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
I
Superscription and Benediction
Tit 1:1-4
1Paul, a servant of God, and an Apostle of Jesus Christ,1 according to [for] the faith of Gods elect, and [for] the acknowledging [knowledge] of the truth 2which is after [which leads to] godliness; in [upon] hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie [lieth not], promised before the world began [before eternal 3times]; but [and] hath in due times [in his time] manifested his word through [the] preaching, which is committed [entrusted] unto me according to the commandment 4of God our Saviour; to Titus, mine [his] own [genuine] son after the [in virtue of] common faith: Grace [mercy],2 and peace, from God the Father and [the Lord]3 Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Tit 1:1. Servant of God. This appellation does not occur in the two other Pastoral Epistles, which use the word Apostle: here the phrase is servant and Apostle, the first more general, denoting the religious, the other, more specific, indicating the Christian character, in which the author presents himself.For the faith, . Not according to the faith (as Matthies and Luther) [also Ital. Vulg. A. V.; this would make the faith of the elect the rule and measure of the Apostles office.D.], but indicating the object of Pauls apostleship: in order to bring about the faith of Gods chosen ones (which proceeds, according to Rom 10:14, from the preaching of the gospel; comp. Act 13:48; Rom 1:5).And further: for the knowledge of the truth, [and (for producing) the full knowledge of the truth, i.e., the gospel.D.]. Not without indirect reference to the Gnosticism of those days, which was becoming developed, the Apostle says that it was certainly his aim also, to lead the ignorant to knowledge, but to such a as is derived from faith, and then in turn leads to godliness, and which consequently has a different root and a different aim from the science falsely so called (1Ti 6:20). The ethical rules of the false teachers were in some respects too rigid, and in others far too lax: in opposition to these he insists upon a knowledge of the truth which is for godliness,i.e., which makes godliness its aim and end. Thus explained, has the same signification as in the phrase just before; while the other explanation, the truth which is according to godliness, gives neither a clear nor a Pauline thought.
Tit 1:2. On hope of eternal life, (comp. Rom 4:18; Rom 8:21; 1Co 9:10.Eternal life is here, as in Rom 6:22, and elsewhere, the object of hope. The clause on hope of eternal life is not to be exclusively referred to truth nor to godliness, but to the whole of the preceding sentence. The Apostle having, in Tit 1:1, stated the end of his apostleship, now says (Tit 1:2) that he discharges this duty in or on [resting on] the hope of eternal life, and thus intimates not obscurely by what power he was enabled to fulfil that mission, since he immediately testifies of the security of this hope. [The believer already possesses eternal life, but in its complete fulness he is to receive it hereafter (comp. Col 3:3-4). Huther.D.]Which [sc. eternal life. De Wette, Huther.] God,, &c., exhibiting the character of God as true and faithfula word selected, perhaps, with a reference to the deceitfulness of the Cretans (Tit 1:12), promised, namely, through the prophets (Rom 1:2), before eternal times, not to be taken absolutely, as in 2Ti 1:9, but to be understood of the Old Testament period, which dates from the first annunciation of the gospel (Gen 3:15).[The solution of the difficulty, that no promise was actually made till the race of man existed, must be found by regarding, as in 2Ti 1:9, the construction as a mixed onecompounded of the actual promise made in time, and the Divine purpose from which the promise sprung, fixed in eternity. Thus, as there God is said to have given us grace in Christ from eternal ages, meaning that the gift took place as the result of a Divine purpose fixed from eternity, so here He is said to have promised eternal life from eternal ages, meaning that the promise took place as the result of a purpose fixed from eternity. Alford.]
Tit 1:3. And [But] in His time, &c. [Lit. His own (appointed) times. De Wette.] Here again we have the same antithesis between the period of the hidden and the revealed mystery, as in Rom 16:23; Eph 3:5. The time of this revelation is described as that which God fixed and arranged in His eternal wisdom (see also 1Ti 2:6 ; Gal 4:4).Through the preaching, &c., (comp. on 1Ti 1:11). Pauls designation of his preaching, as the means by which that revelation was made, rests upon the ground that he knew beyond any other apostle the depths of the Divine purpose, and that through him it was made known to all nations (2Ti 4:17). Huther.According to the commandment, &c., referring to the charge which the Apostle, immediately upon his conversion, and frequently afterwards in various ways, had received. By the addition of this clause, Paul emphatically denies that in his preaching he has acted in any way on his own authority. On the representation of God as Saviour, which is peculiar to the Pastoral Epistles, see on 1Ti 1:1. [The idea in its connected form is, that it was the will of God that Paul should publicly preach the gospel, the proper time having now arrived for the universal knowledge of eternal life.D.]
Tit 1:4. To Titus, see Introduction, 1.His genuine son, , the same name by which Timothy is called in 1Ti 1:2, on which see note.By virtue of common faith, . The Apostle probably lays special emphasis upon this communion of the faith, with reference to the heathen descent of Titus, as distinguished from his own Jewish extraction. The principle in the case is that stated in Col 3:11; Gal 5:6. indicates the point of view from which Titus could be regarded as a son of Paul: fidei respectu, Beza.Grace [mercy], peace. The second word of this affectionate trilogy is omitted by C.1 D. E. F. G. [Cod. Sin.], &c. It is possible, however, that this omission is a correction, designed to bring the phrase into agreement with the one employed in the other epistles of Paul, in forgetfulness of the fact, that, in the Pastoral epistles, a slight variation might not unnaturally occur. On internal grounds it is at least not improbable that in these epistles, the composition of which falls into one and the same period of his life, the Apostle should have sent his greeting to his fellow-laborers in a somewhat more extended form than was customary with him when writing to the churches (see on 1Ti 1:2).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The copiousness and richness of this introduction, when the brevity of the Epistle itself is considered, are an internal proof of its genuineness. An impostor would have regarded such copiousness, which is not found in many of the other epistles of Paul, as superfluous and unadvisable.
2. The explanation of the Apostle in regard to his special calling is of permanent value, because it brings before us in a few lines his entire work as an Apostle. Its origin is from God; its end, to bring the elect to faith, through faith to the knowledge of the truth, and through this again to true, sincere, and hearty godliness; its support and prospect is the hope of eternal life; its proper centre, the announcement of salvation, which, through the agency of God, was predicted before eternal times, and at a later period was provided; its measure, the command of God, to which his servants owe unconditional obedience. It is not difficult to show that the principal part of what the Apostle here testifies of himself applies equally to every true and worthy minister of the gospel.
3. The doctrine of Divine election, the cor ecclesi reformat, so far from being, in the view of Paul, a point of subordinate importance, is one which he makes prominent and emphatic at the very beginning of this Epistle. Much of the abuse heaped upon this doctrine, and still more of controversy respecting it, would have been avoided, if it had always been stated in a manner so decidedly practical and so little speculative as this great Apostle presents it. Paul does not teach that a man must obtain an assurance of his salvation before he can venture to believe on the Lord: on the contrary, he bids the believer, who, at the invitation of the gospel, rests upon Christ, and is thus assured of his salvation, gratefully look back and upward, in order that he may find the beginning and ground of this unspeakable salvation, not in anything in himself, but solely in the free mercy of the electing counsel of God. The doctrine of gracious election is not intended to be a stone of stumbling to the unbeliever, who in fact has nothing whatever to do with it, but for comfort to the believer, who regards Gods free, sovereign, and independent good pleasure as the ground of his highest glory and consolation, in life and in death.
4. He applies the same epithet, Saviour, to the Father and to Christ, inasmuch as certainly each of them is our Saviour, but for a different reason; for the Father is our Saviour, because He redeemed us by the death of His Son, that He might make us heirs of eternal life; but the Son, because He shed His blood as the pledge and price of our salvation. Thus the Son has brought salvation to us from the Father, and the Father has bestowed it through the Son. Calvin.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The true Apostle of Jesus Christ is at the same time a servant of God.He who believes in Christ, may reckon himself among Gods elect, but only he.The Christian is called to add to his faith, knowledge (1Co 14:20).The connection between Christian faith, Christian knowledge, and Christian godliness.It is impossible that God should lie: (1.) truth, (2.) comfort, (3.) solemnity of this thought.The gradual progress of the revelation of salvation from promise to fulfilment, a striking illustration of the manifold wisdom of God.The true preacher of the gospel is nothing less and nothing more than the interpreter of the Divine revelation of salvation.The whole introduction of this Epistle an expression of the faith, the hope, and the love of the Apostle himself.The distinction between Jew and Greek resolved into a higher unity, through the common faith in Christ.The Christian greeting: (1.) What should the disciples and friends of the Lord especially wish for each other? (2.) Why just this? (3.) How, and from whom?
Starke: Be not ashamed to be called a servant of God! Thou servest the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords. Thine associates and fellow-servants are not only Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, but also the holy angels (Rev 19:10), yea, the Son of God himself.Cramer: Believers and the elect have all one faith (Eph 4:5).Hedinger: Knowledge, godliness, hope, a beautiful triad. Neither without the other.Where no true faith exists, there is no true, spiritual, and vital knowledge.He who would enjoy aright the hope of eternal life, must have true faith exhibiting itself in godliness. If such an order exists, hope maketh not ashamed.What is more sure than the salvation of believers? God, who doth not and cannot lie, has fixed and established it in eternity (Heb 10:23; Eph 1:4).Preachers and hearers, teachers and scholars, should be in hearty accord with each other, like parents and children; as Elisha calls Elijah his father (2Ki 2:12), and the disciples of the prophets, children (2Ki 4:38), and the Corinthians and Galatians are described as new-born children (1Co 4:15; Gal 4:19).Through the sacred office of preaching, spiritual children are born to God (Jam 1:18).
Lisco: What does a genuine Apostle preach, and what does genuine preaching accomplish?Wherein consists the glory of the office of the preacher of the gospel?We also are servants of God and apostles of Jesus Christ.How children must be trained to be true Christians.
Footnotes:
[1]Tit 1:1.[Tischendorf, who maintains the invariable sequence of . . in the introductory salutations of Paul, would invert the order of these words, and read Christ Jesus; but the weight of authorityD.3 E. F. G. H. I. K., to which Cod. Sin. is now addedis against him.D.]
[2]Tit 1:4.[The genuineness of is doubtful. Lachmann retains, Tischendorf rejects it. It is wanting in Cod. Sin.
[3]Tit 1:4.The word rendered the Lord is rejected by Lachmann and Tischendorf, and is wanting in Cod. Sin. [also in A. C. D.1D.].
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The Apostle opens his Epistle, with his usual Benediction. He points out to Titus the Qualifications for the Ministry. He gives a sad Account of the Grecians, among whom Titus dwelt; and concludes, the Chapter with the same.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
(1) Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; (2) In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; (3) But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
I detain the Reader at the very entrance on this Epistle to observe to him, the striking expression of the Apostle on the subject of faith. He calls it the faith of God’s elect. I would not speak decidedly on the occasion, because I would rather that the godly Reader should, under grace, decide for himself. But I would humbly ask, doth not the Apostle, by the very phrase, evidently imply, that amidst all the professions of faith, to be met with in the world, there is but one, which is true and genuine, namely, the faith of God’s elect? And what that is, the scriptures, in every part show. The faith of God’s elect, looks at the special act of Jehovah, the purposes, will, decrees, and pleasure, of his infinite and eternal mind, as manifested in his threefold Personality of character, toward the Church of God, in Christ Jesus. And this faith of God’s elect, is the special gift of God to the elect; distinguished from all other, and is the fruit and effect, of the first, original, and eternal cause, in God’s election; whereby, without any regard to any one motive whatever, but God’s own free will and pleasure, he hath chosen the Church in Christ, to be holy and without blame before him in love. Eph 1:4 . And hence, in the riches of his grace, hath made all suitable provision, for the accomplishment of all the purposes, connected with this act of sovereign love, during the whole time-state of the Church, until the Lord hath brought her home to eternal glory. The faith of God’s elect, includes, therefore, in its view, all the blessed acts, and works of grace to render the whole effectual, for the accomplishment of that hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began. This is the faith of God’s elect.
And what tends to make it special, and endear it yet more, is, that it is only in the privilege of the elect themselves to exercise; and they only by God’s gift. For so the charter of grace runs. Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, to believe on him. Phi 1:29 . Sweetly therefore the same Apostle, when writing to the Thessalonians, dwells upon the subject, when he saith; But we are bound to give thanks alway to God, for you brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath, from the beginning, chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth. 2Th 2:13 . Reader! do not hastily turn away from the view of this most precious scripture, of the faith of God’s elect. Look at the distinguishing properties of it, again and again, with thanksgiving and praise. Observe, it is not the common faith of men, or devils. It is not historical faith, hearsay faith, head knowledge faith. But it is the special, personal faith, of God’s elect. It is a given faith, the fruit and effect of the same source and cause; from whence all the blessings connected with it spring; namely, the electing love of God. It cannot be possessed by any, but the elect. And by them only, as the gift of God. Oh! the preciousness of the faith of God’s elect! Lord give it me to possess, in all its blessed, distinguishing properties! May my spirit live, in the daily, hourly enjoyment of it; having it kept always alive in my soul, in living upon Christ, and Christ in God; as manifested in the electing, predestinating love of God my Father; the blessed betrothing, redeeming, justifying, sanctifying love of God my Savior; and the regenerating soul-quickening, spiritual-life-preserving grace of God the Holy Ghost. Oh! the unspeakable mercies, which give birth to the faith of God’s elect!
But it would be wrong to pass over unnoticed what the Apostle saith in connection with the faith of God’s elect, namely, and the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness. This was blessedly added by the Apostle, as if to put a stop to the charge against the faith of God’s elect, as though it were a doctrine contrary to godliness. Whereas the fact is, there can be no real godliness without it. All the labored attempts of carnal men, to make a show of outside godliness, having no spring within, can be but a show; for it hath no resource, to give life to it at first, or keep it alive after. But the faith of God’s elect being founded in the love of God, hath, for its spring, the grace of God, which bringeth salvation and this both teacheth and enableth to the denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to the living soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Tit 2:11-13 . The faith of God’s elect, can never fail of producing those effects, in every instance. And no faith, but the faith of God’s elect can produce them. The faith of devils, the faith of mere Professors, and Pharisees, the lip confession, learnt from the creeds of men, and all the other trumpery of human invention, have no belief, but that which produceth fear and trembling. Jas 2:19 . It is only the faith of God’s elect, which connects with it the acknowledging of the truth, and the practical effects of truth, which is after godliness.
One word more on this paragraph. What is this faith of God’s elect exercised upon? Paul saith ; in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. Reader! I beseech you look at the bottom, and foundation of this hope. Paul calls it a blessed hope. Tit 2:13 . And a blessed hope indeed it is, in all the properties of it. For first. It originated in God’s own purpose, and that from all eternity. Nothing moving the Lord to it, but his own infinite mind; and his holy will and pleasure. Not our misery or need; for it was before the world began; and, consequently, neither our misery, nor his mercy to that misery, gave rise to it, for it was before both. The Apostle saith, that it was according to the eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Eph 3:9-11 . What a bottom is here to found the sure mercies of David upon; when beheld as in God, and from God, and by God; and that from all eternity?
Secondly. Consider the sweet properties of it, and it will appear indeed a blessed hope. All are founded in Covenant securities, in which everything is provided for, to make it permanent, sure, and everlasting. The ancient settlements of eternity, in the council of peace, between the Persons of the Godhead, all are so formed, as to guard against the possibility of failure. God the Father, who cannot lie, hath sworn to it. Christ, who is our Righteousness, hath fulfilled all the purposes concerning it. God the Spirit, who is all holy; confirms it in the hearts of the people. And, as all the individual members, for whom this eternal life is designed, and to whom it is given, are all chosen and numbered, in the decrees of God; nothing can arise, to prevent the accomplishment of it, from any causes whatever, during the time-state of the Church, but what hath been foreseen and provided for from all eternity.
And, lastly, to mention no more. What endears it, and recommends it to every heart, of the highly favored objects of this divine promise is, that it is altogether free, unsought for, yea, unthought of and neither bestowed for deservings, or restrained by undeservings; but freely given without regard to either, as if to magnify the riches of divine grace, and to display divine sovereignty according to that unalterable scripture: I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy; and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Exo 33:19 with Rom 9:15 . Oh! the riches of God’s eternal purposes in Christ! Oh! the sweet, and precious faith of God’s elect!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 1
1 For what end Titus was left in Crete. 6 How they that are to be chosen ministers ought to be qualified. 11 The mouths of evil teachers to be stopped; 12 and what manner of men they be.
1. Paul, a servant of God, and an Apostle of Jesus Christ [in the other two so-called Pastoral Epistles addressed to Timothy, St. Paul simply styles himself an Apostle of Jesus Christ], according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness [more accurately rendered “and the full knowledge of the truth which is designed for godliness”; or, “which leadeth to godliness”].
2. In hope of eternal life [better translated “resting on the hope of eternal life”], which God, that cannot lie [possibly this singular and strong expression was chosen with reference to the peculiar vice of the Cretans, over which church Titus was then presiding (see v. 12)], promised before the world began [more accurately rendered, “from eternal ages” (see 2Ti 1:9 ). The promise of eternal life was the result of a divine purpose fixed from eternity].
3. But hath in due times [“but hath in his own seasons”] manifested his word [that is, his gospel. See Rom 16:25 ] through preaching [or, “in the preaching”], which is committed unto me [ lit. “with which I was entrusted”], according to the commandment of God our Saviour:
Note. The annotations are taken from The Commentary for Schools, edited by C. J. Ellicott, D.D., Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. (London, Cassell & Co., Limited.)
4. To Titus, mine own son [alluding no doubt to their relation in religion] after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour [the expression is a rare one. We find it only in these Pastoral Epistles].
5. For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee [or better, “as I gave thee directions].
6. If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful [believing] children not accused of riot [dissoluteness] or unruly [that is, disobedience to parents].
7. For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry [not soon provoked, or not irascible], not given to wine, no striker [not a brawler], not given to filthy lucre;
8. But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober [self-restrained], just [ or righteous], holy, temperate;
9. Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught [more literally, “according to” the teaching], that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
10. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
11. Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthly lucre’s sake.
12. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts [referring to their wild, fierce nature, their ferocity, their love of cruelty], slow bellies [ rather, idle bellies. These terms point with sharp accuracy to another of the evil characteristics of the Cretan peoples their dull gluttony, their slothful sensuality].
13. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke [confute; set them right] them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
14. Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
15. Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
16. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable [this is the only place where this strong expression is used in the New Testament. It signifies that the life and actions of these men, who professed to be his servants, had made them hateful in the sight of God], and disobedient [opposed to law and order], and unto every good work reprobate.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
TITUS
IX
THE INTRODUCTION, ANALYSIS, AND GREETING OF THE LETTER TO TITUS
Tit 1:1-4
We now take up the letter to Titus and commence with a historical introduction. The first thing we deal with is the island of Crete. Its modern name is Candia. It is about 140 miles long, but very narrow. It closes up what is called the “Grecian Archipelago” (a sea full of islands). The island is lifted up high out of the sea and has some very high mountains on it. The valleys are small, but very rich. It has always been a thickly peopled island as far back as history goes.
Now, the inhabitants of the island: The original inhabitants that is, if we go no further back than the times of the Greek supremacy were Greeks, mingled with, perhaps earlier elements, as, Phoenicians, Philistines, Cherethites. There is a passage in Virgil’s Aeneid about the hundred cities of Crete. For an island of that size to have a hundred cities, or even small towns, implies a great population. When I studied Virgil I looked up this island and wondered where they found space for a hundred cities.
There is a passage in Tacitus that makes the Jews descendants of the Cretans. What plausible argument could Tacitus have had for such a notion? The Philistines and Phoenicians, in Palestine, were naval powers and early connected with Crete, and the Cherethites, who were associated with the Philistines. In the history of David we find that one of his body guards was made up of Cherethites, and in the Septuagint, in two Old Testament passages, the Cherethites are called Cretans.
It may have been these facts that suggested to Tacitus that the Jews were derived from the Cretans. Tacitus was a good historian on Roman affairs, but he is wrong here. This much is certain: While the base of the inhabitants was Greeks, Phoeni-cians, and Cherethites, in very early days many Jews settled there. We find an account of them in the apocryphal books, in Maccabees, and extensive reference to them in Josephus, and in Philo the Alexandrian Jew, showing how in the period of the beginning of the Greek Empire the Jews, who were great traders, had established themselves in the Island of Crete.
Now we come to the New Testament bearings upon the subject. We want to ascertain how, possibly, the gospel was planted in this island. In Act 2 where so many Jews of the dispersion and Jewish proselytes came from all parts of the earth to be in Jerusalem at the great feast, among the number there (Tit 1:11 ) we find the Cretans especially mentioned. These Jews of the dispersion assembled in the city of Jerusalem, heard Peter preach that day, and it is possible that some of them were converted, and in that way the gospel originally came to Crete.
The next New Testament reference is in Act 27 . Paul is a prisoner on his way to Rome, and he touches on the coast of Asia Minor, is transferred to a new ship bound for Italy, which stops at Fair Havens, a harbor on the southern coast of the Island of Crete. The record implies a somewhat lengthy stay. We do not know whether they were allowed to go ashore or not. Paul warned them to spend the winter there, but they, beguiled by a favorable breeze, left Crete and a typhoon struck them, blowing them out of their course and wrecking them on the Island of Malta. These are two New Testament references which occur before we come to the reference here in Titus.
The next thing is to determine the character of the Greek inhabitants. Paul quotes a poem in which the poet, himself a native of the island, describes them as liars, beasts, and gluttons. At Athens Paul quotes poets, and so in this letter he quotes a poet. He was raised at Tarsus, in Asia Minor, a great university city, probably the greatest in the world. Alexandria was great, but it is held by some that Tarsus was greater. So Paul’s being raised there gave him an acquaintance with the current literature of his time.
Just a few words on the position of Crete in previous mythology. Mythology has a great deal to do with Crete. When I was a schoolboy, about 13 years old, we were reading Ovid. One of the lengthiest and best written pieces in the book of Ovid connects Jupiter and Europa with the Island of Crete. That is a special part of old Grecian Mythology.
It is not proper here to go into the details about the history of Crete before Paul’s time; so will pass over that part. But I will say this: when the Romans came to the island, 67 B.C., Metellus, a Roman general, captured Crete and thence obtained his surname “Creticus,” as one Scipio, after his victory over Hannibal in Africa, was surnamed “Africanus,” and another one surnamed “Asiaticus.” The Romans were accustomed to giving a surname to their generals who accomplished anything great.
In establishing the province (Rome always put what she captured into a province) Crete was united with Cyrenaica, in the northern part of Africa. It is called Cyrene in the New Testament. They were put together and governed by one proconsul.
Just a word about the impress left by Titus on the subsequent history of Crete: Archaeologists tell of a church whose ruins are yet standing, named for Titus. It is certain that in later days the Venetians, who became a great sea power, captured this island. As St. Mark is patron of Venice, Titus is regarded as the patron saint of Crete. They would pray thus: “Oh, St. Mark, do thou help us.” “Oh. St. Titus, do thou help us.”
We now want to consider Titus himself before we go into the letter. Here are the scriptures that present the earlier statements about Titus in the New Testament:
Tit 1:4 teaches that he was converted by Paul. Just where we do not know, possibly at Antioch. We know that Titus was a Greek on both sides. Timothy’s father was a Greek, but his mother was a Jewess. Somewhere in Paul’s work Titus was led to Christ.
Gal 2:1-3 , construed with Act 15 : In the passage in Galatians Paul is referring to the great council at Jerusalem, and says that he designedly took Titus, an uncircumcised man, with him; that there might be a test case. The Jerusalem Jews demanded that one must be a Jew to be saved. A delegation from Antioch went down, including Paul and Barnabas, the church bearing the expenses of the expedition, and in order to make a test case Paul took Titus along with him. “Here is a Gentile converted to God under my ministry. Dare you say he is not saved?”
Canon Farrar, who is cranky on Old Testament criticism, and sometimes on the New Testament, takes the position that Paul did have Titus circumcised. He stands alone on that, however. But standing alone does not bother him at all because he is so conscious of being infallibly right that he does not mind being by himself. Inasmuch as Timothy had a Jewish mother, was reared in the Jewish faith of the Holy Scriptures from a child, Paul circumcised him, lest his lack of circumcision would discount his influence with the Jews, but he would not do that in Titus’ case.
2Co 2:13 , also 2Co 7:6-7 ; 2Co 7:13-15 . From these scriptures we learn that when Paul was at Ephesus the Corinthians were urging him to come over there, but he tarried at Ephesus until Pentecost. On information from the household of Chloe he wrote the first letter to the Corinthians, and sent Titus to carry it and to set these people straight on their immortalities, particularly that man who took his father’s wife, and to work them up on that big collection for the poor saints in Judea. Leaving Ephesus, Paul went to Troas, expecting to meet Titus there bringing the report of the effect of his first letter to the Corinthians. Titus did not meet him, and he was greatly distressed; although he was having a great meeting he quit and went over into Macedonia.
The next scriptures are 2Co 8:6 ; 2Co 8:16 ; 2Co 8:23 ; 2Co 12:18 . These scriptures show that Titus joined him in Macedonia, and brought a report from Corinth, and that Paul sent Titus back to complete the work he had so magnificently begun, sending with him Trophimus and Tychicus (Act 20:4 ).
Tit 1:5 : On the missionary tour after Paul’s escape from the Roman imprisonment, he came to this Island of Crete, stops a while, and finding great disorder in the churches here, leaves Titus to set things in order.
Tit 3:12 : In this passage Paul writes to Titus to join him in Nicopolis, where he expects to winter. He tells him to join him there when a successor comes; that he will send Artemas or Tychicus to take his place.
Tit 3:13 : Titus is still in Crete. Paul sends the letter by Zenas and Apollos, and charges Titus to take charge of these two brethren and help them forward on their way.
2Ti 4:10 : Paul is now a prisoner a second time in Rome, and is writing to Timothy. He says that Titus had gone to Dalmatia, which is not very far from Nicopolis, where he was to winter with Paul.
The last scriptures to consider as bringing out the character of Titus are 2Co 7:7 ; 2Co 7:13 ; 2Co 7:15 ; 2Co 8:23 . Let us picture in our minds the kind of a man Titus was. We know that he succeeded magnificently in his work, but this passage shows the character of the man:
“God comforted us by the coming of Titus; and not by his coming only, but also by the comfort wherewith he was comforted in you, while he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, that I rejoice yet more. Therefore, we have been comforted, and in our comfort we joyed the more exceedingly for the joy of Titus, because his spirit hath been refreshed by you all.” That indicates his appreciative nature; when he brought them comfort and saw how glad they were, he became glad.
“But this affection is more abundantly toward you while he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him.” That brings out his love for these people among whom he labored.
“Whether any inquire about Titus, he is my partner and my fellow-worker to you-ward.” From these scriptures we get an idea of the inside man; the tenderness, sympathy, and love of his nature. Titus is not mentioned in the book of Acts at all.
ANALYSIS We now come to the outline of the book; I am giving a very critical outline, chapter by chapter: Chapter One:
1. Elaborate greeting (Tit 1:1-4 )
2. Occasion of the letter (Tit 1:5 )
3. Qualifications of elders to be ordained (Tit 1:6-10 )
4. Reasons for such high qualifications (Tit 1:11-16 ) Chapter Two:
5. Directions concerning practical piety in social life (Tit 2:1-10 )
6. High doctrinal reasons therefore in the teaching of grace (Tit 2:11-14 )
7. How Titus must carry out the directions (Tit 2:15 ) Chapter Three:
8. Directions concerning civil life and character (Tit 3:1-2 )
9. High doctrinal reasons therefore in the example of the salvation of the saints (Tit 3:3-7 )
10. A faithful saying in point, and the value of good works (Tit 3:8 ; Tit 3:14 )
11. What to shun (Tit 3:9 )
12. How to treat the factious (Tit 3:10-11 )
13. Directions to Titus when a successor arrives (Tit 3:12 )
14. Directions to forward with help, Zenas and Apollos (Tit 3:13 )
15. Farewell salutation and benediction (Tit 3:15 )
That is strictly a critical outline. It leaves out nothing in the letter, is orderly arranged chapter by chapter, and brings out each thought. With that the reader will more understandingly study Titus.
I will consider the first item of the analysis, the elaborate greeting (Tit 1:1-4 ). In the first place Paul desires to have the men to whom he writes to understand that he is writing with the fulness of authority, representing God, representing Jesus Christ, representing the faith of God’s elect, and that he is writing concerning the true knowledge of the faith, which is according to godliness.
He makes the keynote of the letter, practical religion, or godliness in life: “According to godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time eternal; but in his own seasons manifested his word in the message, wherewith I was intrusted according to the commandment of God our Saviour.” Marking himself out as the one who is to speak, in every direction he buttresses his authority to speak, and especially on the topic to be discussed in this letter, practical holiness, practical religion according to the truth, the divine truth.
He will demonstrate in the letter how doctrine is the basis of morality. He will use great doctrines to enforce morality. He inculcates every one of these thoughts as special and precious. When he writes to Titus he makes the following points: “I led you to Christ; you are my true child, but it is in a common faith.” Just as Jude says, “a common salvation,” or as Luke says, “the things which are commonly believed among us.”
Conversion is always according to the common faith. Certain impressions of men may be different, but one was not converted to one kind of faith and another to another kind. From the days of the first converts under the gospel to the present time, every conversion is unto truth which is common. Whether manifested in some cases as in others or not, the normal conversion has these elements in it’. Under the preaching of the gospel a man sees himself to be a sinner in the sight of God. He is sorry for his sins and changes his mind toward God on account of sin. There was a burden resting on him because of sin. He turned by faith to the Saviour for salvation from that sin.
These are the normal elements of conversion. Some people may not experience these things so as to be able to separate them item by item. I once received a letter from a man who heard some great teacher in a Bible rally. He wrote: “Great teachers here are saying that there is no time element between repentance and faith; that they are simultaneous. Is this true?” I wrote back that the two were distinct, repentance one thing and faith another thing; that they have different objects repentance is toward God, and faith is toward our Lord Jesus Christ; that they are represented always in a certain order: “repentance and faith”; that while in some cases a conversion takes place in so short a time that a man is not able to separate them, the steps were there just the same; that there was a difference in time, even when one could not appreciate it.
In some cases conviction manifests itself a good while before the man reaches repentance, and sometimes a man is penitent a long time before a clear view of the Saviour is presented to him. I know a case where repentance lasted a year before faith came.
QUESTIONS
1. Give an account of the Island of Crete: (1) Where, what the dimensions and what the topography? (2) Early inhabitants. (3) Density of population including citation from Virgil.
2. What the strange statement of Tacitus as to national origin, of Jews and the probable ground of the statement?
3. What the strange account in Maccabees of the common origin of Jews and Spartans?
4. Give account of Jews settling in the Island and the authorities.
5. What the New Testament references prior to this letter to the Island and its Jewish population and how may the gospel have been planted there?
6. What the character of the population according to one of its poets quoted by Paul?
7. What noted myth concerning Crete?
8. Who conquered Crete for the Romans, what surname did he receive and with what other section of country was it constituted a Roman province?
9. Later what Mediterranean Sea power conquered the Island?
10. To what nation does it now belong?
11. What archaeological testimony to Titus?
12. Give connected New Testament history of Titus and the impression of his character and ability conveyed.
13. Give is the analysis of the letter?
14. What is the keynote of the letter?
15. What are the two great doctrinal statements in the letter?
16. What relation does the letter establish between doctrine and morals, or practical religion?
17. What is the office of Titus, and what his special authority?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
1 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
Ver. 1. The faith of God’s elect ] Not the election of God’s faithful ones, as the Arminians make it.
And the knowledge of the truth ] It is usual with St Paul in the beginning of his Epistles, to utter much in few, and to set down the sum of the whole gospel, as here he doth justification, sanctification, and the hope of salvation, and all by the acknowledging of the truth. This Epistle is called the abridgment of all St Paul’s Epistles; but especially of those two to Timothy, whom he more largely instructeth in point of Church government, because a younger man than Titus, and not so well exercised in ecclesiastical affairs. (Estius.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1 4 .] ADDRESS AND GREETING.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1 .] The occurrence of , not elsewhere found in the superscriptions of St. Paul’s Epistles, is a mark of genuineness: a forger would have been sure to suit every expression of this kind to the well-known habits of the Apostle.
. ] further defines a servant of God, this is general: but a more particular designation also belongs to the present matter. has been variously rendered: (1) ‘ according to the faith of ,’ &c., so E. V., Luth., Matthies, al.: (2) similarly Calv., Beza, Aret., ‘mutuus est inter meum apostolatum et fidem electorum Dei consensus:’ (3) ‘ so as to bring about faith in ,’ &c., as De W., justifying it by , Herod. ii. 152, , Thuc. vi. 31, so also Thdrt. ( , c. 2, Thl. 1, Jer., Grot., al., but see below). We may at once say that (1) and (2) are inadmissible, as setting up a standard which the Apostle would not have acknowledged for his Apostleship, and as not suiting below, which also belongs to the . Nor do the instances given to justify (3) apply here: for as Huther has observed, in them it is the acquisition of the noun which is spoken of: so that here it would be to get , not to produce faith. The best sense seems to be that which he gives, that of reference, ‘with regard to,’ i.e. to bring about, cherish, and perfect: nearly in the same sense as , Rom 1:5 . See also 2Ti 1:1 . I would render then ‘ for :’ Paul, a servant of God, but an Apostle of Jesus Christ, for (on this sense of , destination , see Ellic.’s note) the faith of the elect of God (those whom God has chosen of the world reff.: and their faith is the only true faith the only faith which the apostolic office would sub-serve) and the thorough knowledge (reff. and notes: subjective, and as before to promote the knowledge. Thl. gives as an alternative, , . . .) of the truth which is according to (belongs to, is conversant in and coincident with: for as Chrys., , , , . cannot, as De W., import the aim , ‘which leads to .:’ it does not lead to it, but rather runs parallel with) piety ,
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Tit 1:1-4 . Salutation, in which the place of the Gospel in eternity and in time is largely expressed.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Tit 1:1 . : The only parallel to this phrase in the opening formula of any other epistle in the N.T. is Jas 1:1 ; but there it is, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” It is no less obvious than necessary to note that this variation from St. Paul’s formula . . (Rom 1:1 ; Phi 1:1 ) would not be likely in a pseudepigraphic writing.
: See note on 1Ti 1:1 . The is not merely copulative, as in Jud 1:1 ; but marks the antithesis between the two aspects of Paul’s relationship to the Supreme: between God as known to his fathers, and as recently manifested in the sphere of history.
. . .: to be connected with only. It is natural to suppose that has the same force here as in 2Ti 1:1 , , where see note. His apostleship was for the confirmation of the faith of God’s elect, and for the spreading of the knowledge , etc., etc. We take as = for or in regard to ; and expand it according to the exigencies of the context. Here God’s elect does not mean those whom God intends to select; but those who have been externally selected, and who consequently possess faith. See reff. and Act 13:48 . They do not need that it should be generated in them, but that it should be fostered. See note on 2Ti 2:10 . Contrast , Rom 1:5 , where the Gospel-propagation function of his apostleship is indicated.
The rendering here of the Vulg. and of the English versions, according to the faith , etc., secundum fidem , preserves the common meaning of , but does not stand examination. St. Paul’s office as apostle was not dependent in any way on the faith or knowledge of human beings, as it was on the will or command of God or Christ. The final cause of it was the faith and knowledge of men.
: See on 1Ti 2:4 .
: See on 1Ti 2:2 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Titus Chapter 1
“Paul, bondman of God and apostle of Jesus Christ according to faith of God’s elect, and full knowledge [or acknowledgment] of truth that is according to piety” (ver. 1).
Bondman “of God” is unusual. Thus in the Epistle to the Romans it is “bondman of Jesus Christ.” So it is in the Epistle to the Philippians, where Timothy is associated with the apostle. Here alone it is “bondman of God and apostle of Jesus Christ.” No Christian ought to doubt that there is special suitability between that relationship to God and the Epistle. “God,” as such, is prominent in all the pastoral Epistles rather than “Father,” where “bondman” could not be appropriate or rightly conceivable. Nevertheless it is only to Titus that the apostle presents himself as here he does. We may be thereby assured from this fact that it falls in with the character of the Epistle before us even more than with any other of the pastoral letters.
The sixth chapter to the Romans may help a little to explain why. The great truth in the latter portion of this chapter is that, though we are under grace, we are bondmen to Him whom we obey. Once alas! we were bondmen of sin; now having got our freedom from sin, we have become bondmen to righteousness (ver. 18) and to God (ver. 22), having our fruit unto holiness and the end life eternal. A similarly fundamental depth is found in the Epistle to Titus: only here Paul predicates the term of himself, not of believers in general. If he calls himself ‘. apostle of Jesus Christ,” he takes care previously to say that he was “bondman of God.” It was important for Titus to take heed to this. At the very outset it was a solemn reminder from the Holy Spirit. If the apostle did not often so speak, it was always true; and the expression of the truth here seems intended of God to be a fresh lesson to Titus, and the rather because in the circumstances before him it might easily be forgotten. Practice if right should be based on principle.
Titus was called to a serious but highly honourable charge. Had it been only to exercise oversight, he who aspires to that desires a good work. But Titus was called amongst other things to establish overseers: clearly a far more delicate and responsible service. Self-importance might here readily enter, as it has often done even with most excellent men. Hence the apostle, who had authorised and directed Titus in that high service, begins with that emphatic statement, “Paul bondman of God.” All was worthless, if the will of God were not done. The Son of God shows the perfection of a life wholly devoted to that one object, and first set it before all as a moral jewel of the first water. In order to do His will in that perfection, He emptied Himself, taking a bondman’s form, coming in the likeness of men; and then when found in figure as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, death of the cross. In that perfection He stands alone; nevertheless He forms others according to His own blessed pattern, and none more evidently than the inspired man who now writes to Titus as “bondman of God.”
Titus was not, and could not be, like Paul, “apostle of Jesus Christ;” but was it not open to him to be, no less than the apostle, “bondman of God “? His special position was according to the grace of the Lord Jesus, and he would fulfil its proper functions all the better if he valued, as the apostle did, the being “bondman of God.” His own will was thus to be forfended; and the apostle implies this in an introduction so peculiar and impressive. For he expressly describes himself as God’s bondman. We may be sure that the words were not lost on Titus, but that he laid each deeply to heart. Christians as such are said in Rom 6:22 to be freed from sin and enslaved, or made bondmen to God; so that the principle is clear and sure. Who needs to remember it more than an honoured minister of the Lord?
There is another peculiarity here which has greatly perplexed the learned. As is too usual in a difficulty, they have departed from the plain and obvious meaning of the text, not by a daring conjecture in the way of emendation as a substitute for it, but by a version, to say the least, of an arbitrary nature, which is quite uncalled for in the context. Two of the ablest recent commentators have joined in discarding “according to,” and in adopting “for.” But this is to lose the peculiar force of the scripture before us, and to construe kata; as equivalent to eij”. To be apostle of Jesus Christ “for” the faith of God’s elect is a commonplace. As in all such proposals, it is no doubt an easy way of understanding the clause; but the truth intended vanishes. “according to faith of God’s elect” has the same ground as, and no less reason than, “according to piety” just afterwards, with which these commentators do not all tamper, though one at least deals in the same latitude here also. It is safest to translate correctly, even if one is obliged to feel or own we have no exposition to offer of which we are assured. The Revisers, therefore, as well as the Authorised translators, have acted more faithfully. Very possibly they might not have been able to explain the propriety of the phrase; but at any rate they have done no violence to the text in their respective versions. They have left the word of God for others to explain in due time, according to their measure of spiritual insight.
Is then the apostolic statement so hard to be understood? Not so, if we are simple. Aaron was anointed priest according to the law. There is now an entire change; a new system rests upon an altogether different basis. We have no longer the first man dealt with morally, or helped ceremonially There is the Second Man’ the East Adam. Faith, therefore, is come and revealed. It is no longer a question of any being guarded under law: believing men, even of Israel, were no longer under the old child-guide. Paul, the Jew, and Titus, the Gentile, are alike sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus, as is carefully explained to the Galatians.
Hence Paul here describes himself as “apostle of Jesus Christ according to faith of God’s elect.” Men are disposed to regard Christianity as a continuance of Judaism and an improvement on it more or less. But the entire system of legal ordinances has come to its end; Christ had effaced it, and taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. The ancient people of God are for the time completely eclipsed, with all the peculiarities of their probationary status. Man is viewed universally as wholly sinful and lost. It is now a question of what God has wrought and given, as revealed in the person of Christ; and hence, therefore, of faith on the part of God’s elect. The elect nation is not now the platform of His ways. “Go ye into the whole world and preach the gospel to all the creation.” What is external in Christianity may be more or less apprehended by the world; but here the apostle points only to what is unseen and eternal, and God’s elect alone enter in and enjoy. Thus we see that in this short Epistle there is more than one pithy, yet full, exhibition of the gospel in its deep moral power; wherein it is more distinguished than the two Epistles to Timothy. This is in keeping with the “faith of God’s elect,” and helps to illustrate why the writer describes himself as apostle of Jesus Christ according to that pattern.
At the same time it is instructive to note that in the two Epistles to Timothy the apostle describes himself in a way strikingly akin to what is found here. For in the First he says, “apostle of Jesus Christ according to commandment of God our Saviour and Christ Jesus our hope,” and in the Second, “apostle of Jesus Christ through God’s will according to promise of life that is in Christ Jesus.” In every case the preposition bears its most ordinary sense, not “for” but “according to;” but each has its appropriate bearing. In the First it is according to our Saviour God’s command, and hence is a testimony of glad tidings to all, and Christ Jesus, Man and Mediator, our hope. In the Second it is through God’s will according to promise of life in Christ Jesus. Whatever be the ruin externally of Christendom; there is strengthening in the grace that is in Christ :Jesus, and the firm foundation of God stands.
Here he adds another particular. Paul was His apostle also according to full knowledge (or acknowledgment) of truth that is according to piety. This is the more remarkable, because we find him very soon afterwards speaking of his having left Titus in Crete to set right what was wanting, and establish elders in every city, as he had ordered him; but he in no way describes his own apostleship as being according to such a direction of authority. The delegation is not to be doubted in any way, and it is of high moment in its place; the apostleship is characterised after another pattern altogether. It was “according to faith of God’s elect, and full knowledge of truth that is according to piety.” Its stamp was not merely ecclesiastical but Christian, and its Christian description is the only thing on which the apostle here insists, even when he is about to notice the charge he had given Titus for ecclesiastical order.
If Christianity is bound up with the faith of God’s elect, it is for that very reason also with “knowledge of truth that is according to piety.” “The law was given by Moses; grace and truth came into being through Jesus Christ.” Shadows and outward observances are now treated as vain. The body is of Christ. The truth must be known by faith, truth that is according to piety: else the apostle would have disowned it as having no living link with Christ. With this the reader can compare 1Ti 3:16 , where the truth of Christ’s person is laid down as the secret or mystery of piety.
The apostle pursues what has been already begun in describing his mission. It was “upon hope of life eternal which God that cannot lie promised before the times of the ages (or everlasting),* but manifested in its own seasons His word in a preaching, with which I was entrusted, according to command of our Saviour God” (vers. 2, 3).
*This is a phrase peculiar in itself and difficult to transfuse well and truly into English. “Eternal” is clear, as said of God, life, punishment of sin. etc. But in combination with “times” it appears harsh, as in Rom 16:25 , and still more where precedes, as in 2Ti 1:9 and here. Mr. T. S. Green gives “in all time” and “before all time” respectively, which seems weak or worse for the first case. Mr. Darby for Rom 16 prefers “in [the] times of the ages,” and for 2 Tim. and Titus “before the ages of time.” But why invert thus? Would it not be better to adhere to the same order in all three, “times of ages?” Perhaps indeed “times everlasting” might be admissible for although the A.V. uses “eternal” and “everlasting” interchangeably, the latter is not necessarily so absolute as the former. We might say “before times everlasting” but hardly “before times eternal,” and for more reasons than one. It is unfounded to conceive a difference of sense between its use in 2Ti 1 and Tit 1 ; and the wish springs from misunderstanding of the truth.
Life eternal is really given to the believer now; and this is a revelation by no means uncommon in the writings of our apostle. Its present possession is emphatically prominent in the writings of John, whether the Gospel or his First Epistle. But Paul frequently treats it according to its future display, as in the Synoptic Gospels. In the well-known passage of his, Rom 6:22 , Rom 6:23 , we have it clearly: “Ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end life eternal. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is life eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord.” He looks on to life in glory.
Here he describes his apostolic work in preaching as conditioned by the hope of life eternal. It is thus wholly different from the expectations of the pious Jew in Old Testament times, grounded as they were in the main on the promises of God to the fathers. If a prophet spoke of eternal life at all, it was bound up with the future kingdom of the Messiah. Under His sceptre the Israelite looked for every outward blessing, for all honour and power as well as goodness from God, for the display of beneficence and of blessing in every form; and all this will surely be accomplished on earth, without fail or stint, according to the word of the living God.
The apostle’s work had a wholly different character; for it was based upon the total rejection and the heavenly exaltation of the Lord Jesus, whereby that hope of life eternal is realised now, and in a way altogether superior to the testimony of the prophets (Psa 133 , Dan 12 ). So the Lord as the great Prophet on Olivet declared that the living righteous of the nations, who are severed from the wicked, enter into life eternal when He shall have come as the Son of man in His glory. Even the sheep realise their place but little: grace will abound exceedingly. But the apostle proceeds to show that the promise which the Christian actually enjoys goes not merely beyond the prophets, or the human race on earth, but back into eternity. This was necessarily a promise within the Godhead. The God that knew no falsehood promised it before the times of the ages. So we saw in 2Ti 1:9 , that God saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace that was given us in Christ Jesus before the times of the ages. It was a promise within the Godhead when neither the world nor man yet existed, and therefore had a far higher character than promises made in time to the fathers.
These times, stamped with distinctive principles on God’s part, are occupied with the history of man’s trial and failure in every form. First we see him innocent and in paradise, with everything good around him, and put to the simplest test of obedience in a single, and in itself slight, exception. This was enough: man fell, not deceived like the woman, but ensnared through her in known deliberate transgression. Was man any better when an outcast left to himself, with the sentence of death before him? “And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Therefore was man with the lower creation swept away from the earth. A spared remnant passed through the deluge in God’s mercy, and the earth came under new conditions; for the sword of government was now instituted of God.
After a vain attempt (as we see in Gen 11 ) by unity to make a name in the city and the tower of Babel, Jehovah scattered them after their families and tongues in their lands and their nations. Then, when idolatry had overspread the earth, by promise was man called and chosen and separated unto Him in the person of Abraham and his descendants. But even when they reaped the blessing by divine deliverance from oppressing Egypt, they did not appreciate the riches of divine favour. Therefore, when blessing was proposed at Sinai on the condition of their own obedience, the people unanimously answered, “All that Jehovah hath spoken we will do.”
On such a ground sinful man never did and cannot stand. “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight.” Law may give knowledge of sin, but is never power against it. “For the law worketh wrath” (Rom 4:15 ). “The strength of sin is the law,” says our apostle (1Co 15:56 ). The law “was added because of transgressions” (Gal 3:19 ); for sins were there long before; but when the commandment came, its violation made them overt acts of transgression, and thus sin became exceeding sinful. Law could only provoke and condemn sin.
Hence justification is gratuitous by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Therefore, says he elsewhere (Gal 3:10 ), “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.” It is a statement of uncommon force; not as many as have broken the law, but as many as stand on that ground or principle. “For it is written, Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.” The law could curse, not save, a sinner.
Now this is cited from Deu 27 , in which chapter the facts stated are as striking as the words of the apostle to the Galatians. For Moses charged the people to stand, six tribes on mount Gerizim to bless them, and six upon mount Ebal to curse. But in the sequel of the chapter we have the curses carefully recorded, which the Levites were to say to all the men of Israel, without one word of provision for their blessing! “As many as are of [or, from, by, on that ground] works of law are under curse.” There is no blessing provided or possible on legal footing. Only those that are of faith are truly blessed, none others. “And the law is not of faith.” It works wrath and a curse: not that the law is not righteous (for the commandment is holy, just, and good); but man is sinful. “The law entered by the bye that the offence might abound.” It is a ministry of death and condemnation. Sin was long before the law, as we see in the race of fallen Adam. Sin is not “transgression of law,” but lawlessness (1Jn 3:4 ). The law made its evil plain and inexcusable rebellion against God’s known commandment.
So the prophets, who exposed the growing rebelliousness of Israel, and even of favoured Judah, kept thundering in their ears; whilst they ever reminded them of their only hope in the coming Messiah, “that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those that believe.” At length, when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, become of a woman, become under the law. But the Jews refused Him, yea abhorred Him; so that His staff, Beauty, was cut asunder that He might break His covenant which He had made with all the peoples. For how could there be the predicted gathering, or obedience, of the peoples unto Him, if His own received Him not? They did worse; they weighed for His price thirty pieces of silver, and the field of the potter became the field of blood, Aceldama. Then His other staff, even Bands, was cut asunder, that He might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
The last link was broken in the cross of the Lord Jesus, even for the two houses of Israel. But sovereign grace through that very cross laid a foundation for an entirely new work, of which the Son of man, exalted at the right hand of God in heaven, is the author and crown. While Israel and the nations wholly disappear for all that was predicted of earthly blessing and glory, the Head of the new creation is revealed on high, and the Holy Ghost sent below. Thus a door of mercy lies open to every believer on terms of indiscriminate grace. This is Christianity for the faith of God’s elect, according to which Paul was apostle. Could his office have a nobler character? Along with it goes that new building of God, the church, the body of Christ.
Thus we see that what the God incapable of falsehood promised before the times of the ages now shines upon the believer. What was first in purpose was last in accomplishment. Here, however, it is rather in purpose and upon hope, that “life eternal” comes before us. It is no less true that “this life is in His Son.” There is no such life in any other. The first Adam was at best but a living soul; the last Adam a quickening Spirit. As Christ our life is risen from the dead, such is the character of the life we receive in Him. It is life after redemption was effected, that those who are quickened together with Him might have all their offences forgiven, dead with Christ and risen with Him, and even, as the Epistle to the Ephesians adds, seated together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Here, however, the apostle does not dwell so much on heavenly association as on the wondrous fact that the life of the Christian is life eternal, promised before the world began, outside of times or dispensations in God’s dealings with man on the earth. It derives its character from Him Who is eternal, the Way and the Truth, the Head, centre, expression, and object of all the purposes of God. This we have now, as we shall have in glory with Himself; and therefore is it said to be grounded on or conditioned by “hope.”
Nor is there anything vague or uncertain. It is not a law requiring what at best may, yea must, fail of fulfilment; for failure is invariable in man’s hand. It is God’s word manifested in a preaching which had His authority mace good by His “truth,” the sure revelation of His mind. “We are of God (said another apostle): he that knoweth God heareth us.” Not to hear is the spirit of error. During man’s probation, law put him to the proof characteristically. Now God manifested His word in its own seasons. There was a divine work to speak, according to “full knowledge of truth that is according to piety.” It is not for exercising the intellect. Piety is the model and aim.
Now, therefore, is the due time for bringing all out plainly. “In its own seasons He manifested His word in a preaching, wherewith I was entrusted according to commandment of God our Saviour.” This is the “mystery of the gospel” (Eph 6:19 ), or at least it is a part, and an important part, of it. Ever since the apostle was sent forth on his mission, the greatest impulse was given, and that full development which we find written in his Epistles. It was embodied in Christ, Who died, rose, and was glorified in heaven; but the Holy Spirit was given in order that God’s word as to this might be manifested; and manifested it was in Paul’s preaching beyond all others, “according to command of God our Saviour.” For never before did this title “Saviour God” receive such an illustration; never again can it be after such a sort, even when the glory shall be a defence, a cloud of smoke by day and a shining flame by night, upon every dwelling place, upon mount Zion, and upon her assemblies. And it is all the more glorious, because it is a secret known only to faith, and preached therefore, instead of being established in power and visible display. Therefore is it now a “commandment of God our Saviour.” When glory dwells in the land of Israel, as it surely will under Messiah and the new covenant literally enjoyed by the earthly people, there will be no room for any such commandment. It will then be the day for the triumph of the most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, on the downfall of Satan’s power. It will be a day, not so much for testimony by the word, and hence for faith, as the manifestation of divine power and glory in the subduing of all adversaries by the Son of man reigning over all peoples, nations, and languages Then too shall the world know that the Father sent His Son and loved those who now believe on Him during His rejection, when they behold them perfect in one and displayed in the same glory as was given to their Lord.
The address follows: – “To Titus, genuine child according to common faith: grace and peace from God [the] Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour” (ver. 4).
Thus we see the apostle gives Titus the same designation as Timothy in his first Epistle: only there it is simply “in faith”; here it is “according to common faith.” They both believed the same truth of Christ, Paul the Jew and Titus the Gentile. It is not only that there is one body, the church, but a faith common to all Christians, common to the highest in spiritual place, power’ and authority, with the least saint, were he a Scythian or a slave, that calls on the same Lord rich in grace toward all that call on His name.
But it will be observed, that Timothy is styled “beloved child” in 2Ti 1 . Accordingly the apostle unbosoms himself to him as he does not to Titus. Nevertheless Titus thoroughly possessed his confidence, as he was entrusted with the important and delicate task of an apostolic envoy in Crete. It is the mistake of the old divines to confound this position with the gift of an evangelist, perhaps because Timothy was an evangelist. This Titus is never called. The truth is that the charge over doctrine, or the commission to appoint elders, is quite independent of an evangelist’s gift. Titus had here a work within the church, not without; though no doubt an evangelist might also be appointed to such a charge by an apostle. But an ecclesiastic charge and the exercise of an evangelistic gift have a wholly distinct character, and in themselves no single link of connection. They might or might not be united in the same person.
According to the oldest MSS. and Versions, “mercy” is omitted in the verse; but Chrysostom is quite wrong, followed by Damasus, in asserting that “mercy” is only spoken of in 1Ti 1:2 , for it is equally found in 2Ti 1:2 . Here also Lachmann stands with the Received Text in giving it as found in the mass of the junior MSS. and the Versions, supported by the Alexandrian and a few other uncial copies.
It is difficult however to resist the overwhelming external evidence; and the inference would be, that the apostle’s heart was drawn out to desire “mercy” especially for Timothy, whilst he contented himself with the wish for “grace and peace” in Titus’ case, as he commonly did in writing to the saints generally. In the Epistle to Jude “mercy” is put in the foreground, with “peace and love” following, for those addressed on the broadest possible ground. This insertion is quite as exceptional for the saints in general, as the omission of it is to Titus. There saints are regarded as the objects of special tenderness, as they were exposed to the most imminent danger, from the growing rush of evil towards the last gulf of apostasy. But if “mercy” is not here expressly before us, “grace” really implies it; for it is the fountainhead from which mercy flows, and peace is the issue ever to be desired, no less than the ever-flowing fountain and channel – “from God the Father, and Christ Jesus our Saviour.”
“For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest order further the things wanting, and appoint elders city by city, as I directed thee. If any one is blameless (or, unaccused), husband of one wife, having children faithful, not under charge of profligacy, or unruly” (vers. 5, 6).
There is no doubt that the apostle left Titus in Crete only for a time in the fulfilment of the charge given him. Not a hint appears of his permanent residence there, but plain proof that he was to leave Crete for other quarters and different work. It is remarkable that the form of the word “left” has been changed from rather earlier days; and that this change falls in with permanence. So it stands in the commonly received text; but the best authorities followed by the critics agree that the original form quite coincides with the temporary character of the mission of Titus. The apostle’s stay in the island was brief. Titus was left there for a while. Neither is said to have planted the gospel in Crete. It seems highly probable from Act 2:11 ,* that the glad tidings had been conveyed there almost from the great day of Pentecost. It was a question therefore for Titus to follow up that setting of things in order which the apostle began.
*It is one of the little inaccuracies of the Auth. V. that we find here “Cretes.” and in Tit 1:12 “Cretians” without any reason. The only correct form of course is “Cretans.”
Even at Rome we learn from the first chapter of the Epistle that Paul longed to see those there, that he might communicate some spiritual gift to them, in order to their strengthening. Still more would this be called for in the far less frequented island where Titus was left. There would be things wanting which the short stay of the apostle could not suffice to complete. Further, there was the need of elders to be appointed, which was regularly, and sometimes long, subsequent to the gathering of the saints. It is implied that several cities, perhaps many, had assemblies in them, and that elders were later appointed in each. Bp. Ellicott is quite right in questioning the statement of Jer. Taylor, “one in one city, many in many” (Episc. 15). It is a strange, as well as certainly a precarious, statement from an Episcopalian, though natural enough to one of dissenting ideas. There is nothing here to limit eldership to one person in each city; there may have been several. This would of course be modified by circumstances; but we know from elsewhere in the New Testament that plurality of elders in any given assembly was the rule, and so no doubt it was at Crete. Church order, though flexible, had a common principle and character. “For this cause,” says the apostle to the Corinthians, “have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved child and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you to remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church” (1Co 4:17 : compare 1Co 11:16 ; 1Co 14:33-37 ).
It should be observed, as a consideration of the greatest moment. that the apostle does not specify a particular gift as requisite for these local charges. Scripture takes marked care to guard from that dangerous confusion, which was soon to characterise Christendom, and to form the separation of clergy from laity, which is in fact a return to Judaism, and a denial in both principle and practice of the distinctive fulness of privilege for the church. It is not that a gift and a charge might not be combined in the same individual; but they are in themselves, and for most who have but one or the other, altogether different. The gift was one given by Christ to the church and from the greatest to the least, apart from all intervention of man. This can no more cease to be than Christ can abnegate His grace and living functions as the Head of the body. The charge of “elders” or “bishops” required not only fitness but also choice or appointment by competent authority defined by scripture.
Another weighty fact is that, so far from being interrupted by His ascension to heaven, Eph 4:8-10 is precisely demonstrative, that only from Him on high were they given, and given till we all come into 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. As no right-minded Christian will aver that this is attained yet, so neither should he doubt the unfailing grace of Christ. Power in external testimony may not adorn the assembly, when unfaithful and no more a visibly united light as once here below. Yet the love of Christ cannot refuse all that is needed for the perfecting of the saints, unto ministerial work, unto building up of His body.
But elders or bishops were a local charge and depended for their nomination on-those who had discernment to choose and authorise (ultimately from Christ, to appoint them). Hence we never see them in scripture, among the Gentiles at least, save as chosen by apostles, or by apostolic men like Timothy or Titus expressly commissioned to that end. The democratic idea is a fiction; had it been of God, it would have saved much trouble, and simplified matters outwardly, to have left their election with the assembly. But it is never so heard of in God’s word. All power and authority is in the hands of Christ, Who wielded it through those He chose. Hence He called personally the twelve on earth, as He called Paul from heaven; and they did directly, or indirectly through fitting agents as here before us, appoint elders, assembly by assembly, city by city. The assembly might look out deacons; but elders needed and had a different source, the authority of Christ through men whom He chose and fitted to select them. How solemn a consideration this is, alike for Nationalists and Non-conformists, here is not the place to discuss at large. If they are spiritual and of single eye, they can scarce fail to see how far present arrangements are alien from scripture; how fallen the church is, if it were only in the matter of gifts and charges. Alas! it is but a particular case of a ruin far more comprehensive and appalling.
Moral qualities and circumstances in accordance with them are here as elsewhere insisted on for elders. “If any one is blameless (or, unaccused).” How censure others, if open to it himself? “Husband of one wife.” If married, he must have but one wife; for many heathen had several, that is, at one time; and Jews discarded a wife with facility when they liked another more. “Having children faithful, not under charge of excess (or, profligacy), or unruly.” Next to personal probity stands family relationship; and as plurality of wives would bar (whatever the suitability in other respects), so too a disreputable offspring. How could he rule the house of God, who had already and manifestly failed in his own home?
The characteristics required for the office are now set out. “For the bishop (or, overseer) must be blameless (or, free from accusation), as God’s steward; not self-willed, not passionate, not quarrelsome (lit. remaining over wine), not a striker, not a seeker of base lucre; but hospitable, a lover of good, sober-minded, just, holy, temperate, holding to the faithful word that is according to the teaching, that he may be able both to encourage in the healthful doctrine, and to convict the gainsayers” (ver. 7-9).
It is plain that there would be no force in the reason thus alleged, if “the bishop” and “the elder” were not identical. Titus was to appoint elders in every city as the apostle charged him: – “If any one is blameless, etc., for the bishop must be blameless,” etc. Hence the Episcopalian is obliged to give up his idea that the bishop and elders in scripture represent two orders of officials, and driven to look for the prototype of the modern diocesan in such a one as Titus. But the Epistle itself, and other scriptures, refute the supposition of any such permanent functionary, though Titus of course did appoint elders in Crete.
The elder is expressive of the dignity of the person derived from the respect due to age; not that the elder must needs be an aged man, but one of experience. Thus the title was derived and applied even if there was no great age, where suitability for the position existed. The bishop, or overseer, expresses rather the nature of the office, which was to take account morally of the saints, and to maintain godly order. Oversight in short was the constant duty privately and publicly.
Hence it was a primary requisite that the overseer should himself be blameless, or free from charge against him, as God’s steward. He had a governing post, and therein a moral responsibility to God. The apostle in 1Co 4:1 speaks of himself and of his fellow-labourers as “stewards of God’s mysteries.” Here we find no “mysteries” referred to. These were not the sacraments so called, but the new and hitherto secret truths of the New Testament revelation. Nowhere in scripture is baptism or the Lord’s supper characterised as “a mystery,” though the superstitious usage soon came in like a flood after the inspired apostles passed away. Popery, ever gross, avails itself of this abuse in Eph 5:32 , where “the mystery” of the church’s union with Christ is used for the godly walk of husband, and wives; as if it gave countenance to the notion that marriage is “a sacrament. “
Yet what is the result of this unnatural rendering? “This is a great sacrament; but I speak in Christ and in the church:” a transcript of Jerome’s Vulgate, and a gross travesty of the divine mind in the inspired Greek. Even Cardinal Cajetan and Dr. Estius expose the error. It is false in both substance and form, but serves, as error well suits, to sanction a sacrament of purely human invention. In no sense is “mystery,” still less “sacrament,” said of marriage, but in respect of Christ and in respect of the church; which are so united that He is the Head, and she the body. This mystery is indeed great; and it is the sole one here spoken of. Mark the emphasis, But I speak, etc. in contrast exact, though anticipative, with human thoughts. Then in the following verse he turns to the natural relationship, instituted of God in Eden and sanctioned ever since, in total opposition to a “mystery.”
Again see its inconsistency when we apply the test of scripture. Has Popery ever instituted “the sacrament of piety” (1Ti 3:16 )? On the forehead of the great harlot that sits on the seven hills God has inscribed, Mystery, Babylon the Great, etc. This has equal claim, that is none, to be “a sacrament”; if one, how ominous, and awful!
Even the seven who in the early days of Act 6 were chosen for the external work of “serving tables,” were appointed over this business by apostolic imposition of hands. Probably the like hands were similarly laid on the elders who were not chosen by the disciples. But it is expressly said of those elected to diaconal work. They in particular required and had its support for what else might have seemed only secular.
Now it is of some importance to observe that the elder, or overseer, might not be a teacher; still less did he stand in the higher place of apostle or prophet. Nevertheless he must be “apt to teach,” as we shall see confirmed ere long in this very context, though not possessed of the teacher’s distinct gift. But whatever his duty, he must act as God’s steward, manifestly identified with the interests of His house. This would give seriousness of purpose, as it supposes moral courage with men and dependence on God and His word.
He must be “not self-willed,” or headstrong. It is the grossest mistake that self-will implies courage, though it may lead to rashness or even recklessness. Nothing gives so much quiet firmness as the consciousness of doing the will of God. One can then be lowly and patient, but uncompromising. We are as children of God elect according to God the Father’s fore-knowledge unto obedience as well as the blood-sprinkling of Jesus Christ. No principle takes precedence of that obedience for practice. It is the true exercise of the life of Christ given to us. Self-will haughtily disregards both God and man. How shameful in an overseer!
Again, he must be “not soon angry” or irascible. Scarce anything enfeebles authority more than proneness to the explosions of anger. The weight of a rebuke, however just it might be, is apt to be lost when a man is overcome with angry heat. Calmness gives weight and force to a needed rebuke.
The next negation is perhaps a figurative expression; literally it means not abiding long over wine or disorderly through it. Hence it comes generally to mean, “not a brawler.” Undoubtedly the literal force of being addicted to wine or the like is excluded peremptorily. The fact seems represented by the habit by . Even were a Christian free from the suspicion of so evil a source, the easily heated, the noisy and quarrelsome, character is unfit to be, and unworthy of being, God’s steward. The overseer must be no brawler.
If this unmeetness refers to some such source, the next goes farther down into the much lower level of physical outgoing: he is to be “no striker.” Here there is a still less seemly violence, the one very naturally leading to the other. The overseer must be neither. If he is the wielder of authority locally, appointed by a still higher authority in the Lord’s name, he above all must not degrade that Name by ways so opposed to His.
There is another characteristic which men in authority are not a little apt to fall into, but it is unworthy of an overseer: he must not seek gain by base means, he must be firm against greed of filthy lucre. He who is called to rule before God among the saints must himself watch at least as much against this debasing evil as against those of violence. With what face, if he were thus faulty, could he rebuke these sins, as is his duty?
How blessed the contrast with all these uncomely traits we see in Christ! And if every Christian is called to be Christ’s epistle, how much more are the elders? How could one, known to tamper with any of these evil things, reprove the failure of others with any show of consistency?
The absence of evil qualities is not enough. The assembly of God is the only sphere on earth for the exercise and display of that which is divine. To steer clear, therefore, of the ordinary snares of men in office never could satisfy the mind of God. The overseer, without a thought of invitation or recompence in return, was called to be hospitable; and we know from other scriptures, that this was not to be exercised after the manner of men but according to faith. So in the Epistle to the Hebrews the saints in general were called not to be forgetful of hospitality, for by it some have entertained angels unawares. It is plain therefore, that it was not in the least on the ground of previous knowledge, or of social equality. Had there been suspicion of a stranger, assuredly it would have excluded all such entertainment as God’s word reports of old, and recommends now. So in faith and love Abraham received into hospitality, not angels only, but Jehovah Himself in the guise of man. Hospitality like this was not to be laid on the shelf, or vainly admired as a patriarchal virtue. Beyond question the overseer was not to be behind the saints in general, but to be a lover of hospitality.
Nor this only; for we read next that the elder was to be “a lover of good,” not merely of good men, but of goodness – an important guard in the exercise of much more than hospitality. Self-pleasing might readily enter otherwise; and the indulgence of self ever is the service of Satan. Christ alone shows us truly and fully what good is, making it not only attractive but of power for the spirit and the walk. The overseer therefore was to be a “lover of good.”
Further, he was to be “discreet” or sober-minded. A man might easily carry the love of good into either a sentiment or an enthusiasm; but the Spirit of God gives sobriety. He is “a Spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Thus is everything kept in its true place, because through Him all is seen and weighed in the presence of God.
Hence the overseer was to be “just;” he must rightly estimate the relationship of others and his own: a most important element, not merely in a general way, but especially for one in his place. Nothing would more enfeeble his weight than a failure in righteousness. Yet to be “just” is not enough. It is of course imperative; but there must be more along with it.
The overseer, it is added in due course as a higher call, must be “pious,” or “holy” in that sense, ” .” It is not separate from evil, but gracious and upright, and is so used particularly of Christ in the Old Testament, as well as in the New.* It is that character of piety which appreciates God’s mercy, and is itself merciful. This was looked for in an elder, while he and all believers were or saints.
* The reader can consult Psa 16:10 , Psa 89:18 , Psa 89:19 , etc., and Act 2:27 , Act 13:34 , Act 13:35 , with application to others also.
Further, he was to be “temperate,” an expression much narrowed and so far misapplied in our day. Self-control not in one respect but in all is its real meaning. It is the quality of having every way and expression of feeling, or inclination, checked in the Christian by his sense of God’s presence, grace, and fear.
These are the moral qualities which the Spirit of God insists on for elders, positively as well as negatively. But there is an addition of great value in verse 9, “Holding to the faithful word according to the doctrine, that he may be able both to encourage (or exhort) in (or with) the healthful teaching, and to convict the gainsayers.”
Here the necessary aptness to teach appears in the peculiar and twofold obligation for which it was required. It might not be formal ministry in the assembly. The work of the elder lay as much, or perhaps even more, with the wants and dangers of individual saints in daily life. Such a one must adhere firmly to the faithful word. Uncertainty in his own perception of it, uncertainty in his handling it for others, would proportionately undermine the task laid on him to execute. The elder was not however to act according to his own wisdom; nor did his authority spring from himself, any more than from those that composed the assembly. He was God’s steward, and the Holy Spirit made him an overseer, not in a mere flock of his own (“my people,” as men say, or “my church”), but in “the flock of God.”
The faithful word, therefore, must be his standard for walk, as well as the source from which he drew whatever material he used; and this not to nourish questions or indulge imagination, “but according to truth and love.” If invested with authority, so was he a man under authority. He was God’s steward, that God’s will might be done and the will of man repressed. God is not the author of confusion but of peace, Who will have all things done decently and in order. Thus the light of the faithful word must guide the elder and indeed the Christian. The doctrine he was himself taught can alone determine what that order is; and now it is permanently in scripture. To that faithful word of God, therefore, the overseer must cling, avoiding strange notions as poison. Nor was it for his own guidance only. The elders were to rule, and, as made such by the Holy Spirit, were solemnly responsible to “rule well.” But if any were to be accounted worthy of double honour, it was especially true of those who laboured in the word and in teaching (1Ti 5:17 ), as some might if not all.
Now in the conflict of circumstances which would come necessarily before the overseer, there are two wants constantly claiming his care: as well the need to encourage some, as no less the need to reprove gainsayers. Hence says the apostle in this passage, “That he may be able both to exhort (or, comfort) with the healthful teaching, and to convict the gainsayers.” For both, a single eye is needed; but the faithful word is the means or weapon of all moment, sharper than any two-edged sword, which can divide as well as wound. On the overseer would fall this duty from time to time, and the faithful word alone would enable him both to encourage with the healthful teaching, and to expose those who sought their own things, not the things of Jesus Christ.
In the later Epistles it is a sorrowful feature to observe how evil grows apace in the church of God. It had entered early, though apostolic vigilance and power held it in check; but it had never and nowhere entirely disappeared. Our Lord had prepared us for this, not as a question of fellowship for the church, but where the word of the gospel is sown in the world; for “the field,” as He interprets it, is the world. In that field tares were sown early by the enemy, and Christ’s servants were forbidden to root them out. This, from their prejudices as Jews, they would have been too ready to attempt. But the Lord lets them know that in the field wheat and tares, however sad their mixture, were to grow together until the harvest. It is for angelic hands to deal with the tares when judgment comes.
But meanwhile this is the day of grace, not of judgment. The servants of the Lord are to sow the good, not to essay the extermination of evil from the world. To root up the tares would be death at least. This, on the one hand, the false church avowedly executes in open disobedience of the Lord; on the other, discipline in the true church, even to putting away, is according to the Lord’s will. Indeed the church ceases to be the church where that unalienable obligation is declined.
Thus the Gospel of Matthew (Mat 13 ) and the First Epistle to the Corinthians (1Co 5 ) are in perfect harmony; but they refer to wholly distinct things. Wicked professors are to be put away from among the saints; they are not to be hurried out of the world. This the Lord reserves for the angels in the time of harvest, the end of the age. It is now sowing time, and the day of salvation. The judgment will fall by-and-by unsparingly; as grace should now reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. So it has reigned in the mighty work of redemption; so it ought to reign in the practical answer of the saints, individually or together.
It remains however that gainsaying abounds, the dark shadow which followed closely the glad tidings of God. “For there are many unruly ones, vain speakers and deceivers, specially those of [the] circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who are such as overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre’s sake” (vers. 10, 11).
This we see even before the apostle’s service closed. There were already “many” of these disorderly men. Whatever discipline might have done to clear the Lord’s name, and safeguard the saints from corruption, this scandal abounded. It was a bitter sorrow for the heart of him who was soon to depart and be with Christ; and the more so, when he thought of the church, the beloved of Christ, so exposed to the attacks and wiles of the enemy. If grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, there were many now who bore His name whose speech was vanity, not to edification, whose aim was their belly, not to serve the Lord Jesus; nor did they merely foam out their own shame, but deceived people’s minds. They led away the unguarded and self-confident, even where there might be life Godward. Still more did they hurry on to destruction the borderers whose ear is ever open to that which accredits man, in ignorance of the truth of God which lays him in the dust.
These unruly persons were “specially of the circumcision.” From without originally, yet more than the heathen had they knowledge of scripture, of course only of the Old Testament.
They were therefore quick to take the place of being a guide to the blind, a light to them that are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes. They had in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth. But if the name of God had been blasphemed among the Gentiles because of mere Jews who assumed the place of spiritual understanding, how much more was it about to be by the self-honour of these “many” men who were not circumcised only but baptised also! The apostle declares to Titus that they must have their mouths stopped. This of course could not be brought to pass by mere outward authority, but by the power of the word wielded in the Spirit. Titus seems one eminently suited for this work of vindicating God and His truth; as God would use his example and that of all who in faith act upon the apostle’s word. Easy tolerance of evil may imitate grace, but is its shame and utter destruction. Grace maintains and is inseparable from the truth; otherwise it is no more grace, but a sham of good yet real evil, which demoralises, corrupts, and destroys. It is not only that God is dishonoured, but whole houses are subverted. This expression is morally important, “whole houses.” It might be through the head of the house, whose faith was undermined, and whose ways were made loose. What havoc to the family I and the more surely, if some or many of the household were unconverted. :But even where all were converted, what a danger for them all! So much easier is it in this world to spread evil than to maintain what is good and true and holy.
No doubt the ways of these troublers were unruly; but evil teaching is still more pernicious, as it habitually clothes itself in thoughts which flatter human nature. Christ is not in it, Who is the life and nourishment of all who are born again. But these men were teaching things which ought not to be taught; and their aim was filthy lucre, not the glory of the Lord, but that which, as means or end, becomes an idol that tolerates lust and iniquity.
Evils are not everywhere the same; certain times and places have a character peculiar to themselves The Cretans had an evil repute beyond most, and this not merely with strangers, who might regard them with scanty affection, but even among their own countrymen, usually apt to be somewhat prone to indulgence of faults. So “One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans [are] always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies’ (i.e., gorged gluttons). This testimony is true: for which cause rebuke them sharply, that they may be healthful in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men turning away as they do from the truth” (vers. 12-14).
The apostle here quotes an ethic poet, Epimenides of Crete, in order the more to enforce the confessed dangers of those concerned. It is not to be supposed that he endorses him, this Gentile author, as a prophet of God. It was needful therefore to add, “This testimony is true.” But it does show how grace condescends to use whatever is true, though the source might be impure. In the same spirit the apostle cited a celebrated comedian, the more impressively to convict the Corinthians: “Evil communications corrupt good manners.” And if a heathen, not particularly circumspect over himself or in his plays, gave utterance to a sentiment so applicable to the danger at Corinth, it was the more severe a reproof from such a mouth to the careless saints there. Their levity deceived them; even Menander reproved them. So here one of themselves, a prophet of their own, as a heathen moralist, gave a true witness to the unreliable character, the mischievous activity, and the lazy self-indulgence of Cretans as such.
Natural character, which is all the unbeliever has, may be nothing for the life of faith. The Spirit of God works all that is good through Christ presented to the soul, as an object of faith, and spring of love, and giver of joy. But it is an important matter for the enemy, who skilfully acts upon the old man, if unjudged, to the Lord’s dishonour. Where there is unwatchfulness, a fall ensues. Therefore the evil nature affords constant danger. When Christ is really leaned on and looked to, the Holy Spirit gives entire superiority over evil. Here it is a question of those who are walking after the flesh: hence the humbling testimony is applied in all its force. Titus did well to bear it in mind; nor could a Cretan well complain of the apostle’s severity, where an eminent countryman of theirs had long since owned their racial character. “For which cause rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound (or, healthy) in the faith.”
Pravity of conduct continually flows from something unsound creeping into the spirit. To be unsound in the faith is the high road to unholy ways. Here too we find the perverseness of Jewish fables. It had appeared even then, and undoubtedly long before. Religious imagination has wrought since to the incalculable evil of those that bear the name of the Lord. But there is more then “fable” to watch against, even “commandments of men turning away as they do from the truth.” Never trust the practical exhortation or the moral ways of those who, having once professed the truth, turn aside from it. There is no greater evil ordinarily in Christendom. It has an apostate character. For God’s word will never mingle with man’s commandments: where it is essayed, in the long run the human element really prevails, and the divine becomes a powerless form.
We have to do with the truth, not with fable; and we are under grace, not under commandment of men alienated from the truth. Neither imagination nor human morality can mingle with Christian revelation. Scripture alone furnishes a bright sense of its living relationships and its glorious prospects, with which fable and the unspiritual mind can never compare. Nor can human commandments rise above their source; they are of the world, and therefore perishable. The word of the Lord abides for ever, and judges alike both fable and human commandment. “To the pure all things [are] pure; but to the defiled and unfaithful [is] nothing pure; but both their mind and their conscience have been defiled” (ver. 15).
Duty depends upon relationship, and relationship on the revelation of God in Christ our life. Otherwise we are only in our sins. Such once were we all: not all gross, nor all externally shameful, as were some. But now through grace we were washed, but we were sanctified, but we were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Such then is the source of Christian purity; and it is so much the more truly ours, because it is of God; Who, as He has called, will also keep His own, through our Lord Jesus – loved in the world, and loved unto the end. To such all things are pure, because they themselves are pure. It is no question now of abstinence from this or that; of allowance of legal sanctity; of fleshly uncleanness. The will of God as expressed by His word directs the believer, as we see its perfection in the Lord Jesus.
This, and not the law, is the true rule of life for the Christian. Without Christ there can be nothing but a rule of death. And to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure. What was forbidden provoked the flesh to desire it. Stolen waters were sweet; and so it is still where Christ is unknown. Nothing is pure to the defiled and unbelieving, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled: an awful sentence morally, but most true. It is not only that their lower nature is corrupt, but the highest part of them, even that which ought to delight in good, and presumes to discuss divine things and God Himself, is no less defiled. Religion in such a condition is at least as impure and loathsome as anything else.
It will be said, no doubt, that such persons know not God. This is undoubtedly true. They know neither the Father, nor Jesus Christ Whom He did send; yet they may, or even do, profess to own God, as men now in Christendom, save the openly hostile and unbelieving. “They profess to know God; but in works they deny [him], being abominable and disobedient, and for every good work reprobate” (ver. 16). This surely is not religious progress. The germ of it was even then in apostolic days. The fruit abounds everywhere in our day; and it will be found advancing more and more to greater ungodliness. For their word will spread as a gangrene. It suits the fallen nature of man. His pride is pampered by it, and his will delights in it. Departure from the will of God in a moral way prepared for the gradual rejection of all revelation; for men are ashamed to profess what they hate, as well as what evidently condemns them. God’s word sanctifies. It judges the will of man, as well as all its outward workings and effects. It brings in God and His will, which grace makes the directory, the food, the joy of the new man. Instead of this Satan presents fable on the one hand and commandments of men on the other, both which shut out conscience as well as God Himself.
It is evident that these instructions of the apostle are in full accordance with the teaching of the Master in Mat 15 , especially vers. 10-20; Luk 6:40-45 ; Luk 11:34-44 , and elsewhere. Christianity in the practical sense works outwardly from within: unless the soul be purified in obeying the truth, as with all that believe, there is neither the Father’s name hallowed, nor sin truly judged, nor unfeigned love of the brethren. Neither can there be the worship of God in spirit and truth, any more than drawing near to the Father. All must be superficial and of the natural man. There can be nothing divine till one is born of the Spirit; whereas the gospel carries the soul, in the sense of God’s favour in Christ, far beyond into peace, liberty, and power. For Christ is not only life but the deliverer in the fullest sense, as He is the revealed object before the soul from first to last.
Thus He, the unchanging One, changes all things for us , and if any one is in Christ, it is a new creation: old things have passed away, behold, all things are become new; and all things are of the God Who reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Such is the nature, such the character and ways, of God as He has now made Himself known to us in the gospel. How hateful to Him, and ungrateful for man, how base and rebellious in itself, to turn back from a revelation, so wondrous and blessed and complete, to the beggarly elements of Judaism! yea, lower still, to the filthy defiling puddle of human fable and commandments! It is man’s religion using as much, or rather as little, of God’s word as suits a deadly deceiver; who is behind it all, and avails himself of that little in order to claim divine authority and avoid the reproach of slighting the revelation of grace and truth in Christ the Lord, But the pure in heart, as they shall see God, are enabled to discern present dishonour done to His word, His Son, and the mighty work of redemption; before the light of which these religious efforts and vanities of men flee away as darkness in presence of the day.
We are not in the immediate context directed to the person of Him Who makes all this folly and evil manifest; nor have we dogmatic unfolding of the gospel; but grand moral principles of the utmost moment are laid down. There is room for all, but each in its season, as God is pleased to suit His word to every one who hears the Shepherd’s voice. “To the pure all things are pure.” How plain and assuring to those who are subject to the Lord! How vain, in presence of such a declaration, to say that “the church” forbids flesh to be eaten on a Friday or in Lent! The value of a real fast is not denied thereby: it is really of grace in presence of adequate passing occasion, and never in the New Testament a general law, still less the sham of eating fish and eggs. Scripture, however, goes farther still, and, not content with maintaining the holy liberty of the Christian, denounces solemnly those who would infringe it.
“But to the defiled and unfaithful nothing is pure, but both the mind and the conscience are defiled.” Having part neither in divine nature nor in divine light, to which they plainly prefer human thoughts, feelings, and authority, they necessarily become a prey to the enemy whose malicious pleasure it is to dishonour God in man’s dark and alien ways. Defilement accordingly taints every spring of inward and moral affection, as it pervades their entire life, be they or not openly corrupt, and at any rate unfaithful.
Here we do well to watch against a too common misconception of the opening words of ver. 15. They do not mean “to, or in, the mind of the pure,” but for their use. How many victims of passion and lust, particularly among men and women accepted as holding a sacred position, have vainly sought to extract from this holy saying an excuse and cover for their iniquities! May we be kept from every illusion of the flesh and every delusion of our subtle enemy.
Open apostacy is not here in question; for they profess to know God, while in works they deny Him. They are guilty in their despite of any divine revelation, yet more if they scorn the fullest and last. For, as men acknowledge, the corruption of the best thing is the worst corruption. Such a state paves the way for apostacy.
It is in vain to boast in such a state of knowing God: as the Jews did of old, so do the superstitious now. But they alike prove the unreality of their boast; because “in works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient, and for every good work reprobate.” Hypocrisy, or at the least self-deception, is the inevitable result of their false position and state. The pretension to extraordinary holiness which essays to exalt self by ignorantly slighting God’s creatures, instead of using them holily and thankfully to His glory, opens the door to Satan who drags such into all defilement of flesh and spirit, yea into abominations contrary to nature itself. Estranged from the truth and grace of God, and abandoned to self, what hope can there be of repentance? What more terrible moral sentence than that which the apostle pronounces, “for every good work reprobate (or, worthless)?”
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Tit 1:1-3
1Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, 2in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, 3but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,
Tit 1:1 “Paul” Most Jews of Paul’s day had two first names, one Jewish, one Roman (cf. Act 13:9). Paul’s Jewish name was Saul. He, like the ancient King of Israel, was of the tribe of Benjamin (cf. Rom 11:1; Php 3:5). His Roman name in Greek form, Paul (Paulos), meant “little.” This referred to
1. his physical stature which was alluded to in a second century non-canonical book, The Acts of Paul, in a chapter about Thessalonica called “Paul and Thekla”
2. his personal sense of being least of the saints because he originally persecuted the Church (cf. 1Co 15:9; Eph 3:8; 1Ti 1:15)
3. simply the name given by his parents at birth
Option #3 seems best.
“a bond-servant of God” This was an honorific title used of Old Testament leaders (cf. Deu 34:5; Jos 1:1-2; Jos 14:7; Jos 24:29; 2Sa 7:5; 2Sa 7:8; 2Ki 10:10; Psa 89:3; Psa 105:42; Isa 20:3; Dan 6:20; Dan 9:11). Paul usually uses the phrase “servant of Christ” (cf. Rom 1:1; Gal 1:10; Php 1:1). However, here he was “a bond-servant of God.” This may point to the fact that these false teachers were somehow connected to Judaism.
1. God is mentioned five times in the opening of this letter (cf. Tit 1:1-4).
2. This may also explain why the title “Savior” is used three times for God the Father as well as three times for Jesus.
3. It is obvious from 2Ti 1:10; 2Ti 1:14; 2Ti 3:8-9 that there was a Jewish element to the controversy on Crete.
“an apostle” This is literally “sent one,” which had the implication within rabbinical Judaism of one delegated with official authority. See Special Topic at 1Ti 1:1. It is similar to our concept of ambassador (cf. 2Co 5:20). This was also Paul’s way of asserting and reinforcing his authority in Christ, as would the previous title “Servant of God.” He was establishing his credentials so as to empower Titus. This letter would have been read to the entire church as the plurals of 1Ti 6:21; 2Ti 4:22; and Tit 3:15 clearly show.
“for the faith” The noun has no definite article; therefore, it could refer to
1. one’s personal trust in Christ
2. faithful living (OT sense)
3. the body of Christian doctrine (cf. Act 6:7; Act 18:8; Act 14:22; Gal 1:23; Gal 3:23; Gal 6:10; Php 1:27; Jud 1:3; Jud 1:20)
Paul’s mission was either to
1. stimulate the faith of those already saved
2. bring those elect from eternity into personal faith (“calling out the called”)
Both are necessary, but which is being emphasized here is uncertain.
Paul uses kata several times in the opening chapter.
1. according to faith, Tit 1:1
2. according to piety, Tit 1:1
3. according to the command, Tit 1:3
4. according to common faith, Tit 1:4
5. according to appoint, Tit 1:5 (compound word)
6. according to the teaching, Tit 1:9
Obviously there is a standard of truth and conduct (cf. Tit 3:5; Tit 3:7).
“of those chosen of God” This is literally “according to faith of elect ones.” In the OT election was used of service to God, while in the NT it is used of salvation by God (cf. Rom 8:29-30; Rom 9:1 ff; Eph 1:4-11; 2Ti 1:9). This sense of election is expressed well in Act 13:48. The church is the elect of God (cf. Rom 8:32; Col 3:12; 2Ti 2:10). The church was not a new entity, but an extension of the OT people of God. See the Special Topic on Election (Predestination) at 1Ti 6:12.
“the knowledge” This is the Greek compound term epiginsk, which implies a full experiential knowledge. This is an idiom of true conversion (cf. Joh 8:32; 1Ti 4:3; 2Ti 2:25; 1Jn 2:21; 3Jn 1:1). This was in contrast to the false teachers whose emphasis was on a secret knowledge which was unrelated to a holy life. This same phrase is used in 1Ti 2:4, but with an emphasis on God’s will for all humans!
SPECIAL TOPIC: GNOSTICISM
“of the truth which is according to godliness” This is a strong contrast to the false teachers’ exclusivism. They emphasized knowledge as the possession of an elite group. Truth must be related to daily life (cf. 1Ti 2:2). Godliness or piety (eusebeia) is a common theme in the Pastoral Letters (cf. 1Ti 2:2; 1Ti 3:16; 1Ti 4:7-8; 1Ti 6:3; 1Ti 6:5-6; 1Ti 6:11; 2Ti 3:5; Tit 1:1; a compound form, theosebeia, in 1Ti 2:10; and the adjective eusebs in 2Ti 3:10; Tit 2:12). See Special Topic at 1Ti 4:7.
This obviously reflects the errors of the false teachers. Believers are not only called to heaven when they die, but to Christlikeness now (cf. Rom 8:28-29; 2Co 3:18; Gal 4:19; Eph 1:4; 1Th 3:13; 1Th 4:3). The purpose of the gospel does not end until all know the Savior and all reflect His character. See Special Topic: Truth in Paul’s Writings at 1Ti 2:4.
Tit 1:2 “in the hope of eternal life” The preposition epi implies “resting on.” The RSV and TEV have “which is based on.” There is ambiguity of this term “hope” regarding the consummation of God’s eternal plan of redemption.
Eternal life in Paul’s writings is always the life of the new age, eschatological life (cf. Rom 2:7; Rom 6:22-23; Gal 6:8; 1Ti 1:16; Tit 1:2; Tit 3:7). In John’s writings it refers to a present reality based on trusting Christ as Savior (cf. Joh 3:15; Joh 10:28; Joh 12:25; Joh 17:2-3; 1Jn 1:2; 1Jn 2:25; 1Jn 3:15; 1Jn 5:11; 1Jn 5:13; 1Jn 5:20). Both are true. The new age has been inaugurated with Jesus’ first coming. Believers are already part of this new age. The new age will be consummated at the Second Coming.
See SPECIAL TOPIC: ETERNAL at 1Ti 6:8.
SPECIAL TOPIC: HOPE
“God, who cannot lie” Our faith rests on God’s faithfulness and trustworthiness regarding His promises (cf. Num 23:19; 1Sa 15:29; Rom 3:4; 2Ti 2:13; Heb 6:18). Our hope rests on God’s unchanging character (cf. Psa 102:27; Mal 3:6; Heb 13:8; Jas 1:17).
“promised long ages ago” This is an aorist middle indicative. The middle voice emphasizes the subject, God (cf. Rom 4:21; 2Ti 1:9). The phrase “long ages ago” is literally “before times eternal” (see Special Topic at 1Ti 4:10). This may refer to God’s redemptive promises and provisions before creation (cf. Mat 25:34; Joh 17:24; Eph 1:4; 1Pe 1:19-20; Rev 13:8).
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE AGE AND FORMATION OF THE EARTH
Tit 1:3
NASB, NKJV,
NRSV”at the proper time”
NJB”in due time”
TEV”at the right time”
This phrase is plural (i.e., “before times eternal”) and may reflect the whole Christ event, (cf. 1Ti 2:6; 1Ti 6:14-15; Gal 4:4). This may refer to
1. the pervasiveness of the Koine Greek language
2. the political peace of Rome
3. the religious expectation of the world after the loss of honor and belief in the Homeric gods
“manifested” This means “clearly brought to light” or “clearly revealed.” Jesus is clearly revealed in the Gospels and apostolic preaching (cf. 2Ti 1:10).
“His word” This can refer to (1) the gospel message about Christ or (2) Christ Himself (cf. Joh 1:1; Rev 19:13).
“with which I was entrusted” Paul deeply sensed his stewardship of the gospel (cf. 1Co 9:17; Gal 2:7; 1Th 2:4; 1Ti 1:11) and also the stewardship of all believers (cf. 1Co 4:1-2 and 1Pe 4:10).
“God our Savior” This is a common title for God in the Pastoral Letters (cf. Tit 1:3; Tit 2:10; Tit 3:4). See full note at 2Ti 1:10. However, in each context it is also used of Jesus (cf.TITUS 1:4; Tit 2:13; Tit 3:6). It was a title (as was “Lord”) claimed by the Roman Caesars.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
servant of God. Nowhere else does Paul so designate himself
servant. App-190.,
God. App-98.
apostle. App-189.
Jesus Christ. App-98.
according to. App-104.
faith. App-150.
acknowledging = full knowledge. App-132.
truth. Greek. aletheia. Compare App-175.
after. Same as according to.
godliness. Greek. eusebeia. Compare App-137.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
1-4.] ADDRESS AND GREETING.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Not much is known about Titus. Paul makes slight references to him in the Corinthian epistles. Outside of that we know very little about Titus, except what we can pick up in the book. Evidently he was a convert of Paul, as was Timothy, because he calls him his “beloved son” as he did Timothy. He wrote his epistle to Titus at about the same time that he wrote the first epistle to Timothy. There is a similarity between the two epistles, in that in both of them Paul is establishing the order within the churches the appointment of the elders and the various other offices within the church and the functions of the various groups within the church.
And so with that brief background lets turn directly to the book as Paul introduces himself here as
Paul, a servant of God ( Tit 1:1 ),
The Greek word is “douleuo”, which is “slave”. It is a title of humility but in the same token it is a title of pride. What greater thing could a person be than the servant of the Eternal living God, the Creator of the universe? And so he sees himself. Moses was called a servant or a slave of God, as was so many in the Old Testament. And so Paul begins his book to Titus by the declaration of himself as a slave of God.
and an apostle of Jesus Christ, [or an envoy of Jesus Christ] according to the faith of God’s elect, and according to the truth which is after godliness ( Tit 1:1 );
So Paul a servant of God writing to Gods’ elect, the faithful, who are seeking the truth which is after godliness.
In the hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began ( Tit 1:2 );
Now I do not know where God promised eternal life before the world began, except that God existed before the world began. This word ‘eternal’ is the Greek word aionios, which is age abiding life. And it is important that we recognize that this is more than duration, it is quality of life.
When the rich young ruler came and fell at the feet of Jesus and said, Good Master, what good thing must I do to inherent eternal life, he was using this same Greek word, this age-abiding life. He no doubt had been observing the life of Jesus and he saw that there was a quality in the life of Jesus that was above and distinct from anyone else he had ever seen. There was this glorious quality of life, this age-abiding life. And so his quest was for this quality of life, as well as the duration.
Now God has given to us the hope of eternal life. This of course was promised by Jesus Christ when He said to Nicodemas, “That God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” ( Joh 3:16 ). It is a blessed hope that we have a hope that has been confirmed by the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
So Peter in his epistle said, “Thanks be unto God who has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God.” ( 1Pe 1:3-5 )
There is the promise in the Bible to those who would believe in Jesus Christ, that God will give to them the gift of eternal life. We read, “this is the record God has given to us eternal life, the life is in the Son. And he who has the Son has life” ( 1Jn 5:11 ).
It is reasonable to assume that this promise of eternal life is a valid promise. As we look at nature, we see that God has created in nature the very hope of resurrection in the principles of nature, in the planting of a seed into the ground. The seed, first if all dies before it comes into new life, then the form that comes out of the ground isn’t the form that you planted because all you planted was a bear seed, and God gives it a body as pleases Him. And so in the resurrection of the dead; planted in corruption but raised in incorruption, planted in weakness, raised in power; planted in dishonor raised in glory; planted as a natural body but raised in a spiritual body.
This past week as we were up at the conference center I saw one of these little caterpillars crawling along, and I was reminded of our little girl, when she was a little girl. She is now a young lady, let’s settle for that. How excited she was one day when she came running into the house and said, Daddy, daddy, there is a furry coat walking outside.
And as I watched that little caterpillar as it was crawling along, I realized that it existed in a body that was designed to do just what it was doing, crawl along the earth. I could imagine that, that little caterpillar could in his mind wish that maybe it could fly, but the body is not designed to fly. The body of a caterpillar, with all of its legs, is designed to just crawl across the ground. But one day the little caterpillar crawls up the wall of the house and exudes a little glue, spins chrysalis around itself. And in time that chrysalis will begin to shake and jerk with convulsive movements until it breaks open and there unfold the beautiful gold and black wings, and the tiger swallow tail butterfly begins to fly across the yard, over the fence, over the fields and away.
What has happened is a metamorphosis in nature; it’s a change of body, where the caterpillar went into the chrysalis-state. If you had taken during the chrysalis-state and pinch the chrysalis, juices would have just popped out all over, nothing but juice. But yet it formed into that glorious tiger swallow tail butterfly, which incidentally has the identical markings to the butterfly that laid the egg that hatched the caterpillar. Now there you find a change of body that is now a new body designed for a totally different environment.
So God, when He made our bodies designed them for the environment of the planet earth. But it is reasonable to believe that if God brought forth resurrection in a seed into a beautiful flower, the seed that germinated or died, if God can change a caterpillar into a butterfly and give it a body for a totally new environment, then God can also give us a body that is adapted for a totally new environment. And that is exactly what the Bible teaches. Even as we have born the image of the earth and have been earthy, so shall we bear the image of the heavens; God has made this body and adapted it for the earth. And so we know when this earthly tabernacle, our bodies dissolve, we then have a building of God that is not made with hands that’s eternal in the heavens. So then, “we who are in these bodies often groan, earnestly desiring to be delivered, not that I would be unclothed [or unbodied] but clothed upon with the body which is from heaven” ( 2Co 5:4 ).
So the Bible teaches that for the child of God there is no death, there is only a metamorphosis, a change of body as I move from the tent to the house. The hope of eternal life, a building of God not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. That new body that God has prepared for me, simply because of my faith, belief, and trust in Jesus Christ. Oh, what a glorious gift and what a glorious hope we have.
Now, outside of Jesus Christ I know of no real hope beyond just life, as it is in this span of seventy years, plus or minus. Live like a hog, die like a dog and it is all over, you know. That’s all you got to look forward to, because that’s all that she wrote. Paul said that if our hope were in this world only, we would be miserable. Man, if I thought, Hey, this is it, all of the purposes and everything else that are accomplished in this span now, and looked around and see God’s best, I would think, oh, help. I would be miserable. But I have a hope that sustains me, that keeps me going when things are dark. I have a hope that sustains me when things are going against me, and I’m discouraged, there is that hope that keeps me going. Hope is so vital and hope is so important to existence to keep you going, and it’s amazing how hope can just keep you going.
We’ve mentioned before the experiments done with the Norwegian wharf rats. There are some corollaries. They put them in these tubs, and they spray these tubs constantly with water so that they couldn’t roll over and float. And the rats drowned in an average of seventeen minutes. Then with an experimental group, as they were about to drown, they would take some of the rats, lift them out of the tub, dry them off, put them back in their cages, feed them, and let them live a normal life again. And then later on after they had recovered fully, their health, they put them back in the tubs under the same conditions. And these rats that lasted an average of seventeen minutes, now were able to survive for thirty-seven hours. Interestingly enough, the psychologist who conducted the experiments contributed it to the fact that the rats had experienced a salvation experience; that is, they had almost drowned when they were saved, so they kept hoping for salvation again. That kept them going, not just seventeen minutes, now it kept them going thirty-seven hours. The hope made that much difference.
Oh, what a glorious hope we have. Don’t let anybody take it away from you, that hope that is in Jesus Christ of eternal life that is made by God, the promise of God, something so sure. God, who cannot lie, God’s Word that cannot fail, has given to us the promise of eternal life, and thus the hope of eternal life. And so we live in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.
But hath in due time manifested his word through the preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour ( Tit 1:3 );
Now the plan of redemption existed before the world because God knows all things. Now don’t ask me why God, if He knew man was going to fall, created man. I don’t know the ways of God. God told me I wouldn’t know the ways of God. He said, My ways are not your ways; My ways are beyond your finding out. So for His purposes and for His reasons, God created man knowing that man would fail, knowing that man would fall. But He also predestined the method of redemption, purposing to send His Son to reveal His love, so that those that would believe in Him would have the hope of eternal life through Him.
And so in due time –you see, time finally caught up with God. In this one aspect we are still behind, in a lot of other aspects, but as we were explaining the eternal nature last Thursday night, for you that were here, how that God is outside of the time continuum. So that God looks at the whole spectrum of time with just one glance. He sees the end and the beginning with just one glance. So it isn’t six thousand years ago, or two thousand years from now, God sees it all right now, the whole thing. He sees the entire picture, looking at the whole picture at one glance. I see it within the time continuum as it’s passing by me, but God looks down and sees the whole thing at once. And so that plan of eternal life, the plan of redemption existed before the world began, but in due time God has made it known unto man.
And Paul said, “To him was committed the preaching of this glorious commandment of God and our Savior.” Now he is addressing the letter,
To Titus, my own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace ( Tit 1:4 ),
As with the epistle to Timothy, he includes the mercy with the grace and peace, which are Paul’s common salutations.
from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour ( Tit 1:4 ).
I do not know why in the translation of the Bible they do not put a comma after the word “Lord”, when it is coupled with Jesus Christ, so that we have a clearer distinction that the word “kurios” is a title, it is not His name. So many times we think of that as His name. It is not His name; it is His title, by which we signify relationship. If He is Lord, then we are the servants. If I call Him “Lord”, the immediate relationship is I am servant. By my calling Him “Lord”, I am declaring myself His servant, His Subject, His slave.
That is why Jesus said, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and yet you do not do the things I command you? That is inconsistent. He said, Many will come in that day saying, Lord, Lord, but He will say, Hey, I never knew you. A lot of people use that title as a name, and thus they do not really understand the significance of the title. The “Lord”, that is His title. His name is Jesus. “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save people from their sins” ( Mat 1:21 ). And “Christ” is His mission. He was the Messiah; He was to be the Messiah, the Savior. That was His mission. His name is Jesus. His title to me is “Lord”. And so I like to pause and say, “The Lord, Jesus Christ.” Just to make it separate from the name, giving the distinction of the title.
For this cause [Paul said] I left thee in Crete, that thou should set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I have appointed thee ( Tit 1:5 ):
Now, Crete had a very bad reputation. The people of Crete were known to be unscrupulous. They were money-mongers. There were in the ancient days, what they called the three evil C’s: the Cretians, the Cicilians, and the Cappadocians. But Crete they said was the worst of all. And in fact, a Greek word, “crecia” was ultimately coined from the evilness of the Cretian people. And “crecia” is a man who is so money-hungry that he is dishonest and unscrupulous in all his dealings.
And such were the Cretians known to be, and yet in this environment there was the body of Christ. And Paul left Titus, who was much like Timothy. According to Paul in Corinthians, He had the heart of Paul. He was a trustworthy servant and companion with Paul in the Gospel. And so he left him in Crete with the purpose of ordaining elders in every city as Paul had appointed him.
Now somewhere along the line, the church got the idea that elders were to be elected. Where this idea developed, I do not know. In the New Testament the elders were always spoken of as being ordained, selected and ordained by the pastoral leadership. And so he is telling him that he is to ordain elders in every city. The qualifications:
if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riots or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, [or not short-tempered,] not given to wine, no striker [and that means a guy that is cuffing people or hitting people.] ( Tit 1:6-7 ),
Somewhere along the line it must have happened that those who were appointed to the offices of bishops could not really handle their power. And thus, there are rules in the early church against the bishops, that if a bishop is striking a man or striking people, than he is to be deposed from his office.
You know, there are some people that just can’t handle power. It goes to their head and they become just tyrants. And that happens even in the church, unfortunately. And so they are not to be a striker that means –it doesn’t mean someone who goes on strike, but it means someone who strikes someone else with his hand or fist.
Not given to filthy lucre ( Tit 1:7 );
Which of course was hard to find in Crete because that was the characteristics of the Cretians. Those are the negatives. The positive traits is that he must be
a lover of hospitality ( Tit 1:8 ),
In those days there was a lot of travel and there weren’t always good accommodations. The public inns were usually places of ill repute, immoral, and just a place of debauchery. And so when a Christian traveled, it was hard. And so there developed within the church a great hospitality to other Christians, the opening of the door. And it was a very important thing that the elders set the example and that their house be an open door so that Christians passing through would have a decent place to lodge, “a lover of hospitality”.
a lover of good men, sober, just, holy [good], temperate ( Tit 1:8 );
Now as you look at these, they are pretty much just the opposite of the things he had said earlier. He said not quick to anger, and here he says, “temperate”. And so it is just sort of the opposite of the negative characteristics that he had named earlier. And as you compare this with first Timothy, you’ll find that the list and the qualifications are pretty much identical with what Paul gave to Timothy in the ordaining of elders, few differences.
Holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers ( Tit 1:9 ).
Or those that would ridicule Christianity. So he had to be a man of the Word. He had to be a man of sound doctrine, capable of teaching sound doctrine.
One of the greatest weaknesses of the church today is the lack of solid doctrine teaching, or the teaching of solid, sound doctrine. Too many times, the church has been, become an entertainment center. The church has sought to attract the crowd through an entertaining program, and the churches vie with one another for the most entertaining program, for the grandest organ, for the greatest choir, for the biggest productions. People with itching ears wanting to hear sermons with cute little stories and filled with jokes, no content to them, but they are very entertaining. He’s an excellent orator. Oh, I never laughed so hard in all my life, oh my, is that fellow funny. Sad, because, the church is weak. What we need is sound doctrine. We need those that can teach sound doctrine and establish people in the faith and through the Word of God, prove that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the promised One of God.
Exhorting and convincing people of the truth. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision ( Tit 1:9-10 ):
That is, the Judaizers, those who were safe from the ranks of the Jews. And what has Paul called them? Empty talkers; that is, there is no real content to their message. There is no real discovery of salvation through Jesus Christ in their message. They are deceivers.
Whose mouths must be stopped, because they subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake ( Tit 1:11 ).
Men who are in the ministry for the profit, for the financial gain, willing to say the things that the people want to hear, in order that they might live a luxurious lifestyle that they want to live.
One of themselves, [Paul said] even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies ( Tit 1:12 ).
He said, “This witness is true”. Now what is he saying? That it is true, that this is true of the Cretians? They are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies? Well it was quite true of the Cretians, many of them, but of course generalizations are never right or accurate. You can’t say “all” Cretians. You can’t generalize. Yes, it is true of some of them. I think when Paul said, “This is a true witness”, what he is saying is, I know that someone actually said this, someone actually did say this, one of the prophets in talking of the Cretians.
And this is a true witness. [that it actually was said] Wherefore, [Paul said] rebuke them sharply ( Tit 1:13 ),
So here’s Titus who is to stand up before these false teachers, these men who are out after their own glory and enrichment, and he is to rebuke them sharply,
that they may be sound in the faith. Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and the commandments of men, that turn from the truth ( Tit 1:13-14 ).
So those Judaizers that were in plagued to Paul wherever he went, who taught the people in a mixture of faith and law in order to be saved. Paul said,
Unto the pure all things are pure ( Tit 1:15 ):
Jesus said, It isn’t what goes into a man’s mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So Jesus is saying really it is what is in a man’s heart that is really important. “Unto the pure all things are pure.” Now I’ve met some people that are looking for dirty little innuendoes in everything, that are always looking for some impure angle in the speech or what else to make some dirty little pun. It is a reflection of what is in their minds, what is in their hearts. “Unto the pure all things are pure.” Oh God, make me pure.
But unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and their conscious is defiled ( Tit 1:15 ).
I have been around these kinds of people. I feel like taking a bath or a shower when I leave them, filth rolling out of their mouths continually.
They profess that they know God; but in their works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, unto every good work they are reprobate ( Tit 1:16 ).
And so Paul is warning Titus concerning these false teachers. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
While reading this chapter, we must understand that Titus was sent to Crete, to superintend the preaching of the gospel throughout that island. Crete was at that time inhabited by a people who were only partially civilized, and sunk in the very worst of vices. Paul, therefore, tells Titus to speak to them about things which would hardly be mentioned to Christians nowadays.
Tit 1:1-4. Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of Gods elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour; to Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
You have probably noticed that Pauls benediction, when he is writing to a minister, is always. Grace, mercy, and peace. Writing to churches, his usual formula is, Grace be to you, and peace; but Gods servants, called to the work of the ministry, need very special mercy-as if the higher the office, the greater the liability to sin, and therefore, in his Pastoral Epistles, whether he is addressing Titus or Timothy, Paul wishes for his sons in the faith, Grace, mercy, and peace. Oh, what a mercy it will be for any of us ministers if, at the last, we are clear of the blood of all men! If, having been called to preach the gospel, we shall do it so faithfully as to be acquitted and even rewarded by our Lord and Master, it will he mercy upon mercy. This charge of the beloved Pastor has even more force and pathos now that he has gone away to heaven.
Tit 1:5-6. For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: if any be blameless, the husband of one wife,
For there were many converts there who had two or three wives. Whatever position they might be permitted to occupy in the church, they could not become officers, they must keep in the rear rank.
Tit 1:6-12. Having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucres sake. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own,
According to Jerome, this was Epimenides, a prophet-poet, who lived in Crete in the sixth century before Christ.
Tit 1:12. Said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
They were a degraded people; and hence, those who would teach them had a most difficult task, and needed great grace. Paul exhorts Titus that only specially fit men, men whose example would have influence, and whose characters would have weight, should be allowed to be elders in such churches.
Tit 1:13-16. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
This was bad soil; but it had to be ploughed, and to be sown, and with an Almighty God at the back of the gospel plougher and sower, a fruitful harvest came even in Crete. We need not be afraid of the adaptation of the gospel to the lowest of the low. If there be any quarter of the town where the people are more sunken in vice than anywhere else, there the gospel is to be carried with more prayer and more faith than anywhere else. Depend upon it, God can bless his Word anywhere, among Cretans, or among any other sort of degraded people.
This exposition consisted of readings from Titus 1. and Titus 2.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Tit 1:1-3. , Paul) A title suitable to the character of Paul, and to the office of Titus.-, according to) Comp. , Tit 1:4; Tit 1:9; 2Ti 1:1, note. It is the duty of an apostle to propagate the faith, Rom 1:5.-, faith) faith-hope are the sum of Christianity; and these things Titus ought to regard in all his teaching, and avoid everything else; comp. 1Ti 1:5; 1Ti 3:15-16; 1Ti 4:1; 1Ti 4:3; 1Ti 4:10.- , the elect of God) for whose sake we ought to do and endure all things, 2Ti 2:10. The elect were from among Jews and Gentiles; and their faith was common, Tit 1:4; 2Pe 1:1 : of the former was Paul; of the latter, Titus.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Tit 1:1
Paul, a servant of God,-[The full representation which Paul gives of his apostolic office is designed at once to mark the authority by which he gives the instructions that follow, and to serve as an index to the contents of the whole Epistle. He describes himself as a servant of God. The title seems to mark the relation of (1) one who had once been a servant of sin, but having become free through Christ Jesus was still, so far as obligation, service, and life were concerned, a servant of God; (2) his devotion to God after the type of the Old Testament services, Moses and the prophets being preeminently called the servants of God; (3) his ministry in the service of a royal Master (Mat 18:23-35), who makes him a member of his household, a pillar in the temple, a sharer of his throne (Rev 3:21).]
and an apostle of Jesus Christ,-[This is a more exact definition of his office: (1) He had his commission from him. (2) He had all the signs and proofs of an apostle in him for he had received power to work miracles as well as to declare divine truth. (3) It is therefore, vain and deceptive for anyone to assume the name who cannot show the signs of an apostle.]
according to the faith of Gods elect, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,-The faith of those chosen in Christ Jesus. It is a little difficult to see clearly how he was sent according to the faith of Gods elect. All critics think it means that he was sent in order to produce faith in those who would accept the gospel, and in order that others might acknowledge the truth that leads to godliness. This seems a little strained, but as nothing; better is suggested all accept it as the true meaning.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Titus is not mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. From the letter we learn that he was a convert of the apostle. Moreover, we know that he was a Greek.
This letter reached him while he was in Crete, amid peculiar circumstances; his mission was to set the church in order. Therefore the apostle enjoined him to appoint elders. He defined the function of the elder as that of the steward of God, and showed that the function would be fulfilled by loyalty to “the faithful word which is according to the teaching.” Only men of character were to be appointed to such office. The elder must be blameless as a family man, in personal character, and in his relation to truth.
There were Judaizing teachers in Crete, and the apostle laid down an important principle for dealing with them: “To the pure all things are pure, but to them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure.” This cut clean across the teaching of those referred to, which consisted in insistence on certain ritualistic commandments. Titus was charged to “reprove them sharply.” There are forms of evil which demand the surgeon’s knife. The reason for the severity is that the highest purposes of love may be realized.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
1:1-4 Paraphrase. Paul to Titus his true son in the faith.
Paul writing as a slave of God, bound to obey his Masters command, yet, more than that, as one formally commissioned to speak for Jesus Christ-Paul, whose only standard is the faith shared by Gods elect and a knowledge of truth such as makes for godliness, whose whole work rests on hope of eternal life, that life which the God who cannot deceive promised to man long ages past, aye, and at the right moment He published abroad His message in a proclamation, which was put as a sacred trust into my hands in virtue of a direct command from God, your Saviour and mine, writes to you as a son whom he knows that he can trust, a son in a common faith. Grace and peace be with you from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.
The address is unusually long, but compare Gal 1:1-5, Rom 1:l-7, 16:25-27; it might have been compiled with a reminiscence of those passages, but a compiler would naturally have been simpler, and the changes are more natural in the same author writing at a different time.
It strikes two notes-(1) a personal note, a letter from a father to a son ( . . . ); (2) more strongly an official note, instructions from an apostle to a delegate ( . . . : laying stress (1) on his duty rather than on his authority ( . . . . . . . . . ); (2) on the nature of the message he has to give. This is the point mainly emphasized; it is no novelty, no unfounded statement, no aimless discussion, but rooted in the past and looking forward to the future, and affecting a godly life. , Chrys.
1. ] here only in St. Paul of himself, but cf. ., Rom 1:l, Php 1:l; , 2Ti 2:24. It carries the thought of obedience beyond Jesus Christ to God, the God of our fathers who had chosen him to know His will (Act 22:14), and so places him on a level with Moses and other O.T. servants (Dan 9:10, Dan 9:11), especially with the servant of the Lord of Isaiah; Cf. 2Ti 2:24 note. Pelagius comment, servus Dei non peccati(cf. 2:14, 3:3, Rom 6:15-23), is suggestive, and perhaps consciously present.
..] strengthens the sense of duty, perhaps also to enforce his authority. Scribit non qu Titus in cubiculo solus legat sed qu proferat in publicum, Calvin.
, as in , , , gives the standard; but the application of the standard differs with the context. Here it may include (a) chosen in conformity to the faith, (Theophylact); (b) preaching by that standard, to preache the faith (Tynd. Cov.); cf. 1 K 19:3 , to save his life.
] so Rom 8:33, Col 3:12 . ., 2Ti 2:10, 2Ti 2:1 P 1:l. The phrase springs from the O.T., being based on the choice of Israel as a nation, charged with a message for the whole world; cf. , Psa 88:3, and especially its use with regard to Israel as the Servant of the Lord, Isa 43:20, Isa 45:4, Isa 65:9 etc. Hence it here may include the thought of the Jewish nation in the past, and lays stress on the sense of Gods choice of the Church and of its duty to carry His Truth to the world.
.] cf. 1Ti 2:4, 2Ti 2:25, 2Ti 3:7, Heb 10:26. Not faith alone, but knowledge also is necessary for an apostle: cf. Rom 10:2 of the Jews, , : Joh 6:69 .
. cf. 1Ti 6:3, contrast 2Ti 3:5.
2. .] cf. 1Ti 4:9, 1Ti 4:10.
] from Gen 3:15 onwards, cf. Rom 1:2, Luk 1:70.
.] here only in N.T.; perhaps with contrast to the at Crete12; but cf. 2Ti 2:13, 2Co 1:19, 2Co 1:20, Martyr. Polyc. 14, , in Polycarps last prayer. The God whose promise of life will not fail in face of death.
. ] ante tempora scularia, Vulg., long ages past, age-long periods ago, not referring to Gods purpose before time began, as in 2Ti 1:9, Eph 1:4, but to definite promises (cf. Rom 9:4 ) made in time.
3. ] The relative sentence is broken off and a direct sentence substituted; cf. 1Ti 6:12 and Blass, G. G., 79:11. Possibly the relative sentence is continued down to , which he promised and declared at the right moment, being in loose apposition to the whole sentence; cf. , 1Ti 2:6.
] cf. 3:8 note.
] The thought of the Incarnation taking place at the right moment in the worlds history is a favourite one with St. Paul (Gal 4:4, Rom 5:6 , Eph 1:10, Act 17:26), springing from apocalyptic expectations, summed up by the Lord (Mar 1:15 ), and expanded by himself in his philosophy of history, Ro 1-3; perhaps consciously meeting the objection ; cf. Ep. Diogn. c. I, . . . . The nearest analogy to the phrase is also Pauline, , Gal 6:9; the exact phrase is peculiar in N.T. to P.E. (1Ti 2:6, 1Ti 6:15 only); both words are ambiguous: (1) is = at its right moment; cf. Tob 14:4 () , Lev 23:4, Lev 26:4, Psa 1:3, Gal 6:9; Justin M. c. Tryph. c. 131, : or at His own time, , Thdt.; so Psa 74:3 , Act 1:7 , The context, with its stress on Gods action, makes the latter probable here and in 1Ti 6:15, the former in 1Ti 2:6; but the two thoughts lie close together, and were perhaps not kept distinct. (2) Is the plural only an idiomatic usage, practically equivalent to the singular? cf. Jer 50:26 (=27:26 LXX) = , ibid. 31; so , Luk 20:9, Luk 20:23:8; , Luk 12:36; or is the plural to be pressed? In the former case the reference would be to the whole life of the Lord (cf. Heb 1:1); in the latter, to the various points in the life, the birth (Gal 4:4), the death (Rom 5:6), and to the subsequent apostolic preaching (1Ti 2:6, 1Ti 3:16). The contrast with and the analogy of Rom 16:26 favours the latter view.
For the preparation for Christ in History, cf. Lux Mundi, c. 4, and Clem. Alex. Strom. vi. 44, , , .
] connected primarily with (cf. 1Ti 1:l note), but Rom 16:26 suggests a further connection with . The command to St. Paul to preach the gospel is part of the command of the eternal God to manifest the Christ; cf. 1Ti 2:7.
] of all of us Christians, but with the specializing thought of you and me; cf. .
4. ] Personal references to the life or character of Titus are very slight in the Epistle; such as occur are quite consistent with the little that is known of him elsewhere. He is never mentioned in the Acts. A Gentile by birth, he was perhaps converted by St. Paul on his First Missionary Journey at Iconium (Acta Pauli et Thecl, c. 2). He is first mentioned in the Epistles as accompanying St. Paul on the visit from Antioch to Jerusalem, mentioned in Gal_2. There his case was apparently taken as a test case of the need of circumcising Gentile converts, and (although the reading and meaning of Gal 2:3-5 are not quite certain) the demand was almost certainly successfully resisted. Later he becomes St. Pauls delegate to Corinth: he begins there to organize the Collection for the Saints (2Co 8:6-10); he goes later, perhaps taking the severe letter of 2Co_2 and 7, to deal with the refusal of that Church to obey the Apostle: he deals successfully with the difficulty and returns to gladden the Apostles heart in Macedonia; he then gladly returns to complete the Collection (2Co 8:16). On another occasion he is sent on a mission to Dalmatia (2Ti 4:10). He is a trustworthy, confidential delegate, walking in the Apostles steps, walking in the same spirit (2Co 12:18), his brother (2Co 2:13), his fellow-worker and sharer of his toils (8:23). So here he is a genuine son, sharing the same faith (1:4); his life is to be a pattern to younger men (2:7); but there is less of personal guidance and exhortation than there was to the younger and more timid Timothy. His name does not occur in the Acts, but two interesting suggestions have been made: (1) that he was a relative (Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and Roman Citizen, pp. 284-86, 390), or even the brother (Souter, Expository Times, March 1907, cf. 2Co 8:17, 2Co 8:18, 2Co 8:12:18) of St. Luke; (2) that he was the author of the we sections in the Acts. Either would account for the absence of any mention of him in Acts; but both are precarious. Later ecclesiastical tradition spoke of him as Bishop of Crete (Euseb. H.E. iii. 4), and as living to a very old age; and there was an Acts of Titus, which is no longer extant (cf. Lipsius, Die Apokr. Apostelgeschichte, 3. pp. 401-06), and a panegyric on him is found in the works of Andrew of Crete (Migne, Patrol. Gr., vol. 97). He is commemorated on Jan. 4 in the Latin Church, on Aug. 25 in the Greek, Syriac, and Maronite Churches (Acta Sanctorum, 1. pp. 163, 164; Nilles, Kalendarium Manuale).
] cf. 1Ti 1:2. : in virtue of a faith which is common to you, to me-to you a Gentile as much as to me a Jew-but also with the wider suggestion, a faith common to all Christians: cf. Jud 1:3; but not so definite as secundam fidem catholicam (Holtzmann). Cf. Acta Carpi et Papyli, 30, ; . . . . . .
] is perhaps to be supplied from : if not, is used in its widest sense (cf. 1Th 1:1, 1Ti 1:2, 2Ti 1:2 only), Father of all, . . . , Eph 3:15, perhaps (so Chrys.) recalling , God the source of all fatherhood, and of my relation to you my son.
] Christ is placed on the same level as God 3; the phrase anticipates the stress on salvation from sin in 2:11-14, 3:4-7.
5-9. Paraphrase. Be sure to carry out the purpose for which I left you behind in Crete: there was much left by me incomplete; you were to complete it by appointing a body of elders in each city. I gave you general instructions, but the important point in the choice of them is the character they bear in their own homes. One whom you appoint must not be liable to have any charge brought against him, he must be the husband of one wife, his children must be loyal and trustworthy-not liable to be accused of wasteful extravagance or disorderly life. For it will never do for the presiding officer of a church to be liable to have any charge brought against him; for it is Gods own family that he has to control. So he must not be self-willed, not hot-tempered, not violent in speech, nor given to striking others, nor willing to make money in unworthy: ways he must be ready to welcome Christian passers-by, to give a welcome to every one and everything that is good; self-controlled, just to others, holy in character, having himself well in hand, holding firmly a preaching that is loyal to our doctrine: for he has a twofold duty-both to stir up the faithful by the sound teaching that he gives and to answer those who oppose it.
Cf. 1Ti 3:1-7 and the notes there. The main qualifications for the presbyters are the same in both places, but 1 Ti implies a community of longer standing and completer organization-
(a) in insisting more upon good testimony to character from those without,
(b) in excluding recently-converted Christians ( ),
(c) in laying down rules for deacons and deaconesses as well.
[One cursive, 460, adds here .] The method of ordination is left undefined. A free hand seems to be given to Titus ( . . . ); but this would be consistent with a previous choice by the community (cf. Act 6:5, 1Ti 1:20 note). The duties are also undefined, but there are implied discipline over the members of the community, teaching, perhaps control of the finances ( ), and the duty of hospitality to strangers. The qualifications insisted upon are moral. they are such as have been tested in the family life of the candidate before his appointment, and therefore show, even in points like the husband of one wife, the standard expected in a good layman. For the relation of the to the , cf. Introd., p. xx; and for the whole section, Hort, The Christian Ecclesia, pp. 190-92.
5. ] Eph 3:1, Eph 3:14 only in N.T.; cf. , Luk 7:47 and the adverbial use of is very common, e.g., Gal 3:19, 1Jn 3:12.
, 2Ti 4:20; elsewhere not in St. Paul, who uses (1Th 3:1 only). Both words were in common usage. . perhaps suggests more than . the thought of intention-I purposely told you off for this work, and left you behind for it.
] in this neuter sense, 3:13, Luk 18:22 only in N.T., but common both in prose and poetry; cf. , Plut. X. Or. Vit, p. 844 E (Wetstein).
] complete () setting thoroughly () right; cf. , Heb 9:10; , Wisd 7:15; , 2Ti 3:16. The middle is not quite so personal as the active see that things are got right under your guidance.
] cf. Act 6:3 , which shows that it does not exclude a choice by the community, but the change from the middle perhaps points to the separate action of Titus.
] ( ), Il. 2. 649!) a body of elders in each city; cf. Act 14:23, Act 20:17, and 1Ti 4:14 , which Theophylact substitutes here both in text and commentary.
] perhaps with implied antithesis to some opponents at Crete: as I, Christs Apostle (cf. , 1:3), laid down to carry out my own ideal (middle; cf. 1Co 7:17 . ) and impressed upon you my son and my delegate. The instructions may be limited to the following qualifications for the ministry: but more probably they were wider, and included rules for the method of appointment and the duties of the presbyters.
6. ] cf. 1Ti 3:2 note.
] perhaps believing, Christian, non ad idolorum culturam proruentes, Thd.; cf. 1Ti 4:12, 1Ti 5:16, 1Ti 6:2, Concil. Carthag. 3. Canon 18. ut episcopi et presbyteri et diaconinon ordi nentur priusquam omnes qui sunt in domo eorum Christianos catholicos fecerint. More Probably, as suiting the following qualifications better, trustworthy, loyal; cf. 1Co 4:17 , and 1Ti 3:5.
] luxuri, Vulg.; lascivi, Thd.-Mops. The conduct of the , one who cannot save, who wastes his money, often with the implication of wasting it on his Pleasures, and so ruining himself, cf. Luk 15:13 , Eph 5:18 , 1 P 4:4, 2 Mac 6:4 -extravagance, Prodigality, almost profligacy. Aristotle (Nic. Eth. iv. 1) defines it as : being the true mean, the failure to use money rightly. The characteristic of the is : so he comes to ruin himself , . Pro 28:6 Provides an apposite comment on this verse, , : cf. Trench, Syn. N.T. s.v.
] primarily-to himself, 1Ti 3:4 , but including disorder out of doors, insubordinate to the officers of the city; cf. and inf. 3:1.
7. The qualifications are partly negative, partly positive. (1) Negative: qualities which would Prevent his successful government of the community or discredit it.
] self-willed, obstinate in his own opinion, arrogant, refusing to listen to others, superbum, Vulg.; audacem, Thd.; stubborn, Tynd.; frowarde, Geneva. In Aristotle (Eth. Magn. i. 29, Rhet. i. 9, 29), is the antithesis to , being the right mean between them. It is fatal to the ruler of free men: cf. Theophylact, , , and Plato, Eph_4Eph_4, in advice to Dion, . For other illustrations, cf. Field, Ot. Norvic. ad loc.; Trench, N. T. Syn., M.M. s.v.
] perhaps quite literally-not given to much wine; cf. 2:3, 1Ti 3:8; vinolentum, Vulg.; but this is not necessarily implied: perhaps only blustering, abusive, like a man who has been drinking; cf. Joseph. Ant. iv. 6, 10 (Holtzmann), where is used of the Israelite who married a Midianitish woman, as the antithesis to , = to act outrageously; Aristides, Apology, c. 14, , of the conduct of the Jews to Christ: so Chrys. de Sacerd. iv. 1 applies to the conduct of the sons of Eli.
] quite literally, not hasty to strike an opponent; cf. 2Co 11:20 : Apost. Canon 28, . . . . . . : Pelagius, non debet discipulus Christi percutere, qui percussus est et non repercussit. But the Greek commentators extend the reference, (Theophyl.), (Oecumenius), cito increpantem(Theod.), brow-beating.
] turpis lucri cupidum, Vulg., making money discreditably: adapting his teaching to his hearers in the hope of money from them (cf. 11, 1Ti 6:5, 1Ti 6:1 P 5:2); or appropriating to his own use the gifts of the faithful (cf. 2Co 12:16-18, Joh 12:6); or perhaps engaging in discreditable trades (cf. 3:8 note). Contrast St. Pauls example, Act 20:33, Act 20:34. For the Cretan love of money, cf. supra, p. 122.
8. (2) Positive: mainly the central Christian Virtues, and those which will fit him for ruling and teaching: there is more stress laid here than in 1 Ti on the teaching test.
(herberous, Tynd.; harberous, Genev.), : he starts not from self (contrast ), but from love for others, cf. 2Ti 3:2 note; ready to welcome Christian passers-by (cf. 3:13, 1Ti 3:2 note); ready to Welcome all good men, or probably goodness wherever he sees it, cf. Wisd 7:22 (Wisdom) . . . . = rather than ; cf. Rom 12:9 . For the thought, cf. Php 4:8; a lover of goodness (Tynd., Coverdale).
] his duty to self (contrast , , ; , to his neighbour; , to God; cf. 2:12.
] the climax, as in the fruit of the Spirit, 5:23, complete self-mastery, Which controls all passionate impulses, and keeps the will loyal to the will of God; cf. Additional Note, p. 148.
9. ] a strong Word-amplectentem, Vulg.; tenacem sermonis, Ambrosiaster; utroque brachio amplexi et mordicus tenentes, Calvin; holding firmly to-both for his own support (cf. Pro 3:18 of Wisdom, , Pap. Tebt. i. 409 ), and in loyal obedience to it (cf. Isa 56:4, Isa 56:6 : Jer 2:8 : Arist. Poet. 9, : Pap. Oxyr. ix. 1203, (M.M s.v.).
] not to the law or the old covenant as a Jewish Rabbi would (cf. last note), much less to commandments of men (14), but to the trustworthy (unde admonitio et elenchus robur accipit, Bengel) message (cf. 3), Which corresponds with the true teaching-the teaching of the Apostle himself (cf. Rom 6:17 , 16:17 ), which is ultimately that of the Lord Himself (cf. 1Ti 6:3).1. The phrase suggests a stereotyped outline of doctrine, either oral or written, such as is quoted in 1Co 15:3ff.
] cf. 1Ti 1:10 note, almost equivalent to of the body of doctrine, but thought of as embodied by the in his own teaching.
] refute with argument: also including the thought of reprove, cf. 13, 2:15 and 2Ti 3:16 , . Origen in a very interesting chapter (c. Celsum, iii. 48, cf. vi. 7) quotes this verse in answer to the taunt of Celsus that Christianity only appealed to the uneducated.
10-16. Necessity for such qualifications: the character of the false teachers at Crete and the substance of their teaching.
paraphrase. They will need this qualification for there are many at Crete who are unwilling to submit to any control, teachers of worthless doctrine, clever enough to impose upon the minds of others-this is especially true of those of them who have been Jews-and all these must have their mouths stopped; forasmuch as they upset whole households, teaching things which they know they have no right to teach, merely to make gains of which they ought to be ashamed. It was one of their own islanders, one whom they themselves regard as a prophet, who said:
Cretans are always liars, very Minotaurs, gluttonous, idlers.
This testimony is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in their faith, and not devote themselves to Jewish legends and commandments, which are only commandments of men, aye, and of men who are turning their backs upon the truth. It is ture that All things are ;pure to the pureminded;but to those who have been defiled and have no true faith, nothing is pure; nay, for them both mind anhd conscience hage been defiled. And that is the case with them: God, indeed, they acknopwledgte in their creed, but in their lives they belie such knowledge, being abominable, and disobedient, and with a view to every good work, unable to stand the test.
Note. -These teachers are not heathen; they are professing Christians (16), mainly but not wholly Jewish Christians (10), who pander in their teaching to curiosity and dwell upon Jewish legends of the patriarchs, and add to the Christian life a number of external duties which can claim no divine authority, and which deal with the distinction between things clean and unclean (15), and spring out of the Jewish law (3:9). There is no reference to the enforcement of circumcision; so that they do not correspond to the Pharisaic Jewish Christians denounced in Gal., but more to the opponents at Coloss, Jews of the dispersion trying to represent certain sides of the Jewish life as a higher philosophy (cf. Hort, Judaistic Christianity, pp. 116-46). Such Jewish teaching would find natural support in incipient tendencies to Gnosticism, with its belief in the evil of matter, and that may be subordinately alluded to in 15, 16.
The writer deals with this teaching in two ways: (1) it is sharply denounced as profitless for all moral purpose; it does not raise the moral life or fit men for service; (2) appeal is made to great Christian principles. True purity is purity of heart; true faith must issue in good works.
10. ] gives primarily the reason for the last qualification (cf. 9, 13), but also for the whole section (5-9).
] cf. 6 (which was leading up to this) and 3:1 note.
] here only in N.T.; cf. 1Ti 1:6. was the favourite Jewish term of scorn for heathen idols and worship: this thought may be present here. Their teaching, so far from being on a higher level, is as worthless as that of heathenism; cf. 16.
] here only in N.T., but Gal 6:3, Scarcely (as Lightfoot, ad loc.) = , to deceive by fancies, cf. ; but = , mentiumdecep tores (Jerome); cf. , , .
11. ] (here only in N.T., though in some cursives of 11:53), perhaps anticipating 12: either to bridle, to guide aright, refrenari (Jerome), cf. Jam 3:3; or more probably to muzzle, to silence: redargui (Vulg.), silentium indici (Jerome). This is more analogous to its classical usage; cf. illustrations in Wetstein and in M.M s.v.
] Where order and discipline need such careful guidance; cf. 6, 2:1-10.
] upset their faith; cf. 2Ti 2:18 . , pervert (Tynd., Coverdale), or upset their peace and harmony, subvert, A.V.; contrast the teaching of 2:1-10.
] cf. 7 note, hoping for greater gifts from their hearers; cf. 1Ti 5:17, 1Ti 5:18, 1Ti 5:6:5, 2Co 12:14-18. For this tendency at Crete, cf. Polybius, vi. 46, 3, .
12. ] sprung from themselves, so with special knowledge.
] whom therefore they ought to believe, and whom I may quote without offence: Epimenides, whom they regarded not merely as a poet but as a prophet, a great religious reformer ( , Plut. Solon. 12) and predicter, who had predicted the failure of the Persian invasion of Greece ten years before it took place (Plato, Laws, i. 642 D), and whom we may still regard as a prophet, his words in this saying being true still; cf. the treatment of the words of Caiaphas (Joh 11:51), of Balaams ass (2 P 2:16). Similarly Irenus (iv. 33, 3), apparently borrowing the phrase from here: Accusabit autem eos Homerus proprius ipsorum Propheta (Wohlenberg).
] cf. 10 and 16. So Hesychius, , : Ovid, Ars. Am. I. 297:
Nota cano: non hoc, qu centum sustinet urbes,
Quamvis sit mendax, Creta negare potest,
and other interesting illustrations in Wetstein.
] cf. 10 . . . . Is there an allusion to the Minotaur?
.] cf. 11 , 16 .
Note. -1. The line was attributed to Epimenides (of Crete, 600-500 b.c.) doubtless in pre-Christian times. It is quoted as from him by Clem. Alex. (Strom. I. xiv, 59), by Jerome (here) as from a poem entitled , Oracula, and by Ishodad, a Syrian commentator (c. a.d.. 850), as from the Minos (cf. Rendel Harris, Expositor, 1906, p. 305; 1907, p. 332; 1912, p. 348). But the attribution is very doubtful, as the dialect is Attic and not Cretan (cf. Moulton, N.T. Gr. i. p. 233 n.). It was probably earlier than Callimachus (a.d.. 300-240), who quotes the first half of it in his hymn to Zeus:
, ,
.
And it was probably the legend that the tomb of Zeus was to be found in Crete that gave rise to the charge of lying as characteristic of Crete. It is also possible, as Rendel Harris also suggests, that the last half of the verse is abuse of the animal sacrifices and the feeding on them in the worship of the Cretan Zeus. His further suggestion, that the words in Act 17:28, For in him we live, and move, and have our being, are a quotation from the same poem of Epimenides, would give an interesting link between our writer and St. Paul, but can scarcely be maintained; they are too mystical for so early a date (cf. J. U. Powell, Classical Review, Aug.-Sept., 1916).
2. For an interesting account of the use of classical literature in the early Church, see Plummer, Expositors Bible, c. xx. Clem. Alex., in quoting this passage (l.c.), adds: you see how Paul assigns even to the prophets of the Greeks an element of the truth, and is not ashamed to use Greek poems for edification and rebuke: but when heathen critics urged that the quotation virtually implied St. Pauls belief in the real and immortal existence of Zeus, the Fathers take pains to refute the inference. So Chrys. Theod. Thdt. Jerome, ad loc.
13. ] not in the earlier Epistles, which use (four times): perhaps slightly different, witnessing, rather than witness. For similar severity, cf. Rom 16:18, Php 3:19.
] cf. 9, as an example to the . , 2Co 13:10, only in N.T.
] Luk 8:47, Act 22:24, Heb 2:11, 2Ti 1:6, 2Ti 1:12, only in N.T., not in the earlier Epistles: perhaps a Latinism = quamobrem. So , in the papyri, M.M s.v.
] perhaps in the Creed, and the context makes this almost certain; but, possibly, in their faith, their loyalty to Christ: cf. 2:2.
14-16. Cf. Rom 14:13-23, Col 2:16-23, 1Ti 4:1-5 and notes there, Mar 7:18-23. , 1Ti 1:4 note.
. ] cf. 3:9, 1Ti 1:6, Introduction, p. xvii. (contrast , 1Co 7:19), a reminiscence of Isa 29:13 (cf. 10) , quoted by Christ (Mar 7:7) and adopted by St. Paul (Col 2:22). The reference is to the traditions of the elders, and will include interpretations of the law of clean and unclean meats and ceremonial washings, Mar 7:2-4. These have no authority, as only the interpretations of men, and of men who are now turning away from (cf. Act 13:46) the truth as it is in Jesus (Eph 4:21).
15. ] This goes further than the tradition of the elders; it abolishes the Mosaic law, which had served the purpose of separating the Jews from the heathen world.
] those who are pure-not, as the false teachers would say, by ceremonial washings, but by purity of heart. Cf. Mat 5:8, Joh 15:3, 1Ti 2:8 note. , Chrys.
. ] has the ring of a proverb, and was perhaps a saying of the Lord Himself (so von Soden); cf. Luk 11:41 : cf. Pap. Oxyr. v. 840, : and Rom 14:14, Rom 14:20 . . . . .
The thought, especially on the negative side, that the impure heart makes all things impure, was found in the prophets; cf. Hag 2:10-14, and was becoming a common-place of pagan philosophers, both Epicurean and Stoic; cf. Lucr. vi. 6:17-34; Hor. Ep. i. 2. 54, Sincerum est nisi vas, quodcunque infundis acescit. Seneca, de Benefic. v. 12, quemadmodum stomachus morbo vitiatus quoscunque accepit cibos mutat, ita animus ccus quicquid illi commiseris, id onus suum et perniciem facit. Nihil potest ad malos pervenire quod prodest, immo nihil quod non noceat; qucunque enim illis contigerunt in naturam suam vertunt, et profutura, si melioribus darentur, illis pestifera sunt, and Philo, de Legg. Spec. iii. 209, p. 334 M, . . . . . . . . . . . . , , (Wetstein).
] (but , W.-H., Tisch., with A C D * L ; cf. Blass, Gr. N. T., 163), cf. Hag 2:13 , ; .
] This would apply (a) to the weak Jewish Christian, not believing that Christ is the end of the law, cf. Rom 14:esp.23 .; , Chrys.; or (b) to the Gnostic, without faith in Gods creation of matter, cf. 1Ti 4:1-5; but here the reference is only to the former.
] Their judgment is perverted: they will call evil good and good evil (cf. 1Ti 6:5, 2Ti 3:8); their con science is callous, not telling them when they have done wrong (cf. 1Ti 4:1), nor condemning them when they have done it.
16. ] They acknowledge, assert in their Creed-the word does not imply boastful profession-that they know God, but in practice belie such knowledge; cf. Jam 2:14-26, 1Jn 2:4.
] not in the earlier, but frequent in the Past. Epistles; Cf. 2:12, 1Ti 5:8, 2Ti 2:12, 2Ti 2:13, 2Ti 2:3:5.
] Hc sunt opera qu nesciunt Deum (Ambrosiaster). Christus sapientia est, justitia, veritas, sanctitas, fortitudo. Negatur per insipientiam sapientia, per iniquitatem justitia, per turpitudinem sanctitas, per imbecillitatem fortitudo, et quotiescunque vincimur vitiis et peccatis, toties Deum negamus (Jerome).
] takes up 15, the antithesis to (cf. Pro 17:15 , ): perhaps with an allusion to the use of the abominations of heathen idolatry; cf. 10 note.
] incredibiles, Vulg. diffidentes, Theod.; but better, inobedientes, Jer. Ambrosiaster. It takes up but interprets it in the sphere of action; cf. 10, and contrast 3:1-3.
. ] worthless for the tasks for which they ought to be ready (3:1): much more for the excellence for which Gods peculiar people are eager (2:13). The whole of 2:1-13 is a contrast to this phrase.
Tynd. Tyndales New Testament, 1534.
Cov. Coverdales New Testament.
Souter Novum Testamentum Grce. Textui a Retractoribus Anglicis adhibito brevem adnotationem criticam subjecit, A. Souter, Oxford, 1910.
M.M. The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, by J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan, 1914-
Pap. Tebt. The Tebtunis Papyri, ed. Grenfell, Hunt, and Smyly, London, 1902-1907.
Pap. Oxyr. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, ed. Grenfell and Hunt, vols. i.-xv., London, 1898-
1 For the interpretation of the phrase as a reference to the Personal Logos, cf. 3:8 note
A.V. Authorized Version of the English Bible.
W.-H The New Testament in Greek, with Introduction and Appendix, by Westcott and Hort, Cambridge, 1881.
Fuente: International Critical Commentary New Testament
Appoint Fit Men over the Churches
Tit 1:1-9
Gods elect are known by their faith, and wherever they hear the voice of truth, which makes for godliness, they recognize and acknowledge it. They are also inspired by a great hope, and that hope cannot be disappointed, because it is founded on the promise and oath of the God who cannot lie, Heb 6:19. Gods promise for us has been in His heart from all eternity, but it was hidden until the gospel was proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit. The germ-thought of eternity has been realized in Jesus and is unfolded in the gospel. Note the frequent recurrence in this Epistle of the phrase, God our Savior.
The ordering of these early churches was very important. The presiding officers must be godly and consistent men, and able to commend the gospel by their lives. These natural traits of a holy man should be pondered and appropriated by us all; and we must all hold fast to the Word of God, which has been found trustworthy by countless myriads. Many are the seducing voices in the present day that counsel slackening faith and relaxing grasp.
If all the wiles that men devise beset our faith with treacherous art,
Well call them vanity and lies, and bind the gospel to our heart.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter 1
Introduction
There are four letters addressed to individuals which the Holy Spirit indicted through the apostle Paul. Three are called pastoral, because directed to young preachers, exhorting them to diligence in their calling. The fourth, to Philemon, is decidedly personal.
While the two letters to Timothy and that to Titus are in some respects alike, there is this marked difference: to Timothy the apostle stresses the importance of sound doctrine, whereas to Titus he dwells on sound behavior. In other words, the subject of this epistle is, The truth which is according to godliness.
Never was there a time when the necessity of practical piety was so marked as in the days in which our lot is cast. Loose doctrine makes for loose living. On the other hand, it is quite possible to contend earnestly for fundamental principles when the life is anything but consistent with the profession.
Titus was a Greek, as Paul tells us, who accompanied him to Jerusalem to discuss the Gentiles relation to the law of Moses. A trustworthy man apparently, for to him was committed the responsibility of a collection among the Gentile assemblies for the relief of the famine-stricken Jewish brethren in Palestine. Paul speaks approvingly of Titus general behavior, and yet significantly adds, With Titus I sent a brother. He would allow nothing to cast disparagement upon a servant of God in money matters. In this we see an important lesson for ourselves.
When Paul wrote this epistle Titus was in the island of Crete and was what we might call an apostolic legate to whom was committed the work of organizing the churches of Crete. The letter was evidently written between Pauls two imprisonments, for we have no record of his having been in Crete prior to the first imprisonment, nor of his later wintering at Nicopolis. But evidently after he was freed from the charges brought against him by the Jerusalem Jews, he went about, as tradition declares, continuing his ministry until arrested a second time. It was during this interval that he went with Titus to Crete, later leaving the younger man to complete the work while he moved on to other parts.
The three chapters of the epistle are its natural divisions. Chapter 1 dwells upon the need of godliness in the church; chapter 2, godliness in the home; and chapter 3, godliness in the world.
Chapter 2
Godliness in the Church
Tit 1:1-16
Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of Gods elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour; to Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucres sake. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate, (vv. 1-16)
Let us look particularly at the first chapter. Verses 1-4 give the salutation. J Paul speaks of himself as a bondman of God, and a sent-one of Jesus Christ in accordance with the faith of Gods elect. Faith here refers not to trust nor confidence in God on the part of the elect but to that body of doctrine which the elect are called to defend. He adds, And the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. Godliness is literally godlikeness, or piety. The truth apprehended in the soul produces piety in the life. This is insisted on in this letter.
The statement of verse 2 deserves special consideration: In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. It should read, the age-times, or the times of the ages, in place of world. There are two Greek words, not merely one, that are here together translated world.
The times of the ages are the dispensations, the redemptive ages which began after the fall of man. The promise of life here referred to, as also in 2Ti 1:1, was the declaration Jehovah made when He cursed the serpent: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel (Gen 3:15). This is the promise of life. It was not a promise given before the creation of the material universe, but before the ages of time had started to run their course. Sin had come in, but man was not to be left under the sentence of death. A divine Deliverer was to come from God, the Virgins Son, who would bring in life. In due time God fulfilled this promise, and it is now proclaimed by His Word throughout the world.
From verses 5-9 we have instruction given to Titus in regard to the ordination of elders. He was to set in order the things that were wanting, organizing the churches in a godly way and ordaining elders in every city by apostolic direction. These elders must be blameless, husbands of but one wife, having their households in godly subjection. That elder and bishop refer to the same person seems evident: For, he continues, as though speaking of exactly the same class, a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God, a man who holds himself in control, not willful, nor of bad temper, self-indulgent, quarrelsome, nor yet covetous, but hospitable, warm of heart toward his brethren, delighting in those who are good, sober, just, holy. He must not play fast and loose with Holy Scripture, but hold fast the Word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine to exhort and convince the gainsayers. Thus in five short verses the apostle portrays for us the ideal elder or bishop. Elder suggests a man of maturity, while bishop emphasizes his office, the word meaning an overseer.
The need of godly order in the church was evident. In Crete, as elsewhere, there were many unruly, vain talkers and deceivers, particularly those who had come out of Judaism. Never having been fully delivered from the law, they prated of their greater privileges, and sought to bring the Gentile believers into bondage. Whose mouths must be stopped, [for they] subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucres sake. That is, they were seeking to form a party around themselves, having in view their own aggrandizement and enrichment.
These Cretan Jews were like their Gentile fellow countrymen of whom Epimenides had written, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. The last expression might read, greedy gluttons. What people are by nature comes out even after Christ has wrought in their souls, and therefore calls for greater watchfulness. The old nature is not changed by conversion, though a new nature is given. But the motions of the flesh must be put to death if there would be a life of victory and piety. So Paul commands Titus to rebuke them sharply in order that they may be sound in the faith. They must be warned against Jewish fables and commandments of men (taking the place of revealed truth), which would only lead to apostasy.
The fifteenth verse has frequently been utterly misused: Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. This does not mean that things which to others are unholy become in themselves pure when done by those of superior mind. It means that the pure delight in purity, even as the unholy delight in that which is impure. With mind and conscience defiled such may make a great religious profession declaring that they know God, but their evil works prove that they are utter strangers to Him. It is against the behavior of such that Titus is called upon to warn the people of God.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Tit 1:2
Hope of Eternal Life.
I. Note the antiquity of this promise. It was made ages and ages ago. There are two considerations, I imagine, in the Apostle’s mind-the actual promise made in time, and the Divine purpose from which that promise sprang, fixed in eternity; and he joins the two considerations together without the least impropriety of thought. No sooner had man occasion for the promise than the promise was made to him. The Jews who were contemporary with Christ vainly supposed that the law given by Moses had in it a life-giving power. They stumbled at that stumbling-stone, for they sought eternal salvation, not by faith in Christ, but, as it were, by the works of the law; whereas the law was given for a widely different purpose, and not with that object at all. If, indeed, a law had been given which was capable of giving life, then, no doubt, justification would have been by the law. The man might have looked to it for his acquittal; but law, though essential for the regulation of manners, is, of its own nature, incapable of giving eternal salvation; for he who obeys its ordinances can, at most, but deserve to escape from its penalties.
II. Consider the security of the promise. “God, who cannot lie,” made it. He who has made the promise to us cannot, from His very nature, fail in its fulfilment. There are many people in the world who, with the best intentions, are unable to help us; many who would fain do for us all that lies in their power, but who, from very ignorance, are useless in the day of trouble. There are others, again, on whom you have been leaning with fond hopes of substantial aid, who yet fail you when the day of calamity approaches-fair-weather friends, who disappear at the very first symptom of a cloud. Many accidents, again, may prevent a man, who is really sincere, and bent upon helping us, from keeping his promise. Without any intention of so doing, he may-deceive us in the most important matters, and fail at the very crisis when he is wanted most; and of course, in many cases, we cannot conceal from ourselves that men have an interest in deceiving us. We cannot in all cases rely implicitly on their word. But, with respect to the promise which is now occupying our thoughts, not one jot or one tittle shall fail. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but God’s word never. He cannot lie.
III. Note the extent of the promise. It embraces you and all mankind. God, who cannot lie, has set before us, with all plainness, and with most comfortable assurance, the hope of eternal life. There is but one road that leads to it, one door that opens into it; but the road, though a narrow one, is broad enough for all who really mean to travel on it. The door is wide enough for any man to enter in, and go in and out and find pasture. “He that hath the Son hath life.”
Bishop Atlay, Penny Pulpit, new series, No. 777.
References: Tit 1:2.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. x., No. 568. Tit 1:6.-Outline Sermons to Children, p. 262. Tit 1:7.-F. W. Farrar, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxx., p. 321. Tit 1:9.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. viii., p. 193. Tit 1:11-14.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii., No. 1894. Tit 1:12.-L. Abbott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 46. Tit 1:12-ii. 15.-Expositor, 1st series, vol. viii., p. 131. Tit 1:13.-W. C. Magee, Sermons at Bath, p. 220.
Tit 1:15
(with Mat 5:8)
Purity.
The two texts are two motives. With one voice they enforce purity; but each by its own argument and with its own persuasion. The one looks rather at the present, the other at the future; the one sets before us a practical effect of purity, the other a spiritual; one tells how it shall enable us to move healthily and wholesomely among our fellows; the other, how it shall fit and qualify us for that beatific vision which is, being interpreted, the inheritance of the saints in light.
I. St. Paul is addressing a beloved convert, charged with the temporary oversight of the young church at Crete. Now there was a power at work in the Cretan congregations, as everywhere, which St. Paul looked upon as the antagonist of the light and life which was in Christ Jesus. Strange to say, it took the form of a sort of ostentatious puritanism; it was an influence calling itself moral, sensitively jealous for law and sanctity, and dreading the gospel of grace as dangerous to virtue. St. Paul knew better. St. Paul had tried both systems, and he knew by experience that whereas law is weak, through the flesh, grace is mighty through the Spirit. He thought little of a righteousness isolating itself from atonement, or a purity dispensing with sanctification. He tells his converts where alone purity can be found; in the heart made clean by grace, in the life set free by the Spirit. Be pure in heart and all things are pure to you.
II. The pure shall see God. The motive was a strong one which said, “To the pure all things are pure.” Be pure in heart, and you shall find, or else make, purity everywhere. Be pure in heart, and intellect shall be pure, and conscience; no film shall cloud the mental vision, no stain shall sully the mirror of duty. But “blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” This lifts the matter into a higher region still, and tells how not mind alone, not conscience alone, but the very spirit and soul of the man hang upon purity of heart for its welfare and for its life. There is a sight of God in the far future. There is also a sight which is now. If there be in any of us the desire, hereafter or here, to see God; if we feel that not to see Him is misery, that never to see Him would indeed be the second death-we must become pure in heart.
C. J. Vaughan, University Sermons, p. 425.
References: Tit 1:15.-Forsyth and Hamilton, Pulpit Parables, p. 116; F. W. Robertson, Sermons, 3rd series, p. 122. Tit 2:1.-J. Halsey, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxiv., p. 393. Tit 2:10.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 284.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Analysis and Annotations
I. INSTRUCTIONS AND WARNINGS
CHAPTER 1
1. The salutation (Tit 1:1-4)
2. Instructions concerning elders (Tit 1:5-9)
3. Warnings against false teachers (Tit 1:10-16)
Tit 1:1-4
Paul calls himself in writing to Titus a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for he speaks in these introductory words of Gods elect, and their faith in Him; and the promise of eternal life, God, who cannot lie, gave before the dispensations began; and that His Word is now manifested through preaching which was committed unto him by our Saviour-God. Gods elect are those who have trusted in Christ. They have personal faith in God and know His love and are in relationship with Him. But such a faith and relationship demands godliness; therefore the statement, The acknowledgment of the truth which is after godliness. These two, truth and godliness, belong together. If the truth is given up or not held, then godliness also is given up; the truth must be manifested in godliness. As to statement on the promise of life before the ages began, see annotations on 2Ti 1:9.
Tit 1:5-9
Paul had left Titus in Crete. From Act 2:11 we learn that the inhabitants of Crete were present on the day of Pentecost and heard Peter preach. These Cretan Jews may have brought the gospel to the island. Titus is commissioned by Paul to set the things in order which were wanting, and to appoint elders in every city. (For discussion that bishops are elders see annotations on 1Ti 3:1-16.) We do not find the same intimacy between him and Titus as that intimacy and confidence which existed between Paul and Timothy. He does not open his heart to him as he did to Timothy. He invests Titus with authority to appoint elders and states the qualifications the elder must possess. These qualifications are also mentioned in the First Epistle to Timothy (1Ti 3:1-7). Here is added that their children must be faithful and not accused of riot or of being unruly. The bishop must also be blameless as Gods steward, not self-willed (headstrong), not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, no seeker of filthy lucre. What he is to be is given in Tit 1:8-9. But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good, sober-minded, just, holy, temperate; holding fast the faithful word according to the doctrine taught, that he may be able to exhort with sound doctrine and to convict the gainsayers. Thus we have again that godliness and sound doctrine belong together.
Tit 1:10-16
He states that there were many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers especially they of the circumcision. The Judaizing teachers were at work among the Cretans. Titus must have been especially distasteful to them, for he was an uncircumcised Greek. These Cretan Jews who claimed to have accepted Christianity worked evil in the assembly. The apostle demands that their mouths must be stopped, for they subverted whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of base gain. The national traits of the Cretans are then described. One of their own prophets had said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons. This is a quotation from Epimenides, who lived six hundred years before Christ. The Cretans were classed with the Cappadocians and Cilicians (all beginning in the Greek with a K) as the most evil and corrupt in the Greek world. And Paul testifies to the truth of it, This witness is true. They must be rebuked sharply, so that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. These Judaizing teachers were ascetics, forbidding certain things, making rules for the outward conduct. Certain things were forbidden by their ordinances and commandments; yet though they were fasting and continent, they were, because unregenerated, inwardly defiled and unbelieving. Paul brands these Judaizers in this Epistle as defiled and unbelieving, with a confession that they know God, but in works they denied Him. He speaks of them as abominable, disobedient, and to every good work reprobate.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
a servant: 1Ch 6:49, Rom 1:1, Phi 1:1
faith: Joh 10:26, Joh 10:27, Act 13:48, Eph 2:8, 2Th 2:13, 2Th 2:14, 1Ti 1:5
the acknowledging: Col 2:2, 2Ti 2:23, 2Ti 2:25, 1Jo 2:23
after: Tit 2:11, Tit 2:12, 1Ti 1:4, 1Ti 3:16, 1Ti 6:3, 2Pe 1:3, 2Pe 3:11
Reciprocal: Jos 1:1 – the death Psa 36:1 – servant Mar 11:22 – Have Luk 22:32 – thy faith Joh 3:33 – hath set Act 22:14 – hath Act 27:23 – and Rom 3:3 – faith Rom 6:22 – become Rom 8:33 – of God’s 1Co 9:1 – I not an Eph 1:4 – as Eph 1:17 – in the knowledge Eph 3:5 – in other Eph 4:5 – one faith Col 3:12 – as 2Ti 2:24 – the servant 2Ti 3:12 – live Heb 11:1 – faith Jam 1:1 – a servant Jam 2:1 – the faith 1Pe 1:2 – Elect 2Pe 1:1 – have 2Pe 1:6 – godliness Rev 14:6 – everlasting
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
SERVANTS OF GOD
Paul, a servant of God.
Tit 1:1
Servant of God, servant of Jesus Christthis is the title by which each one of the writers of the epistles of the New Testament describes himself in one place or another. The title indicates their work in life, the place they hold in the world, and the definite object to which all their powers and activity are devoted.
That distinct, definite character, which Scripture presents to us, when St. Paul calls himself the servant of God, may be shown under most opposite outward conditions. But under all the different forms it has essential and common features.
I. It is exclusive in its object and complete in its self-dedication.St. Pauls surrender of himself was unreserved.
II. It contemplates as the centre of all interest and hope, the highest object of human thought and human devotion, a presence beyond the facts of experience, the experience of the invisible God.
III. It accepts as the measure of its labour and its endurance the Cross of Jesus Christ.For such a life a price had to be paid, and St. Pauls price was the acceptance of the fellowship of the Cross of Christ. The likeness of the Cross pervades every life of duty and earnestnessin lifelong trouble, in bereavement, in misunderstanding, in unjust suffering, in weary labour, in failure and defeatGods proof and test of strength is laid upon us all.
Dean Church.
Illustration
There is no reason why, without extravagance, without foolish or overstrained enthusiasm, we should not still believe that a life like St. Pauls is a natural one for a Christian to choose. We still reverence his words; and his words have all along the history of the Church found echoes in many hearts. There is a great past behind us; a past which is not dead, but liveslives in every thought we think, and every word we speak, lives in our hopes, in our confidences and joy in life, lives in those high feelings which thrill and soothe us at the grave. May we not be unworthy of such a past!
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
PAUL ADDRESSES TITUS in verse Tit 1:4 but before doing so he points out the characteristic features of his apostleship and service in a series of short and pithy statements. It was according to the faith of Gods elect. Speaking in a general way we may say that the preposition according to indicates character. What characterized his apostleship was the faith, and also the truth which is after or according to godliness. There are all too many nowadays claiming to be ministers of Christ who wish nevertheless to minister according to the latest conclusions of science, falsely so called, or the latest reasonings of unbelief. Notice that the faith spoken of is not the faith of the world nor even the faith of Christendom, but of Gods elect. That unconverted ministers and preachers should deny and even ridicule the faith is very sad but not at all surprising. The faith was never theirs though they may have once given an intellectual adherence to it.
Observe too that the truth is said to be characterized by godliness. Here is a very good test which may be applied in either direction. Certain things are urged upon us as being the very truth of God. We may be hardly equal to the task of analyzing them, comparing them with Scripture and demonstrating their falsity, yet we have no difficulty in observing that the practical effect produced by accepting them as truth is the casting off of godliness. That is sufficient. These things are not the truth of God. Or, it may be, a certain course of action is urged upon us which would be quite profitable and seem sensible enough. But it is not according to the truth. Then we may be quite sure it is not godliness and is to be avoided.
Further, as verse Tit 1:2 tells us, Pauls apostleship was in view of an immense blessing which in its fulness lay in the future. In reading the New Testament we meet pretty frequently with the expression, eternal life, and if we carefully considered all the passages we should discover that its meaning is not easily exhausted: it carries within it profound depths of blessing.
Nothing is more certain in Scripture than that the believer in Christ has eternal life, and has it now. This side of things is specially stressed in the writings of the apostle John. We believers already have this life in Christ, and already we are introduced into the relationships, and made participators of the understanding and communion and joys and activities which are proper to that life. Still the fulness of eternal life is not yet arrived, as our verse indicates, and this view of it is in keeping with the first allusion that Scripture makes to it in Psa 133:3. The only other allusion in the Old Testament is in Dan 12:2, and in both these passages it refers to the blessing of the bright age which is coming, when the curse will be lifted from off creation and death be the exception rather than the rule as at present. When the earth is flooded with the light of the knowledge of the Lord the blessing of ever-lasting life will be enjoyed.
The Old Testament does not lift our thoughts from the earth as the New Testament does. The verse we are considering shows us that eternal life was in Gods thoughts before the world began, and in keeping with that it will abide in all its fulness when this world has ceased to be. We live in hope of it, and our hope is sure because based upon the Word of God, who cannot lie.
If any find difficulty in reconciling Johns assurance of the present possession of eternal life with Pauls hope of it in the future, they will do well to remember that we commonly use the word life in more senses than one. For instance a man refers to a person critically ill and says, While there is life there is hope. By life he means the vital spark, the vital energy BY which we live. Another man who has been squandering a lot of money in the pursuit of pleasure remarks that he has been seeing life. He is mistaken of course as to what really constitutes life, but he clearly uses the word as meaning those relationships and enjoyments that go to make up life practically-the life IN which we live.
We have eternal life now as truly and as much as we shall have it, if we are speaking of the former use of the word. But if we think of the latter use we can rejoice that we are going to know it in far fuller measure than we do today. Walking through a greenhouse we espied amongst other tropical plants a cactus which looked like a fairly straight cucumber covered with small spines and stuck upright in a pot. We recognized in it a dwarf specimen of the cactus we had seen by the score in Jamaica standing 20 feet high or perhaps more. The little dwarf was as much alive as the giant cactus. Its life was of precisely the same order. All the difference lay in the environment.
This may illustrate our point, for though we have eternal life the world is an icy place, and the enjoyments proper to that life are found, by the Holy Spirit given to us, in Gods Word and amongst Gods people and in Gods service, which provide us with a kind of greenhouse in the midst of the cold world. We are in hope however of transplantation into the warm tropical regions to which eternal life belongs. In hope of that the Apostle lived and served, and so do we.
We must notice the word promised in verse Tit 1:2. Eternal life was not merely purposed before the world existed but promised. To whom?-seeing that man as yet did not exist. At any rate we may safely say that when the Lord Jesus became Man to glorify Gods name and redeem men it was under the promise that He should become the Fountain Head of eternal life to those given to Him, as is stated in Joh 17:2.
If verse Tit 1:2 of our chapter looks on into a coming eternity when the promise made in a past eternity shall be fulfilled, verse Tit 1:3 speaks of the present in which Gods word is being manifested through preaching; and the commandment authorizing that preaching has come forth from God our Saviour, consequently the result of that preaching when believed is salvation. This preaching or proclamation was entrusted in the first place to Paul. It would indeed be well if every one who today has a part in this great work were deeply impressed with its dignity and importance. Woe betide us if we make the preaching a platform for the manifestation of our own cleverness or importance! It is for the manifestation of the Word of God.
With verse Tit 1:5 the main theme of the epistle begins. Paul had been to Crete and left before he had had time to give the infant churches instructions as to many things. He therefore left Titus behind that he might do it, and also appoint elders with his authority. Verses Tit 1:6-9 follow, giving the characteristics that must be found in such.
These verses are not a mere repetition of what we have in 1Ti 3:1-16. Conditions in Crete differed from those at Ephesus. There were similar dangers from unruly and vain talkers and deceivers in both places, but the natural characteristics of the Cretian race were peculiarly bad, so much so that some prophet of their own, some heathen seer, had been moved to denounce them in strong terms as always liars, evil wild beasts, lazy gluttons. Such was the old nature of the converted Cretians, and such it remained in them when converted; and alas! it was manifesting itself and hence Titus in verse Tit 1:13 is instructed to administer to them a sharp rebuke.
A liar is evidently no lover of the truth. An evil wild beast (for that is what the word used really means) does not love restraint, especially the restraint of good, since insubjection is its very nature. A lazy glutton thinks of little save that which ministers to self, and self in its lowest desires. See, then, how completely the apostolic instructions meet this sad condition.
Those elder men whom Titus was to appoint as bishops were to be such as held fast the faithful word. They were to be lovers of the truth. Moreover they were to hold it fast as they had been taught; that is, they were to recognize the authority with which it had been originally given and to carefully respect that authority and be subject to it. Hence in addition to being themselves sober men they were to be able to minister sound doctrine with effect. The men branded by the Apostle as deceivers were ready to teach anything if only there were money in it, and this of course would be quite in keeping with the Cretian spirit, for to be able to acquire money easily is a prime necessity for the lazy glutton. On the other hand the bishop is to be a man neither given to wine nor to filthy lucre, or base gain. Marked himself then by godly features, the very opposite of those which were natural to the Cretians, he would be well qualified to exercise rule amongst them.
Before proceeding, notice that this scripture assumes that matters in the assembly are to be regulated by God. Had it been just a matter of human preference or choice Paul would have told Titus to stir up the Cretians to develop a church order and to establish church customs as they thought most suited to their island and its ways. He did nothing of the kind, but rather told him to set in order the things that are wanting since the divine order has been made known. The fact is that the divine order is extremely simple demanding nothing but lowliness and grace and spirituality-but that really is where the trouble lies, for men naturally love that which is ornate and showy and imposing.
Notice also that the men who were to be ordained as elders, in verse Tit 1:5, are spoken of as bishops in verse 7. The word in the former verse is presbuteros from which we get the words presbyter, Presbyterian. The word in the latter verse is episcopos from which we get episcopal, Episcopalian. A presbyter is an elder and an episcopos or bishop is an overseer -for that is the simple meaning of the word-and originally they were but different terms for the same man!
Now the bishops were to be men of soberness and sound in the faith, as we have seen, but all believers are to be sound in the faith as verse Tit 1:13 shows. That is the thing of first importance. If we are right ourselves-pure ourselves-then all things are pure to us for the inward holiness preserves from infection. On the contrary, the defiled and unbelieving defile all they touch.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
The Epistle to Titus
Tit 1:1-16 and Tit 2:1-15
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
The Epistle of Paul to Titus carries with it some very striking “admonitions which will be found most helpful to us. Titus was a young man whom Paul left in Crete for the fulfillment of a definite spiritual task for his Master.
Titus had found anything else than smooth sailing. Difficulties had beset him on every hand.
1. The people among whom Titus labored. In chapter 1, Tit 1:12, we read that “The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts,” and gluttonous. This was the statement of one of their own prophets, and Paul said that the witness was true.
Perhaps, as Titus saw the vulgarity and weakness of the Cretians, he despaired of ever being able to accomplish anything spiritual in so vile a locality.
We, too, are sent to labor among men dominated by the lower passions of the flesh, or driven along by the baser desires of the mind. The Cretians are not the only liars, nor are they the only people who may be properly called “evil beasts.” There are plenty of men all about us who may be likened to bears and tigers. Some even partake of the nature of creeping things, and of the beasts which wallow in the mud and mire of the swineherd.
God has said that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. All men may not have sinned equally, but all are equally sinners.
2. The people whom Titus was commanded to make elders and leaders in the churches in Crete were to be people of highest spiritual culture. They were to be aged men, and aged women, young men, and young women, also servants, against whom there could be no reproach, but who contrariwise were people taught of God in His Word, and made ready for any good work. As Titus looked about him to secure such Christians for service, he found himself at a loss, and perhaps he despaired of ever performing that to which he was sent.
3. The arrival of Paul’s Letter. It was, doubtless, at just such a moment as this that Paul’s Letter arrived enforcing the instructions which had already been verbally given to Titus. Perhaps, as the young servant began to read Paul’s Letter, he said to himself, “It may be very well in the churches where Paul has been, to appoint bishops who are blameless and not self-willed, not soon angry, nor given to wine, but it cannot be done in Crete.” Titus, no doubt, said within himself, “The Apostle has no idea of conditions upon this island.” Then, as Titus read Paul’s Letter, he saw that Paul did know, because Paul described the Cretians perfectly, and acknowledged their villainy.
4. How it could be done. With the command of sobriety, temperance, love, patience, discretion, and sincerity on the part of saints before Titus, he was almost ready to throw up his hands in despair when he read in Paul’s Letter: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men” (Tit 2:11).
It was over against the corruption of the Cretians that Paul cast the grace of God.
Titus was right. There was no power in human relationship, neither was there power in the Cretians to change themselves into the high ideals of Christian manhood and womanhood which Paul demanded. This, Paul knew. However, he also knew that the grace of God was, and still is, sufficient.
Paul went so far as to say that the grace of God would teach the Cretians how that “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.”
It will be most interesting in view of the moral conditions in Crete, and the high ideals demanded of them upon the basis of their salvation, to study this Epistle in somewhat of detail. Whatever we do, let us never lower the Gospel to the ideals and conceptions of a godless race. Let us rather believe in the power of the Gospel to change the vilest heart into the most beautiful expression of holy living. Remember this: When John G. Paton went to the New Hebrides Islands he found men in depths as deep as those described of the Cretians, but the Gospel transformed those islands of black faces into white-hearted believers.
I. THE BIBLE DEMANDS UPON ELDERS (Tit 1:5-6)
Elders were to be selected from among the Cretian churches, and appointed to the service of those churches. The work of the elders was to be that of the spiritual oversight of the saints. In many churches those who hold the position of elders are called “pastors,” and another Scriptural name is “deacons.” In the churches of our day, elders, or deacons, we fear, do not always hold to the standards set forth by the Holy Ghost through Paul in his Church Epistles.
1. The elder was to be blameless. The word does not mean sinless. To be sinless means to be without sin. To be blameless means to be without fault. In 1Th 5:23 we read these striking words: “And the very God of Peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He who would be a leader in the house of God must know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and true holiness. He must “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” Let us remember how the Bible says, “Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.” God never asks unclean hands or feet to do His service.
2. The elder was to be the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly. The Bible herein demands not only blamelessness on the part of the elder, but blamelessness on the part of his children. The basis on which this demand is made is this: He who is unable to command his own children aright will find himself unable to command the house of God.
The responsibilities of the father do not end in the life which he lives, but in the lives which his children live. We are responsible for ourselves, but we are also responsible for them. God said of Abraham: “I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.” The duty of the parent is not to bring up his children in the way they want to go, but in the way they should go.
3. The bishop was to be blameless as a steward of God. We pass for a moment from the elder to the bishop. The bishop was in place of authority and leadership in the church, a step higher than the elder. An elder might be a bishop, however. The bishop was an overseer in charge of spiritualities. He was to be blameless in his stewardship. He was to be neither selfwilled, nor soon angry. He was not to be given to wine, neither was he to be a striker, that is contentious. We might say he was not to be a fighter. He was not to be given to love of money, here called “filthy lucre,” but he was to be a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate. In addition to these things, he was to hold fast the faithful Word as he had been taught.
What a marvelous array of spiritual attainment we have here. Our young people may feel prone to consider the elders, the deacons, and the overseers of their own churches by the side of these Divine commands. Perhaps, you will find some of them, at least, who fall far short of God’s standards. If this is true, neither excuse the church on the one hand, nor the church leaders on the other hand. God’s Word is written to be obeyed, not to be memorized. If elders and bishops do not come up to God’s demands, they should refuse to serve the churches; and the churches should refuse to permit them to serve.
II. THE BIBLE DEMANDS UPON THE AGED MEN (Tit 2:1-2)
God did not see fit to group all the church members together. He rather separates the disciples into various groups or classes. We have now before us the “aged men.” There are several things demanded of these. They are to be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in love in patience. Let us take the first three statements together.
1. The aged men were to be sober, grave, and temperate. A little farther on in Tit 2:1-15 we read that the grace of God teaches us to live soberly. The word does not mean solemnly as though we were demanded to rid ourselves of all of the joy of the Lord. The word does demand sobriety. It is telling the aged men that they should not be given over to frivolity, to revellings, and such like. They should be grave, remembering that “life is real, life is earnest.” They should not think of life as a joke.
They were to be temperate. The word may include what it usually means today: the opposite of drunkenness. However, we should be temperate in all things, and given to excess in none.
2. The aged men should be sound in the faith and in charity. Once more we group two words together. The “faith” has to do with “doctrine.” It is not enough to be saved. We must know the Truth. Men who are aged are supposedly matured. They are ripe in thought. They are not running off on tangents, or fanaticisms. They are not carried about by every wind of doctrine, but they are built up and established in the faith.
Not only were they to be sound in their doctrine, but they were to be sound in their love. We may be right without being kind; we may be true without being tender. We may be grounded in the faith without being gentle in our spirit. As we become older we are likely to become charred by severity. The older men have never been given the privilege to shelve their love one for another.
3. The aged men should be patient. God knows the human heart. He knows that as people get older they become more and more dogmatic in their demands. They have reached a place of sobriety and of soberness, and of gravity which has a tendency to impatiently frown upon the lighthearted and seeming thoughtlessness of youth. These things grieve the Spirit of God, God wants the aged to be sober and grave, but He wants them also to be filled with love and patience.
III. THE BIBLE DEMANDS UPON AGED WOMEN (Tit 2:3)
As we study the words delivered by the Spirit of God to the aged women, we cannot fail to see that God fully realizes the natural tendency of the flesh.
1. The aged women in behavior should BECOME holiness. We take it that this expression means that their behavior should be an ornament to their holiness. Holiness is a wonderful word. It stands for the very highest in godliness, for God is holy. However, here is a very startling thing: aged women should adorn holiness. They should so live that they will make holiness the more beautiful and the more sublime. Surely such a standard as this could not be given to the women of Crete from any natural accomplishment. It must have been that these aged women had met God, and had known His power,
2. The aged women should not be false accusers. We have somehow, or other, always linked the critical tongue and the accusing lips to aged women. If this were true, it would be true to their shame. Aged women who are Christians must not be false accusers. Let us mark well the adjective. It is all right for the aged women to see the shortcomings of the younger women, but they must be very careful not to falsely accuse them. To the contrary they should be helpers to those younger than themselves.
3. The aged women should be teachers of good things. It is not enough to be good. We must help others to be good. It is not enough to be right; we must teach the right. The aged women should not only practice good things, but they should proclaim the good things which they practice.
The younger women and the younger men have, perhaps, rather enjoyed the Apostle’s charge to the aged men and the aged women, but he is now going to speak to the young men and the young women. If we have felt the justice of the statements to the elders, let us see if God is not just as clear in His statements to the younger.
IV. THE BIBLE DEMANDS UPON YOUNG WOMEN (Tit 2:4-5)
1. The young women are to be sober. Here is something that was demanded of the aged men. Does God desire to put old heads on young shoulders? Not at all, but He does demand that young women should not be given to worldly living. In another chapter we read that she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. Young women must walk in sobriety of spirit and thought. They must think of life as more than a flitting moment of pleasure. They must be sober.
2. Young women are to love their husbands and their children. The highest ambition and the deepest yearning of the heart of a young woman should be for her husband and her children. The Lord explains here to the young women the solution of a happy life. We read that when Enoch reached a certain age he walked with God and begat sons and daughters. Family life is not to be shunned by the young woman, but it is to be her ideal.
3. The young woman must be discreet, chaste, and a keeper at home. The word “discreet” has to do with conduct. The word “chaste” has to do with character. “Keeper at home” has to do with her environment.
The young woman is to be discreet in her actions toward others, and particularly toward other men. As long as she was unmarried, and had not yet made her vow to a man she was at liberty, but now that she is married she must walk in discretion, giving the world no opportunity to berate her fidelity.
She is to be chaste; that is, she is to be clean, pure in thought, in word, and in deed. “Chaste” also carries with it the thought of cleanliness and propriety in her attire. She should not be slovenly and careless in dress any more than she should be in life.
She should be “a keeper at home,” because her home is her paradise, her Eden. Her first duty is to her husband and to her children. She cannot be running around in the streets, attending clubs, and allowing some one else to be caring for her home and her children.
4. The young woman is to be obedient to her husband, otherwise, the Word of God will be blasphemed. The word “obedience” carries with it the thought of giving honor and deference to her husband. She is not to berate him, and to cry out against him, but to recognize in him the head of the home.
V. THE BIBLE DEMANDS UPON YOUNG MEN (Tit 2:6-8)
Perhaps the young men have enjoyed listening to what God had to say to the young women, but now is the time for the young men to sit up and take notice, for God has something to say to them. We are sure that they will agree that statement by statement the Lord has spoken right relative to themselves.
1. Young men are to show themselves a pattern. They are to be models not to things evil, but to things good: models in good works; models in doctrine. In this Scripture there is no recognition of that oft-heard statement that a young man must have his fling. God gives young men no place for “sowing wild oats.” They should be strong and overcome the wicked one. They should, in the church, be a pattern of good works, a model by which the old men, old women, and the young women may fashion themselves. God realizes that young men are active, energetic, and therefore He would harness all of this energy into what He calls “good works.”
2. Young men in doctrine are to be uncorrupt, grave, and sincere. God never permits a man to believe as he lists, any more than He permits him to live as he lists. The aged disciple, John, wrote about the sons and the daughters of his beloved Gaius, and of the one whom he called “the elect lady” as “walking in Truth.” Young men need to know the Truth. The Truth will make them free.
3. Young men are to be of sound speech that cannot be condemned. They are to weigh their words. They are to use sentences which will glorify God. Too many young men are given to jesting, to uncouth and unclean language. They forget that their conversation is in Heaven. Young men who are Christians should use words which will be “as apples of gold and pitchers of silver.” “Whatsoever things are pure,” and holy, and of good report, whatsoever things are filled with virtue and with praise, such things should be the gist of their thoughts and of their conversation.
VI. THE BIBLE DEMANDS UPON SERVANTS (Tit 2:9-10)
Perhaps we thought that servants would not even be recognized by the Lord when He marked off the various groups in His Churches. God, however, does recognize the servants, for with Him there is no respect of persons. Thus the man who holds the place of servitude among his fellows is recognized by the Lord, and is given a place of honor.
1. Of the servant God demands fidelity and obedience to his master. The servant is to seek to please his master in all things. He is to serve obediently, not answering again. He is not to purloin, but to show all good fidelity.
We wonder if God inadvertently is not writing unto all of us who are servants to Him. We, too, as servants, should be obedient to our Master, even to Jesus Christ. We should seek to please Him, never answering back.
2. Servants may adorn the doctrine in all things. We spoke a while ago about aged women in their behavior becoming holiness; here is a stronger statement. Servants may adorn the Gospel. The Gospel is the good news from a far country. Paul said that the Gospel which he preached was not after man, and he neither received it but by the Holy Ghost. The Gospel was divided into three outstanding messages: (1) The message of Christ crucified; (2) The message of Christ risen and ascended; (3) The message of Christ coming again. It was of this Gospel that Paul said, “I am not ashamed.” It was this Gospel which Christ commanded us to preach to every creature. Think of it! Think of it-this Gospel! The Gospel which is called “the glorious Gospel”: this Gospel the servants may adorn by their beautiful lives, by their submission to their masters, by their meekness of spiritual fidelity in action. Thus they may make the Gospel more beautiful.
It seems that that which is round could not be “rounder”; that which is perfect could not be more perfect; that which is holy could not be more holy: and yet the Gospel which is the supreme statement of all that is beautiful and glorious in God’s love and compassion toward men may be decorated by the faithful lives of His humblest saints.
AN ILLUSTRATION
HOLY SPIRIT’S INFILLING
Standing on the deck of a ship in mid-ocean, you see the sun reflected from its depths. From a little boat on a mountain lake you see the sun reflected from its shallow waters. Looking into the mountain spring not more than six inches in diameter, you see the same great sun. Look into the dewdrop of the morning, and there it is again. The sun has a way of adapting itself to its reflections. The ocean is not too large to hold it, nor the dewdrop too small. So God can fill any man, whether his capacity be like the ocean, like the mountain lake, like the spring, or like the dewdrop. Whatever, therefore, be the capacity, there is opened up the possibility of being “filled with the fulness of God.”
Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost before he did his miracles as the wire is full of electricity before you turn on the light. As occasion required, the Holy Spirit worked through him to perform these wonders.-Major D. W. Whittle.
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Tit 1:1. Paul mentions his relation to God as servant before that of apostle, which is a mark of humbleness. Faith of God’s elect. God elects or chooses as His own, all men who fully embrace the faith or New Testament system of religion. This service of Paul was according to that faith which embraced acknowledging of the truth. The truth meant here is that which is after godliness or piety.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
The Salutation, 1-4.
Tit 1:1. The title servant of God, occurring in Jas 1:1, but nowhere else in Pauls inscriptions, is a peculiarity which tells against suspicion of forgery.
According to (better, with a view to), introduces the double design of his apostle-ship, viz:(1) the production of faith in Gods chosen ones (or of that genuine faith which only the chosen have) (cf. Rom 1:5); and (2) the production in believers of a full knowledge (not acknowledging) of the truth, or entire Gospel revelation. A dual design: faith and knowledge. Against certain errorists, this truth tends to godliness, a Pauline word frequent in Pastoral Epistles, denoting that religious fear of God in the heart which penetrates and rules the whole conduct.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Division 1. (Tit 1:1-16.)
The truth according to godliness.
The connection of truth with godliness, that is, the inseparability of the two, is that which is first insisted on. The character of the relation itself comes afterwards.
1. The truth is emphasized at the very start. Paul speaks of himself as a “bondman of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which is after godliness.” The opening words, as usual, give us thus the key to the epistle. The election of God is that which is the final dependence of the soul, that is, the will of God in love which goes out after its objects; a will which, surely, nothing can oppose, which must be characterized by His own nature, which alone, therefore, can give the limits of it. God cannot lie, God cannot repent; and in every manifestation of His will we find the activity of a nature which is love, and is so as much as anywhere in the refusal of the evil itself, which is the destruction of everything. It is not an arbitrary thing on God’s part, that He ordains the judgment of evil, which is the necessary contradiction of His whole nature, and of all, therefore, that can possibly be for blessing. Love is in this way intolerant, of necessity. Tolerance here could not be love. God has His own way in grace of meeting souls in the deepest need that can be, but grace itself is never apart from the destruction of evil. Thus, there is that by which this grace of God works. If God saves, it is by “sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” There is no other way. Man has everywhere received and drunk in the lie of the devil. By that lie, if it is not refused, he is destroyed. All the corruption that is in the world has come in through it. Thus, then, there must be the acknowledgment of the truth which is after godliness. For this, the apostle is set. He is the minister of it, his confidence being that “hope of eternal life which God who cannot lie promised before the age-times.” We see, as in Timothy so here, the going back to the beginning. Whatever may have come in since, God’s purpose as revealed there abides. Whatever the delay and the need of patience, yet the end is certain. These “age-times,” we have already seen, are practically the dispensations, the different steps by which God has worked out and developed what was in His mind, and made way for the full truth, which is now manifested. That long preparation of the world for that in which alone lies all blessing for man is a lesson most serious in its nature as to what man is, while it has reference also, no doubt, to the manifestation of things before the principalities and powers, the creatures of God outside of humanity, but who, nevertheless, are personally interested in all that in which God reveals Himself. How deep this interest is we have now, and can have, probably, but little knowledge; yet we have glimpses of it scattered all through the word of God. The earth, with all the littleness which infidelity, with its feigned humility, has pointed out to us, has, nevertheless, been the theatre of that with which God has connected the manifestation of His glory as nowhere else, and the very littleness of man himself, as well as the evil condition in which he is found, has part in the manifestation. The time of full revelation is now come. This is the very season of God appointed for it; and how much, if we entered into this, might we reckon upon therefore, if indeed the knowledge of God Himself is that which in a practical sense is our very life itself. “For this is life eternal, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” How little have we entered into the character of the present dispensation! How little have our hearts grasped of this desire of God to communicate His mind to us, and to bring us thus into fellowship with Himself -no longer as those to whom He speaks as servants merely, and who are to move obedient to His will, but as unto children, those brethren among whom Christ Himself takes His place as the First-born, and to whom, as unto friends, He becomes the revealer of the Father’s counsels.
If we knew this aright, what interest would it give to every part of Scripture, to His thoughts with regard to His people Israel, and, back of them, to that display of Himself in nature, to which Scripture is the key! How wonderful to be those upon whom, thus, the ends of the ages are come, and to whom the stores that have been accumulated all along the line of revelation become the treasury of faith! This is His word, to which Paul was devoted -not simply His gospel, though the gospel must be the beginning everywhere, necessarily, and at once introduces the soul that has received it into the very heart of divine revelation. But the Word itself goes far beyond what we commonly call this, and is nothing less than that which is not merely to bring us out of sin into holiness, but to qualify us for that place with Christ to which infinite grace has destined us. How little we realize what the body of Christ means in this way, that body in which the Spirit dwells as never before, in order to give us capacity for the reception of these communications! When will we awake to realize and answer to this grace of God?
Again, we find the apostle insisting upon the character of God as a Saviour-God, a commandment from whom is just that which manifests the energy of a love which imperatively requires the fulfilment of its counsels. He is writing to Titus, his true child, as he declares, even as Timothy was -his child according to the faith which he had been the instrument used of God in communicating to him. To him he wishes grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus the Saviour. This individuality which the epistle emphasizes, as we have seen also with the epistles to Timothy, is that which, while it comes out in the most distinct way in the ruin of the Church which has come in, yet was always an absolute necessity. The soul must be for itself before God. We are not saved in the multitude, but saved individually; and in all our life, the more simply we have to do with God Himself, for ourselves, as if there were none other, the more fitted we shall be for fellowship with others, and to serve the ends for which God has united us together.
2. Titus had been left in Crete distinctly to complete the order of the assembly there, and to appoint elders in every city. The characters required in an elder are stated much as in Timothy, especially the family character, as one may say; for the elder is to be a father in the local assembly. Thus, he must be “the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of excess, or unruly.” For the character of his children he is thus distinctly accounted as responsible. As an overseer, he is to be blameless as a steward of God, with nothing that would show a lack of government in his own spirit, “not headstrong, not passionate, not given to wine, no striker, no seeker of base gain.” On the other hand, not merely of a negative character, but “hospitable, a lover of good, discreet, righteous, pious;” himself “holding fast the faithful word according to the doctrine taught, so as to be able both to exhort with sound teaching and convict the gainsayers.”
The circumstances in Crete were of special exigency, and we see in them how, wherever the soul is not fully with God, the natural character necessarily comes up. One of their own, a prophet of themselves, had characterized the Cretans as “always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies” (or, “slothful gluttons”). This did not hinder the grace of God in its work amongst them; for, as we know, it is the glory of God’s grace that it can avail for the chief of sinners; but it showed the character in which the evil, if it were suffered to come out, would display itself. Thus, among the Cretans there were many vain speakers and deceivers, the circumcision having specially this character, through the constant opposition which we have found legality was always manifesting to the truth of God, and the plausible cover of previous revelation under which it sheltered itself. It was imperative that the mouths of such should be stopped, as those who subverted whole houses, teaching things which ought not to be, and always with that character which is so naturally and necessarily displayed among those who are not satisfied with that which alone can satisfy. The corruption which is in the world is through lust, and at the bottom of all this plausible perversion of that which had been given of God there was a spirit coveting that which it counted gain. There was need, therefore, of sharp reproof in these cases -above all, that they might be sound in the faith, the very spring of godliness, as we have seen the epistle declares it. Judaism, astray from the purpose of God with regard to it, was only resulting in fables and commandments of men turning from the truth. The liberty that existed in Christ was denied by it. Rules for outward conduct had supplanted that purity of heart which alone made all things pure, while to the defiled and unbelieving there was really no line of separation at all; to them nothing was pure, even the mind and conscience being defiled. With all this there was the profession of the knowledge of God, while in works they denied Him. We see how the knowledge of God should necessarily result in works accordant -how it will, in fact, necessarily do this, or it is not true knowledge.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
HIS COMMISSION
The epistle to Titus was written prior to 2 Timothy. Alford, and others, suppose that after Pauls liberation from prison (see Acts 28), he journeyed eastward as anticipated in Phm 1:22 and Php 1:26; Php 2:24, visiting Ephesus again. Other journeys to the West followed, occupying three or four years, during which time, he visited Crete in company with Titus, leaving him there to complete the organization of the church in that neighborhood. This church had probably been founded prior to this time, and now the same heresy is beginning to show itself as in the church at Ephesus over which Timothy had been set.
The epistle to Titus was probably written from some point in Asia Minor where Paul was stopping on his way to winter at Nicopolis in Greece (Tit 3:12). Crete is a small island west of Cyprus where the waters of the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas meet. No account is found in Acts as to the circumstances under which the church originated there, but probably the Gospel was borne to the island by the Jewish converts at Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost.
Of Titus himself little is known. The earliest references to him are in Galatians, where we learn that he was a Gentile, probably one of Pauls converts, who accompanied him and Barnabas to Jerusalem at the first council (Acts 15; see also Gal 1:1-4). He is mentioned again in 1 Corinthians, where he seems to have been sent by Paul on a mission to Corinth from Ephesus (2Co 8:6; 2Co 12:18). See other references to him in that epistle, in chapters 2 and 7. For a number of years he is lost sight of after this, until we now find him at Crete. His later career does not seem to have been all that it might have been so far as his loyalty to the apostle is concerned, if we may judge from 2Ti 4:10. During Pauls second imprisonment at Rome he seems not to have remained with him.
The epistle may be outlined thus:
THE SALUTATION (Tit 1:1-4) THE COMMISSION TO TITUS (Tit 1:5-9)
In these verses it will be seen that the duties of Titus at Crete were substantially the same as those of Timothy at Ephesus. Reference to that will throw light on this.
THE DESCRIPTION OF FALSE TEACHERS (Tit 1:10-16)
The need of elders and overseers such as Paul had indicated, was seen in the heresies that were in the church, and which were of the same character as those mentioned in the epistle to Timothy. The errorists were chiefly Jews (Tit 1:10). The language in Tit 1:12-13 is striking, since Paul there quotes from one of their own poets against them (Epimenides), whose witness is borne out by Livy, Plutarch, Polybius and Strabo, who speak of the Cretans love of gain, natural ferocity, fraud, falsehood, and general depravity. Titus did not have an easy place to fill, and his work ought to bring comfort to Christian workers under not very different surroundings today.
There is a statement in Tit 1:15 that calls for particular attention. To the pure all things are pure is an aphorism greatly abused. To understand it, turn back to 1Ti 4:4. The reference here in Titus is the same as there (and in Rom 14:20), to the eating of meats which the Jewish law forbade on ceremonial grounds. The Jewish professing Christians referred to previously as false teachers, were seeking to impose these customs upon the converts from Gentilism, and Paul was withstanding them by saying, as he had contended all along, and as God had taught Peter in Acts 10, that there was nothing of this kind unclean in itself. That is, it was not sinful for a Christian to eat such things. The pure means those who are sanctified by faith, true believers on the Lord Jesus Christ. Such are not bound by the Jewish commandments in eating and drinking, but are at liberty to eat all the creatures of God set apart for their use, without sin.
How monstrous in the light of the true meaning of the words, for people to employ them as a permission to look at obscene pictures in art galleries, and listen to lewd stories, and read impure books, and witness impure plays. These actions on their part testify that they are not the pure Paul has in mind, but the defiled and the unbelieving, referred to later in the same verse. They profess that they know God, but by their works they deny Him.
QUESTIONS
1. Locate Crete.
2. Give the history of Titus.
3. Describe the Cretans.
4. Explain the phrase, To the pure all things are pure.
5. How are these words frequently misapplied?
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
These verses contain the apostle’s salutation, and the first part of this chapter;
in which observe, 1. The person saluting, described by his name, Paul; by his general office, a servant of God; by his special office, an apostle of Jesus Christ; by the end of his office, to preach the faith, and thereby to promote the faith of God’s elect, and to bring persons to the acknowledgment of the doctrine of the gospel, which is truth according to godliness.
Learn hence, That the great design and end of preaching the gospel, is, to produce faith in the heart, and holiness or godliness in the life, of those that sit under it; not that common, notional, and intellectual faith, which is ofttimes found in unholy persons: but that lively faith, which is elsewhere called the faith of the operation of God, and here, the faith of God’s elect; even such a faith as is the parent and principle of obedience.
Observe, 2. The apostle declares a farther end of his office, namely, to raise Christians up to a lively hope and expectation of that eternal life, which that God, who cannot lie, hath promised before the world began.
But how could God then promise, when there was none to promise to?
Ans. The promise was made to Christ, and in him to all his members: for there was a federal transaction betwixt the Father and the Son from all eternity; the Son promised to give his soul an offering for sin, and the Father engaged that he should see his seed, and the travail of his soul.
Observe, 3. How God, who promised us in Christ eternal life before all time, did accompolish and make good that word in the fulness of time.
Tit 1:3. He hath in due time manifested his word through preaching; that is, What God so long ago purposed in himself, and promised to his Son, he hath in the fittest appointed season made manifest by the preaching of the gospel, which is committed to me by the appointment of God and Christ.
Learn hence, That the doctrine of salvation is much more clearly revealed to us that live under the gospel, than it was to the fathers of the Old Testament. Life and immortality, that is, the clearer knowledge and more full assurance of eternal life, is now brought about by the preaching of the gospel.
Observe, 4. The person saluted, Titus, described by his relation. St. Paul’s son in the faith; he begat him by his ministry unto God, was the instrument of his conversion unto Christianity; his son after the common faith.
Where note, That the church has but one faith common to all Christians, it has one common object of faith, Christ crucified; it has one common end of faith, eternal salvation; this is the end of every believer’s faith and hope.
Observe lastly, The salutation itself: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour; that is, all spiritual, temporal, and eternal blessings, I most heartily wish unto you, from God the Father, and Jesus Christ our worthy Mediator.
Learn hence, That whatever spiritual grace or temporal blessings we now receive from God, is from him not barely as a Creator, but as a Father, a gracious Father in Christ, in whom he pours forth the immensity of his love upon us, and through whom he conveys all kind of blessings unto us.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
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Paul, A Servant of God The Greeks had two words for slave. One was used for someone captured in battle and forced into slavery. The other described those born into slavery. Paul used the latter when he called himself a servant of God ( Tit 1:1 a). James uses the same words in Jas 1:1 . Jesus described Moses as a servant of God ( Rev 15:3 ). It is especially appropriate for Christians to think of themselves as slaves. When we are born to walk in newness of life, we change masters from Satan to righteousness ( Rom 6:3-4 ; Rom 6:16-18 ). We are God’s slaves because he bought us with the price of his own Son’s blood ( 1Co 6:19-20 ).
Paul was commissioned by Christ to carry the good news to the Gentiles ( Act 9:15 ). His purpose was to further the cause of Christ and help God’s people grow in faith and knowledge ( Rom 1:5-6 ). He wanted to spread the truth which was associated with godliness. Other truth, for instance from the fields of math and science, could be taught by others. Such preaching is grounded in the hope of eternal salvation. It comes out of the plan God made even before he formed the world ( 2Ti 1:9 ; Rom 16:25 ; Col 1:26 ). That plan had been made known in the church ( Eph 1:9-11 ; Eph 3:8-11 ). Its truth was assured by the fact that it is impossible for God to lie ( Tit 1:1 b-3; Heb 6:18 ).
Titus Titus is one of those people many of us would like to meet. Little is written about him, but what is written commends him. He was born of Gentile parents ( Gal 2:1-3 ). He was a traveling companion of Paul. Like Timothy, Titus is described by Paul as his true son in the faith ( 1Ti 1:2 ; Tit 1:4 ). The apostle sent him to Corinth during a troubled time. Paul was anxious over the report he would bring back. In fact, he left Troas despite the open door he found there ( 2Co 2:12-13 ).
When they met in Macedonia, Paul received comfort from God in the form of Titus’ words. The apostle rejoiced in the way they had refreshed the young preacher. Their response to loving instruction had confirmed the things he had earlier told Titus. Titus grew to love and appreciate them for their obedience (7:6-7, 13-16). Paul urged him to return with the second letter to complete the good work he had begun at Corinth (8:6, 16-18, 23). He described Titus as a partner and fellow worker.
Paul also sent him on a mission to Dalmatia ( 2Ti 4:10 ). He left him in Crete to help the church with things lacking. When the job was finished, the aging apostle wanted him to meet him in Nicopolis ( Tit 1:5 ; Tit 3:12 ). Paul’s prayer for Titus was that he would receive grace, mercy and peace from God ( Tit 1:4 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Tit 1:1. Paul, a servant of the one living and true God In some of his other epistles, Paul calls himself a servant of Jesus Christ; but this is the only one in which he calls himself a servant of God: an appellation which some think he took because the Judaizing teachers in Crete affirmed that he had apostatized from God, by receiving into his church the uncircumcised Gentiles, and thereby freeing them from obedience to the law of Moses, as a term of salvation. And an apostle of Jesus Christ By this title he distinguishes himself from other pious and holy men, who were all servants of God; and asserts his apostleship, not to raise himself in the estimation of Titus, but to make the false teachers in Crete, and all in every age who should read this letter, sensible that every thing he ordered Titus to inculcate was of divine authority. According to the faith of Gods elect That is, Gods true people; the propagation of which faith was the proper business of an apostle. And the acknowledging of the truth That is, the doctrine of the gospel here termed the truth, to distinguish it from the errors of heathenism, and the shadows of the Mosaic law; and because it teaches the true, and the only true way of salvation for Jews and Gentiles; which is after godliness Which in every point agrees with and supports the true, vital, spiritual worship and service of God; and indeed has no other end or scope. These two verses contain the sum of Christianity, which Titus was always to have in his eye.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Titus Chapter 1
The Epistle to Titus is occupied with the maintenance of order in the churches of God.
The especial object of those written to Timothy as the maintenance of sound doctrine, although speaking of other things with regard to which the apostle gives directions for the conduct of Timothy. This the apostle himself tells us. In the First Epistle to Timothy we see that Paul had left his beloved son in the faith at Ephesus, in order to watch that no other doctrine was preached there; the assembly is the pillar and support of the truth. In the Second Epistle we find the means by which Christians are to be strengthened in the truth, when the mass have departed from it.
Here, in Titus, the apostle says expressly that he had left him in Crete to set in order things that wee yet wanting, and to establish elders in every city. Although more or less the same dangers presented themselves to the mind of Paul as when writing to Timothy, yet we find that the apostle enters at once upon his subject with a calmness which shews that his mind was not pre-occupied in the same way with those dangers, and that the Spirit could engage him more entirely with the ordinary walk of the assembly; so that this epistle is much more simple in its character. The walk that becomes Christians, with regard to the maintenance of order in their relationships of each other, and the great principles on which this walk is founded, form the subject of the book. The state of the assembly comes but little before us. Truths that flow more entirely from the Christian revelation, and that characterize it, have more place in this epistle than in those addressed to Timothy. On the other hand, prophecies concerning the future condition of Christianity, and the development of the decline that had already commenced, are not repeated here. While stating in a remarkable way certain truths with respect to Christianity, the tone of the epistle is more calm, more ordinary.
The promise of life is particularly spoken of here as well as in Timothy. Moreover this promise distinguishes Christianity, and the revelation of God (as the Father) in Christ , from Judaism.
But in this epistle the great boundaries of Christianity are set forth at the outset. The faith of the elect, the truth which is according to godliness, the promise before the world began of eternal life, and the manifestation of the word of God through preaching are the subjects of the introduction. The title of Saviour is here, as in Timothy, added to the name of God as well as to that of Christ.
This introduction is not without importance. That which it contains is presented to Titus by the apostle as characterizing his apostleship, and as the special subject of his ministry. It was not a development of Judaism, but the revelation of a life, and of a promise of life which subsisted (that is, in Christ, the object of the divine counsels) before the world was. Accordingly faith was found, not in the confession of the Jews, but in the elect brought by grace to the knowledge of the truth. It was the faith of the elect: this is an important truth, and that which characterizes faith in the world. Others may indeed adopt it as a system; but faith is in itself the faith of the elect. Among the Jews this was not the case. The public confession of their doctrine, and confidence in the promises of God, belonged to every one who was born an Israelite. Others may pretend to the Christian faith; but it is the faith of the elect. Its character is such that human nature neither embraces it nor conceives it, but finds it to be a stumbling-stone. It discloses a relationship with God, which to nature is inconceivable and at the same time presumptuous and insupportable. To the elect it is the joy of their soul. the light of their understanding, and the sustainment of their heart. it places them in a relationship with God which is all that their heart can desire, but which depends entirely on that which God is; and this the believer desires. It is a personal relationship with God Himself; therefore it is the faith of Gods elect. Hence also it is for all the Gentiles as well as the Jews.
This faith of Gods elect has an intimate character in relation to God Himself. It rests on Him, it knows the secret of His eternal counsels-that love which made the elect the object of His counsels. But there is another character connected with it, namely, confession before men. There is the revealed truth by which God makes Himself known, and claims the submission of mans mind and the homage of his heart. This truth places the soul in a true relationship with God. It is truth according to godliness.
The confession of the truth therefore is an important character of Christianity, and of the Christian. There is in the heart the faith of the elect, personal faith in God and in the secret of His love; and there is confession of the truth.
Now that which formed the hope of this faith was not earthly prosperity, a numerous posterity, the earthly blessing of a people whom God acknowledged as His own. I t was life eternal, promised of God in Christ before the world was, outside the world and the divine government of the world and the development of the character of Jehovah in that government.
It was eternal life. It is in connection with the nature and with the character of God Himself; and, having its source in Him, proceeding from Him, it was the thought of His grace, and declared to be such in Christ, before a world existed into which the first man was introduced in responsibility (his failure in which is his history up to Christ the second Man, and the cross in which He bore its consequences for us, and obtained that eternal life for us in its full glory with Himself), and which was the sphere of the development of Gods government over that which was subject to Him-a very different thing from the communion of a life by which one participates in His nature, and which is its reflection. This is the hope of the gospel (for we are not speaking of the assembly here), the secret treasure of the faith of the elect, of which the revealed word assures us.
Promised before the world began is a remarkable and important expression. One is admitted into the thoughts of God before the existence of this changing and mingled scene, which bears witness of the frailty and sin of the creature-of the patience of God, and His ways in grace and in government. Eternal life is connected with the unchangeable nature of God, with counsels which are as abiding as His nature, with His promises, in which He cannot deceive us, and to which He cannot be unfaithful. Our portion in life existed before the foundation of the world, not only in the counsels of God, not only in the Person of the Son, but in the promises made to the Son as our portion in Him. It was the subject of those communications from the Father to the Son, of which we were the objects, the Son being their depository. [1] Marvelous knowledge which has given us of the heavenly communication of which the Son was the object, in order that we might understand the interest which we have in the thoughts of God, of which we were the objects in Christ before all the ages!
That which the word is becomes also more clear to us through this passage. The word is the communication, in time, of the eternal thoughts of God Himself in Christ. It finds man under the power of sin, and reveals peace and deliverance, and it shews ho he can have part in the result of Gods thoughts. But these thoughts themselves are nothing else than the plan, the eternal purpose, of His grace in Christ, to bestow on us everlasting life in Christ-a life which existed in God before the world was. The word is preached, manifested (that is, the revelation of the thoughts of God in Christ). Now those thoughts gave us eternal life in Christ; and this was promised before the ages. The elect, believing, know it, and possess the life itself. They have the witness in themselves; but the word is the public revelation on which faith is founded, and which has universal authority over the consciences of men, whether they receive it or not. Just as in 2Ti 1:9-10 it is presented as salvation, but then made manifest.
It will be observed that faith here, is faith in a personally held, known, truth; a faith which only the elect can have, who possess the truth as God teaches it. The faith is used also for Christianity as a system in contrast with Judaism. Here it is the secret of God in contrast with a law promulgated to an outward people. This promise, which dated from before the revealed ages, and which was sovereign in its application, was especially committed to the apostle Paul that he might announce it by preaching. To Peter the gospel was committed more as the fulfillment of the promises made to the fathers, which Paul also recognizes, with the evangelical events that confirmed and developed them by the power of God manifested in the resurrection of Jesus, the witness of the power of this life.
John presents life more in the Person of Christ and then imparted to us, the characteristic fruits of which he sets forth.
We shall find that the apostle has not the same intimacy of confidence in Titus as in Timothy. He does not open his heart to him in the same way. Titus is a beloved and faithful servant of God and also the apostles son in the faith; but Paul does not open his heart to him in the same manner-does not communicate to him his anxieties, his complainings-does not pour out his soul to him-as he did to Timothy. To tell of all one sees that is heart-breaking and disquieting in the work one is engaged in-that is the proof of confidence. One has confidence with regard to the work, and one speaks of it with regard to oneself, with regard to all, and there is no restraint, no measuring how far one ought to speak of oneself, of what one feels, of all things. This the apostle does with Timothy, and the Holy Ghost has been pleased to portray it for us. In writing to Timothy doctrine above all occupied the apostles mind: by its means the enemy wrought and endeavored to ruin the assembly. Bishops only come into mind as an accessory thing. Here they have a primary place. Paul had left Titus in Crete to set in order the things that were yet wanting, and to ordain elders in every city, as he had already commanded him. It is not here a question of the desire any one might have to become a bishop, nor (in that view) of describing the character suitable to this charge, but of appointing them; and for this task Titus was furnished with authority on the apostles part. The necessary qualifications are made known to him, in order that he might be able to decide according to apostolic wisdom. So that on the one hand he was invested by the apostle with authority to appoint them , and on the other hand instructed by him with respect to the requisite qualifications. Apostolic authority and wisdom concurred to render him competent to perform this grave and important work.
We see also that this apostolic delegate was authorized to set in order that which necessary to the welfare of the assemblies in Crete. Already founded, they yet needed directions with regard to many details of their walk; and apostolic care was requisite to give them these, as well as for the establishment of functionaries in the assemblies. This task the apostle had committed to the approved fidelity of Titus, furnished with his own authority by word of mouth and here in writing; so that to reject Titus was to reject the apostle and consequently the Lord who had sent him. Authority in the assembly of God is a serious thing-a thing that proceeds from God Himself. It can be exercised through influence by the gift of God; by functionaries, when God establishes them by instruments whom He has chosen and sent for this purpose.
It is not necessary here to enter upon the detail of qualifications that were fill the office of bishop suitably. They are, in the main, the same as those mentioned in the epistle to Timothy. They are qualities, not gifts; qualities-outward, moral, and circumstantial-that proved the fitness of the individual for the charge of watching over others. It may perhaps occasion surprise that the absence of gross misconduct should have a place here; but the assemblies were more simple than people think, and the persons of whom they were composed had but recently come out from the most deplorable habits; and therefore a previous conduct that commanded the respect of others was necessary to give weight to the exercise of the office of superintendence. It was also needful that he who was invested with this charge should be able to convince gainsayers. For they would have to do with such, especially among the Jews, who were always and everywhere active in opposition to the truth, and subtle in perverting the mind.
The character of the Cretans occasioned other difficulties, and required the exercise of preemptory authority; Judaism mingled itself with the effect of this national character. It was needful to be firm and to act with authority, that they might continue sound in the faith.
Moreover, he had still to speak concerning ordinances and traditions, those evil plagues in the church of God which provoke Him to jealousy, and which, by exalting man, are opposed to His grace. One thing was not pure, another was forbidden by an ordinance. God claims the heart. To the pure all things are pure; for him whose heart is defiled it needs not to go out of himself to find that which is impure; but convenient, in order to be able to forget what is within. The mind and conscience are already corrupt. They talk of knowing God, but in their works they deny Him, being unprofitable and reprobate as regards every work really good.
Titus, who was not only to appoint others for the purpose, but, being there clothed with authority, was himself to watch over the order and moral walk of the Christians, was charged (as is the case throughout these three epistles-Timothy, Titus, Philemon) to see that every one, according to his position, walked in agreement with moral and relative propriety-an important thing, and which shelters from the attacks of Satan, and from confusion in the assembly. True liberty reigns in the assembly; moral order secures this; and the enemy finds no better occasion to dishonour the Lord and ruin the testimony and throw all into disorder, thus giving the world occasion to blaspheme, than the forgetfulness of grace and holy order among Christians. Let us not deceive ourselves: if these proprieties are not maintained (and they are beautiful and precious), then the liberty (and it is beautiful and precious, and unknown to the world, who are ignorant of what grace is), the excellent liberty of the Christian life, gives room for disorder which dishonors the Lord and throws moral confusion into everything.
Often, in perceiving that the weakness of man has given occasion to disorder where Christian liberty reigns, instead of seeking the true remedy, men have destroyed the liberty; they banish the power and operation of the Spirit-for where the Spirit is, there is liberty in every sense-the joy of the new relationships in which all are one. But, while severing every bond for the Lords sake when necessary, the Spirit recognizes every relationship which God has formed; even when we break them-as death does-through the exigency of the call of Christ, which is superior to them all. But while we are in them (the call of Christ apart), we are to act suitably to the relationship. Age and youth, husband and wife, child and parent, slave and master, all have their own proprieties to maintain towards each other, a behavior in accordance with the position in which we stand.
Footnotes for Titus Chapter 1
1: Compare Pro 8:30-31 and Luk 2:14 and Psa 40:6-8, hast thou opened being really, thou has dug ears for me-that is, prepared a body, the place of obedience, or a servant (Php 2:1-30) so translated by LXX, and accepted in Hebrews as just.
Fuente: John Darby’s Synopsis of the New Testament
Tit 1:1-3. Paul, a servant of God, and not a servant of Moses. This style is much the same as in 2Ti 1:1, respecting the promise of eternal life. This promise is according to the faith of Gods elect, believed by all the elect people of God; for he promised it coval with the plan of our redemption, before the world began. The gracious Creator of heaven and earth had every possible idea before him of the formation and arrangement of every creature, and he has always elicited that which was best. In like manner the fall, and the moral character of man being before him, from before the foundation of the world, he declared his pleasure, that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpents head; and even when he distinguished Abraham from the idolaters, he equally declared his pleasure, that all the families of the earth should be blessed in Christ, and that the gentiles should be fellow-heirs with the jews of the grace of life. In all those gracious plans of predestination and providence, there is no enmity in God to man; for enmity is the nature of the serpent. The glorious high throne of grace has been our sanctuary from the beginning. It is open to every one, and with all the plenary invitations of the gospel. Who then will dare to shut it? This doctrine is therefore the richest consolation of the gospel; and which salvation, the gospel, , that which saveth all men, Paul was sent to preach: Tit 2:11. With this consolation to the gentiles, despised of the jews, Paul mostly opens all his epistles.
Tit 1:4. To Titus mine own son. St. Paul had appointed him to superintend the island of Crete, noted as a very wicked and lascivious country. Paul loved him most tenderly as his own bowels. According to Erasmus, he wrote this letter to him from a city of Epirus, called Nicopol, lying on the seacoast, and situate in a cliff called Leucate, or the cliff of Actium. And as there is no mention of persecution, it would seem that the church enjoyed repose. Hence, the letter is restricted to doctrine and discipline.
Tit 1:5. For this cause left I thee in Crete, now Candia, so called because the ancient inhabitants were Caretes. It is about two hundred miles in length, and fifty in breadth. The island is mountainous, and therefore abounds with springs and rivers. It could once boast of a hundred cities, but now, says Boiste, thirty thousand is the number of its inhabitants, chiefly Turks, Greeks, and Jews. One of its mountains was once laid open by an earthquake. Christianity in Crete was coval, without much doubt, with the dispersion of the church on the martyrdom of Stephen. Titus was left here to establish discipline, and to ordain elders in all the hundred cities, for christian churches were so many synagogues reformed to Christ, as stated on Mat 4:23. Lev 23:3. The catholic writers say, that Titus was appointed archbishop of Crete for life. But that idea does not accord with his call, like that of Paul, to be an apostolic man to the gentile world.
Tit 1:6. The husband of one wife. 1Ti 3:2. Theophylacts comment here is, that matrimony is joined with episcopasy, and is therefore a hallowed institution; it can ascend the holy throne and seat of the chief pastor. The other characters of those elders, and they were not all ministers of the word, will be found in 1 Timothy 3.
Tit 1:9-14. To convince the gainsayers. Opening and alleging out of the scriptures to the jews, that Jesus is the Christ; calling the gentiles to repentance for their violations of the law of nature, and revolts against the power of conscience. Demonstrating also the truth of christianity by arguments, and by such signs as God was pleased to give, and by promises of the Holy Spirit to every believer.
A bishop must also be able to look the jewish teachers in the face, and rebuke them sharply for their slanders of the Cretians; slanders which were particularly unwise and foolish in teachers. See on 1Ti 1:4.
Even a prophet of their own. Callimachus, a native of Crete, said, in his hymn to Jove, , The Cretes are always liars. But Callimachus does not say it in the sarcastical sense of those jewish teachers. Evil beasts, dogs, wolves, tigers, lions. Slow bellies, gluttons, monstrous eaters.
Tit 1:15. Unto the pure, all things are pure. This is generally applied to ceremonial prohibitions of meats. Rom 14:20. But in a moral view a man of simplicity does all things with a pure and upright mind, and unsuspicious of evil, while unholy men pollute all that they touch; for the prayer of the wicked is sin. Their whole heart, and life, and conscience are polluted.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Tit 1:1-4. Salutation.Paul sends to Titus, his true son in their common faith, his customary Christian greeting. Writing in his official capacity (1Ti 1:1 f.*), he appropriately emphasizes the design of his officea design based on the hope of life eternal. This is to foster in those who have responded to Gods call faith and knowledge of the truth that is directed to godly living. Eternal life was promised by God before eternai ages, but the actual manifestation of His Word in its seasonable time was granted in the message with which he, Paul, was entrusted according to Gods own command.
Tit 1:1. a servant (lit. slave) of God: a unique phrase in Paul, but cf. Jas 1:1*
Tit 1:3. God our Saviour: 1Ti 1:1*.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Paul writes both as a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, so that in the epistle considerate care is mingled with firm authority. His basis of writing is, first, the faith of God’s elect; that is, the whole range of the Christian revelation, that which is the common property of those elect of God, and which attaches them both to God and to one another. The individual (Titus) cannot be separated from this. And secondly, “the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness.” The truth is certainly of vital importance, the basis of all that is good and profitable. Yet if truth is rightly held, it will unfailingly issue in godliness, and as we have before seen, it is this precious balance of truth and godliness that this book presses upon us: one must not be separated from the other. If one claims any knowledge of the truth, let him evidence it in a godly walk and character.
This also however involves a prospect of greatest magnitude, that of eternal life, life in its fullest, perfected form, which cannot be touched by those things that corrupt this present life. This does not in any way deny that the believer now possesses eternal life as a vital, living reality in his soul but in the future he will enter into those outward circumstances also that are vibrant with the same life; there will be nothing around him then that is subject to death and decay. There is no shadow of doubt about this, for God, who cannot lie, promised it before the ages of time. This expression has been thought to refer to a promise before man existed, of which there appears to be no other record. However, since the ages of time properly began after man had sinned, and God began His work of dealing with him in various ways through the ages, is it not possible that the promise refers to that promise of life implied in the Seed of the woman bruising the serpent’s head (Gen 3:15). This was certainly the introduction of Him who is Himself “that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested to us.”
The manifestation of that eternal life is now only seen in the Word of God, and this manifestation “in due time” is of course the full truth of Christianity, preached publicly, and specially entrusted to Paul. “The commandment of our Savior God” had decided this, and not any special ability or energy on Paul’s part. Note in Titus that God is seen in this character of Savior, just as Christ is, for of course both are One. He is Savior in every respect, whether from our sins, whether from present dangers and temptations, or whether in the future deliverance of His saints from this present evil world.
Titus is called Paul’s “own child after the common faith,” having been converted through Paul, and is wished grace, the favor of God that lifts one above all circumstances; mercy, God’s compassion in the midst of circumstances; and peace, the tranquility of soul with which to pass through circumstances.
Verse 5 shows that Titus had been left in Crete by Paul, with the purpose in mind of establishing in an orderly way the assemblies there. There was evident need of this in the infant state of things existing, especially so since the New Testament was not in their hands. Paul had given commission to Titus to appoint elders in each city. Apostles were entitled to do this, and it may be that Timothy also was given this responsibility (1Ti 3:1-7), though this is not directly stated. There is in Scripture however no provision made for the continuance of such appointments, and we are shut up to considering this only as a means of establishing the church in its prime state. Of course, even though now there is no authority for appointing elders, yet men who have such qualifications as seen here and in 1 Timothy should be recognized by the saints for their wisdom and experience, so that order may easily be maintained without official appointment.
Verses 5 and 7 apply differing terms to the same person – elder and bishop (or overseer), the first speaking of him personally, the second of his work. As an elder he is one who has had experience, an important qualification, as 1Ti 3:6 insists, “not a novice,” one new in the ranks of Christianity. His work of overseeing is that of caring for the spiritual order and welfare of the assembly.
For this he must be “blameless,” having a character that cannot be called in question. In family life he must be basically reliable. Many had at that time, before conversion, married two or more wives. This disqualified them for such work, for it ignored God’s basic order in creation, and if one is to help in maintaining order, he must be a proper example of order in his own life and in family life: his children were to evidence subjection to order.
For an overseer is the steward of God, entrusted with giving a true representation of God’s order. And the negatives of verse 7 are important, just as are the positives of verse 8. Selfwill is the strong intention of having one’s own way, a most destructive element in the assembly of God. Nor must an elder be one who is soon angry, apt to lose his temper: for this is sin. He is not to indulge in wine, nor to be a striker, that is, striking back against what he considers injustice. Nor is he to have such a character as seeks earthly gain by questionable means. Note in all of these things the necessity of his controlling himself, his desires, his temper, his appetite, his resentment against wrongs, his selfishness. In other words, if he is to keep the assembly in control for God, he must certainly know how to control himself.
The seven positives of verse 8 are precious. An hospitable entertainment of others is essential in caring for their welfare. A lover of goodness will so occupy himself with good that he will have little time for evil, even in fighting against it. To be sober is to use wise discretion in discernment and action. And “just” is added to this, a righteous, fair character in dealing with others. “Holy” is the character of separation to God, hating evil and loving good. “Temperate” is necessary too, the avoiding of extremes by a well-balanced moderation. And to crown all of this, an elder must be firm in holding to the pure Word of God, according to the doctrine, not according to his experience. For though experience is important, it must always give place to sound doctrine. It is only this that can be trusted in any way to meet the real need of souls, either to encourage those who need this, or to refute the gainsayers, those who tend to dispute against what is sound and dependable. Every elder should have some measure of ability in these things, by a good working knowledge of the Scriptures, and wisdom to use his knowledge rightly.
Even in that day there were many mere “talkers,” not subject themselves, and empty in regard to what they had to say, yet deceiving others. This was specially true of those of the circumcision, those zealous for the mere formal religion of Judaism. Their number is multiplied today, though not by any means confined to those professing Judaism. Yet it is of the same mold, that which would reduce Christianity to an earthly level, with legal regulations and forms. These of course were not in the assembly, but ever active in attacking the truth held by the assembly, and seeking to deceive souls. Elders therefore were to be always on guard.
The means of stopping the mouths of such men was of course by the sound doctrine of the Word of God. This would preserve any honest souls from their deceptions. For whole houses were too frequently subverted by this undermining subterfuge, as is true today. Their motive is here exposed too, that of seeking money for themselves, a much too prominent feature of a great deal that passes for Christianity.
Paul quotes a Cretan prophet as indicating what was true characteristically of the people of Crete, a condition so prevalent that it could have too much influence even over those who were saved. “Liars, evil wild beasts, lazy gluttons” may dominate much of society, but the Christian is not to be like them, and sharp rebuke was necessary in order to awaken souls out of such things, and establish them soundly in the faith.
Jewish fables were to be thoroughly avoided. Those who had been given the pure truth of the Old Testament were not satisfied with truth, but added fables and commandments of men that actually turned souls from the truth. Of course, these things were so framed as to present a plausible, specious appeal, but merely appealing to the flesh. Strip them of their religious veneer, and their fleshly vanity is exposed.
But there is a reality worth clinging to. To the pure all things are pure: everything in creation has a proper place and function. To be pure is to be unmixed as regards motives and character, and therefore to regard things in their proper perspective, in uncorrupted simplicity. But those who have no faith are defiled or adulterated by sin’s corruption, and consider nothing to be pure. Even their minds and consciences are defiled. Witness the present-day callous disregard for the sanctity of the marriage bond, the revolting abuse known as homosexuality, the prevalence of lies and hypocrisy; and all this mixed with a measure of religiousness! Their minds no doubt are active, but adroit enough to so rationalize as to twist truth totally out of its perspective; and knowledge becomes a deadly weapon rather than a help to a noble end. And conscience, though it cannot help but speak, becomes so defiled as to be ignored. How much better is “a pure conscience,” one not adulterated by the strong desires of the flesh.
The claim of such people that they know God is plainly refuted by the evil of their works. For it is manifest that God’s works are completely contrary to theirs, His being unadulterated, true, and fruitful; but they in their works abominable, sunk to a depth comparable to lowest idol worship (for it is idols of which God speaks as “abominations”); and disobedient, having no concern whatever for subjection to their Creator; and as regards every good work, reprobate, or worthless. When one trifles with the things of God, being not honestly in heart turned to the Lord Himself, how low he may sink without realizing the horror of such a condition!
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
Titus
Week 1: Tit 1:1-4 THE CHARACTERS
Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
“From” is implied in the address of this letter – From Paul, to Titus.
The arrangement of his servanthood and his apostleship is of great interest to me. His servanthood was listed first and so it should be. We are servants first and then God may separate us to other works within the church. All should be servants, but there will be pastors, teachers, workers etc. within the servants of God at a particular location.
He uses the servant idea in Php 1:1 as well, but in his other books only calls attention to his apostleship in the introductions. Why he did this in Philippians and Titus would be information only Paul and God would have, but it may relate to those that he was writing to – he may have known that they also knew of servanthood in a practical way, while other recipients may not have come to that knowledge as yet. This reasoning may falter when applied to Timothy, one that seems to have been serving God under Paul’s own hand.
We see the apostle set forth his apostleship as well as his servanthood. He truly was a servant, even unto qualifying as a zealot in the good sense of the word.
Apostle is an office or designation of the twelve, as well as a few others in the Scripture. It was a designation of one that was accepted as an authority by other Christians – an authority from Christ Himself. The term relates to being sent or appointed and sent. These people were sent by Christ on a specific mission and ministry.
Paul means small or little and most agree that it may well have related to his physical stature, however it would relate to ego and his feeling of self importance – or lack there of – this we know from his servanthood. One with a large ego seldom submits to anyone for anything.
“according to the faith of God’s elect,”
“Faith” is the normal word for faith and relates to a sound belief in something or someone. In this case the faith of God’s elect – it seems the faith of Christians was the basis of Paul’s apostleship in some manner. “Elect” is the normal term translated elect and means chosen, or picked out. God, before time chose or elected some, and those elected have faith, faith in the God that elected them.
This faith is not because God elected them, though many would disagree with me here, but because that THEY BELIEVE the God that elected them. Many believe that God elected and the elected received faith so that they could believe. In reality faith is believing and it comes from within the individual – it is not something zapped into the elect. (Young translates “elect” as “chosen”)
The question comes to my mind as to why the faith of the elect relates in anyway to Paul’s apostleship. Since Paul and the others were appointed by Christ, why would the faith of others relate to the appointment?
The Net Bible probably has the right thought when it translates “according” as “to further the faith” of the elect. Paul was an apostle to go teaching and instructing the elect about the salvation that their election has brought to them. I don’t think this does disservice to the text and it fits much better than according. If you think about it a little, why would God elect or choose some to salvation and then base apostleship on the faith of others. Indeed, in other books Paul declares clearly that he is an apostle by Christ not by man. Gal 1:1 is a fine example of what I have just mentioned. “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)”
“and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;” “Acknowledging” is related to precise and correct knowledge.
Truth is the opposite of false or what is also opposite, a lie. That which is true and based on truth. This is a concept America has thrown out the door. We have no basis for truth in this country. The lie, the innuendo and the falsehood are accepted as truth. In the 2004 campaign there were falsehoods thrown from one end of the country to the other and no one seemed to care, no one seemed embarrassed to use them, and what was worse, no one held the liars accountable. No one demanded facts, no one demanded proof and no one seemed to care what was said, only that it was said.
The term “after” is the same term translated “according” in the earlier phrase.
“Godliness” is translated both “godliness” and “holiness”, thus we should be able to gain a clear picture of the concept. Someone that is not living in sin, someone that is living for God, and someone that is normally without sin.
There is a sidelight of truth in this phrase which should be noted in our day. Truth which is after godliness indicates that nontruth is after ungodliness.
Many there are today in Christian circles that use the lie as if it were truth and truth as if is were a lie. Joh 8:44 (“Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”) tells us that Satan is the Father of lies and we know that God is the source of all truth. Relate this to Corinthians where Paul tells us light and darkness have nothing to do with one another and you wonder how any believer can mix the stuff of God with the stuff of Satan.
Whats more, you are left to wonder how they get away with it. Why do Christians allow other believers to lie to them? Why does God allow them to continue on in their falsehood?
Now, specifically, this phrase refers back to Paul’s apostleship. Just how does “and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;” relate to apostleship? In the specific sense acknowledging of the truth speaks of the Gospel. Had Paul not responded to the Gospel when confronted with it, he would not have become an apostle.
I can hear the backbiters screaming already. How could Paul not respond to the Gospel – he was elect, he could not “not respond” is the cry I can almost hear. I respond with “free will” is in the works though a further scream would be raised, “There is no such thing as free will!” they would cry. “If Paul could have refused His election, God would not be sovereign!” would be the next cry of anguish.
Well, in my mind if man has no free will, then God is not sovereign. A sovereign God is one that can do anything He wants to do and what He wants is fact. Free will is not against the sovereignty of God as they assume, it works beautifully with it in my mind. God in His foreknowledge – oh more cries of anguish – foresaw all that would respond to the Gospel and elected or chose them. This does not negate nor even diminish His sovereign will, it indeed enhances it in my mind. He is free to allow man to have free will and still do as He pleases. Now, that is sovereign!
Free will is simply doing what we want. This is acceptable to all those that would reject my thoughts. They realize we choose to sin, we choose many things in our lives FREELY, but they cannot tolerate that same freedom in salvation. Seems a radical idea that God would grant us freedom to do as we please except when it comes to salvation – that we have to be saved, and that we have no choice in the matter.
Some would suggest that the lost elect are regenerated before they are saved so that they can respond to salvation when it is presented to them. This is closer to the truth, and allows for “free will” in their minds, but to me this doctrine does damage to the sovereignty of God. He can’t do what He wants to in the elect’s life unless he forces the elect to do as He desires. This does not fit will with Scripture in my mind.
I think with my line of thought we have full sovereignty of God and full free will without damage to either and we include foreknowledge as the easy meaning of the term implies instead of twisting it to mean something a little different. I don’t mean to demean those that reject my thought, but I do see a lack of faith in the Word on their part when they eliminate foreknowledge and free will because the teaching does disservice to their belief system.
A belief system must rise from the whole of the Scripture, not just the parts that fit the system that we try to impress upon the Scripture. If the Word speaks of election, predestination, free will, foreknowledge and all the other items, we are responsible to find a system that fits ALL those items presented not just the majority and reject the rest (as the author ducks into his bomb shelter to get away from the incoming blast of the opposition :-). I do not demean those that I have mentioned, for me, for the most part, find them more knowledgeable of their system, more precise about there thinking, and more confident of their belief than most on the other side. They are a people that know what they believe and have a tremendous confidence in that belief. I just respectfully suggest that they may be incorrect.
I find it sad, however, that many of them conclude that I am lost because I do not agree with their system – they would say I disagree with God’s salvation plan and thus am lost. I find this sad, in that they lose a great fellowship with many believers and sad that they reject some of Christ’s brothers and sisters over a belief system.
I find more commonality with them as believers than I do with the normal Bible believer today, because the Bible believers of our day are so off into their own system of worship that they seldom worry about doctrine. Yet, I cannot participate in their internet boards because I do not agree with their confessions.
That alone says a lot about where their priorities are. I agree with the Bible, but because I don’t agree with their confessions (made by man) I cannot participate in discussion with them. This also is sad to me.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
1:1 Paul, {1} a {a} servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s {b} elect, {2} and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
(1) He vouches his apostleship (not for Titus, but for the Cretian’s sake) both by the testimony of his outward calling, and by his consent in which he agrees with all the elect from the beginning of the world.
(a) A minister, as Christ himself, in his office of minister and head of the Prophets, is called a servant; Isa 43:10 .
(b) Of those whom God has chosen.
(2) The faith in which all the elect agree, is the true and sincere knowledge of God for this purpose, that worshipping God correctly, they may at length obtain everlasting life according to the promise of God, who is true, which promise was exhibited in Christ in due time according to his eternal purpose.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
I. SALUTATION 1:1-4
As usual, Paul began this letter with comments that not only introduced himself and greeted his reader but also set the tone for his emphasis in what followed. The emphasis in this section is on Paul’s duty and the nature of his message rather than on his authority. This salutation is remarkably long and heavy for such a short epistle. Only Paul’s salutation in Romans is longer. This fact reflects the seriousness of the matters that Paul addressed in this letter.
"Ultimately what Paul has done in this introduction is to place his own apostolate at the center of God’s story; his authority and message are essential to it and derive their meaning from it. Thus, Paul is authenticating the ministry of his coworker Titus by establishing his own authority to instruct Titus." [Note: Philip H. Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus, p. 665.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Paul introduced himself as a bond-servant (Greek doulos, lit. slave) of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Then he explained the ministries each of these titles represented. Paul usually commented on the source of his apostleship, but here he wrote of its purpose.
"Undoubtedly the background for the concept of being the Lord’s slave or servant is to be found in the Old Testament scriptures. For a Jew this concept did not connote drudgery, but honor and privilege. It was used of national Israel at times (Isa 43:10), but was especially associated with famous OT personalities, including such great men as Moses (Jos 14:7), David (Psa 89:3; cf. 2Sa 7:5; 2Sa 7:8) and Elijah (2Ki 10:10); all these man were ’servants (or slaves) of the Lord’" [Note: The NET Bible note on 1:1.]
God’s bond-servant brings God’s elect to saving faith in Christ. Christ’s apostle brings the saints into the knowledge of God’s truth that He has designed to produce godly living.
"The doctrine of divine election firmly establishes the believer’s eternal security. God has not left the believer’s assurance of salvation captive to changing feelings or faltering faith. Rather, the faithfulness of God demonstrated in his divine election secures the believer’s salvation in the will and purposes of God himself." [Note: Thomas D. Lea and Hayne P. Griffin Jeremiah , 1, 2 Timothy, Titus, p. 265. Griffin wrote the commentary on Titus in this volume.]
"Although surrounded with mystery, the biblical teaching on election is for believers and is intended as a practical truth. It assures faithful, struggling believers that their salvation is all of God from beginning to end." [Note: Hiebert, p. 427.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
, 2Ti 1:1, Tit 1:1
Chapter 1
Introductory
THE CHARACTER AND GENUINENESS OF THE PASTORAL EPISTLES.- 1Ti 1:1; 2Ti 1:1; Tit 1:1
THE first question which confronts us on entering upon the study of the Pastoral Epistles is that of their authenticity, which of late has been confidently denied. In reading them are we reading the farewell words of the great Apostle to the ministers of Christ? Or are we reading only the well-meant but far less weighty counsels of one who in a later age assumed the name and imitated the style of St. Paul? It seems necessary to devote the first of these expositions to a discussion of this question.
The title “Pastoral Epistles” could hardly be improved, but it might easily be misunderstood as implying more than is actually the case. It calls attention to what is the most conspicuous, but by no means the only characteristic in these Epistles. Although the words which most directly signify the pastors office, such as “shepherd,” “feed,” “tend,” and “flock,” do not occur in these letters and do occur elsewhere in Scripture, yet in no other books in the Bible do we find so many directions respecting the pastoral care of Churches. The title is much less appropriate to 2 Timothy than to the other two Epistles. All three are both pastoral and personal; but while 1 Timothy and Titus are mainly the former, 2 Timothy is mainly the latter. The three taken together stand between the other Epistles of St. Paul and the one to Philemon. Like the latter, they are personal; like the rest, they treat of large questions of Church doctrine, practice, and government, rather than of private and personal matters. Like that to Philemon, they are addressed, not to Churches, but to individuals; yet they are written to them, not as private friends, but as delegates, though not mere delegates, of the Apostle, and as officers of the Church. Moreover, the important Church matters of which they treat are regarded not as in the other Epistles, from the point of view of the congregation or of the Church at large, but rather from that of the overseer or minister. And, as being official rather than private letters, they are evidently intended to be read by other persons besides Timothy and Titus.
Among the Epistles which bear the name of St. Paul none have excited so much controversy as these, especially as regards their genuineness. But the controversy is entirely a modern one. It is little or no exaggeration to say that from the first century to the nineteenth no one ever denied or doubted that they were written by St. Paul. It is true that certain heretics of the second century rejected some or all of them. Marcion, and perhaps Basilides, rejected all three. Tatian, while maintaining the Apostolicity of the Epistle to Titus, repudiated those to Timothy. And Origen tills us that some people doubted about 2 Timothy because it contained the name of Jannes and Jambres, which do not occur in the Old Testament. But it is well known that Marcion, in framing his mutilated and meager canon of the Scriptures, did not profess to do so on critical grounds. He rejected everything except an expurgated edition of St. Luke and certain Epistles of St. Paul, -not because he doubted their authenticity, but because he disliked their contents. They did not fit into his system. And the few others who rejected one or more of these Epistles did so in a similar spirit. They did not profess to find that these documents were not properly authenticated, but they were displeased with passages in them. The evidence, therefore, justifies us in asserting that, with some very slight exception in the second century, these three Epistles were, until quite recent times, universally accepted as written by St. Paul.
This large fact is greatly emphasized by two considerations.
(1) The repudiation of them by Marcion and others directed attention to them. They were evidently not accepted by an oversight, because no one thought anything about them.
(2) The evidence respecting the general acceptance of them as St. Pauls is full and positive, and reaches back to the earliest times. It does not consist merely or mainly in the absence of evidence to the contrary. Tertullian wonders what can have induced Marcion, while accepting the Epistle to Philemon, to reject those to Timothy and Titus: and of course those who repudiated them would have pointed out weak places in their claim to be canonical if such had existed. And even if we do not insist upon the passages in which these Epistles are almost certainly quoted by Clement of Rome (cir. A.D. 95), Ignatius of Antioch (cir. A.D. 112), Polycarp of Smyrna (cir. A.D. 112), and Theophilus of Antioch (cir. A.D. 180), we have direct evidence of a very convincing kind. They are found in the Peshitto, or early Syriac Version, which was made in the second century. They are contained in the Muratorian canon, the date of which may still be placed as not later than A.D. 170. Irenaeus, the disciple of Polycarp, states that “Paul mentions Linus in the Epistle to Timothy,” and he quotes Tit 3:10 with the introduction “as Paul also says.” Eusebius renders it probable that both Justin Martyr and Hegesippus quoted from 1 Timothy; and he himself places all three Epistles among the universally accepted books, and not among the disputable writings: i.e., he places them with the Gospels, Acts, 1 Peter, 1 John, and the other Epistles of St. Paul, and not with James, 2Pe 2:1-22 and 3 John, and Jude. In this arrangement he is preceded by Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian, both of whom quote frequently from all three Epistles, sometimes as the words of Scripture, sometimes as of “the Apostle,” sometimes as of Paul, sometimes as of the Spirit. Occasionally it is expressly stated that the words quoted are addressed to Timothy or to Titus.
It would take us too far a field to examine in detail the various considerations which have induced some eminent critics to set aside this strong array of external evidence and reject one or more of these Epistles. They fall in the main under four heads.
(1) The difficulty of finding a place for these letters in the life of St. Paul as given us in the Acts and in his own writings.
(2) The large amount of peculiar phraseology not found in any other Pauline Epistles.
(3) The Church organization indicated in these letters, which is alleged to be of a later date than St. Pauls time.
(4) The erroneous doctrines and practices attacked, which are also said to be those of a later age.
To most of these points we shall have to return on some future occasion: but for the present this much may be asserted with confidence.
(1) In the Acts and in the other Epistles of St. Paul the Apostles life is left incomplete. There is nothing to forbid us from supposing that the remaining portion amounted to several years, during which these three letters were written. The second Epistle to Timothy in any case has the unique interest of being the last extant utterance of the Apostle St. Paul.
(2) The phraseology which is peculiar to each of these Epistles is not greater in amount than the phraseology which is peculiar to the Epistle to the Galatians, which even Baur admits to be of unquestionable genuineness. The peculiar diction which is common to all three Epistles is well accounted for by the peculiarity of the common subject, and by the fact that these letters are separated by several years from even the latest among the other writings of St. Paul.
(3, 4) There is good reason for believing that during the lifetime of St. Paul the organization of the Church corresponded to that which is sketched in these letters, and that errors were already in existence such as these letters denounce.
Although the controversy is by no means over, two results of it are very generally accepted as practically certain.
I. The three Epistles must stand or fall together. It is impossible to accept two, or one, or any portion of one of them, and reject the rest. They must stand or fall with the hypothesis of St. Pauls second imprisonment. If the Apostle was imprisoned at Rome only once, and was put to death at the end of that imprisonment, then these three letters were not written by him.
(1) The Epistles stand or fall together: they are all three genuine, or all three spurious. We must either with the scholars of the Early Church, of the Middle Ages, and of the Renaissance, whether Roman or Protestant, and with a clear majority of modern critics, accept all three letters; or else with Marcion, Basilides, Eichhorn, Bauer, and their followers, reject all three. As Credner himself had to acknowledge, after having at first advocated the theory, it is impossible to follow Tatian in retaining Titus as apostolic, while repudiating the other two as forgeries. Nor have the two scholars who originated the modern controversy found more than one critic of eminence to accept their conclusion that both Titus and 2 Timothy, are genuine, but 1 Timothy not. Yet another suggestion is made by Reuss, that 2 Timothy is unquestionably genuine, while the other two are doubtful. And lastly we have Pfleiderer admitting that 2 Timothy contains at least two sections which have with good reason been recognized as genuine, {2Ti 1:15-18; 2Ti 4:9-21} and Renan asking whether the forger of these three Epistles did not possess some authentic letters of St. Paul which he has enshrined in his composition.
It will be seen, therefore, that those who impugn the authenticity of the Pastoral Epistles are by no means agreed among themselves. The evidence in some places is so strong, that many of the objectors are compelled to admit that the Epistles are at least in part the work of St. Paul. That is, certain portions, which admit of being severely tested, are found to stand the test, and are passed as genuine, in spite of surrounding difficulties. The rest, which does not admit of such testing, is repudiated on account of the difficulties. No one can reasonably object to the application of whatever tests are available, nor to the demand for explanations of difficulties. But we must not treat what cannot be satisfactorily tested as if it had been tested and found wanting; nor must we refuse to take account of the support which those parts which can be thoroughly sifted lend to those for which no decisive criterion can be found. Still less must we proceed on the assumption that to reject these Epistles or any portion of them is a proceeding which gets rid of difficulties. It is merely an exchange of one set of difficulties for another. To unbiased minds it will perhaps appear that the difficulties involved in the assumption that the Pastoral Epistles are wholly or partly a forgery, are not less serious than those which have been urged against the well-established tradition of their genuineness. The very strong external evidence in their favor has to be accounted for. It is already full, clear, and decided, as soon as we could at all expect to find it, viz., in Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian. And it must be noticed that these witnesses give us the traditional beliefs of several chief centers in Christendom. Irenaeus speaks with full knowledge of what was accepted in Asia Minor, Rome, and Gaul; Clement witnesses for Egypt, and Tertullian for North America. And although the absence of such support would not have caused serious perplexity, their direct evidence is very materially supported by passages closely parallel to the words of the Pastoral Epistles found in writers still earlier than Irenaeus. Renan admits the relationship between 2 Timothy and the Epistle of Clement of Rome, and suggests that each writer has borrowed from a common source. Pfleiderer admits that the Epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp “displays striking points of contact with 2 Timothy.” Bauers theory, that all three letters are as late as A.D. 150, and are an attack on Marcion, finds little support now. But we are still asked to believe that 2 Timothy was forged in the reign of Trajan (98-117) and the other two Epistles in the reign of Hadrian (117-138). Is it credible that a forgery perpetrated A.D. 120-135 would in less than fifty years be accepted in Asia Minor, Rome, Gaul, Egypt, and North Africa, as a genuine letter of the Apostle St. Paul? And yet this is what must have happened in the case of 1 Timothy, if the hypothesis just stated is correct. Nor is this all: Marcion, as we know, rejected all three of the Pastoral Epistles; and Tertullian cannot think why Marcion should do so. But, when Marcion was framing his canon, about the reign of Hadrian, 2 Timothy, according to these dates, would be scarcely twenty years old, and 1 Timothy would be brand-new. If this had been so, would Marceon, with his intimate knowledge of St. Pauls writings, have been in ignorance of the fact; and if he had known it, would he have failed to denounce the forgery? Or again, if we assume that he merely treated this group of Epistles with silent contempt, would not his rejection of them, which was well known, have directed attention to them, and caused their recent origin to be quickly discovered? From all which it is manifest that the theory of forgery by no means frees us from grave obstacles.
It will be observed that the external evidence is large in amount and overwhelmingly in favor of the Apostolic authorship. The objections are based on internal evidence. But some of the leading opponents admit that even the internal evidence is in favor of certain portions of the Epistles. Let us, then, with Renan, Pfleiderer, and others admit that parts of 2 Timothy were written by St. Paul; then there is strong presumption that the whole letter is by him; for even the suspected portions have the external evidence in their favor, together with the support lent to them by those parts for which the internal evidence is also satisfactory. Add to which the improbability that any one would store up genuine letters of St. Paul for fifty years and then use parts of them to give substance to a fabrication. Or let us with Reuss contend that in 2 Timothy “the whole Epistle is so completely the natural expression of the actual situation of the author, and contains, unsought and for the most part in the form of mere allusions, such a mass of minute and unessential particulars, that, even did the name of the writer not chance to be mentioned at the beginning, it would be easy to discover it.” Then there is strong presumption that the other two letters are genuine also; for they have the external evidence on their side, together with the good character reflected upon them by their brother Epistle. This result is of course greatly strengthened, if, quite independently of 2 Timothy, the claims of Titus to be Apostolic are considered to be adequate. With two of the three letters admitted to be genuine, the case for the remaining letter becomes a strong one. It has the powerful external evidence on its side, backed up by the support lent to it by its two more manifestly authentic companions. Thus far, therefore, we may agree with Baur: “The three Epistles are so much alike that none of them can be separated from the others; and from this circumstance the identity of their authorship may be confidently inferred.” But when he asserts that whichever of this family of letters be examined will appear as the betrayer of his brethren, he just reverses the truth. Each letter, upon examination, lends support to the other two; “and a threefold cord is not easily broken.” The strongest member of the family is 2 Timothy: the external evidence in its favor is ample, and no Epistle in the New Testament is more characteristic of St. Paul. It would be scarcely less reasonable to dispute 2 Corinthians. And if 2 Timothy be admitted, there is no tenable ground for excluding the other two.
II. But not only do the three Epistles stand or fall together, they stand or fall with the hypothesis of the release and second imprisonment of the Apostle. The contention that no place can be found for the Pastoral Epistles in the narrative of the Acts is valid; but it is no objection to the authenticity of the Epistles. The conclusion of the Acts implies that the end of St. Pauls life is not reached in the narrative. “He abode two whole years in his own hired dwelling,” implies that after that time a change took place. If that change was his death, how unnatural not to mention it! The conclusion is closely parallel to that of St. Lukes Gospel; and we might almost as reasonably contend that “they were continually in the temple,” proves that they were never “clothed with power from on high,” because they were told to “tarry in the city” until they were so clothed, as contend that “abode two whole years in his own hired dwelling,” proves that at the end of the two years came the end of St. Pauls life. Let us grant that the conclusion of the Acts is unexpectedly abrupt, and that this abruptness constitutes a difficulty. Then we have our choice of two alternatives. Either the two years of imprisonment were followed by a period of renewed labor, or they were cut short by the Apostles martyrdom. Is it not more easy to believe that the writer did not consider that this new period of work, which would have filled many chapters, fell within the scope of his narrative, than that he omitted so obvious a conclusion as St. Pauls death, for which a single verse would have sufficed? But let us admit that to assert that St. Paul was released at the end of two years is to maintain a mere hypothesis: yet to assert that he was not released is equally to maintain a mere hypothesis. If we exclude the Pastoral Epistles, Scripture gives no means of deciding the question, and whichever alternative we adopt we are making a conjecture. But which hypothesis has most evidence on its side? Certainly the hypothesis of the release.
(1) The Pastoral Epistles, even if not by St. Paul, are by some one who believed that the Apostle did a good deal after the close of the Acts.
(2) The famous passage in Clement of Rome (Corinthians 5.) tells that St. Paul “won the noble renown which was the reward of his faith, having taught righteousness unto the whole world, and having reached the furthest bound of the West ( ).” This probably means Spain; and if St. Paul ever went to Spain as he hoped to do, {Rom 15:24; Rom 15:28} it was after the imprisonment narrated in the Acts. Clement gives us the tradition in Rome (cir. A.D. 95).
(3) The Muratorian fragment (cir. A.D. 170) mentions the “departure of Paul from the city to Spain.”
(4) Eusebius (“H.E.,” II 22:2) says that at the end of the two years of imprisonment, according to tradition, the Apostle went forth again upon the ministry of preaching, and on a second visit to the city ended his career by martyrdom under Nero; and that during this imprisonment he composed the Second Epistle to Timothy. All this does not amount to proof; but it raises the hypothesis of the release to a high degree of probability. Nothing of this kind can be urged in favor of the counter-hypothesis.
To urge the improbability that the labors of these last few years of St. Pauls life would be left unrecorded is no argument.
(1) They are partly recorded in the Pastoral Epistles.
(2) The entire labors of most of the Twelve are left unrecorded. Even of St. Pauls life, whole years are left a blank. How fragmentary the narrative in the Acts must be is proved by the autobiography in 2 Corinthians.
That we have very scanty notice of St. Pauls doings between the two imprisonments does not render the existence of such an interval at all doubtful.
The result of this preliminary discussion seems to show that the objections which have been urged against these Epistles are not such as to compel us to doubt that in studying them we are studying the last writings of the Apostle of the Gentiles. If any doubts still survive, a closer examination of the details will, it is hoped, tend to remove rather than to strengthen them. When we have completed our survey, we may be able to add our testimony to those who through many centuries have found these writings a source of Divine guidance, warning, and encouragement, especially in ministerial work. The experience of countless numbers of pastors attests the wisdom of the Church, or in other words the good Providence of God, in causing these Epistles to be included among the sacred Scriptures.
“It is an established fact,” as Bernhard Weiss rightly points out (“Introduction to the New Testament,” vol. 1. p. 410), “that the essential, fundamental features of the Pauline doctrine of salvation are even in their specific expression reproduced in our Epistles with a clearness such as we do not find in any Pauline disciple, excepting perhaps Luke or the Roman Clement.” Whoever composed them had at his command, not only St. Pauls forms of doctrine and expression, but large funds of Apostolic zeal and discretion, such as have proved capable of warming the hearts and guiding the judgments of a long line of successors. Those who are conscious of these effects upon themselves will probably find it easier to believe that they have derived these benefits from the great Apostle himself, rather than from one who, with however good intentions, assumed his name and disguised himself in his mantle. Henceforward, until we find serious reason for doubt, it will be assumed that in these Epistles we have the farewell counsels of none other than St. Paul.