Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Titus 2:13
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;
13. looking for that blessed hope ] The blessed hope, cf. Rom 8:24, where it is both the hope and the object of the hope; Col 1:5, ‘ “for the hope,” i.e. looking to the hope which is stored up; the sense of “hope,” as of the corresponding words in any language, oscillates between the subjective feeling and the objective realisation.’ Bp Lightfoot. Cf. 1Ti 1:1.
and the glorious appearing ] So A.V., considering the two nouns as a Hebraism for a noun and an adjective; but R.V. better, literally, and appearing of the glory; this substantive, from the verb ‘hath appeared’ of Tit 2:11, is limited in N.T. use to St Paul, who has it six times, and always, except 2Ti 1:10, of the future appearing of Christ (see note on 1Ti 6:14). It comes three times in St Paul’s last letter, 2 Tim. The word has been adopted for all the epiphanies of the Son of God in O.T. days, as the angel of the covenant, at Bethlehem, to the Gentiles with ‘the doctors,’ in His miracles and parables, in the ‘infallible proofs’ of the ‘forty days,’ in ‘the powers of Pentecost,’ in the life of His Church and of each Christian soul by faith, until His ‘coming with power and great glory.’
the great God and our Saviour ] So A.V., Winer, Alford, Conybeare, on the ground that St Paul’s usage is against ‘our great God Jesus Christ.’ Alford rightly says that it can be no objection to this that St Paul’s usage is also against ‘the manifestation of the Father God,’ because it is the appearing of the glory that St Paul speaks of, and this glory is certainly the Father’s and the Son’s, Mat 16:27 compared with Mat 25:31, ‘come in His Father’s glory,’ ‘come in His glory.’ Nor can the rule that the one article indicates the one subject, and that therefore the two expressions refer to one personality, be too strongly relied upon as decisive against this view. Bp Ellicott who opposes this A.V. rendering yet admits this, ‘there is a presumption in favour of it on this account, but on account of the defining genitive “of us,” nothing more;’ and in Aids to Faith (quoted in Winer, iii. 19, 5, note), ‘the rule is sound in principle but in the case of proper names or quasi-proper names, cannot safely be pressed.’ The usage in 2Pe 1:1, and in Judges 4, is also doubtful: R.V. which renders there ‘our God and Saviour,’ ‘our only Master and Lord,’ but adds the marginal ‘Or, our God and the Saviour,’ ‘Or, the only Master, and our Lord,’ here too gives our great God and Saviour, but adds in the margin, ‘Or, of the great God and our Saviour.’ The early Fathers are with R.V. Ignatius, ad Ephes. i., seems to quote it ‘according to the will of the Father and Jesus Christ our God.’ See Bp Lightfoot’s note. Chrysostom asks ‘Where are they who say that the Son is less than the Father?’ Jerome, ‘Magnus Deus Jesus Christus salvator dicitur.’ Compare the long list in Bp Wordsworth’s note; Calvin, Ellicott, Fairbairn, &c. among moderns. The objection raised on the ground of St Paul’s usage will be less felt, when the strong language of 1Ti 3:15-16 with the reading ‘He who,’ and of Php 2:6-7, Col 1:15-20 is weighed; and when the connexion of this Epistle in its language and thought with St Peter and St Jude is remembered, it may well seem that the later mode of speaking of Christ, in the now settled faith and conviction of the Church, is beginning to find place.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Looking for – Expecting; waiting for. That is, in the faithful performance of our duties to ourselves, to our fellow-creatures, and to God, we are patiently to wait for the coming of our Lord.
- We are to believe that he will return;
- We are to be in a posture of expectation, not knowing when he will come; and,
- We are to be ready for him whenever he shall come; see the Mat 24:42-44 notes; 1Th 5:4 note; Phi 3:20 note.
That blessed hope – The fulfillment of that hope so full of blessedness to us.
The glorious appearing – Notes, 2Th 2:8; compare 1Ti 6:14; 2Ti 1:10; 2Ti 4:8.
Of the great God – There can be little doubt, if any, that by the great God here, the apostle referred to the Lord Jesus, for it is not a doctrine of the New Testament that God himself as such, or in contradistinction from his incarnate Son, will appear at the last day. It is said, indeed, that the Saviour will come in the glory of his Father, with his angels Mat 16:27, but that God as such will appear is not taught in the Bible. The doctrine there is, that God will be manifest in his Son; that the divine approach to our world be through him to judge the race; and that though he will be accompanied with the appropriate symbols of the divinity, yet it will be the Son of God who will be visible. No one, accustomed to Pauls views, can well doubt that when he used this language he had his eye throughout on the Son of God, and that he expected no other manifestation than what would be made through him.
In no place in the New Testament is the phrase epiphaneian tou Theou – the manifestation or appearing of God – applied to any other one than Christ It is true that this is spoken of here as the appearing of the glory – tes doxes – of the great God, but the idea is that of such a manifestation as became God, or would appropriately display his glory. It is known to most persons who have attended to religious controversies, that this passage has given rise to much discussion. The ancients, in general, interpreted it as meaning The glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. This sense has been vindicated by the labors of Beza, Whitby, Bull, Matthaei, and Middleton (on the Greek article), and is the common interpretation of those who claim to be orthodox; see Bloomfield, Rec. Syn., and Notes, in loc. He contends that the meaning is, the glorious appearance of that great being who is our God and Saviour. The arguments for this opinion are well summed up by Bloomfield. Without going into a critical examination of this passage, which would not be in accordance with the design of these Notes, it may be remarked in general:
(1) That no plain reader of the New Testament, accustomed to the common language there, would have any doubt that the apostle referred here to the coming of the Lord Jesus.
(2) That the coming of God, as such, is not spoken of in this manner in the New Testament.
(3) That the expectation of Christians was directed to the advent of the ascended Saviour, not to the appearing of God as such.
(4) That this is just such language as one would use who believed that the Lord Jesus is divine, or that the name God might properly be applied to him.
(5) That it would naturally and obviously convey the idea that he was divine, to one who had no theory to defend.
(6) That if the apostle did not mean this, he used such language as was fitted to lead people into error.
(7) And that the fair construction of the Greek here, according to the application of the most rigid rules, abundantly sustains the interpretation which the plain reader of the New Testament would affix to it. The names above referred to are abundant proof that no violation is done to the rules of the Greek language by this interpretation, but rather that the fair construction of the original demands it. If this be so, then this furnishes an important proof of the divinity of Christ.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 13. Looking for that blessed hope] Expecting the grand object of our hope, eternal life. See Tit 1:2. This is what the Gospel teaches us to expect, and what the grace of God prepares the human heart for. This is called a blessed hope; those who have it are happy in the sure prospect of that glory which shall be revealed.
The glorious appearing] . This clause, literally translated, is as follows: And the appearing of the glory of the great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ. On this passage I must refer the reader to the ESSAY ON THE GREEK ARTICLE, by H. S. Boyd, Esq., appended to the notes on the Epistle to the Ephesians, where both the structure and doctrine of this passage are explained at large.
Some think that the blessed hope and glorious appearing mean the same thing; but I do not think so. The blessed hope refers simply to eternal glorification in general; the glorious appearing, to the resurrection of the body; for when Christ appears he will change this vile body, and make it like unto his GLORIOUS BODY, according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself. See Phil 3:20-21.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Looking for that blessed hope; the object or end of our hope, the salvation of our souls, Gal 5:5; Col 1:5.
And the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; and in order thereunto, looking for the coming of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, to the last judgment. The same person is here meant by the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
1. It is he whom God hath appointed to be the judge of the quick and dead.
2. , by us translated appearing, is attributed only to the Second Person in the Blessed Trinity, 2Th 2:8; 1Ti 6:14; 2Ti 4:1,8. From this text the Divine nature of Christ is irrefragably concluded; he is not only called God, but , the great God, which cannot be understood of a made God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. (Phi 3:20;Phi 3:21).
Looking forwithconstant expectation (so the Greek) and with joy (Ro8:19). This will prove the antidote to worldly lusts, and thestimulus to “live in this present world” conformably tothis expectation. The Greek is translated, “waitingfor,” in Lu 2:25.
thatGreek,“the.”
blessedbringingblessedness (Rom 4:7; Rom 4:8).
hopethat is, object ofhope (Rom 8:24; Gal 5:5;Col 1:5).
the glorious appearingThereis but one Greek article to both “hope” and”appearing,” which marks their close connection (the hopebeing about to be realized only at the appearing of Christ).Translate, “The blessed hope and manifestation(compare Note, see on Tit2:11) of the glory.” The Greek for”manifestation” is translated “brightness” in 2Th2:8. As His “coming” (Greek, “parousia“)expresses the fact; so “brightness, appearing,” or”manifestation” (epiphaneia) expresses His personalvisibility when He shall come.
the great God and our SaviourJesusThere is but one Greek article to “God”and “Saviour,” which shows that both are predicated of oneand the same Being. “Of Him who is at once the great God and ourSaviour.” Also (2) “appearing” (epiphaneia) isnever by Paul predicated of God the Father (Joh 1:18;1Ti 6:16), or even of “Hisglory” (as ALFORDexplains it): it is invariably applied to CHRIST’Scoming, to which (at His first advent, compare 2Ti1:10) the kindred verb “appeared” (epephanee),Tit 2:11, refers (1Ti 6:14;2Ti 4:1; 2Ti 4:8).Also (3) in the context (Tit 2:14)there is no reference to the Father, but to Christ alone; and herethere is no occasion for reference to the Father in theexigencies of the context. Also (4) the expression “great God,”as applied to Christ, is in accordance with the context, which refersto the glory of His appearing; just as “the true God”is predicated of Christ, 1Jo 5:20.The phrase occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, but often in theOld Testament. Deu 7:21; Deu 10:17,predicated of Jehovah, who, as their manifested Lord, led theIsraelites through the wilderness, doubtless the Second Person in theTrinity. Believers now look for the manifestation of His glory,inasmuch as they shall share in it. Even the Socinian explanation,making “the great God” to be the Father, “ourSaviour,” the Son, places God and Christ on an equalrelation to “the glory” of the future appearing: a factincompatible with the notion that Christ is not divine; indeed itwould be blasphemy so to couple any mere created being with God.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Looking for that blessed hope,…. Not the grace of hope; though that being a good hope through grace, and a hope of blessedness, may be called a blessed hope; yet this the saints have already implanted in their hearts in regeneration, and cannot be said to look for it: rather Christ, the object and ground of hope, who is our hope, and Christ in us the hope of glory, who is blessed for evermore; and in the enjoyment of whom the happiness of the saints hereafter will greatly consist; and whom they look for, and expect from heaven, and who is expressly mentioned in the next clause: but as this may be something distinct from that, it may be best, by this blessed hope, to understand the thing hoped for, eternal glory and happiness; called elsewhere the hope of righteousness, and the hope laid up in heaven, Ga 5:5 and which will lie in the beatific vision of God and Christ; in a perfect knowledge of them, in communion with them, and conformity to them; and in the society of angels and glorified saints; and in a freedom from all evil, outward and inward, and in the possession of all good: and to be looking for this, is to be desiring it with the heart and affections set upon it, longing to be in the enjoyment of it, and yet waiting patiently in the exercise of faith and hope; for looking includes all the three graces, faith, hope, and love; and particularly the former, which is always attended with the latter; for it is such a looking for this blessedness, as that a man firmly believes he shall partake of it: and there is good reason for a regenerate man so to look for it; since it is his Father’s gift of free grace, and is laid up for him; Christ is gone to prepare it by his presence, mediation, and intercession; yea, he is gone, as the forerunner, to take possession of it in his name: this man is begotten again to a lively hope of it; he is called by the grace of God unto it; he is a child of God, and so an heir of it; he has a right unto it, through the justifying righteousness of Christ, and has a meetness for it through the sanctifying grace of the Spirit; and who is in him as the earnest and pledge of it: now such a firm expectation of the heavenly glory does the Gospel, the doctrine of the grace of God, teach, direct, and encourage to; for these words must be read in connection with the preceding, as a further instruction of the Gospel, as well as what follows:
and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ; not two divine persons, only one, are here intended; for the word: rendered “appearing”, is never used of God the Father, only of the second person; and the propositive article is not set before the word “Saviour”, as it would, if two distinct persons were designed; and the copulative “and” is exegetical, and may he rendered thus, “and the glorious appearing of the great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ”; who, in the next verse, is said to give himself for the redemption of his people: so that here is a very illustrious proof of the true and proper deity of Christ, who will appear at his second coming; for of that appearance are the, words to be understood, as the great God, in all the glories and perfections of his divine nature; as well as a Saviour, which is mentioned to show that he will appear to the salvation of his people, which he will then put them in the full possession of; and that the brightness of his divine Majesty will not make them afraid: and this appearance will be a glorious one; for Christ will come in his own glory, in the glory of his deity, particularly his omniscience and omnipotence will be very conspicuous; and in his glory as Mediator, which will be beheld by all the saints; and in his glory as a Judge, invested with power and authority from his Father, which will be terrible to sinners; and in the glory of his human nature, with which it is now crowned; and in his Father’s glory, in the same he had with him before the world was, and which is the same with his, and in that which he will receive from him as man and Mediator, and as the Judge of the whole earth; and in the glory of his holy angels, being attended with all his mighty ones: to which may be added, that saints will be raised from the dead, and with the living ones appear with Christ in glory, and make up the bride, the Lamb’s wife, having the glory of God upon her; so that this will be a grand appearance indeed. Now this the Gospel directs, and instructs believers to look for, to love, to hasten to, most earnestly desire, and yet patiently wait for, most firmly believing that it will be: and this the saints have reason to look for, with longing desire and affection, and with pleasure, since it will be not only glorious in itself, but advantageous to them; they will then be glorified with Christ, and be for ever with him.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Looking for (). Present middle participle of , old verb, the one used of Simeon (Lu 2:25) and others (Lu 2:38) who were looking for the Messiah.
The blessed hope and appearing of the glory ( ). The word (used by the Greeks of the appearance of the gods, from , ) occurs in 2Ti 1:10 of the Incarnation of Christ, the first Epiphany (like the verb , Tit 2:11), but here of the second Epiphany of Christ or the second coming as in 1Tim 6:14; 2Tim 4:1; 2Tim 4:8. In 2Th 2:8 both and (the usual word) occur together of the second coming.
Of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ ( ). This is the necessary meaning of the one article with and just as in 2Pet 1:1; 2Pet 1:11. See Robertson, Grammar, p. 786. Westcott and Hort read .
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Looking for [] . In Pastorals only here. Comp. Mr 14:43; Luk 2:25; Luk 12:36. In this sense not in Paul. Primarily, to receive to one’s self, admit, accept. So Luk 14:2; Rom 16:2; Phi 2:29. That which is accepted in faith, is awaited expectantly.
That blessed hope [ ] . The phrase N. T. o.
Makariov blessed, very often in the Gospels. See on Mt 5:3. In Pastorals, with the exception of this passage, always of God. In Paul, only of men, and so usually in the Gospels. Elpida hope, the object of hope. Why the hope is called blessed, appears from 2Ti 4:8; Phi 3:20, etc. Comp. Jude 1:21, and 1Pe 1:13.
And the glorious appearing [ ] . Kai is explanatory, introducing the definition of the character of the thing hoped for. Looking for the object of hope, even the appearing, etc. Glorious appearing is a specimen of the vicious hendiadys by which the force of so many passages has been impaired or destroyed in translation. Rend. appearing of the glory.
Of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ [ ] . For Jesus Christ rend. Christ Jesus. Megav great with God, N. T. o, but often in LXX According to A. V. two persons are indicated, God and Christ. Revelations with others rend. of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus, thus indicating one person, and asserting the deity of Christ. I adopt the latter, although the arguments and authorities in favor of the two renderings are very evenly balanced. 155
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Looking for that blessed hope.” (prosdecho. menoi ten makarian elpida) “Expecting or anticipating the blessed (spiritually prosperous) hope.” This “blessed hope” is the bodily coming (return) of Jesus Christ in the first resurrection, for which redeemed saints wait and long, Deu 30:3; Act 1:9-11; Rom 8:23; Jas 5:7-8; Heb 10:36-37.
2) “And the glorious appearing.” (kai epiphaneian tes dokses) “And bodily shining presence” – The term “appearance” signifies a bodily appearance of radiant glory. 1Th 4:16-17. This is that instantaneous appearance of Christ in the air, as he begins effecting preparation for his later coming to the earth in power and great glory, which is to occur some 42 months after his coming in the air. Mat 24:30; Luk 21:27; Zec 14:4.
3) “Of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” 2Th 1:7-10. There will be rest and deliverance for those who look for our Lord at his return ., and the beginning of unending judgement for those unprepared; Heb 9:28; Rev 1:7; Rev 6:14-17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
13 Looking for that blessed hope From the hope of future immortality he draws an exhortation, and indeed, if that hope be deeply seated in our mind, it is impossible that it should not lead us to devote ourselves wholly to God. On the contrary, they who do not cease to live to the world and to the flesh never have actually tasted what is the worth of the promise of eternal life; for the Lord, by calling us to heaven, withdraws us from the earth.
Hope is here put for the thing hoped for, otherwise it would be an incorrect mode of expression. He gives this appellation to the blessed life which is laid up for us in heaven. At the same time he declares when we shall enjoy it, and what we ought to contemplate, when we desire or think of our salvation.
And the appearing of the glory of the great God and Savior I interpret the glory of God, to mean not only that by which he shall be glorious in himself, but also that by which he shall then diffuse himself on all sides, so as to make all his elect partakers of it. He calls God great, because his greatness — which men, blinded by the empty splendor of the world, now extenuate, and sometimes even annihilate, as far as lies in their power — shall be fully manifested on the last day. The luster of the world, while it appears great to our eyes, dazzles them so much that “the glory of God” is, as it were, hidden in darkness. But Christ, by his coming, shall chase away all the empty show of the world — shall no longer obscure the brightness, shall no longer lessen the magnificence, of his glory. True the Lord demonstrates his majesty every day by his works; but because men are prevented by their blindness from seeing it, it is said to be hidden in obscurity. Paul wishes that believers may now contemplate by faith that which shall be manifested on the last day, and therefore that God may be magnified, whom the world either despises, or; at least, does not esteem according to his excellence.
It is uncertain whether these words should be read together thus, “the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, the great God and our Savior,” or separately, as of the Father and the Son, “the glory of the great God, and of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (254) The Arians, seizing on this latter sense, have endeavored to prove from it, that the Son is less than the Father, because here Paul calls the Father “the great God” by way of distinction from the Son. The orthodox teachers of the Church, for the purpose of shutting out this slander, eagerly contended that both are affirmed of Christ. But the Arians may be refuted in a few words and by solid argument; for Paul, having spoken of the revelation of the glory of “the great God,” immediately added “Christ,” in order to inform us, that that revelation of glory will be in his person; as if he had said that, when Christ shall appear, the greatness of the divine glory shall then be revealed to us.
Hence we learn, first, that there is nothing that ought to render us more active or cheerful in doing good than the hope of the future resurrection; and, secondly, that believers ought always to have their eyes fixed on it, that they may not grow weary in the right course; for, if we do not wholly depend upon it, we shall continually be carried away to the vanities of the world. But, since the coming of the Lord to judgment might excite terror in us, Christ is held out to us as our “Savior,” who will also be our judge.
(254) “Of these words the most natural sense, and that required by the ‘ proprietas linguae,’ is, beyond all doubt, the one assigned by almost all the ancients from Clem. Alex. downwards, and by the early modern expositors, as Erasmus, Grotius, and Beza, and also by some eminent expositors and theologians of later times, as Bishops Pearson and Bull, Wolff, Matthaei, and Bishop Middleton, namely, ‘Looking for (or rather, looking forward to; comp. Job 2:9, and see Grotius) the blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.’ The cause of the ambiguity in our common version is ably pointed out, and the above version established on the surest grounds, by Bishop Middleton and Professor Scholefield. But, besides the argument founded on the ‘propriety of language,’ that of Beza, who urges that ἐπιφάνεια is nowhere used of God, but Christ, is unanswerable. So in an able critique on Dr. Channing’s works, in the British Critic, the Reviewer justly maintains that ‘Christ must be the God here spoken of, because it is his “glorious appearing” which all Christians here are said to expect, but of God the Father we are expressly told that him “no man hath seen, nor can see.”’ Other convincing arguments for the construction here laid down may be seen in Dr. Routh’s Reliquiae Sacrae, vol. 2, p. 26. The reader is also particularly referred to Clem. Alex. Colhort. ad Gentes, sub init., where verses 11-14 are cited by that Father, and the view of Σωτὢρος here maintained is adopted. The whole of the context there is deserving of great attention, as containing such plain and repeated attestations to the divinity of Jesus Christ as can rarely be found. The passage itself may be seen in Bishop Bull’s Def Fid. Nic., p. 87.” — Bloomfield.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing.The Greek should here be rendered, looking for the blessed hope and manifestation of the glory. And that holy life, just urged on the believer, of quiet self-restraint, of love to others, of piety towards God, must be lit up by a blessed hope, by a hope which is far more than a hope; that holy life of the faithful must be a continued waiting for a blessed hopethe hope laid up for us in heaven (Col. 1:5). It may be asked, What is this hope? We answer, it is the hope of glory which we shall share with the Son of God, when we behold Him as He is. So for us the hope of glory is intimately bound up with the second coming of the Lord. Then the life of the lover of the Lord must be one continued looking for, waiting for, the coming of the Lord in glorymust be a looking for that hour when we shall see in all His divine majesty, Him who redeemed us. In that life and light, in that majesty and glory, His own will share.
Of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.The translation here should run, of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. From the English version, it would seem that Pauls idea was that the Christian should live waiting for the glorious appearing of the great God, accompanied with our Lord Jesus Christ. The rendering we have adopted, on what seems conclusive grounds, speaks of a Christian life, as a life ever looking for the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
In this sublime passage the glory of the only begotten Son alone finds mention. Taken thus, it is a studied declaration of the divinity of the Eternal Son, who is here styled our great God and Saviour. Reasoning merely on grammatical principles, either translation would be possible, only even then there is a presumption in favour of the translation we have adopted. (See Ellicotts Note on this verse.) But other considerations are by no means so nearly equally balanced. The word manifestation (epiphany), the central thought of the sentence, is employed by St. Paul in his Epistles five times, and in every one of them to describe the manifestation of Christ, and in four of them to designate the future manifestation of His coming in glory, as here. The term epiphany is never applied to the Father.
Again, the whole of the context of the passage specially relates to the Son of God. The introduction of the epiphany of the Father would be a thought not merely strange to the whole New Testament, but would bring quite a new idea into this statement, which sets forth so sublimely the epiphany of Christ as the ground of the Christians hopean idea, too, no sooner suggested than dropped, for the passage goes on to speak only of the Son. Perhaps, however, the weightiest argument that can be adduced is the consensus of the Greek orthodox fathers, who, with scarcely an exception, concur in the interpretation which understands the expression of our great God as used of Jesus Christ. To select two examples out of the long chain of fathers reaching from the apostolic age who have thus understood this text: St. Paul here calls Christ the great God, and thus rebukes the heretical blasphemy which denies His Godhead (Theodoret). What can those persons say, asks Chrysostom, referring to this passage, who allege that the Son is inferior to the Father? (See Wordsworths Note here.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Looking See last note. We are to maintain the holy model of 1-10 during the present, by a fixed and hopeful looking to the glorious future.
Hope A cheery name for the object of hope, the glorious epiphany of the coming Christ.
Appearing The same Greek word as appeared in Tit 2:11.
And our Saviour By our present translation, approved by many eminent scholars, the words great God designate the Father, and Saviour the Son. But the large majority of scholars, ancient and modern, understand both the two appellatives, great God and Saviour, to be applied to Jesus Christ.
The literal rendering of the Greek words would be: The appearing of the glory of the great God and Saviour of us, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us. Now, as the words stand, if the two appellatives are to designate two different persons, some mark of separation should have been interposed between them. The author ought certainly to have taken that precaution. Our translators have so done by interposing our before Saviour; a scarcely justifiable method, for of us may just as properly take in both appellatives as one. Another method for the author would have been to interpose an article: the great God and the Saviour of us. Greek scholars claim, that by the laws of the Greek the two appellatives without the interposed article designate one subject. But such a rule belongs not to any one language; it belongs to every language; especially to every language having a definite article. Indeed, the principle requiring some separation of the two appellatives is based in common sense and natural perspicuity.
It need not be denied that there is force in the opposite argument of Huther and Alford. It is certainly true that the appellative great God is no where else applied to Christ. The instance stands alone. But there is “over all, God,” (Rom 9:5😉 “true God,” (Joh 5:20😉 “mighty God,” (Isa 9:6😉 and, as we think, “Almighty,” in Rev 1:8. Each one of these appellatives of supreme divinity also stands alone.
Alford argues that in Mat 16:27, the Son comes “in the glory of his Father.” But in Mat 26:31, the Son comes in his own glory. So that the glory of the present passage may still be the glory of one personality. There was a unanimity among the early Greek writers of the Church in applying both appellatives to Christ, and the verse was so used against the Arians. Alford seems to think that this polemic use of the passage weakens the value of their opinions. Perhaps it does. But is it not probable that this text had its share of influence in fixing the views of the Church before Arius appeared, so as to render the Church so nearly unanimous against his views? A proper delicacy in declining to use polemic authorities is commendable; but there is some danger of sacrificing truth even to over magnanimity. We are obliged to say that the natural reading of the words favours decidedly the reference of both appellatives to one subject. The words Jesus Christ tell us who is our great God and Saviour. And this exposition is confirmed by the following words who gave himself, etc. indicating that the writer had but a single personality in his thought. We would, then, read: The epiphany of the great God and Saviour of us, Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ,’
And we are to do this in the light of His coming and what will come about then. For we are to do it looking for our blessed hope. And what is that blessed hope, it is the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, that wonderful time when He will come in His glory, and all that is wrong will be put right, with every man receiving His God-appointed status, whether it be good or bad (Mat 16:27; Mat 24:30-31; Mat 25:31-46; Rom 14:10-12; 1Co 3:10-16; 1Co 4:5; 2Co 5:10). We are to be like servants busy about the house, with sleeves rolled up and light burning, ever expectantly awaiting their Lord’s return (Luk 12:35-46). This was Jesus’ theme in the Sermon on the Mount, where all His injunctions were given in the light of His coming, and He required of us, in the light of that, that we do the will His Father Who is in Heaven (Mat 7:21-27). It should be the expectant hope of every believer.
Our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.’ For the One Who is coming is the Mighty God (Isa 9:6), and He is the One Who has become our Saviour. God our Saviour (Tit 2:10) and Jesus Christ our Saviour, are as One. Our God is our Saviour, coming to set us free from sin. The construction ‘the great God and our Saviour’ indicates one and the same person (compare Rom 9:5). This is confirmed by the early Greek fathers, although not by the versions, and a similar phrase is found of the deification of the Ptolemies where the oneness cannot be in doubt. A similar construction is also found in Plutarch, for nouns linked by the same article generally designate the same subject unless they are proper names. Furthermore we never find in the New Testament the idea of a coming epiphaneia of God as such, and to speak of ‘the great God’ would be unusual if it simply referred to God Himself. It is because he is linking Jesus with God that he calls Him ‘the great God’ (Isa 9:6)
‘Appearing (epiphaneia).’ Compare 2Th 2:8 ; 1Ti 6:14; 2Ti 4:8 ; 1Pe 1:7. The word indicates appearing in divine manifestation, and in the same way as a great King making a ceremonial royal visit. It points to the open revelation of His glory.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Tit 2:13. And the glorious appearing Even the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour. We may observe, in support of this version, which is perfectly agreeable to the original, that we never read in scripture of the appearance of God the Father; and consequently we have in this text as strong a proof as possible of the true divinity of Jesus Christ. See 2Pe 1:1.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Tit 2:13 . ] The strange collocation of . and is found also in Act 24:15 : ; so, too, in Gal 5:5 : . The reason of it is that not only denotes actively the hope, but also passively the thing hoped for, the subject of the hope; comp. Col 1:5 : . ; comp., too, Rom 8:24 .
] Paul thus describes the in so far as the expectation of it blesses the believer. Wolf wrongly interprets . as equivalent to .
This is further defined by the epexegesis: . ] According to Hofmann, the adjective as well as the genitive . . . belongs to both substantives, to and to , because, as he thinks, is not a conception complete in itself. But Rom 15:4 shows this to be wrong. The genitive could only be construed with the two substantives by giving it a different reference in each case. Hofmann, indeed, maintains that this presents no difficulty, as it occurs elsewhere; but he is wrong in his appeal to Rom 15:4 (comp. Meyer on the passage) and to 1Pe 1:2 and 2Pe 3:11 (comp. my commentary on the passages).
Beyond doubt, the . . . denotes Christ’s second coming (1Ti 6:14 ); it may, however, be asked whether is an independent subject or an attribute of . . The older expositors are of the latter opinion; the orthodox even appealed to this passage against the Arians. Ambrosius, however, distinguishes here between Christus and Deus Pater. [5] Erasmus, too, says: simul cum Patre apparebit eadem gloria conspicuus Dominus ac Servator noster J. Chr.; and Bengel says of simply: referri potest ad Christum. Among more recent expositors, Flatt, Mack, Matthies, Wiesinger, van Oosterzee, Hofmann, adopt the former view; while de Wette, Plitt, Winer, pp. 123 f.[E. T. p. 162], adopt the latter. Heydenreich leaves the question undecided. [6] It cannot be decided on purely grammatical grounds, for . and . may be two attributes referring to . ; still it may be also that . . . is a subject distinct from . , even although only one article is used. [7] The question can only be answered by an appeal to N. T. usage, both for this passage and others like it: 2Pe 1:1 ; Jud 1:4 ; 2Th 1:12 . In 2Pe 1:11 ; 2Pe 3:18 , the unity of the subject is beyond doubt. The following points may be urged in favour of distinguishing two subjects: (1) In no single , passage is connected directly with as an attribute (see my commentary on 2Pe 1:1 ); i.e. there never occurs in the N. T. the simple construction . ., or ., or . . , whereas and are often enough construed in this way. (2) The collocation of God ( ) and Christus as two subjects is quite current, not only in the Pastoral Epistles (1Ti 1:1-2 ; 1Ti 5:21 ; 1Ti 6:13 ; 2Ti 1:2 ; 2Ti 4:1 ; Tit 1:4 ), but also in all the epistles of the N. T., Pauline or not, so much so , that when in some few passages the turn of the expression is such as to make refer grammatically to Christ also, these passages have to be explained in accordance with the almost invariable meaning of the expression. (3) The addition of the adjective indicates that is to be taken as an independent subject, especially when it is observed how Paul in the First Epistle to Timothy uses similar epithets to exalt God’s glory; comp. 1Ti 1:17 ; 1Ti 4:10 ; 1Ti 6:15-16 , especially Tit 1:11 : . It is true the expression is not found in the N. T., except in the Rec. of Rev 19:17 , but it occurs frequently in the O. T.: Deu 6:21 ; Deu 10:17 ; Neh 9:32 ; Dan 2:45 ; Dan 9:4 . [8]
For the unity of the subject only one reason can be urged with any show of force, viz. that elsewhere the word is only used in reference to Christ; but Erasmus long ago pointed out that it does not stand here . , but . Wiesinger, too, has to admit “that, according to passages like Mat 16:27 , Mar 8:38 , Christ appears in the glory of the Father and at the same time in His own glory (Mat 25:31 ), and His appearance may therefore be called the appearance both of God’s glory and of His own.” Wiesinger, indeed, tries to weaken this admission by remarking that in reality it is Christ Himself who will appear , and not God, that therefore would be construed with the genitives in quite different relations, and that on grammatico-logical principles it must mean either . , or (Matthies). But his remark is wrong. Even if the subjects be distinct, the genitive . stands in the same relation to as does the genitive . . . Nor is the form of expression necessary on which Matthies insists, because in the N. T. God and Christ are often enough connected simply by without marking their mutual relations. Wiesinger further remarks that no reason whatever can be found in the context for connecting here as well as Christ with the , but he has manifestly overlooked the relation of . to . [9]
Chrysostom rightly says: , . The of God has already appeared; the of God appears only at the day of completion, when Christ is made manifest in His , which is the of God. Though not so directly as it would have been if the subjects were identical, this passage is still a testimony in favour of the truth of the doctrine of Christ’s divinity. [10]
Matthies suggests that in the expression there is an allusion to the great Zeus worshipped in Crete, but that is more than improbable.
The genitive is not dependent on , but on . In 1Pe 4:13 also Christ’s second coming is called the revelation of His .
[5] The words of Ambrosius are: hanc esse dicit beatam spem credentium, qui exspectant adventum gloriae magni Dei, quod revelari habet judice Christo, in quo Dei patris videbitur potestas et gloria, ut fidei suae praemium consequantur. Ad hoc enim redemit nos Christus, ut, puram vitam sectantes, repleti bonis operibus, regni Dei haeredes esse possimus.
[6] Heydenreich wrongly supposes that here is the glory which God and Christ will give to believers.
[7] Hofmann wrongly asserts that because stands before , and with under one and the same article, therefore must belong to as much as to , and to as much as to , and both together to as predicate. There are instances enough of two distinct subjects standing under one article only, and we cannot see why these instances should not be quoted here. It cannot indeed be said that . . needs no article; for, although as well as may be construed with . . without the article, still there is no instance of being without the article when construed with . . But the article before . may, according to N. T. usage, be also referred to . . without making it necessary to assume a unity of subject; comp. Buttm. pp. 84 ff.; Winer, pp. 118 ff. [E. T. p. 158]. Hofmann is no less wrong in what he says regarding the necessity of the reference of and of Paul, indeed, might have written: . . . , but he could also express the same thought in the way he has written it.
[8] Usteri ( Paul. Lehrb . 5th ed. p. 326) says: “God the Father did not need the extolling epithet ;” to which it may be replied: “Did Christ need such an epithet?” If Hofmann be right in remarking that Christ is not , which is the subject-name of the Father, then it is very questionable that Paul would Call Him .
[9] Van Oosterzee has advanced nothing new in support of the view disputed above. The appeal to 2Pe 1:11 is of no use, unless it be proved in passages beyond dispute that , like , is joined with as an attribute.
[10] Calvin: Verum brevius et certius repellere licet Arianos, quia Paulus, de revelatione magni Dei locutus, mox Christum adjunxit, ut sciremus, in hujus persona fore illam gloriae revelationem, ac si diceret, ubi Christus apparuerit, tunc patefactum nobis iri divinae gloriae magnitudinem.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Ver. 13. Looking for ] As with necks stretched out, or head put forth, , Rom 8:19 ; as Sisera’s mother looked out of her lattice for her son’s happy return, Jdg 5:28 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Tit 2:13 . . . ., as already stated, describes the glad expectancy which is the ruling and prevailing thought in the lives of men looking for their Lord’s return (Luk 12:36 ), (Jud 1:21 ). Cf. Rom 8:19 ; 1Co 1:7 ; Php 3:20 ; 1Th 1:10 ; Heb 9:28 ; 2Pe 3:12 .Isa 25:9Isa 25:9 is the basal passage. Cf. Act 24:15 , , . In this quotation is the mental act, while the relative is the realisation of the hope. is also passive the thing hoped for in Gal 5:5 ; Col 1:5 ; 1Ti 1:1 .
: The Second Coming of Christ will be, as we are assured by Himself, “in the glory of His Father” (Mat 16:27 ; Mar 8:38 ). “We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God” (Rom 5:2 , a passage which supports the view that here is dependent on as well as on ). von Soden takes as epexegetical of . The Second Coming of Christ may, therefore, be regarded as an , even though we should not speak of an , while is normal and natural (See on 1Ti 6:14 ). having then an intelligible meaning, we are not entitled to treat it as merely adjectival, the glorious appearing (A.V.). The genitival relation does not differ in this case from in 2Th 2:8 . See also note on 1Ti 1:11 . Again, there does not seem any reason why , . . ., here should not depend on , on the analogy of 2Ti 1:10 . This may be thought too remote. In any case, the conception of the Second Coming as an occasion of manifestation of two , that of the Father and of the Son, is familiar from Luk 9:26 , , . . . On the whole, then, we decide in favour of the R.V.m. in the rendering of this passage, appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ . The grammatical argument “the identity of reference of two substantives when under the vinculum of a common article” is too slender to bear much weight, especially when we take into consideration not only the general neglect of the article in these epistles but the omission of it before in 1Ti 1:1 ; 1Ti 4:10 . Ellicott says that “ would seem uncalled for if applied to the Father”. To this it may be answered that ( a ) the epithet is not otiose here; as marking the majesty of God the Father it is parallel to the , . . ., which recalls the self-sacrificing love of the Son; both constituting the double appeal to fear and to love of the Judgment to come. ( b ) Again, St. Paul is nowhere more emphatic in his lofty language about God the Father than in these epistles; see 1Ti 1:17 ; 1Ti 6:15-16 .
This is the only place in the N.T. in which is applied to the true God, although it is a constant predicate of heathen gods and goddesses, e.g. , Act 19:28 . (See Moulton and Milligan, Expositor , vii., vii. 563). In view of the fact that the most probable exegesis of Rom 9:5 is that , , . . . refers to Christ, it cannot be said that , as applied to Him, is un-Pauline. But the proofs that St. Paul held Christ to be God Incarnate do not lie in a few disputable texts, but in the whole attitude of his soul towards Christ, and in the doctrine of the relation of Christ to mankind which is set forth in his epistles. St. Paul’s “declarations of the divinity of the Eternal Son” are not studied , as Ellicott admits that this would be if the R.V. rendering ( our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ ) be adopted. To this it may be added that the Versions, with the exception of the Aethiopic, agree with R.V.m. Ell. cites on the other side, of ante-Nicene writers, Clem. Alex., Protrept . 7, and Hippolytus, quoted by Wordsworth besides the great bulk of the post-Nicene fathers. The text is one which would strike the eye of a reader to whose consciousness the Arian controversy was present; but it is safe to say that if it had read , the would have excited no comment. Consequently the papyri (all vii. A.D.) cited by J. H. Moulton ( Grammar , vol. i. p. 84) “which attest the translation our great God and Saviour as current among Greek-speaking Christians” are too late as guides to St. Paul’s meaning here. The similar problem in 2Pe 1:1 must be discussed independently. At least, even if it be granted that the R.V. there is correct, and that 2Pe 1:1 is an example of the transference to Christ of the language used of deified kings “in the papyri and inscriptions of Ptolemaic and Imperial times,” it does not follow that the same account must be given of Tit 2:13 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Titus
THE HAPPY HOPE
Tit 2:13 .
THERE are two appearances spoken of in this context – the appearance of ‘the grace of God that bringeth salvation’; and parallel with that, though at the same time contrasted with it, as being in very important senses one in nature and principle, though diverse in purpose and diverse in manner, is what the Apostle here calls ‘the glorious appearing of the great God.’ The antithesis of contrast and of parallel is still more striking in the original than in our version, where our translators have adopted a method of rendering of which they are very fond, and which very often obscures the full meaning of the text. Paul wrote, ‘Looking for that blessed [or ‘happy’] hope, even the appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour,’ where you see he contrasts, even more sharply than our Bible makes him do, the past appearance of the grace, and the future appearance of the glory. Then, further, this appearance of the glory; however bright with the terrible beauty and flashing lustre of divine majesty it may be, seems to the Apostle to be infinitely desirable, and becomes to him a happy hope. The reality, when it comes, will be pure joy. The irradiation of its approach shines from afar on his brightening face, and lightens his heart with a hope which is a prophetic joy. And the attitude of the Christian soul towards it is to be that of glad expectation, watching the dawning east and ready to salute the sun. And yet further, this attitude of happy expectation of the glory is one chief object to be attained by the grace that has appeared. It came ‘teaching,’ or rather as the word more accurately means ‘disciplining, that we should live looking for that happy hope.’ So, then, we have here for our consideration three points embodied in these words – The grace of God has appeared, the glory of God is to appear; the appearance of the glory is a blessed hope; the disciplining of the grace prepares us for the expectation of the glory. I. First, then, take that thought – The appearance of the grace leads to the appearance of the glory. The identity of the form of expression in the two clauses is intended to suggest the likeness of and the connection between the two appearances. In both there is a visible manifestation of God, and the latter rests upon the former, and completes and crowns it. But the difference between the two is as strongly marked as the analogy; and it is not difficult to grasp distinctly the difference which the Apostle intends. While both are manifestations of the divine character in exercise, the specific phase so to speak of that character which appears is in one ease ‘grace,’ and in the other ‘glory.’ If one might venture on any illustration in regard to such a subject, it is as when the pure white light is sent through glass of different colours, and at one moment beams mild through refreshing green, and at the next flames in fiery red that warns of danger. The two words which are pitted against each other here have each a very wide range of meaning. But, as employed in this place, their antithetical force is clear enough. ‘Grace’ is active love, exercised towards. inferiors, and towards those who deserve something else. So the grace of God is the active energy of His love, which stoops from the throne to move among men, and departing from the strict ground of justice and retribution, deals with us not according to our sins, nor rewards us according to our iniquities! And then the contrasted word ‘glory’ has not only a very wide meaning, but also a definite and specific force, which the very antithesis suggests. The ‘glory of God,’ I believe, in one very important sense, is His ‘grace.’ The highest glory of God is the exhibition of forgiving and long-suffering love. Nothing can be grander. Nothing can be more majestic. Nothing, in the very profoundest sense of the word, can be more truly divine – more lustrous with all the beams of manifest deity, than the gentle raying forth of His mercy and His goodness. But then, while that is the profoundest thought of the glory of God, there is another truth to be taken in conjunction with it. The phrase has, in scripture, a well marked and distinct sense, which may be illustrated from the Old Testament, where it generally means not so much the total impression of majesty and power made upon men by the whole revealed divine character, but rather the visible light which shone between the cherubim and proclaimed the present God. Connected with this more limited sense is the wider one of that which the material light above the mercy-seat symbolised – and which we have no better words to describe than to call it the ineffable and inaccessible brightness of that awful Name. The contrast between the two will be suggested by a passage to which I may refer. The ancient lawgiver said, ‘I beseech thee show me thy glory.’ The answer was ‘I will make all my goodness pass before thee.’ The eye of man is incapable of apprehending the uncreated divine lustrousness and splendour of light, but capable of receiving some dim and partial apprehensions of the goodness, not indeed in its fulness, but in its consequences. And that goodness, though it be the brightest of ‘the glories that compose His Name,’ is not the only possible, nor the only actual manifestation of the glory of God. The prayer was unfulfilled when offered; for to answer it, as is possible for earth, would have been to antedate the slow evolution of the counsels of God. But answered it will be, and that on this globe. ‘Every eye shall see Him.’
The grace has appeared, when Divine Love is incarnate among us. The long-suffering gentleness we have seen. And in it we have seen, in a very real sense, the glory, for ‘we beheld His glory, full of grace.’ But beyond that lies ready to be revealed in the last time the glory, the lustrous light, the majestic splendour, the flaming fire of manifest Divinity. Again, the two verses thus bracketed together, and brought into sharp contrast, also suggest how like, as well as how unlike, these manifestations are to be. In both cases there is an appearance, in the strictest sense of the word, that is to say, a thing visible to men’s senses. Can we see the grace of God? We can see the love in exercise, cannot we? How? ‘He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?’ The appearance of Christ was the making visible, in human form, of the love of God. My brother, the appearance of the glory will be the same – the making visible in human form of the light of throned and sovereign Deity. The one was incarnation; the other will be incarnation. The one was patent to men’s senses – so will the other be. The grace has appeared. The glory is to appear. ‘Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go.’ An historical fact, a bodily visibility, a manifestation of the divine nature and character in human form upon earth, and living and moving amongst men i As ‘ Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, ‘so unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.’ The two are strictly parallel. As the grace was visible in action by a Man among men, so the glory will be. What we look for is an actual bodily manifestation in a human form, on the solid earth, of the glory of God. And then I would notice how emphatically this idea of the glory being all sphered and embodied in the living person of Jesus Christ proclaims His divine nature. It is ‘the appearance of the glory’ – then mark the next words – ‘of the great God and our Saviour.’ I am not going to enter upon the question of the interpretation of these words, which by many very competent authorities have been taken as all referring to Jesus Christ, and as being a singular instance in scripture of the attribution to Him directly, and without any explanation or modification, of the name, ‘the great God!’ I do not think that either grammar or dogma require that interpretation here. But I think that, if we take the words to refer distinctly to the Father and to the Son, the inference as to Christ’s true and proper divinity which comes from. them, so understood, is no less strong than the other interpretation would make it. For, in that case, the same one and indissoluble glory is ascribed to God the Father and to Christ our Lord, and the same act is the appearance of both. The human possesses the divine glory in such reality and fulness as it would be insanity if it were not blasphemy, and blasphemy if it were not absurdity, to predicate of any single man. The words coincide with His own saying, ‘The Son of Man shall come in His glory and of the Father,’ and point us necessarily and inevitably to the wonderful thought that the glory of God is capable of being fully imparted to, possessed by, and revealed through Jesus Christ; that the glory of God is Christ’s glory, and the glory of Christ is God’s. In deep, mysterious, real, eternal Union the Father and the Son, the light and the ray, the fountain and the source, pour themselves out in loving- kindness on the world, and shall flash themselves in splendour at the last, when the Son of Man ‘ shall be manifested in His own glory and of the Father!’ And then I must touch very briefly another remarkable and plain contrast indicated in our text between these two ‘appearings.’ They are not only unlike in the subject so to speak or substance of the manifestation, but also in the purpose. The grace comes, patient, gentle, sedulous, labouring for our training and discipline. The glory comes – there is no word of training there! What does the glory come for? The one rises upon a benighted world – lambent and lustrous and gentle, like the slow, silent, climbing of the silvery moon through the darkling sky. But the other blazes out with a leap upon a stormy heaven – ‘as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west,’ writing its fierce message across all the black page of the sky in one instant, ‘so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.’ Like some patient mother, the ‘grace of God’ has moved amongst men, with entreaty, with loving rebuke, with loving chastisement. She has been counsellor and comforter. She has disciplined and fostered with more than maternal wisdom and love. ‘Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.’ But the glory appears for another purpose and in another guise – ‘Who is this that cometh with dyed garments? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art Thou red in thine apparel? I have trodden the winepress alone – for the day of vengeance is in Mine heart, and the year of My redeemed is come.’ II. But we have now to look at the second thought which is involved in these words, and that is, the appearing of the glory is a blessed hope.
The hope is blessed; or as we have already remarked, the word ‘happy’ may perhaps be substituted with advantage. Because it will be full of blessedness when it is a reality, therefore it is full of joy, while it is but a hope. The characteristics of that future manifestation of glory are not such that its coming is wholly and universally a joy. There is something terrible in the beauty, something menacing in the brightness. But it is worth noticing that, notwithstanding all that gathers about it of terror, all that gathers about it of awful splendour, all that is solemn and heart shaking in the thought of judgment and retribution for the past, the irreversible and irrevocable past, yet to Paul it was the very crown of all his expectations of, and the very shining summit of all his desires for, the future – that Christ should appear. The primitive Church thought a great deal more about the coming of Jesus Christ than about death – thought a great deal more about His coming than about ‘Heaven.’ To them the future was not so much a time of rest for themselves as the manifestation of their Lord. To them the way of passing out of life was not so much seeing corruption as being caught up together in the air. And how far the darkness, which our Lord declared to be the divine counsel in regard to that future coming, enwrapped even those who, upon all other points, received the divine inspiration which made and makes them for evermore the infallible teachers and authorities for the Christian Church, is a moot question. If it were certain that the Apostle expected Christ’s coming during his own lifetime, I do not know that we need be troubled at that as if it shook their authority, seeing that almost the last words which Christ spoke to His Apostles were a distinct declaration that He had not to reveal to them, and they were not to know’ the times and the seasons which the Father has put in His own power,’ and seeing that the office of that Holy Spirit, as whose organs Paul and the other writers of the New Testament are our authoritative teachers, is expressly declared to be the bringing all things to their remembrance, whatsoever Christ had revealed. If, then, He expressly excepts from the compass of His revelation this point, it can be no derogation from the completeness of an inspired writer’s authority, if he knows it not. And if one takes into account the whole of Paul’s words on the subject, they seem to express rather the same double anticipation, which we too have to cherish, desiring and looking, on the one hand, for the Saviour from heaven; desiring on the other hand to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. The numerous places in which Paul speaks of his own decease, sometimes as longed for, sometimes as certain; and, latterly, as near, are inconsistent with the theory that he looked for Christ’s coming as certain in his own lifetime. So, too, are other anticipations which he expresses as to the future course of the Church, and progress of the Gospel in the world. He, like us, would appear to have had before his expectations the alternative. He knew not when the glory might burst upon the world, therefore he was ever standing as one that waits for his Lord. He knew not when he might have to die, therefore he laboured that, ‘whether present or absent, he might be pleasing to Him.’ But that is not the point upon which I want to say a word. Dear brethren, the hope is a happy one. If we know the grace, we shall not be afraid of the glory.’ If the grace has disciplined in any measure, we may be sure that we shall partake in its perfection They that have seen the face of Christ looking down, as it were, upon them from the midst of the great darkness of the cross, and beneath the crown of thorns, need not be afraid to see the same face looking down upon them from amidst the blaze of the light, and from beneath the many crowns of the kingdoms of the world and the royalties of the heavens. Whosoever hath learnt to love and believe in the manifestation of the grace, he, and he only, can believe and hope for the manifestation of the glory. And, Christian men and women, whilst thus the one ground upon which that assurance, ‘The Lord cometh,’ can be anything to us except a dread, if it is a belief at all, is the simple reliance upon his past work – let me urge the further consideration upon you and myself, how shamefully all of us neglect and overlook that blessed expectation! We live by hope. God, indeed, is above all hope. To that infinite eye, before which all things that were, and are, and are to come, lie open and manifest, or, rather, are ensphered in His own person and self; to Him, who is the living past, the abiding present, the present future, there is no expectation. The animal creation is below hope. But for us that live on the central level – half-way between a beast and God, if I may so say – for us our lives are tossed about between memory and expectation.
We all of us possess, and most of us prostitute that wonderful gift – of shaping out some conception of the future. And what do we do with it? It might knit us to God, bear us up amid the glories of the abysses of the skies. We use it for making to ourselves pictures of fools’ paradises of present pleasures or of successful earthly joys. The folly of men is not that they live by hope, but that they set their hopes on such things.
‘They build too low Who build beneath the stars!’
As for every other part of human nature, so for this strange faculty of our being, the gospel points to its true object, and the gospel gives its only consecration. Dear brethren, is it true of us that into our hearts there steals subtle, impalpable, but quickening as the land breeze laden with the fragrance of flowers to the sailor tossing on the barren sea, a hidden but yet mighty hope of an inheritance with Him – when He shall appear? With eye lifted above and fixed upon the heavens do I look beyond the clouds to the stars? Alas! alas! the world drives that hope out of our hearts It is with us as with the people in some rude country fair and scene of riot, where the booths and the shows and the drinking-places are pitched upon the edge of the common, and one step from the braying of the trumpets brings you into the solemn stillness of the night; and high above the stinking flare of the oil lamps there is the pure light of the stars in the sky, and not one amongst the many clowns that are stumbling about in the midst of sensual dissipation ever looks up to see that calm home that is arched above them! We live for the present, do not we? And there, if only we would lift our eyes, there, even now, is the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens. My friend, it is as much an element of a Christian’s character, and a part of his plain, imperative duty, to look for His appearing as it is to live’ soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world!’ III. Well then, finally, one word about the last consideration here, viz., The grace disciplines us to hope for the glory. The very idea of discipline involves the notion that it is a preparatory stage, a transient process for a permanent result. It carries with it the idea of immaturity, of apprenticeship, so to speak. If it is discipline, it is discipline for some condition which is not yet reached. And so if the grace of God comes ‘disciplining,’ then there must be something beyond the epoch and era within which the discipline is confined. And that just runs out into two considerations, upon which I have not time to dwell Take the characteristics of the grace – clearly enough, it is preparing men for something beyond itself. Yield to the discipline and the hope will grow. Take the characteristics of the grace. Here is a great system, based upon a stupendous and inconceivable act of divine sacrifice, involving a mysterious identification of the whole race of sinful men with the Saviour, embodying the most wonderful love of God, and being the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. Here is a life perfectly innocent, perfectly stainless, brought to the extremity of evil, and having never swerved one inch from the divine commandments, yet dying at last under a consciousness of separation and desertion from God! Here are a cross, a resurrection, an ascension, an omnipotent Spirit, an all-guiding Word, a whole series of powers and agencies brought to bear! Does any man believe that such a wealth of divine energy and resource would he put forth and employed for purposes that break short off when a man is put into his coffin, and that have nothing beyond this world for their field? Here is a perfect instrument for making men perfect, and what does it do? It makes men so good and leaves them so bad that unless they are to be made still better and perfected, God’s work on the soul is at once an unparalleled success and a confounding failure – a puzzle, in that having done so much it does not do more; in that having done so little it has done so much. The achievements of Christianity upon single souls, and its failures upon those for whom it has done most, when measured against, and compared with, its manifest adaptation to a loftier issue than it has ever reached here on earth, all coincide to say – the grace because its purpose is discipline, and because its purpose is but partially achieved here on earth demands a glory, when they whose darkness has been partially made ‘light in the Lord,’ by the discipline of grace, shall ‘blaze forth as the sun’ in the Heavenly Father’s Kingdom of Glory. Yield to the discipline, and the hope will be strengthened. You will never entertain in any vigour and operative power upon your lives the expectation of that coming of the glory unless you live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. That discipline submitted to is, if I may so say, like that great apparatus which you find by the side of an astronomer’s biggest telescope, to wheel it upon its centre and to point ‘its tube to the star on which he would look.
So our anticipation and desire, the faculty of expectation which we have, is wont to be directed along the low level of earth, and it needs the pinions and levers of that gracious discipline, making us sober, righteous, godly, in order to heave it upwards, full-front against the sky, that the stars may shine into it. The speculum, the object-glass, must be polished and cut by many a stroke and much friction ere it will reflect ‘the image of the heavenly’; so grace disciplines us, patiently, slowly, by repeated strokes, by much rubbing, by much pain – disciplines us to live in self-restraint, in righteousness and godliness, and then the cleared eye beholds the heavens, and the purged heart grows towards ‘ the Coming’ as its hope and its life. Dear brethren, let us not fling away the treasures of our hearts’ desires upon trifles and earth. Let us not set our hopes on that which is not, nor paint that misty wall that rings round our present with evanescent colours like the landscapes of a dream. We may have a hope which is a certainty, as sure as a history, as vivid as a present fact. Let us love and trust Him who has been manifested to save us from our sins, and in whom we behold all the grace and truth of God. If our eyes have learnt to behold and our hearts to love Him whom we have not seen, amid all the bewildering glares and false appearances of the present, our hopes will happily discern Him and be at rest, amid the splendours of that solemn hour when He shall come in His glory to render to every man according to His works. With that hope the future, near or far, has no fears hidden in its depths. Without it, there is no real anchorage for our trembling hearts, and nothing to hold by when the storm comes. The alternative is before each of us, ‘having no hope,’ or ‘looking for that blessed hope.’ God help us all to believe that Christ has come for me! Then I shall be glad when I think that Christ will come again to receive me unto Himself!
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Looking for. See Luk 19:36.
that = the.
blessed. See 1Ti 1:11.
hope. appearing. Figure of speech Hendiadys. App-6.
hope. Compare Tit 1:2; Tit 3:7. “Blessed object
of hope, “Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct). App-6.
glorious appearing = appearing (App-106. ) of the glory (see p. 1511). Figure of speech Aetimereia (of Noun). App-6. Compare 2Co 4:4.
great, &c. = our great Saviour God.
Jesus Christ. App-98.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Tit 2:13. , looking for) with joy.–, hope-of God) This may be referred to Christ.[11]-, Saviour) ch. Tit 3:4; Tit 3:6, where the mention of the Father and of the Son is made in very close connection, as here, ch. Tit 2:11; Tit 2:13. [Hope corresponds to the name of Saviour; the appearance of the glory, to that of God.-V. g.]
[11] See my note on 1Ti 5:21. This must refer to Christ; for , is never applied to God the Father, but always to the Son. And when two compatible attributives joined by a copula are thus preceded by but one article, they must refer to the one and the same person: of Him who is at once the great God and our Saviour: , viz. , .-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Tit 2:13
looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;-As an incentive to and reward for this faithful discharge of his duties, the faithful Christian is to look forward to that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. He told them he would come again in the clouds of heaven, and that his appearing would be a glorious one. (Mar 13:26-27.) He will come to redeem from the grave and crown with everlasting glory and righteousness those that were faithful to him.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Saviour
(See Scofield “Rom 1:16”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Looking: 1Co 1:7, Phi 3:20, Phi 3:21, 2Ti 4:8, 2Pe 3:12-14
blessed: Tit 1:2, Tit 3:7, Act 24:15, Rom 5:5, Rom 8:24, Rom 8:25, Rom 15:13, Col 1:5, Col 1:23, Col 1:27, 2Th 2:16, Heb 6:18, Heb 6:19, 1Pe 1:3, 1Jo 3:3
the glorious: Job 19:25-27, Isa 25:9, Mat 16:27, Mat 25:31, Mat 26:64, Mar 8:38, Mar 14:62, 1Ti 6:13, 1Ti 6:14, Heb 9:28, 2Co 4:4, 2Co 4:6,*Gr: Col 3:4, 2Ti 4:1, 2Ti 4:8, 1Pe 1:7, 1Jo 3:2, Rev 1:7
our: Tit 3:4, Tit 3:6, 2Pe 3:18, 1Jo 4:14
Reciprocal: Exo 33:18 – General Psa 24:10 – he is Psa 88:1 – Lord Psa 96:13 – he cometh Psa 98:2 – made Isa 9:6 – The mighty God Isa 19:20 – he shall send Isa 43:11 – General Isa 45:21 – a just Isa 45:22 – for Isa 66:5 – but Mat 25:1 – went Luk 1:47 – God Joh 1:1 – the Word was Joh 5:23 – all men Joh 10:30 – General Act 5:31 – a Saviour Act 7:2 – The God Act 26:6 – the promise Rom 3:12 – there is none Rom 8:23 – waiting Rom 12:12 – Rejoicing Gal 5:5 – the hope Eph 1:18 – is Eph 3:18 – able Eph 4:4 – as Phi 2:6 – in Col 2:9 – in 1Th 1:10 – wait 1Th 2:19 – in 2Th 1:7 – when 2Th 1:9 – the glory 2Th 3:5 – and into 1Ti 1:1 – God 2Ti 1:10 – our Tit 1:3 – God Heb 1:8 – O God Heb 12:2 – Looking Jam 2:1 – the Lord 1Pe 1:5 – ready 2Pe 1:1 – of God and our Saviour 1Jo 2:28 – when 1Jo 3:16 – perceive 1Jo 5:20 – This is
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THAT BLESSED HOPE
Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Tit 2:13
I fear that this great truththe coming again of the Lordis largely a neglected truth.
Since the Lord Jesus Christ departed into the heavens, and men are really touched by matters spiritual, you will find, if you study the history of the great majority of the professing Churches, that they have almost entirely, if not quite, ignored the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as a Person to fulfil a great historical event.
I. The Second Advent as a matter of reason.I ask you, as a matter of reason, is it likely that the Great High God, Who has, as we are told in the opening of the Epistle to the Hebrews, appointed His Son to be heir to all things, would allow His retirement from the earth as if defeated, and never see to it that His purpose was completely fulfilled? When the Lord Jesus Christ left this world, He passed up from the Mount of Olives and from the sight of a few humble followers, who claimed Him in their hearts as King. But the world at large ignored Him entirely, and Satan might well have been said to have gained a magnificent victory, if nothing further took place historically with regard to the Jesus of Nazareth. Consequently, we may expect, on the very ground of reason, that there must be a further return of Christ in Majesty and glory to claim the kingdoms of this world for Himself and His Father.
II. What saith the Scripture?We must inquire what is revealed to us in the Scripture with regard to this historical fact, of which we are expecting the fulfilment. In what manner will the Lord Jesus Christ return? Our text speaks of it as the glorious appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ. He is to come in like manner as He went up. And the Lord Jesus Christ, our Blessed Saviour, who went up to heaven as Jesus, the Perfect Man, to claim our places there and prepare them for us, in the presence of God and the angels, is coming back to receive the kingdom according to His own parable. He comes to be King, and His title is to be the Lord Himself.
III. Christ and the Church.What will it be to Christ when He looks upon His Church, and says, My beloved, My beloved! That is my Saviours joy, my Saviours reward for all His pains. For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God, henceforth waiting till His enemies are crushed, and His saints are ready to meet Him, and the cry goes up from earth as well as from heaven above: My Lord, My God. Not only will it be a satisfaction to his own soul; He will see God satisfied, too. When He was upon earth, there was one thought in His mind. I have glorified Thee upon the earth. I came not to seek My own glory, but the glory of Him that sent Me. I can imagine (oh, so feebly) the wondrous feeling of my Lord and Master as He looks upon that perfected Bridegathered in all ages from earthhow He turns back for a moment to His Fathers throne, and says, Father, I have glorified Thee; I have glorified Thee!
Rev. Prebendary Webb-Peploe.
Illustration
Problems of physiology, psychology, sociology, have their interest; but behind them all lies the great fact that man is a moral being governed by conscience and duty. Life is real, life is earnest, and the grave is not its goal. Do you at times doubt it? Does society seem to move on with a cruel disregard for individuals, letting the weakest go to the wall, not caring how many are crushed and broken in the mad scramble after wealth? Remember the Second Advent. Be patient until the coming of the Lord. The Judge is at the door. You are not pawns upon a chessboard. You are a responsible agent. Responsible to whom? To Him Who has made all duty possible and even delightful by His grace and loveto Him Who for this end died and revived and lived again, that He might be the Lord of both the dead and of the livingto Him Who will soon come again, and Whose coming will be full of glory for His own children and full of hope for the blind Jew and the dark heathen world.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE SECOND ADVENT
Christianity draws its strength from the two Advents, or the two appearings, as they are called in this passagethat of Tit 2:11, the appearing of the grace of God in the First Advent, and that of Tit 2:13, the appearing of the glory of God in the Second Advent.
I. The Second Advent of Christ will be as real as the First Advent.There will be a coming again in power and great glory, which will literally fulfil all the promises of a reigning Messiah, just as the First Coming in great humility fulfilled literally all the promises of a suffering Messiah. This is our hope. We cannot be the Christians God wants us to be unless we hold it fast, unless we are looking for this blessed hope. However busy with the work He has given us to do, we may still see that our loins are girded, our lamps burning, and we ourselves on the look-out for the Master. The fishermans wife, however busy with the care of home and children, casts many an eager look across the waters to see if her husbands vessel is in sight.
II. We do not know when our Lord will come.The date is not revealed to us. Indeed, by a divinely ordered and marvellous commingling of light and obscurity, the teaching of Scripture has brought about this phenomenal resultthat each succeeding generation has been able to look upon our Lords return as imminent; so that to men taught in the Word and skilled to observe the signs of the times, the expectation of Christs return has been a reality and not a make-believe. The hope has not died away because the fulfilment has been so long delayed. The true believer steadily refuses to look forward to death. Death and dissolution may comewe, of course, admit itbut only if the Lord tarry. But there is no if as to the Lords return. That is a certaintyit is part of the word which cannot be broken. So the Second Advent is a certainty, while death is only a possibility; and the true Christian rings out in joyous song:
But, Lord,tis for Thee, for Thy coming, we wait;
The sky, not the grave, is our goal.
III. Now we are looking for this our blessed hope.You know the power of a new interest, the constraining influence of one mastering thought. Christ is coming. Let this be the new interest in your life; let this be the mastering thought. No thought can be a mastering thought if it is only a speculation. Christs coming is not a speculation but a certainty. No thought can exercise a constraining influence unless the cold and bare reason is reinforced by a lively imagination and a warm affection. So knowledge of the law of retribution will not suffice to control us, but the thought of the return of our Lord Jesus as Bridegroom and Master and King will. This blessed hope will teach us what life really is.
Rev. F. S. Webster.
Illustration
This upward look is a sure mark of the true Church, for if we abandon it we make void more than half the promises of God. Taking the Messianic prophecies as a whole, the Advent in power and glory is more prominent than the Advent in humiliation and suffering. The Jews were not wrong in looking for the earthly reign of their Messiah. It is mere playing with words to pretend that Gabriels message to the Virgin MaryHe shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto Him the Throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the House of Israel for everhas been fulfilled. Christ has not yet received the Throne of His father David. True, indeed, He has, through His Resurrection and Ascension, received the first instalment of the sure mercies of David, and is crowned before the angels with glory and honour; but this is not all that the Prophets set forth in such glowing pictures. Not yet are His enemies made His footstool; not yet has the chosen nation greeted him with the cry, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord; not yet have men begun to beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks beneath His sceptre. The disciples saw this clearly when they asked, on the day of the Ascension, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? It was too soon to give them the full revelation of the hidden mystery, afterwards granted to St. Paul, that before the kingdom should be given to Israel, a new kingdom, the hidden kingdom of the Holy Spirit, the Church of Christ, should be set up.
(THIRD OUTLINE)
THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE ADVENT
Why is the coming of Christ a blessed Hope to the Christian?
I. Because he will be with Christ.He promises this (Joh 14:3; Joh 17:24; see also 1Th 4:17 and 2Th 2:1). Here is the very climax of the Christians hopeour gathering together unto Him. Here is the very glory of the glory, the heaven of heavens!
II. And at Christs coming every true believer will be like Christ (see Php 3:20-21).Here on earth it is the body that drags the soul down, but when the Master comes, the body of every saint will be made pure and dazzling, bright with immortal beauty. For He that sits on the throne will say, Behold, I make all things new. Now the believer has the victory over the power of sin, then he will be free from its presence.
III. For that blessed hope we look with patience and diligence.The keynote of 1 Thessalonians is hope, and of 2 Thessalonians, patience. The pith of the Epistle is just this: I do not say Christ is really hereonly wait patiently for Him; that if He comes in your day He may find you doing the work He has given you to do.
Rev. F. Harper.
Illustration
The 19th of May, 1780, is memorable as the date of a strange phenomenon of darkness which overspread the state of Connecticut. Domestic fowls retired to roost; the song-birds of the woods were hushed; the people for the most part believed the end of all things to be at hand. Some members of the Legislative Council, which was in session, wished to adjourn. The chairman replied, If the judgment-day be come, I would like the great Lord of us all to find me at my post, and in my duty; and therefore shall order lights to be brought in, and go on.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Tit 2:13. Christians may have the blessed hope in this life even, but they are looking for the fulfillment of it in the future. The glorious appearing of the great God and that of our Saviour refers to the same person. The Deity (Godhead) is composed of three persons, namely, the Father and Son and Holy Ghost (or Spirit), hence God is a proper term to be applied to either of them.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Tit 2:13. The Christians duty during this present life (world in Tit 2:12 = age or epoch of the world), does not exclude but include a reference to that which is to come. The Christians hope is another or second epiphany still future. The first is an epiphany of grace (Tit 2:11) as the source of Christian life; the other of glory as its end. (So Wiesinger.) This appearing of the glory (literally) of the great God is to be at the Second Advent.
Much disputed if God as well as Saviour refers to our Lord. Some arguments for and against involve a knowledge of the original; but the following are among the chief: For(a) context refers to Christ: (b) the word epiphany (appearing) never occurs in relation to God the Father elsewhere; (c) the adjective great would be uncalled for, if God were here used of the Father; (d) the weight of opinion among the Fathers lay on this side. Against(a) the word God is nowhere else thus joined as a simple attribute to Christ; (b) the phrase God and our Saviour occurs six times in the Pastoral Epistles, and always refers to the Father; (c) it is usual with Paul thus to conjoin God the Father and our Lord; (d) the addition of great serves to isolate God as a different subject. The result may be summed up thus:
There is a grammatical presumption in favour of referring God to our Lord in this passage; yet not such as can be much depended on, seeing the usage of the writer tells the other way. No argument for our Lords divinity can be safely built on such exegesis. The doctrine is amply sustained and can dispense with the support of an ambiguous text.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. The character given of that reward which the gospel promises to them that live soberly, righteously, and godlily, in this present world; this is described,
1. By its futurity, it is hope, something expected, and to come; 2. By its transcendency, it is a blessed hope.
Learn, That the Christian’s hope (for the good things hoped for) is laid up, not in this, but in the other world; because this world, and this present state, is not capable of that happiness which the Christian hopes for. It is too great, it is too good, for earth, it is laid up in heaven.
Observe, 2. The time and season when this glorious reward and blessed hope shall be dispensed reward and blessed hope shall be dispensed and given forth unto the godly, and that is, at the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Where note, A threefold description of Christ,
1. By the immensity of his deity, he is the great God. 2. By the graciousness of his office, our Saviour. 3. By the glory of his advent, or appearance, looking for the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Observe, 3. The Christian’s duty, with reference and relation to this reward, and to the appearance of Christ, when it shall be dispensed and given forth, namely, to look for that joyful hour.
Learn, That the great duty incumbent on all the people of God, is to be continually looking and longing for, hoping and expecting of, the coming and appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: Looking for the blessed hope, &c.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Looking for the Lord
The Lord gave hope by paying the ransom price to buy sinful man out of bondage ( Act 20:28 ). Such bondage came because of man’s lawless deeds ( 1Ti 1:9 ; 2Co 5:15 ). He cleanses those who come to him. He consecrates them to perform good works in his service ( Tit 2:14 ; Eph 2:8-10 ; Eze 37:23 ). Paul urged Titus to speak these things about the Christian life with authority. He was to exhort others to follow such instruction. No one should be allowed to despise the instruction because it came from God ( Tit 2:15 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Tit 2:13-14. Looking With eager desire and lively expectation; for the blessed hope That is, for the blessedness for which we hope; the grace of hope being here put for the object of it, future and eternal felicity. And the glorious appearing Very different from his former appearance in a state of poverty, reproach, and suffering; of the great God and our Saviour The original expression, , are literally, the appearing, or manifestation, of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: or, of the great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ. If the words be taken in the former sense, the apostle may be considered as alluding to our Lords words, Luk 9:26, where the Lord Jesus is spoken of as coming in his own glory and in his Fathers, and of his holy angels; and, (Mat 16:27,) the Son of man shall come in the glory of the Father with his angels. Beza, however, is of opinion, that one person only is spoken of, namely, Jesus Christ, to whom he thinks the title of the great God is given in this verse; and with him Whitby agrees, both because the article is wanting before , Saviour, and because, as God the Father is not said properly to appear, so the word , appearing, never occurs in the New Testament but when it is applied to Jesus Christ. But to this Macknight answers, 1st, That the article wanting before Saviour may be supplied, as our translators have done here before , appearing, and elsewhere, particularly Eph 5:5, In the kingdom, , of Christ and of God. and, 2d, That the apostle does not speak of the appearing of the Father, but of the appearing of the glory of the Father; agreeably to what Christ himself declared, that at his return to judgment he will appear surrounded with the glory of his Father. Whitby, however, as an additional reason for thinking that Christ is only spoken of, observes, that not only all the ancient commentators on the place do so interpret this text, but the Ante-Nicene Fathers also; Hippolytus speaking of the appearance of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, and Clemens of Alexandria proving Christ to be both God and man, our Creator, and the Author of all our good things, from these very words of St. Paul. Who gave himself for us Namely, to die in our stead; that he might redeem us Miserable bond-slaves; from all iniquity As well from the power and the very being, as from the guilt of our sins; and purify to himself From all pollution of flesh and spirit, (see on 2Co 7:1,) a peculiar people Who should thankfully own themselves his property, and express their gratitude for such inestimable favours, by being not only careful to avoid the practice of evil, but zealous of good works Active in all the duties of life, and in every office of righteousness and goodness to each other. This is said in allusion to Exo 19:5; Deu 7:6, where God calls the Jews a peculiar and a special people to himself, because he had made them his property by redeeming them from the bondage of Egypt, and had distinguished them from the rest of mankind as his, by rites and ordinances of his own appointment. Christ hath made believers his peculiar people by giving himself for them, to redeem them from all iniquity, and to purify them to himself, a people zealous, not of rites and ceremonies, but of good works. This being the great end of Christs death, how dare any person, pretending to be one of Christs people, either speak or think lightly of good works, as not necessary to salvation? Macknight.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
“Looking” is a good translation of the word; it also can mean “waiting for” which has the thought of looking forward to or looking, waiting. We are to continually be looking or waiting according to the tense of the word. Not just on Sunday when we get all fired up for the Lord, but all the time. When a girl waits for her boyfriend to get home from the army, she isn’t looking for him one day, then kind of forgetting about his coming the next, then somewhat looking forward to his return the following day – no – she is constantly, every day looking for his return.
“Hope” can mean hope, faith, and expectation. Within these there is a touch of anticipation in my mind. Waiting for that blessed anticipation. Waiting for that glorious thing in the future, to which every believer should be looking forward to.
We are looking for the “glorious” appearing – glorious is the term doxa from which we gain “Doxology” and simply means something glorious – something to be honored – something magnificent, and exceptional in nature.
“Epiphaneia” is the Greek word translated appearing. It is used of magnificent appearances of other gods to their worshipers. A glorious and bright appearance. It is translated “brightness” in 2Th 2:8 “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:” (1Ti 6:14 translates it appearing in relation to Christ’s coming; 2Ti 1:10 uses it of Christ’s first appearance; 2Ti 4:1 uses it as His appearance in the end to judge; 2Ti 4:8 mentions it in relation to the rewards to be given that love His appearing.) Note that the only usages are in Paul’s epistles and all but one in the pastorals.
One must wonder if Paul might have come to a greater appreciation of the coming of Christ in his later years. Personally, and I repeat personally, I think Paul was looking for a quick return in his own lifetime, but possibly later in his ministry realized that it might not come that quickly. Many of his comments on the coming relate to this return in his lifetime line of thought even though they carry with them a definite prophetic component.
Might we consider how someone that is looking for His glorious appearing would be living their life?
Trying to climb the corporate ladder.
Saving every cent they can get their hands on.
Buying every toy that comes down the retail pike.
Buying a house, a summer home and a beach cottage.
OR
None of the above.
It seems to me if one is looking and anticipating that return of the Lord, that they would be living as if it could happen any time rather than in thirty years after the mortgage is paid and the 401K is filled to the brim. Working for God to further the kingdom would seem a little more appropriate. Giving to missions would be a better investment. Living a GODLY life in order to please the soon coming King would seem the wiser lifestyle.
It must be made clear that the reference to “God” and “Savior Jesus Christ” is reference to the same person. There seems to some to be the appearance of both God the Father and the Son both, but the Greek does not allow for this. The Granville Sharp rule applies here which requires that both be the same person.
This is a strong proof of the deity of Christ as well. He is very God, and very man. The term translated “God” is “theos” which is normally translated God. The clear understanding is that Jesus was God in a most total and glorious way.
I really question the American Church’s looking for that blessed hope – the appearing of Christ.
Most live their lives as though He were never coming. Most collect material things as though they were always going to be here on earth. Few are entering into the missionary effort today. Even fewer are supporting that effort of the few that respond to His call.
DO WE REALLY BELIEVE THAT CHRIST COULD RETURN TODAY, TOMORROW, OR EVEN THIS CENTURY, MUCH LESS LOOK FOR THAT RETURN?
If we really believed that He could come today, would we be living the way we do? Would we not clean up our spiritual lives, would we not clean up our physical lives, would we not clean up our emotional lives? I truly believe that American believers need a heavy dose of 2nd comingism.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
2:13 {e} Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
(e) Christ is here most plainly called that mighty God, and his appearance and coming is called by the figure of speech metonymy, our hope.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The blessed hope of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ’s appearing in glory at the Rapture also motivates the sensitive Christian to honor God by his or her behavior now. [Note: See Gary L. Nebeker, "The Theme of Hope in Dispensationalism," Bibliotheca Sacra 158:629 (January-March 2001):30-20.] The Greek verb prosdechomenoi ("looking for") is in the present tense indicating that this waiting should be our characteristic attitude, always ready to welcome the returning Lord. We do not want to feel ashamed when we meet Him face to face (1Jn 2:28; 1Jn 3:3). In the Greek text one article, "the," introduces both "blessed hope" and "glorious appearing," suggesting that Paul was viewing one event as having two aspects. The blessed hope is the glorious appearing of our Savior.
"In the New Testament hope does not indicate merely what is wished for but what is assured." [Note: Guthrie, p. 199.]
"In light of the concept of the imminent coming of Christ and the fact that the New Testament does teach His imminent coming, we can conclude that the Pretribulation Rapture view is the only view of the Rapture of the church that comfortably fits the New Testament teaching of the imminent coming of Christ. It is the only view that can honestly say that Christ could return at any moment, because it alone teaches that Christ will come to rapture the church before the 70th week of Daniel 9 or the Tribulation period begins and that nothing else must happen before His return." [Note: Renald E. Showers, Maranatha: Our Lord, Come! A Definitive Study of the Rapture of the Church, p. 149. See also Gerald B. Stanton, Kept from the Hour, ch. 6: "The Imminency of the Coming of Christ for the Church," pp. 108-37; and Wayne A. Brindle, "Biblical Evidence for the Imminence of the Rapture," Bibliotheca Sacra 158:630 (April-June 2001):148-49.]
"Paul . . . does not ask us to look for the Tribulation, or the Antichrist, or for persecution and martyrdom, or for death, but for the return of Christ. If any of these events must precede the Rapture, then how can we help looking for them rather than the Lord’s coming? Such a view of the coming of the Lord can at best only induce a very general interest in the ’blessed hope.’" [Note: Henry C. Thiessen, "Will the Church Pass through the Tribulation?" Bibliotheca Sacra 92 (July-September 1935):307.]
"The unusual phrase ’the great God,’ found only here in the New Testament, is best accounted for as a Christological application of an Old Testament description of God." [Note: Griffin, p. 313.]
In other words, Paul described the appearing and glory of one Person, our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. This is another of the passages that clearly states that Jesus Christ is God (cf. Joh 1:1; Joh 1:18 [according to some manuscripts]; Joh 20:28; Rom 9:5; Heb 1:8-13; 2Pe 1:1; and possibly 1Jn 5:20). [Note: See Robert M. Bowman Jr., "Jesus Christ, God Manifest: Titus 2:13 Revisited," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 51:4 (December 2008):733-52.]