Text -- Titus 3:1-15 (NET)

Conduct Toward Those Outside the Church

3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work. 3:2 They must not slander anyone, but be peaceable, gentle, showing complete courtesy to all people. 3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another. 3:4 But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 3:5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 3:6 whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior. 3:7 And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life.”

Summary of the Letter

3:8 This saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on such truths, so that those who have placed their faith in God may be intent on engaging in good works. These things are good and beneficial for all people. 3:9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, quarrels, and fights about the law, because they are useless and empty. 3:10 Reject a divisive person after one or two warnings. 3:11 You know that such a person is twisted by sin and is conscious of it himself.

Final Instructions and Greeting

3:12 When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. 3:13 Make every effort to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; make sure they have what they need. 3:14 Here is another way that our people can learn to engage in good works to meet pressing needs and so not be unfruitful. 3:15 Everyone with me greets you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Robertson: Tit 3:1

To be in subjection to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient ( archais exousiais hupotassesthai peitharchein ).

Remarkable double asyndeton, no kai (and) between the two substantives or the two verbs. Peitharchein (to obey), old verb (from peithomai , archē ), in N.T. only here and Act 27:21.

Robertson: Tit 3:1

To be ready unto every good work ( pros pan ergon agathon hetoimous einai ).

Pauline phrase (2Co 9:8; 2Ti 2:21; 2Ti 3:17), here adjective hetoimos (2Co 9:5), there verb.

Robertson: Tit 3:2

To speak evil ( blasphēmein ).

See note on Col 3:8; 1Ti 6:4.

Robertson: Tit 3:2

Not to be contentious ( amachous einai ).

"To be non-fighters"(1Ti 3:3), originally "invincible."

Robertson: Tit 3:2

Gentle ( epieikeis ).

See note on 1Ti 3:3.

Robertson: Tit 3:2

Meekness ( prautēta ).

Praotēta . See note on Col 3:12.

Robertson: Tit 3:3

Aforetime ( pote ).

"Once"in our unconverted state as in Eph 2:3.

Robertson: Tit 3:3

Foolish ( anoētoi ).

See Rom 1:14, Rom 1:21.

Robertson: Tit 3:3

Disobedient ( apeitheis ).

See note on Rom 1:30.

Robertson: Tit 3:3

Deceived ( planōmenoi ).

Present passive participle of planaō though the middle is possible.

Robertson: Tit 3:3

Divers lusts ( hēdonais poikilais ).

"Pleasures"(hēdonais from hēdomai , old word, in N.T. only here, Luk 8:14; Jam 4:1, Jam 4:3; 2Pe 2:13). Poikilais (old word) is many-coloured as in Mar 1:34; Jam 1:2; 2Ti 3:6, etc.

Robertson: Tit 3:3

Living ( diagontes ).

See note on 1Ti 3:6 (supply bion ).

Robertson: Tit 3:3

In malice ( en kakiāi ).

See note on Rom 1:29.

Robertson: Tit 3:3

Envy ( phthonōi ).

See note on Rom 1:29.

Robertson: Tit 3:3

Hateful ( stugētoi ).

Late passive verbal from stugeō , to hate. In Philo, only here in N.T.

Robertson: Tit 3:3

Hating one another ( misountes allēlous ).

Active sense and natural result of being "hateful."

Robertson: Tit 3:4

The kindness ( hē chrēstotēs ).

See note on Rom 2:4 for this very word used of God as here.

Robertson: Tit 3:4

His love toward man ( hē philanthrōpia ).

"The philanthrophy of God our Saviour."Old word from philanthrōpos , for love of mankind, in N.T. only here and Act 28:2.

Robertson: Tit 3:4

Appeared ( epephanē ).

See note on Act 2:11 and here as there the Incarnation of Christ. See note on 1Ti 1:1 for sōtēr with theos (God).

Robertson: Tit 3:5

Done ( not in the Greek, only the article tōn )

, "not as a result of works those in righteousness which we did."Same idea as in Rom 3:20.

Robertson: Tit 3:5

According to his mercy he saved us ( kata to autou eleos esōsen ).

See Psa 109:26; 1Pe 1:3; Eph 2:4. Effective aorist active indicative of sōzō .

Robertson: Tit 3:5

Through the washing of regeneration ( dia loutrou palingenesias ).

Late and common word with the Stoics (Dibelius) and in the Mystery-religions (Angus), also in the papyri and Philo. Only twice in the N.T. (Mat 19:28 with which compare apokatastasia in Act 3:21, and here in personal sense of new birth). For loutron , see note on Eph 5:26, here as there the laver or the bath. Probably in both cases there is a reference to baptism, but, as in Rom 6:3-6, the immersion is the picture or the symbol of the new birth, not the means of securing it.

Robertson: Tit 3:5

And renewing of the Holy Spirit ( kai anakainōseōs pneumatos hagiou ).

"And renewal by the Holy Spirit"(subjective genitive). For the late word anakainōsis , see note on Rom 12:2. Here, as often, Paul has put the objective symbol before the reality. The Holy Spirit does the renewing, man submits to the baptism after the new birth to picture it forth to men.

Robertson: Tit 3:6

Which ( hou ).

Genitive case by attraction from ho (grammatical gender) to the case of pneumatos hagiou . We do not have grammatical gender (only natural) in English. Hence here we should say "whom,"even if it does not go smoothly with execheen (he poured out, second aorist active indicative of ekcheō ). The reference is to the great Pentecost (Act 2:33) as foretold by Joel (Joe 2:28).

Robertson: Tit 3:6

Richly ( plousiōs ).

Then and to each one in his own experience. See note on Rom 10:12; 1Ti 6:17.

Robertson: Tit 3:7

Being justified by his grace ( dikaiōthentes tēi ekeinou chariti ).

First aorist passive participle of dikaioō and instrumental case of charis as in Rom 3:24; Rom 5:1.

Robertson: Tit 3:7

That we might be made heirs ( hina klēronomoi genēthōmen ).

Purpose with hina and first aorist passive of ginomai . See note on Rom 4:13; Rom 8:17.

Robertson: Tit 3:8

The saying ( ho logos ).

In Tit 3:4-7.

Robertson: Tit 3:8

I will ( boulomai ).

See note on 1Ti 2:8.

Robertson: Tit 3:8

That thou affirm confidently ( se diabebaiousthai ).

Indirect command. For the verb see note on 1Ti 1:7.

Robertson: Tit 3:8

That they may be careful ( hina phrontizōsin ).

Sub-final use of hina with present active subjunctive of phrontizō , old verb, only here in N.T.

Robertson: Tit 3:8

To maintain good works ( kalōn ergōn pro‹stasthai ).

Present middle infinitive of proistēmi , intransitive use, to stand before, to take the lead in, to care for. Paul is anxious that "believers"may take the lead in good works.

Robertson: Tit 3:9

Fightings about the law ( machas nomikas ).

"Legal battles."See note on 1Ti 6:4; 2Ti 2:23. Wordy fights about Mosaic and Pharisaic and Gnostic regulations.

Robertson: Tit 3:9

Shun ( periistaso ).

Present middle imperative of periistēmi , intransitive, step around, stand aside (2Ti 2:16). Common in this sense in the literary Koiné.

Robertson: Tit 3:9

Unprofitable ( anōpheleis ).

Old compound adjective (a privative and ophelos ), in N.T. only here and Heb 7:18.

Robertson: Tit 3:10

Heretical ( hairetikon ).

Old adjective from hairesis (haireomai , to choose), a choosing of a party (sect, Act 5:17) or of teaching (2Pe 2:1). Possibly a schism had been started here in Crete.

Robertson: Tit 3:10

Refuse ( paraitou ).

Present middle imperative of paraiteō , to ask from, to beg off from. See same form in 1Ti 4:7; 1Ti 5:11. Possibly an allusion here to Christ’ s directions in Mat 18:15-17.

Robertson: Tit 3:11

Is perverted ( exestraptai ).

Perfect passive indicative of ekstrephō , old word to turn inside out, to twist, to pervert. Only here in N.T.

Robertson: Tit 3:11

Self-condemned ( autokatakritos ).

Only known example of this double compound verbal adjective (autos , kata , krinō ).

Robertson: Tit 3:12

When I shall send ( hotan pempsō ).

Indefinite temporal clause with hotan and the first aorist active subjunctive (or future indicative) of pempō (same form).

Robertson: Tit 3:12

Artemas ( Artemān ).

Perhaps abbreviation of Artemidorus. Nothing more is known of him.

Robertson: Tit 3:12

Or Tychicus ( ē Tuchikon ).

Paul’ s well-known disciple (Col 4:7; Eph 6:21; 2Ti 4:12).

Robertson: Tit 3:12

To Nicopolis ( eis Nikopolin ).

Probably in Epirus, a good place for work in Dalmatia (2Ti 4:10).

Robertson: Tit 3:12

I have determined ( kekrika ).

Perfect active indicative. I have decided.

Robertson: Tit 3:12

To winter there ( ekei paracheimasai ).

First aorist active infinitive of paracheimazō , a literary Koiné[28928]š word for which see note on Act 27:12; note on 1Co 16:6.

Robertson: Tit 3:13

Zenas the lawyer ( Zēnān ton nomikon ).

Possibly abbreviation of Zenodorus and may be one of the bearers of the Epistle with Apollos. Probably an expert in the Mosaic law as the word means in the Gospels. A converted Jewish lawyer. The Latin term is jurisconsultum for nomikon .

Robertson: Tit 3:13

Apollos ( Apollōn ).

Paul’ s friend (Acts 18:24-19:1; 1Co 1:12.).

Robertson: Tit 3:13

Set forward ( propempson ).

First aorist active imperative of propempō , old verb, to send on ahead (1Co 16:6, 1Co 16:11; Rom 15:24).

Robertson: Tit 3:13

That nothing be wanting unto them ( hina mēden autois leipēi ).

Purpose with hina and present (or second aorist lipēi , some MSS.) subjunctive of leipō , old verb to leave, to remain, to lack. With dative case here (autois ).

Robertson: Tit 3:14

Our people ( hoi hēmeteroi ).

"Our folks."The Cretan converts, not just Paul’ s friends.

Robertson: Tit 3:14

Let learn ( manthanetōsan ).

Present active imperative, keep on learning how.

Robertson: Tit 3:14

To maintain ( pro‹stasthai ).

See Tit 3:8.

Robertson: Tit 3:14

For necessary uses ( eis anagkaias chreias ).

"For necessary wants."No idlers wanted. See 1Th 4:12; 2Th 3:10.

Robertson: Tit 3:14

Unfruitful ( akarpoi ).

See note on 1Co 14:14; Eph 5:11.

Robertson: Tit 3:15

That love us ( tous philountas hēmās ).

Paul craved the love of his friends as opposed to Tit 2:8.||

Vincent: Tit 3:1

Put them in mind ( ὑπομίμνησκε ἐξουσίαις )

See on 2Ti 2:14, and see on ὑπόμνησιν reminding , 2Ti 1:5.

Vincent: Tit 3:1

Principalities and powers ( ἀρχαῖς ἐξουσίαις )

Omit and . Principalities which are authorities. Ἁρχή beginning = that which begins: the leader , principality . See on Col 1:16; see on Jud 1:6; see on Act 10:11. Only here in Pastorals. Ἑξουσία right , authority . See on Mar 2:10; see on Joh 1:12; see on Col 1:16. Only here in Pastorals. For the combination principalities and powers , see on Luk 20:20.

Vincent: Tit 3:1

To obey magistrates ( πειθαρχεῖν )

Comp . Act 5:29, Act 5:32; Act 27:21. See on Act 5:29. The idea of magistrates is contained in the word itself; but it is quite proper to render as Rev. to be obedient . Rare in lxx.

Vincent: Tit 3:1

Ready to every good work ( πρὸς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ἑτοίμους εἶναι )

The phrase N.T.o . Ἑτοίμος ready , only here in Pastorals. Comp. ἑτοιμασία readiness or preparation , Eph 6:15 (note).

Vincent: Tit 3:2

No brawlers ( ἀμάχους )

Better as Rev., not to be contentious . See on 1Ti 3:3. Pasto .

Vincent: Tit 3:3

Divers - pleasures ( ἡδοναῖς ποικίλαις )

Ἡδονή pleasure , only here in Pastorals. o P. See on Jam 4:1. For ποικίλαις divers , see on 2Ti 3:6.

Vincent: Tit 3:3

Malice ( κακίᾳ )

Only here in Pastorals. See on Jam 1:21. In N.T. κακία is a special form of vice , not viciousness in general, as Cicero, Tusc . iv. 15, who explains by " vitiositas , a viciousness which includes all vices." Calvin, on Eph 4:32, defines as " a viciousness of mind opposed to humanity and fairness, and commonly styled malignity ." The homily ascribed to Clement of Rome, describes κακία as the forerunner (προοδοίπορον ) of our sins (x). Malice is a correct translation.

Vincent: Tit 3:4

Kindness ( χρηστότης )

Only here in Pastorals. Elsewhere only in Paul. See on Rom 3:12, and see on easy , Mat 11:30.

Vincent: Tit 3:4

Love ( φιλανθρωπία )

Love is too vague. It is love toward men; comp. Tit 3:2. Only here and Act 28:2 : φιλανθρώπως kindly, Act 27:3 (note). While it cannot be asserted that the heretical characteristics noted in the Pastoral Epistles point collectively to any specific form of error, it is true, nevertheless, that certain characteristics of the economy of grace are emphasized, which are directly opposed to Gnostic ideas. Thus the exhortation that supplications be made for all men , supported by the statement that God wills that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1Ti 2:1, 1Ti 2:4), is in the teeth of the Gnostic distinction between men of spirit and men of matter, and of the Gnostic principle that the knowledge (ἐπίγνωσις ) of truth was only for a limited, intellectual class. To the same effect is the frequent recurrence of all , for all , in connection with the saving and enlightening gifts of God (1Ti 2:6; 1Ti 4:10; 1Ti 6:13; Tit 2:11). So here: not only has the saving grace of God appeared unto all (Tit 2:11), but it has revealed itself as kindness and love to man as man.

Vincent: Tit 3:5

Not by works of righteousness which we have done ( οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων τῶν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ ἃ ἐποιήσαμεν )

Lit. not by works , those namely in righteousness , which we did . The thought is entirely Pauline. Ἑξ ἔργων strictly, out of , in consequence of works. Εν δικαιοσύνῃ in the sphere of righteousness ; as legally righteous men. Comp. Eph 2:9. We did emphatic. Comp. Rom 10:5; Gal 3:10, Gal 3:12; Gal 5:3.

Vincent: Tit 3:5

According to his mercy ( κατὰ τὸ αὐτοῦ ἔλεος )

The phrase only 1Pe 1:3. Comp. Rom 15:9; Eph 2:4; Jud 1:21.

Vincent: Tit 3:5

By the washing of regeneration ( διὰ λουτροῦ παλινγενεσίας )

Λουτρόν only here and Eph 5:26. It does not mean the act of bathing, but the bath , the laver . Παλινγενεσία only here and Mat 19:28, where it is used of the final restoration of all things. The phrase laver of regeneration distinctly refers to baptism, in connection with which and through which as a medium regeneration is conceived as taking place. Comp. Rom 6:3-5. It is true that nothing is said of faith ; but baptism implies faith on the part of its recipient. It has no regenerating effect apart from faith; and the renewing of the Holy Spirit is not bestowed if faith be wanting.

Vincent: Tit 3:5

Renewing ( ἀνακαινώσεως )

Only here and Rom 12:2. Comp. 2Co 5:7. Paul has ἀνακαινοῦν to renew , 2Co 4:16; Col 3:10 : ἀνακαίνωσις renewing , Rom 12:2. Ἁνακαινίζειν to renew , only Heb 6:6. The connection of the genitive is disputed. Some make it dependent on λουτροῦ bath , so that the bath of baptism is conceived as implying regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Others construe with renewing only, ἀνακαινώσεως being dependent on διὰ ; through the laver of regeneration and (through) the renewing, etc. The former seems the more probable. The phrase renewing of the Holy Spirit only here. In N.T. the Spirit or the Holy Spirit is joined in the genitive with the following words: comfort , joy , power , love , demonstration , manifestation , earnest , ministration , fellowship , promise , fruit , unity , sword , sanctification .

Vincent: Tit 3:6

Shed ( ἐξέχεεν )

Or poured forth . Only here in Pastorals. Most frequent in Revelation. The pouring out of the Spirit is an O.T. metaphor. See Joe 3:1, Joe 3:2, cit. in Act 2:17, Act 2:18; Zec 12:10. In Paul the verb occurs but once, of shedding blood, Rom 3:15, cit.

Vincent: Tit 3:7

Being justified ( δικαιωθέντες )

In Pastorals only here and 1Ti 3:16 (note). See Introd. VI. Justification is conceived as taking place before the outpouring of the Spirit.

Vincent: Tit 3:7

By his grace ( τῇ ἐκείνου χάριτι )

By the grace of Jesus Christ. See Act 15:11; 2Co 8:9; 2Co 13:14; Rom 5:6; Gal 1:6.

Vincent: Tit 3:7

We should be made heirs ( κληρονόμοι γενηθῶμεν )

Κληρονόμος heir only here in Pastorals. A favorite idea of Paul. See Rom 4:13; Rom 8:17; Gal 3:29. Heirship of eternal life is the result of justification. So, clearly, Romans 5. It is attested and confirmed by the Holy Spirit. 2Co 5:5; Eph 1:14.

Vincent: Tit 3:7

According to the hope of eternal life ( κατ ' ἐλπίδα ζωῆς αἰωνίου )

Const. of eternal life with heirs , and rend. heirs of eternal life according to hope . Comp. Rom 4:18; Rom 5:2; Rom 8:24; Gal 5:5; Col 1:5, Col 1:27; Tit 1:2; 1Pe 1:3; 1Jo 3:2, 1Jo 3:3.

Vincent: Tit 3:8

Affirm constantly ( διαβεβαιοῦσθαι )

Pasto . See on 1Ti 1:7. Constantly , not continually , but uniformly and consistently . So Book of Common Prayer , " Collect for Saint John Baptist's Day," " and after his example constantly speak the truth." Rend. affirm steadfastly .

Vincent: Tit 3:8

Might be careful ( φροντίζωσιν )

N.T.o . Quite often in lxx. Frequent in Class. To think or consider ; hence to take careful thought, ponder , be anxious about .

Vincent: Tit 3:8

To maintain ( προΐ̀στασθαι )

Mostly in Pastorals, and usually in the sense of ruling, as Rom 12:8; 1Th 5:12; 1Ti 3:4, 1Ti 3:5. The sense here is to be forward in .

Vincent: Tit 3:8

Profitable ( ὠφέλιμα )

Pasto . o lxx. Comp. 1Ti 4:8; 2Ti 3:16.

Vincent: Tit 3:9

Foolish questions, etc.

See on 2Ti 2:23. For genealogies see on 1Ti 1:4.

Vincent: Tit 3:9

Strivings about the law ( μάχας νομικὰς )

The phrase N.T.o . Comp. 1Ti 1:7. Νομικός mostly in Luke. Everywhere except here a lawyer , with the article or τὶς .

Vincent: Tit 3:9

Unprofitable ( ἀνωφελεῖς )

Only here and Heb 7:18.

Vincent: Tit 3:9

Vain ( μάταιοι )

Only here in Pastorals. Twice in Paul, 1Co 3:20, cit.; 1Co 15:17 (note). Very frequent in lxx. The sense is aimless or resultless , as μάταιος εὐχή a prayer which cannot obtain fulfilment . The questions, genealogies, etc., lead to no attainment or advancement in godliness. Comp. ματαιολογία jangling , 1Ti 1:6; ματαιολόγοι vain talkers , 1Ti 1:10; ματαιότης vanity , Rom 8:20; Eph 4:17; ἐματαιώθησαν were made vain , Rom 1:21; μάτην in vain , Mat 15:9.

Vincent: Tit 3:10

A man that is an heretic ( αἱρετικὸν ἄνθρωπον )

Ἁιρετικός heretical , N.T.o . For αἵρεσις heresy see on 1Pe 2:1.

Vincent: Tit 3:10

Admonition ( νουθεσίαν )

Only here, 1Co 10:11; Eph 6:4 (note). See on νουθετεῖν to admonish , Act 20:31.

Vincent: Tit 3:11

Is subverted ( ἐξέστραπται )

N.T.o . More than turned away from the right path: rather, turned inside out . Comp. lxx, Deu 32:20.

Vincent: Tit 3:11

Sinneth ( ἁμαρτάνει )

See on 1Jo 1:9; see on Mat 1:21, and see on trespasses , Mat 6:14.

Vincent: Tit 3:11

Condemned of himself ( αὐτοκατάκριτος )

Better as Rev., self-condemned . N.T.o . o lxx, o Class.

Vincent: Tit 3:12

Nicopolis

There were several cities of this name, one in Cilicia, one in Thrace, and one in Epirus. It is uncertain which one is meant here.

Vincent: Tit 3:12

To winter ( παραχειμάσαι )

Comp. Act 27:12; Act 28:11; 1Co 16:6. The noun παραχειμασία wintering , Act 27:12.

Vincent: Tit 3:14

Ours ( ἡμέτεροι )

Our brethren in Crete.

Vincent: Tit 3:14

For necessary uses ( εἰς τὰς ἀναγκαίας χρείας )

The phrase N.T.o . With reference to whatever occasion may demand them.

Vincent: Tit 3:14

Unfruitful ( ἄκαρποι )

Only here in Pastorals. In Paul, 1Co 14:14; Eph 5:11. Not only in supplying the needs, but in cultivating Christian graces in themselves by acts of Christian service.

Vincent: Tit 3:15

Them that love us in the faith ( τοὺς φιλοῦντας ἡμᾶς ἐν πίστει )

Better, in faith . The phrase N.T.o . Φιλεῖν to love , only here in Pastorals, and in Paul, only 1Co 16:22. See on ἀγάπη love , Gal 5:22. Const. in faith with that love us .

Wesley: Tit 3:1

All the Cretan Christians.

Wesley: Tit 3:1

Passively, not resisting.

Wesley: Tit 3:1

Supreme.

Wesley: Tit 3:1

Subordinate governors.

Wesley: Tit 3:1

Them actively, so far as conscience permits.

Wesley: Tit 3:2

Neither of them nor any man.

Wesley: Tit 3:2

To assault none.

Wesley: Tit 3:2

When assaulted.

Wesley: Tit 3:2

Even those who are such as we were.

Wesley: Tit 3:3

And as God hath dealt with us, so ought we to deal with our neighbour.

Wesley: Tit 3:3

Wholly ignorant of God.

Wesley: Tit 3:3

When he was declared to us.

Wesley: Tit 3:4

By the light of his Spirit to our inmost soul.

Wesley: Tit 3:5

In this important passage the apostle presents us with a delightful view of our redemption. Herein we have, The cause of it; not our works or righteousness, but "the kindness and love of God our Saviour." The effects; which are, Justification; "being justified," pardoned and accepted through the alone merits of Christ, not from any desert in us, but according to his own mercy, "by his grace," his free, unmerited goodness. Sanctification, expressed by the laver of regeneration, (that is, baptism, the thing signified, as well as the outward sign,) and the renewal of the Holy Ghost; which purifies the soul, as water cleanses the body, and renews it in the whole image of God.

Wesley: Tit 3:5

that we might become heirs of eternal life, and live now in the joyful hope of it.

Wesley: Tit 3:8

Though the apostle does not lay these for the foundation, yet he brings them in at their proper place, and then mentions them, not slightly, but as affairs of great importance.

Wesley: Tit 3:8

Have their thoughts upon them: use their best contrivance, their utmost endeavours, not barely to practise, but to excel, to be eminent and distinguished in them: because, though they are not the ground of our reconciliation with God, yet they are amiable and honourable to the Christian profession.

Wesley: Tit 3:8

Means of increasing the everlasting happiness both of ourselves and others.

Wesley: Tit 3:10

Avoid, leave to himself. This is the only place, in the whole scripture, where this word heretic occurs; and here it evidently means, a man that obstinately persists in contending about "foolish questions," and thereby occasions strife and animosities, schisms and parties in the church. This, and this alone, is an heretic in the scripture sense; and his punishment likewise is here fixed. Shun, avoid him, leave him to himself. As for the Popish sense, "A man that errs in fundamentals," although it crept, with many other things, early into the church, yet it has no shadow of foundation either in the Old or New Testament.

Wesley: Tit 3:11

In his heart, at least. And sinneth, being self - condemned - Being convinced in his own conscience that he acts wrong.

Wesley: Tit 3:12

To succeed thee in thy office. Titus was properly an evangelist, who, according to the nature of that office, had no fixed residence; but presided over other elders, wherever he travelled from place to place, assisting each of the apostles according to the measure of his abilities.

Wesley: Tit 3:12

Very probably not the Nicopolis in Macedonia, as the vulgar subscription asserts: (indeed, none of those subscriptions at the end of St.

Wesley: Tit 3:12

coast of Epirus.

Wesley: Tit 3:12

Hence it appears, he was not there yet; if so, he would have said, to winter here. Consequently, this letter was not written from thence.

Wesley: Tit 3:13

Either a Roman lawyer or an expounder of the Jewish law.

Wesley: Tit 3:14

All our brethren at Crete.

Wesley: Tit 3:14

Both by thy admonition and example. Perhaps they had not before assisted Zenas and Apollos as they ought to have done.

JFB: Tit 3:1

As they are in danger of forgetting their duty, though knowing it. The opposition of Christianity to heathenism, and the natural disposition to rebellion of the Jews under the Roman empire (of whom many lived in Crete), might lead many to forget practically what was a recognized Christian principle in theory, submission to the powers that be. DIODORUS SICULUS mentions the tendency of the Cretans to riotous insubordination.

JFB: Tit 3:1

"willingly" (so the Greek).

JFB: Tit 3:1

Greek, "magistracies . . . authorities."

JFB: Tit 3:1

The commands of "magistrates"; not necessarily implying spontaneous obedience. Willing obedience is implied in "ready to every good work." Compare Rom 13:3, as showing that obedience to the magistracy would tend to good works, since the magistrate's aim generally is to favor the good and punish the bad. Contrast "disobedient" (Tit 3:3).

JFB: Tit 3:2

Especially, not of "dignities" and magistrates.

JFB: Tit 3:2

"not quarrelsome," not attacking others.

JFB: Tit 3:2

Towards those who attack us. Yielding, considerate, not urging one's rights to the uttermost, but forbearing and kindly (see on Phi 4:5). Very different from the innate greediness and spirit of aggression towards others which characterized the Cretans.

JFB: Tit 3:2

In acts.

JFB: Tit 3:2

All possible.

JFB: Tit 3:2

(See on 2Co 10:1); the opposite of passionate severity.

JFB: Tit 3:2

The duty of Christian conduct towards all men is the proper consequence of the universality of God's grace to all men, so often set forth in the pastoral Epistles.

JFB: Tit 3:3

Our own past sins should lead us to be lenient towards those of others. "Despise none, for such wast thou also." As the penitent thief said to his fellow thief, "Dost thou not fear God . . . seeing that thou art in the same condemnation."

JFB: Tit 3:3

Christians.

JFB: Tit 3:3

Contrast Tit 3:4, "But when," that is, now: a favorite contrast in Paul's writing, that between our past state by nature, and our present state of deliverance from it by grace. As God treated us, we ought to treat our neighbor.

JFB: Tit 3:3

Once.

JFB: Tit 3:3

Wanting right reason in our course of living. Irrational. The exact picture of human life without grace. Grace is the sole remedy for foolishness.

JFB: Tit 3:3

To God.

JFB: Tit 3:3

Led astray. The same Greek, "out of the way" (Heb 5:2).

JFB: Tit 3:3

Greek, "in bondage to," serving as slaves."

JFB: Tit 3:3

The cloyed appetite craves constant variety.

JFB: Tit 3:3

Of the flesh.

JFB: Tit 3:3

Malignity.

JFB: Tit 3:3

Correlatives. Provoking the hatred of others by their detestable character and conduct, and in turn hating them.

JFB: Tit 3:4

To show how little reason the Cretan Christians had to be proud of themselves, and despise others not Christians (see on Tit 3:2-3). It is to the "kindness and love of God," not to their own merits, that they owe salvation.

JFB: Tit 3:4

Greek, "goodness," "benignity," which manifests His grace.

JFB: Tit 3:4

Teaching us to have such "love (benevolence) toward man" (Greek, "philanthropy"), "showing all meekness unto all men" (Tit 3:2), even as God had "toward man" (Tit 2:11); opposed to the "hateful and hating" characteristics of unrenewed men, whose wretchedness moved God's benevolent kindness.

JFB: Tit 3:4

Greek, "of our Saviour God," namely, the Father (Tit 1:3), who "saved us" (Tit 3:5) "through Jesus Christ our Saviour" (Tit 3:6).

JFB: Tit 3:4

Greek, "was made to appear"; was manifested.

JFB: Tit 3:5

Greek, "Out of"; "not as a result springing from works," &c.

JFB: Tit 3:5

Greek, "in righteousness," that is, wrought "in a state of righteousness": as "deeds . . . wrought in God." There was an utter absence in us of the element ("righteousness") in which alone righteous works could be done, and so necessarily an absence of the works. "We neither did works of righteousness, nor were saved in consequence of them; but His goodness did the whole" [THEOPHYLACT].

JFB: Tit 3:5

Emphatically opposed to "His."

JFB: Tit 3:5

The prompting cause of our salvation individually: "In pursuance of His mercy." His kindness and love to man were manifested in redemption once for all wrought by Him for mankind generally; His mercy is the prompting cause for our individual realization of it. Faith is presupposed as the instrument of our being "saved"; our being so, then, is spoken of as an accomplished fact. Faith is not mentioned, but only God's part. as Paul's object here is not to describe man's new state, but the saving agency of God in bringing about that state, independent of all merit on the man's part (see on Tit 3:4).

JFB: Tit 3:5

Greek, "through"; by means of.

JFB: Tit 3:5

Rather, "the laver," that is, the baptismal font.

JFB: Tit 3:5

Designed to be the visible instrument of regeneration. "The apostles are wont to draw an argument from the sacraments to prove the thing therein signified, because it ought to be a recognized principle among the godly, that God does not mark us with empty signs, but by His power inwardly makes good what He demonstrates by the outward sign. Wherefore baptism is congruously and truly called the laver of regeneration. We must connect the sign and thing signified, so as not to make the sign empty and ineffectual; and yet not, for the sake of honoring the sign, to detract from the Holy Spirit what is peculiarly His" [CALVIN], (1Pe 3:21). Adult candidates for baptism are presupposed to have had repentance and faith (for Paul often assumes in faith and charity that those addressed are what they profess to be, though in fact some of them were not so, 1Co 6:11), in which case baptism would be the visible "laver or regeneration" to them, "faith being thereby confirmed, and grace increased, by virtue of prayer to God" [Article XXVII, Church of England]. Infants are charitably presumed to have received a grace in connection with their Christian descent, in answer to the believing prayers of their parents or guardians presenting them for baptism, which grace is visibly sealed and increased by baptism, "the laver of regeneration." They are presumed to be then regenerated, until years of developed consciousness prove whether they have been actually so or not. "Born of (from) water and (no 'of' in Greek) the Spirit." The Word is the remote and anterior instrument of the new birth; Baptism, the proximate instrument. The Word, the instrument to the individual; Baptism, in relation to the Society of Christians. The laver of cleansing stood outside the door of the tabernacle, wherein the priest had to wash before entering the Holy Place; so we must wash in the laver of regeneration before we can enter the Church, whose members are "a royal priesthood." "Baptism by the Spirit" (whereof water baptism is the designed accompanying seal) makes the difference between Christian baptism and that of John. As Paul presupposes the outward Church is the visible community of the redeemed, so he speaks of baptism on the supposition that it answers to its idea; that all that is inward belonging to its completeness accompanied the outward. Hence he here asserts of outward baptism whatever is involved in the believing appropriation of the divine facts which it symbolizes, whatever is realized when baptism fully corresponds to its original design. So Gal 3:27; language holding good only of those in whom the inward living communion and outward baptism coalesce. "Saved us" applies fully to those truly regenerate alone; in a general sense it may include many who, though put within reach of salvation, shall not finally be saved. "Regeneration" occurs only once more in New Testament, Mat 19:28, that is, the new birth of the heaven and earth at Christ's second coming to renew all material things, the human body included, when the creature, now travailing in labor-throes to the birth, shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Regeneration, which now begins in the believer's soul, shall then be extended to his body, and thence to all creation.

JFB: Tit 3:5

Not "the laver ('washing') of renewing," but "and BY the renewing," &c., following "saved us." To make "renewing of the Holy Ghost" follow "the laver" would destroy the balance of the clauses of the sentence, and would make baptism the seal, not only of regeneration, but also of the subsequent process of progressive sanctification ("renewing of the Holy Ghost"). Regeneration is a thing once for all done; renewing is a process daily proceeding. As "the washing," or "laver," is connected with "regeneration," so the "renewing of the Holy Ghost" is connected with "shed on us abundantly" (Tit 3:6).

JFB: Tit 3:6

The Holy Ghost.

JFB: Tit 3:6

Greek, "poured out"; not only on the Church in general at Pentecost, but also "on us" individually. This pouring out of the Spirit comprehends the grace received before, in, and subsequently to, baptism.

JFB: Tit 3:6

Greek, "richly" (Col 3:16).

JFB: Tit 3:6

The channel and Mediator of the gift of the Holy Ghost.

JFB: Tit 3:6

Immediately; as the Father is mediately "our Saviour." The Father is the author of our salvation and saves us by Jesus Christ.

JFB: Tit 3:7

The purpose which He aimed at in having "saved us" (Tit 3:5), namely, "That being (having been) justified (accounted righteous through faith at our 'regeneration,' and made righteous by the daily 'renewing of the Holy Ghost') by His grace (as opposed to works, Tit 3:5) we should be made heirs."

JFB: Tit 3:7

Greek, "the grace of the former," that is, God (Tit 3:4; Rom 5:15).

JFB: Tit 3:7

(Gal 3:29).

JFB: Tit 3:7

Tit 1:2, and also the position of the Greek words, confirm English Version, that is, agreeably to the hope of eternal life; the eternal inheritance fully satisfying the hope. BENGEL and ELLICOTT explain it, "heirs of eternal life, in the way of hope," that is, not yet in actual possession. Such a blessed hope, which once was not possessed, will lead a Christian to practice holiness and meekness toward others, the lesson especially needed by the Cretans.

JFB: Tit 3:8

Greek, "faithful is the saying." A formula peculiar to the Pastoral Epistles. Here "the saying" is the statement (Tit 3:4-7) as to the gratuitousness of God's gift of salvation. Answering to the "Amen."

JFB: Tit 3:8

Greek, "concerning these things (the truths dwelt on, Tit 3:4-7; not as English Version, what follow), I will that thou affirm (insist) strongly and persistently, in order that they who have believed God (the Greek for 'believed in God' is different, Joh 14:1. 'They who have learnt to credit God' in what He saith) may be careful ('Solicitously sedulous'; diligence is necessary) to maintain (literally, 'to set before themselves so as to sustain') good works." No longer applying their care to "unprofitable" and unpractical speculations (Tit 3:9).

JFB: Tit 3:8

These results of doctrine ("good works") are "good and profitable unto men," whereas no such practical results flow from "foolish questions." So GROTIUS and WIESINGER. But ALFORD, to avoid the tautology, "these (good works) are good unto men," explains, "these truths" (Tit 3:4-7).

JFB: Tit 3:9

Stand aloof from. Same Greek, as in 2Ti 2:16; see on 2Ti 2:16.

JFB: Tit 3:9

Greek, "insipid"; producing no moral fruit. "Vain talkers."

JFB: Tit 3:9

Akin to the "fables" (see on 1Ti 1:4). Not so much direct heresy as yet is here referred to, as profitless discussions about genealogies of aeons, &c., which ultimately led to Gnosticism. Synagogue discourses were termed daraschoth, that is, "discussions." Compare "disputer of this world (Greek, 'dispensation')."

JFB: Tit 3:9

About the authority of the "commandments of men," which they sought to confirm by the law (Tit 1:14; see on 1Ti 1:7), and about the mystical meaning of the various parts of the law in connection with the "genealogies."

JFB: Tit 3:10

Greek "heresy," originally meant a division resulting from individual self-will; the individual doing and teaching what he chose, independent of the teaching and practice of the Church. In course of time it came to mean definitely "heresy" in the modern sense; and in the later Epistles it has almost assumed this meaning. The heretics of Crete, when Titus was there, were in doctrine followers of their own self-willed "questions" reprobated in Tit 3:9, and immoral in practice.

JFB: Tit 3:10

Decline, avoid; not formal excommunication, but, "have nothing more to do with him," either in admonition or intercourse.

JFB: Tit 3:11

"is become perverse."

JFB: Tit 3:11

He cannot say, no one told him better: continuing the same after frequent admonition, he is self-condemned. "He sinneth" wilfully against knowledge.

JFB: Tit 3:12

Have sent.

JFB: Tit 3:12

To supply thy place in Crete. Artemas is said to have been subsequently bishop of Lystra. Tychicus was sent twice by Paul from Rome to Lesser Asia in his first imprisonment (which shows how well qualified he was to become Titus' successor in Crete); Eph 6:21; and in his second, 2Ti 4:12. Tradition makes him subsequently bishop of Chalcedon, in Bithynia.

JFB: Tit 3:12

"the city of victory," called so from the battle of Actium, in Epirus. This Epistle was probably written from Corinth in the autumn. Paul purposed a journey through Ætolia and Acarnania, into Epirus, and there "to winter." See my Introduction to the Pastoral Epistles.

JFB: Tit 3:13

Enable them to proceed forward by supplying necessaries for their journey.

JFB: Tit 3:13

The contracted form of Zenodorus.

JFB: Tit 3:13

A Jewish "scribe," who, when converted, still retained the title from his former occupation. A civil lawyer.

JFB: Tit 3:13

With Zenas, probably the bearers of this Epistle. In 1Co 16:12, Apollos is mentioned as purposing to visit Corinth; his now being at Corinth (on the theory of Paul being at Corinth when he wrote) accords with this purpose. Crete would be on his way either to Palestine or his native place, Alexandria. Paul and Apollos thus appear in beautiful harmony in that very city where their names had been formerly the watchword of unchristian party work. It was to avoid this party rivalry that Apollos formerly was unwilling to visit Corinth though Paul desired him. HIPPOLYTUS mentions Zenas as one of the Seventy, and afterwards bishop of Diospolis.

JFB: Tit 3:14

Greek, "But . . . also." Not only thou, but let others also of "our" fellow believers (or "whom we have gained over at Crete") with thee.

JFB: Tit 3:14

To supply the necessary wants of Christian missionaries and brethren, according as they stand in need in their journeys for the Lord's cause. Compare Tit 1:8, "a lover of hospitality."

JFB: Tit 3:15

"Salute them that love us in the faith." All at Crete had not this love rooted in faith, the true bond of fellowship. A salutation peculiar to this Epistle, such as no forger would have used.

JFB: Tit 3:15

Greek, "The grace," namely, of God.

JFB: Tit 3:15

Not that the Epistle is addressed to all the Cretan Christians, but Titus would naturally impart it to his flock.

Clarke: Tit 3:1

Put them in mind to be subject to principalities, etc. - By principalities, αρχαις, we are to understand the Roman emperors, or the supreme civil powers in any place

By powers, εξουσιαις, we are to understand the deputies of the emperors, such as proconsuls, etc., and all such as are in authority - under the supreme powers wherever we dwell. See the doctrine of obedience to the civil powers discussed at large in the notes on Rom 13:1-7

This doctrine of obedience to the civil powers was highly necessary for the Cretans, who were reputed a people exceedingly jealous of their civil privileges, and ready to run into a state of insurrection when they suspected any attempt on the part of their rulers to infringe their liberties. Suidas, under the word ανεσειον, they stirred up, gives the following fragment: Οἱ δε Κρητες, φοβουμενοι μη τι τιμωριας τυχωσιν, ανεσειον τα πληθη, παρακαλουντες την εξ αιωνος παραδεδομενην ελευθεριαν διαφυλαττειν . "But the Cretans, fearing lest they should be punished, stirred up the populace, exhorting them that they should carefully preserve that liberty which they had received from their ancestors."What part of the history of Crete this refers to I cannot tell; the words stand thus insulated in Suidas, without introduction or connection. To be jealous of our civil rights and privileges, and most strenuously to preserve them, is highly praiseworthy; but to raise a public tumult to avoid merited chastisement, under pretense that our civil privileges are in danger, is not the part of patriots but insurgents. For such advice as that given here the known character of the Cretans is a sufficient reason: "They were ever liars, ferocious wild beasts, and sluggish gluttons."Such persons would feel little disposition to submit to the wholesome restraints of law.

Clarke: Tit 3:2

To speak evil of no man - Μηδενα βλασφημειν· To blaspheme no person, to reproach none, to speak nothing to any man’ s injury; but, on the contrary, bearing reproach and contumely with patience and meekness.

Clarke: Tit 3:3

For we ourselves - All of us, whether Jews or Gentiles, were, before our conversion to Christ, foolish, disobedient, and deceived. There is no doubt that the apostle felt he could include himself in the above list, previously to his conversion. The manner in which he persecuted the Christians, to whose charge he could not lay one moral evil, is a sufficient proof that, though he walked according to the letter of the law, as to its ordinances and ceremonies, blameless, yet his heart was in a state of great estrangement from God, from justice, holiness, mercy, and compassion

Clarke: Tit 3:3

Foolish - Ανοητοι· Without understanding - ignorant of God, his nature, his providence, and his grace

Clarke: Tit 3:3

Disobedient - Απειθεις· Unpersuaded, unbelieving, obstinate, and disobedient

Clarke: Tit 3:3

Deceived - Πλανωμενοι· Erring - wandering from the right way in consequence of our ignorance, not knowing the right way; and, in consequence of our unbelief and obstinacy, not choosing to know it. It is a true saying, "There are none so blind as those who will not see."Such persons are proof against conviction, they will not be convinced either by God or man

Clarke: Tit 3:3

Serving divers lusts and pleasures - Δουλευοντες· Being in a state of continual thraldom; not served or gratified by our lusts and pleasures, but living, as their slaves, a life of misery and wretchedness

Divers lusts - Επιθυμιαις· Strong and irregular appetites of every kind

Pleasures - Ἡδοναις· Sensual pleasures. Persons intent only on the gratification of sense, living like the brutes, having no rational or spiritual object worthy the pursuit of an immortal being

Clarke: Tit 3:3

Living in malice and envy - Εν κακιᾳ και φθονῳ διαγοντες· Spending our life in wickedness and envy - not bearing to see the prosperity of others, because we feel ourselves continually wretched

Clarke: Tit 3:3

Hateful - Στυγητοι· Abominable; hateful as hell. The word comes from Στυξ, Styx, the infernal river by which the gods were wont to swear; and he who (according to the mythology of the heathens) violated this oath, was expelled from the assembly of the gods, and was deprived of his nectar and ambrosia for a year; hence the river was hateful to them beyond all things, and the verb στυγεω, formed from this, signifies to shiver with horror

It maybe taken actively, says Leigh, as it is read, hateful; or else passively, and so may be read hated, that is, justly execrable and odious unto others, both God and man

Clarke: Tit 3:3

Hating one another - Μισουντες αλληλους· This word is less expressive than the preceding: there was no brotherly love, consequently no kind offices; they hated each other, and self-interest alone could induce them to keep up civil society. This is the true state of all unregenerate men. The words which the apostle uses in this place give a finished picture of the carnal state of man; and they are not true merely of the Cretans and Jews that then were, but of all mankind in every age and country; they express the wretched state of fallen man

Some of the Greek moralists expressed a dissolute and sensual life by nearly the same expressions as those employed by the apostle. Plutarch, in Precept. Conjug., says: Σωματος εστι κηδεσθαι, μη δουλευοντα ταις ἡδοναις αυτου, και ταις επιθυμιαις· "We must take care of the body, that we may not be enslaved by its lusts and pleasures."And Josephus, speaking of Cleopatra, Antiq., lib. xv. cap. 4, says: Γυναικα πολυτελη, και δουλευουσαν ταις επιθυμιαις· "She was an expensive woman, enslaved to lusts."

Clarke: Tit 3:4

But after that the kindness and love of God - By χρηστοτης we may understand the essential goodness of the Divine nature; that which is the spring whence all kindness, mercy, and beneficence proceed

Love toward man - Φιλανθρωπια· Philanthropy. It is to be regretted that this attribute of the Divine nature, as it stands in relation to man, should have been entirely lost by a paraphrastical translation. Philanthropy is a character which God gives here to himself; while human nature exists, this must be a character of the Divine nature. God loves man; he delighted in the idea when formed in his own infinite mind, he formed man according to that idea, and rejoiced in the work of his hands; when man fell, the same love induced him to devise his redemption, and God the Savior flows from God the Philanthropist. Where love is it will be active, and will show itself. So the philanthropy of God appeared, επεφανη, it shone out, in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, and in his giving his life for the life of the world.

Clarke: Tit 3:5

Not by works of righteousness - Those who were foolish, disobedient, and deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, could not possibly have works of righteousness to plead; therefore, if saved at all, they must be saved by mercy. See the note on Eph 2:8; and see a discourse entitled, Salvation by Faith proved, 8vo., 1816, in which I have examined every system invented by man for his restoration to the Divine favor and image: and have demonstrated, by mere reason, their utter insufficiency to answer the end for which they have been invented; and have proved that the doctrine of salvation by faith is the only rational way of salvation

Clarke: Tit 3:5

By the washing of regeneration - Δια λουτρου παλιγγενεσιας· Undoubtedly the apostle here means baptism, the rite by which persons were admitted into the Church, and the visible sign of the cleansing, purifying influences of the Holy Spirit, which the apostle immediately subjoins. Baptism is only a sign, and therefore should never be separated from the thing signified; but it is a rite commanded by God himself, and therefore the thing signified should never be expected without it

By the renewing of the Holy Ghost we are to understand, not only the profession of being bound to live a new life, but the grace that renews the heart, and enables us thus to live; so the renewing influences are here intended. Baptism changes nothing; the grace signified by it cleanses and purifies. They who think baptism to be regeneration, neither know the Scriptures nor the power of God; therefore they do greatly err.

Clarke: Tit 3:6

Which he shed on us abundantly - Οὑ εξεχεεν· Which he poured out on us, as the water was poured out on them in baptism, to which there is here a manifest allusion; but as this was sometimes only sprinkled on the person, the heavenly gift was poured out, not in drops, but πλουσιως, richly, in great abundance

Clarke: Tit 3:6

Through Jesus Christ - Baptism is nothing in itself; and there had been no outpouring of the Holy Spirit, had there been no saving and atoning Christ. Through him alone all good comes to the souls of men.

Clarke: Tit 3:7

That, being justified by his grace - Being freed from sin; for the term justification is to be taken here as implying the whole work of the grace of Christ on the heart, in order to its preparation for eternal glory

Clarke: Tit 3:7

Should be made heirs - The Gospel not only gave them the hope of an endless state of glory for their souls, but also of the resurrection and final glorification of their bodies; and they who were children of God were to be made heirs of his glory. See the note on Gal 4:6, Gal 4:7.

Clarke: Tit 3:8

This is a faithful saying - Πιστος ὁ λογος· This is the true doctrine; the doctrine that cannot fail

Clarke: Tit 3:8

And these things I will - Και περι τουτων βουλομαι σε διαβεβαιουσθαι· And I will, or desire, thee to maintain earnestly what concerns these points. The things to which the apostle refers are those of which he had just been writing, and may be thus summed up: -

1.    The ruined state of man, both in soul and body

2.    The infinite goodness of God which devised his salvation

3.    The manifestation of this goodness, by the incarnation of Jesus Christ

4.    The justification which they who believed received through his blood

5.    The mission of the Holy Spirit, and the purification of the heart by his influence

6.    The hope of the resurrection of the body, and the final glorification of both it and the soul through all eternity

7.    The necessity of obedience to the will of God, and of walking worthy of the vocation wherewith they had been called

8.    And all these points he wills him to press continually on the attention of believers; and to keep constantly in view, that all good comes from God’ s infinite kindness, by and through Christ Jesus

Clarke: Tit 3:8

They which have believed in God - All Christians; for who can maintain good works but those who have the principle from which good works flow, for without faith it is impossible to please God

Clarke: Tit 3:8

These things are good and profitable - They are good in themselves, and calculated to promote the well-being of men.

Clarke: Tit 3:9

Avoid foolish questions, and genealogies - In these the Jews particularly delighted; they abounded in the most frivolous questions; and, as they had little piety themselves, they were solicitous to show that they had descended from godly ancestors

Of their frivolous questions, and the answers given to them by the wisest and most reputable of their rabbins, the following is a specimen: -

Rabbi Hillel was asked: Why have the Babylonians round heads? To which he answered: This is a difficult question, but I will tell the reason: Their heads are round because they have but little wit

Q. Why are the eyes of the Tarmudians so soft

A. Because they inhabit a sandy country

Q. Why have the Africans broad feet

A. Because they inhabit a marshy country. See more in Schoettgen

But ridiculous and trifling as these are, they are little in comparison to those solemnly proposed and most gravely answered by those who are called the schoolmen. Here is a specimen, which I leave the reader to translate: -

Utrum essent excrementa in Paradiso? Utrum sancti resurgent cum intestinis? Utrum, si deipara fuisset vir, potuisset esse naturalis parens Christi ?

These, with many thousands of others, of equal use to religion and common sense, may be found in their writings. See the Summa of Thomas Aquinas, passim. Might not the Spirit have these religious triflers in view, rather than the less ridiculous Jews? See the notes on 1Ti 1:4; 2Ti 2:23 (note)

Clarke: Tit 3:9

Contentions, and strivings about the law - Of legal contentions, and different and conflicting decisions about the meaning of particular rites and ceremonies, the Talmud is full.

Clarke: Tit 3:10

A man that is a heretic - Generally defined, one that is obstinately attached to an opinion contrary to the peace and comfort of society, and will neither submit to Scripture nor reason. Here it means a person who maintains Judaism in opposition to Christianity, or who insists on the necessity of circumcision, etc., in order to be saved. This is obviously the meaning of the word heretic in the only place in which it occurs in the sacred writings

Clarke: Tit 3:10

After the first and second admonition, reject - Labour to convince him of his error; but if he will not receive instruction, if he have shut his heart against conviction, then - burn him alive? No: even if demonstrably a heretic in any one sense of that word, and a disturber of the peace of the Church, God gives no man any other authority over him but to shun him, παραιτου . Do him no harm in body, soul, character, or substance; hold no communion with him; but leave him to God. See the notes on Act 5:17; Act 24:14 (note), where the word heresy is particularly explained.

Clarke: Tit 3:11

Is subverted - Is turned out of the way in which he may be saved, and consequently sinneth - enters into that way that leads to destruction

Clarke: Tit 3:11

Being condemned of himself - This refers to the Judaizing teacher, who maintained his party and opinions for filthy lucre’ s sake. He was conscious of his own insincerity; and that he proclaimed not his system from a conscientious love of truth, but from a desire to get his livelihood. Were the Church in all countries, whether established by law or unestablished, strictly scrutinized, multitudes of heretics of this kind would be found. And perhaps this is the only bad sense in which the word should be understood.

Clarke: Tit 3:12

When I shall send Artemas - or Tychicus - These were either deacons or presbyters, which the apostle intended to send to Crete, to supply the place of Titus. Who Artemas was we know not; he is not mentioned in any other place in the New Testament. Tychicus was a native of Asia, as we learn from Act 20:4 (note)

Clarke: Tit 3:12

Be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis - Nicopolis was a city of Epirus, on the gulf of Ambracia, near to Actium, which Augustus built in commemoration of his victory over Mark Antony. There was another Nicopolis in Thrace, at the entrance of Macedonia, on the river Nessus; but the former is supposed to be the place here intended

Clarke: Tit 3:12

For I have determined there to winter - Hence the apostle was at liberty, seeing his spending the winter at this or at any other practicable place depended on his own determination. It was probably now pretty late in the autumn, and the apostle was now drawing near to Nicopolis; for he certainly was not yet arrived, else he would not have said, I have determined εκει, There, to winter.

Clarke: Tit 3:13

Bring Zenas the lawyer - This person is only mentioned in this place; whether he was a Jewish, Roman, or Greek lawyer, we cannot tell

Clarke: Tit 3:13

And Apollos - Of this person we have some valuable particulars in Act 18:24; 1Co 1:12; 1Co 3:5, 1Co 3:6; 1Co 4:6. Either St. Paul had left these at Crete when he visited that island, or he had heard that, in their evangelical itinerancy, they were about to pass through it

Clarke: Tit 3:13

On their journey diligently - Afford them the means to defray their expenses. The Churches through which these evangelists passed, bore their expenses from one to the other. See 3Jo 1:6.

Clarke: Tit 3:14

And let others also learn to maintain good works - There is something very remarkable in this expression. The words καλων εργων προΐστασθαι, which we translate to maintain good works, occur also in Tit 3:8; and some think they mean, to provide for our own, and the necessities of others, by working at some honest occupation; and that this was necessary to be taught to the Cretans, let Ours also learn, etc., who were naturally and practically idle gluttons. Kypke observed that the words mean

1.    To be employed in good works

2.    To defend good works, and to recommend the performance of them

3.    To promote and forward good works; to be always first in them

Clarke: Tit 3:14

For necessary uses - That they may be able at all times to help the Church of God, and those that are in want

Clarke: Tit 3:14

That they be not unfruitful - As they must be if they indulge themselves in their idle, slothful disposition.

Clarke: Tit 3:15

All that are with me - He means his companions in the ministry

Clarke: Tit 3:15

Salute thee - Wish thee well, and desire to be affectionately remembered to thee

Clarke: Tit 3:15

Greet them that love us in the faith, - All that love us for Christ’ s sake, and all that are genuine Christians

Clarke: Tit 3:15

Grace be with you - May the Divine favor be your portion for ever

Some MSS. read, The grace of the Lord be with you all; others, The grace of God be with you all; and one, Grace be with Thy spirit, as if the greeting was sent to Titus only, whereas the others send it to the whole Church at Crete

Clarke: Tit 3:15

Amen - This is wanting in ACD, and some others

The subscriptions are, as usual, various. Those of the Versions are the following: -

The Epistle to Titus was written from Nicopolis; and sent by the hands of Zena and Apollo. - Syriac

To the man Titus. - Aethiopic

The end of the epistle: it was written from Nicopolis. Incessant and eternal praise be to the God of glory. Amen. - Arabic

Written in Nicopolis, and sent by Artemas, his disciple. - Coptic

The Epistle to Titus is ended, who was the first bishop of the Church of the Cretans: and it was written from Nicopolis of Macedonia. - Philoxenian Syriac

There is no subscription in the Vulgate

The Manuscripts are also various

To Titus. - C, and Clarom

That to Titus is completed: that to Philemon begins. - DEFG

To Titus, written from Nicopolis. - A

To Titus, written from Nicopolis of Macedonia. - of the Macedonians. - From Nicopolis, which is a province of Macedonia

Paul the apostle’ s Epistle to Titus

To Titus, ordained the first bishop of the Church of the Cretans: written from Nicopolis of Macedonia. - Common Greek Text

To Titus, archbishop of Crete. - One of the Vienna MSS., written a.d. 1331

There is not one of these subscriptions of any authority, and some of them are plainly ridiculous. We do not know that Titus was what we term bishop, much less that he was ordained bishop of Crete, as appointed to a particular see; and still less that he was the first bishop there. As to his being archbishop, that is the fiction of a time of deep darkness. That the epistle was written from some place near to Nicopolis, of Epirus, is very probable. That it was not written at Nicopolis is evident; and that this was not Nicopolis of Macedonia is also very probable. See the preface to this epistle for farther information on this point. And see a treatise by old Mr. Prynne entitled, The unbishoping of Timothy and Titus, 4to. Lond. 1636 and 1660, where, among many crooked things, there are some just observations

Calvin: Tit 3:1

1.Remind them to be subject to principalities and powers From many passages it is evident that the Apostles had great difficulty in keeping the common people subject to the authority of magistrates and princes. We are all by nature desirous of power; and the consequence is, that no one willingly is subject to another. Besides, perceiving that nearly all the principalities and powers of the world ²⁵⁶ were at that time opposed to Christ they thought them unworthy of receiving any honor. The Jews especially, being an untamable race, did not cease to mutiny and rage. Thus, after having spoken of particular duties, Paul now wishes to give a general admonition to all, to observe peaceably the order of civil government, to submit to the laws, to obey magistrates. That subjection to princes, and that obedience to magistrates, which he demands, is extended to edicts, and laws, and other parts of civil government.

What he immediately adds, To be ready for every good work, may be applied to the same subject, as if he had said, “All who do not refuse to lead a good and virtuous life, will cheerfully yield obedience to magistrates.” For, since they have been appointed for the preservation of mankind, he who desires to have them removed, or shakes off their yoke, is an enemy of equity and justice, and is therefore devoid of all humanity. Yet if any prefer to interpret it without any immediate relation to the context, I have no objection; and indeed there can be no doubt that, in this sentence, he recommends to them kind offices towards their neighbors throughout their whole life.

Calvin: Tit 3:2

2.To speak evil of no one He now lays down the method of maintaining peace and friendship with all men. We know that there is nothing to which the disposition of every man is more prone than to despise others in comparison of himself. The consequence is, that many are proud of the gifts of God; and this is accompanied by contempt for their brethren, which is immediately followed by insult. He therefore forbids Christians to glory over others, or to reproach them, whatever may be their own superior excellence. Yet he does not wish them to flatter the vices of wicked men; he only condemns the propensity to slander.

Not given to fighting As if he had said, “Quarrels and contentions must be avoided.” The old translation has therefore rendered it better, Not quarrelsome; for there are other ways of fighting than the sword or the fist. And from what follows it is evident that this is the meaning; for he points out the remedies for the evil, when he enjoins them to be kind, and to shew all meekness towards all men; for “kindness” is contrasted with the utmost rigor of law, and “meekness” with bitterness. If, therefore, we are disposed to avoid every kind of contentions and fighting, let us learn, first, to moderate many things by gentleness, and next to bear with many things; for they who are excessively severe and ill-tempered carry with them a fire to kindle strife.

He says, towards all men, in order to intimate that he should bear with even the lowest and meanest persons. Believers, holding wicked men in contempt, did not think them worthy of any forbearance. Such severity, which arises from nothing else than pride, Paul wished to correct.

Calvin: Tit 3:3

3.For we ourselves ²⁵⁷ also were formerly foolish Nothing is better adapted to subdue our pride, and at the same time to moderate our severity, than when it is shewn that everything that we turn against others may fall back on our own head; for he forgives easily who is compelled to sue for pardon in return. And indeed, ignorance of our own faults is the only cause that renders us unwilling to forgive our brethren. They who have a true zeal for God, are, indeed, severe against those who sin; but, because they begin with themselves, their severity is always attended by compassion. In order that believers, therefore, may not haughtily and cruelly mock at others, who are still held in ignorance and blindness, Paul brings back to their remembrance what sort of persons they formerly were; as if he had said, “If such fierce treatment is done to those on whom God has not yet bestowed the light of the gospel, with equally good reason might you have been at one time harshly treated. Undoubtedly you would not have wished that any person should be so cruel to you; exercise now, therefore, the same moderation towards others.”

In the words of Paul, there are two things that need to be understood. The first is, that they who have now been enlightened by the Lord, being humbled by the remembrance of their former ignorance, should not exalt themselves proudly over others, or treat them with greater harshness and severity than that which, they think, ought to have been exercised towards themselves when they were what those now are. The second is, that they should consider, from what has taken place in their own persons, that they who to-day are strangers may to-morrow be received into the Church, and, having been led to amendment of their sinful practices, may become partakers of the gifts of God, of which they are now destitute. There is a bright mirror of both in believers, who

“at one time were darkness, and afterwards began
to be light in the Lord.” (Eph 5:8.)

The knowledge of their former condition should therefore dispose them toσυμπάθειαν fellow-feeling. On the other hand, the grace of God, which they now enjoy, is a proof that others may be brought to salvation.

Thus we see that we must be humbled before God, in order that we may be gentle towards brethren; for pride is always cruel and disdainful of others. In another passage, (Gal 6:1,) where he exhorts us to mildness, he advises every one to remember his own weakness. Here he goes farther, for he bids us remember those vices from which we have been delivered, that we may not pursue too keenly those which, still dwell in others.

Besides, seeing that here Paul describes briefly the natural disposition of men, such as it is before it is renewed by the Spirit of God, we may behold, in this description, how wretched we are while we are out of Christ. First, he calls unbelievers foolish, because the whole wisdom of men is mere vanity, so long as they do not know God. Next, he calls them disobedient, because, as it is faith alone that truly obeys God, so unbelief is always wayward and rebellious; although we might translateἀπειθεῖς unbelieving, so as to describe the kind of “foolishness.” Thirdly, he says that unbelievers go astray; for Christ alone is “the way” and the “light of the world.” (Joh 8:12.) All who are estranged from God must therefore wander and go astray during their whole life.

Hitherto he has described the nature of unbelief; but now he likewise adds the fruits which proceed from it, namely, various desires and pleasures, envy, malice, and such like. It is true that each person is not equally chargeable with every vice; but, seeing that all are the slaves of wicked desires, although some are carried away by one and others by another desire, Paul embraces in a general statement ²⁵⁸ all the fruits that are anywhere produced by unbelief. This subject is explained towards the close of the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.

Moreover, since Paul, by these marks, distinguishes the children of God from unbelievers, if we wish to be accounted believers, we must have our heart cleansed from all envy, and from all malice; and we must both love and be beloved. It is unreasonable that those desires should reign in us, which are there called “various,” for this reason, in my opinion, that the lusts by which a carnal man is driven about are like opposing billows, which, by fighting against each other, turn the man hither and thither, so that he changes and vacillates almost every moment. Such, at least, is the restlessness of all who abandon themselves to carnal desires; because there is no stability but in the fear of God.

Calvin: Tit 3:4

Either the principal clause in this sentence is, that “God hath saved us by his mercy,” or the language is elliptical. Thus it will be proper to supply, that they were changed for the better, and became new men, in consequence of God having mercy upon them; as if he had said, “When God regenerated you by his Spirit, then did you begin to differ from others.” But since there is a complete sense in the words of Paul, there is no necessity for making any addition. He classes himself along with others, in order that the exhortation may be more efficacious.

4.But after that the goodness and love towards man appeared First, it might be asked, — “Did the goodness of God begin to be made known to the world at the time when Christ was manifested in the flesh? For certainly, from the beginning, the fathers both knew and experienced that God was good, and kind, and gracious to them; and therefore this was not the first manifestation of his goodness, and fatherly love towards us,” The answer is easy. In no other way did the fathers taste the goodness of God under the Law, than by looking at Christ, on whose coming all their faith rested. Thus the goodness of God is said to have appeared, when he exhibited a pledge of it, and gave actual demonstration, that not in vain did he so often promise salvation to men.

“God so loved the world”, says John, “that he gave his only-begotten Son.” (Joh 3:16.)

Paul also says in another passage,

“Hereby God confirmeth his love towards us, that, while we were enemies, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8.)

It is a customary way of speaking in Scripture, that the world was reconciled to God through the death of Christ, although we know that he was a kind Father in all ages. But because we find no cause of the love of God toward us, and no ground of our salvation, but in Christ, not without good reason is God the Father said to have shewn his goodness to us in him.

Yet there is a different reason for it in this passage, in which Paul speaks, not of that ordinary manifestation of Christ which took place when he came as a man into the world, but of the manifestation which is made by the gospel, when he exhibits and reveals himself, in a peculiar manner, to the elect. At the first coming of Christ, Paul was not renewed; but, on the contrary, Christ was raised in glory, and salvation through his name shone upon many, not only in Judea, but throughout the neighboring countries, while Paul, blinded by unbelief, labored to extinguish this grace by every means in his power. He therefore means that the grace of God “appeared” both to himself and to others, when they were enlightened in the knowledge of the gospel. And indeed, in no other way could these words apply; for he does not speak indiscriminately about the men of his age, but specially addresses those who had been separated from the ordinary ranks; as if he had said, that formerly they resembled those unbelievers who were still plunged in darkness, but that now they differ from them, not through their own merit, but by the grace of God; in the same manner as he beats down all the haughtiness of the flesh by the same argument. “Who maketh thee to differ,” or to be more highly, esteemed than others? (1Co 4:7.)

Goodness and love He has with propriety assigned the first rank to “goodness,” which prompts God to love us; for God will never find in us anything which he ought to love, but he loves us because he is good and merciful. Besides, although he testifies his goodness and love to all, yet we know it by faith only, when he declares himself to be our Father in Christ. Before Paul was called to the faith of Christ, he enjoyed innumerable gifts of God, which might have given him a taste of God’s fatherly kindness; he had been educated, from his infancy, in the doctrine of the law; yet he wanders in darkness, so as not to perceive the goodness of God, till the Spirit enlightened his mind, and till Christ came forth as the witness and pledge of the grace of God the Father, from which, but for him, we are all excluded. Thus he means that the kindness of God is not revealed and known but by the light of faith.

Calvin: Tit 3:5

5.Not by works ²⁵⁹ Let us remember that here Paul addresses his discourse to believers, and describes the manner in which they entered into the kingdom of God. He affirms that by their works they did not at all deserve that they should become partakers of salvation, or that they should be reconciled to God through faith; but he says that they obtained this blessing solely through the mercy of God. We therefore conclude from his words, that we bring nothing to God, but that he goes before us by his pure grace, without any regard to works. For when he says, — “Not by works which we have done”, he means, that we can do nothing but sin till we have been renewed by God. This negative statement depends on the former affirmation, by which he said that they were foolish and disobedient, and led away by various desires, till they were created anew in Christ; and indeed, what good work could proceed from so corrupt a mass?

It is madness, therefore, to allege that a man approaches to God by his own “preparations,” as they call them. During the whole period of life they depart further and further from him, until he puts forth his hand, and brings them back into that path from which they had gone astray. In short, that we, rather than others, have been admitted to enjoy the salivation of Christ, is altogether ascribed by Paul to the mercy of God, because there were no works of righteousness in us. This argument would have no weight, if he did not take for granted, that everything that we attempt to do before we believe, is unrighteous and hateful to God.

Which we had done To argue from the preterite tense of this verb, that God looks at the future merits of men when he calls them, is sophistical and foolish. “When Paul,” say they, “denies that God is induced by our merits to bestow his grace upon us, he limits the statement to the past time; and therefore, if it is only for the righteousness going before that no room is left, future righteousness is admitted to consideration.” But they assume a principle, which Paul everywhere rejects, when he declares that election by free grace is the foundation of good works. If we owe it entirely to the grace of God, that we are fit for living a holy life, what future works of ours will God look upon? If, previously to our being called by God, iniquity holds such dominion over us, that it will not cease to make progress till it come to its height, how can God be induced, by a regard to our righteousness, to call us? Away then with such trifling! When Paul spoke of past works, his sole object was to exclude all merits. The meaning of his words is as if he had said, — “If we boast of any merit, what sort of works had we?” This maxim holds good, that men would not be better than they were before, if the Lord did not make them better by his calling.

He hath saved us He speaks of faith, and shews that we have already obtained salvation. Although, so long as we are held by the entanglements of sin, we carry about a body of death, yet we are certain of our salvation, provided that we are ingrafted into Christ by faith, according to that saying, —

“He that believeth in the Son of God
hath passed from death into life.” (Joh 5:24.)

Yet, shortly afterwards, by introducing the word faith, the Apostle will shew that we have not yet actually attained what Christ procured for us by his death. Hence it follows, that, on the part of God, our salvation is completed, while the full enjoyment of it is delayed till the end of our warfare. And that is what the same Apostle teaches in another passage, that “we are saved by hope.” (Rom 8:24.)

By the washing of regeneration I have no doubt that he alludes, at least, to baptism, and even I will not object to have this passage expounded as relating to baptism; not that salvation is contained in the outward symbol of water, but because baptism tells to us the salvation obtained by Christ. Paul treats of the exhibition of the grace of God, which, we have said, has been made by faith. Since therefore a part of revelation consists in baptism, that is, so far as it is intended to confirm our faith, he properly makes mention of it. Besides, baptism — being the entrance into the Church and the symbol of our ingrafting into Christ — is here appropriately introduced by Paul, when he intends to shew in what manner the grace of God appeared to us; so that the strain of the passage runs thus: — “God hath saved us by his mercy, the symbol and pledge of which he gave in baptism, by admitting us into his Church, and ingrafting us into the body of his Son.”

Now the Apostles are wont to draw an argument from the Sacraments, to prove that which is there exhibited under a figure, because it ought to be held by believers as a settled principle, that God does not sport with us by unmeaning figures, but inwardly accomplishes by his power what he exhibits by the outward sign; and therefore, baptism is fitly and truly said to be “the washing of regeneration.” The efficacy and use of the sacraments will be properly understood by him who shall connect the sign and the thing signified, in such a manner as not to make the sign unmeaning and inefficacious, and who nevertheless shall not, for the sake of adorning the sign, take away from the Holy Spirit what belongs to him. Although by baptism wicked men are neither washed nor renewed, yet it retains that power, so far as relates to God, because, although they reject the grace of God, still it is offered to them. But here Paul addresses believers, in whom baptism is always efficacious, and in whom, therefore, it is properly connected with its truth and efficacy. But by this mode of expression we are reminded that, if we do not wish to annihilate holy baptism, we must prove its efficacy by “newness of life.” (Rom 6:4.)

And of the renewing of the Holy Spirit ²⁶⁰ Though he mentioned the sign, that he might exhibit to our view the grace of God, yet, that we may not fix our whole attention on the sign, he immediately sends us to the Spirit, that we may know that we are washed by his power, and not by water, agreeably to what is said, —

“I will sprinkle on you clean waters, even my Spirit.”
(Eze 36:25.)

And indeed, the words of Paul agree so completely with the words of the Prophet, that it appears clearly that both of them say the same thing. For this reason I said at the commencement, that Paul, while he speaks directly about the Holy Spirit, at the same time alludes to baptism. It is therefore the Spirit of God who regenerates us, and makes us new creatures; but because his grace is invisible and hidden, a visible symbol of it is beheld in baptism.

Some read the word “renewing,” in the accusative case, thus: — “through the washing of regeneration and (through) the renewing of the Holy Spirit.”, But the other reading — “through the washing of regeneration and of the renewing of the Holy Spirit” — is, in my opinion, preferable.

Calvin: Tit 3:6

6.Which he shed, (or, whom he shed.) In the Greek, the relative may apply either to the “washing” or to the “Spirit;” for both of the nouns— λουτρόν and Πνεῦμα — are neuter. It makes little difference as to the meaning; but the metaphor will be more elegant, if the relative be applied toλουτρόν the “washing” Nor is it inconsistent with this opinion, that all are baptized without any distinction; for, while he shews that the “washing” is “shed,” he speaks not of the sign, but rather of the thing signified, in which the truth of the sign exists.

When he, says, abundantly, he means that, the more any of us excels in the abundance of the gifts which he has received, so much the more is he under obligations to the mercy of God, which alone enriches us; for in ourselves we are altogether poor, and destitute of everything good. If it be objected that not all the children of God enjoy so great abundance, but, on the contrary, the grace of God drops sparingly on many; the answer is, that no one has received so small a measure that he may not be justly accounted rich; for the smallest drop of the Spirit (so to speak) resembles an ever-flowing fountain, which never dries up. It is therefore a sufficient reason for calling it “abundance,” that, how small soever the portion that has been given to us it is never exhausted.

Through Jesus Christ ²⁶¹ It is he alone in whom we are adopted; and therefore, it is he alone, through whom we are made partakers of the Spirit, who is the earnest and witness of our adoption. Paul therefore teaches us by this word, that the Spirit of regeneration is bestowed on none but those who are the members of Christ.

Calvin: Tit 3:7

7.That being justified by his grace If we understand “regeneration” in its strict and ordinary meaning, it might be thought that the Apostle employs the word “justified” instead of “regenerated;” and this is sometimes the meaning of it, but very seldom; yet there is no necessity which constrains us to depart from its strict and more natural signification. The design of Paul is, to ascribe to the grace of God all that we are, and all that we have, so that we may not exalt ourselves proudly against others. Thus he now extols the mercy of God, by ascribing to it entirely the cause of our salvation. But because he had spoken of the vices of unbelievers, it would have been improper to leave out the grace of regeneration, which is the medicine for curing them.

Still this does not prevent him from returning immediately to praise divine mercy; and he even mingles both blessings together — that our sins have been freely pardoned, and that we have been renewed so as to obey God. This, at least, is evident, that Paul maintains that “justification,” is the free gift of God; and the only question is, what he means by the word justified. The contest seems to demand that its meaning shall be extended further than to the imputation of righteousness; and in this larger sense it is seldom (as I have said) employed by Paul; yet there is nothing that hinders the meaning of it from being limited to the forgiveness of sins.

When he says, by his grace, this applies both to Christ and to the Father, and we ought not to contend for either of these expositions, because it will always hold good, that, by the grace of God, we have obtained righteousness through Christ.

Heirs according to the hope of eternal life This clause is added by way of exposition. He had said that we have been saved through the mercy of God. ²⁶² But our salvation is as yet hidden; and therefore he now says that we are heirs of life, not because we have arrived at the present possession of it, but because hope brings to us full and complete certainly of it. The meaning may be thus summed up. “Having been dead, we were restored to life through the grace of Christ, when God the: Father bestowed on us his Spirit, by whose power we have been purified. and renewed. Our salvation consists in this; but, because we are still in the world, we do not yet enjoy ‘eternal life,’ but only obtain it by ‘hoping.’”

Calvin: Tit 3:8

8.A faithful saying He employs this mode of expression, when he wishes to make a solemn assertion as we have seen in both of the Epistles to Timothy. (1Ti 1:15; 2Ti 2:11.) And therefore he immediately adds: —

I wish thee to affirm these things ²⁶³Διαβεβαιοῦσθαι under a passive termination, has an active signification, and means “to affirm anything strongly.” Titus is therefore enjoined to disregard other matters, and to teach those which are certain and undoubted — to press them on the attention of their hearers — to dwell upon them — while others talk idly about things of little importance. Hence also, we conclude that a bishop must not make any assertions at random, but must assert those things only which he has ascertained to be true. “Affirm these things,” says he, “because they are true and worthy of credit.” But we are reminded, on the other hand, that it is the duty and office of a bishop to affirm strongly, and maintain boldly, those things which are believed on good grounds, and which edify godliness.

That they who have believed God may be careful to excel in good works, (or, to extol good works, or, to assign to them the highest rank.) He includes all the instructions which he formerly gave concerning the duty of every person, and the desire of leading a religious and holy life; as if he contrasted the fear of God, and well-regulated conduct, with idle speculations. He wishes the people to be instructed in such a manner that “they who have believed God,” may be solicitous, above all things, about good works.

But, as the verbπροΐστασθαι is used in various senses by Greek authors, this passage also gives scope for various interpretations. Chrysostom: explains it to mean, that they should endeavor to relieve their neighbors by giving alms. Προΐστασθαι does sometimes mean “to give assistance;” but in that case the syntax would require us to understand that the “good works” should be aided, which would be a harsh construction. The meaning conveyed by the French word avancer , “ to go forward,” would be more appropriate. What if we should say, — “Let them strive as those who have the pre-eminence?” That is also one meaning of the word. Or, perhaps, some one will prefer what I have enclosed in brackets: “Let them be careful to assign the highest rank to good works.” And certainly it would not be unsuitable that Paul should enjoin that those things should prevail in the life of believers, because they are usually disregarded by others.

Whatever may be the ambiguity of the expression, the meaning of Paul is sufficiently clear, that the design of Christian doctrine is, that believers should exercise themselves in good works. ²⁶⁴ Thus he wishes them to give to it their study and application; and, when the Apostle says, φροντίζωσι (“let them be careful,”) he appears to allude elegantly to the useless contemplations of those who speculate without advantage, and without regard to active life.

Yet he is not so careful about good works as to despise the root — that is, faith — while he is gathering the fruits. He takes account of both parts, and, as is highly proper, assigns the first rank to faith; for he enjoins those “who believed in God” to be zealous of “good works;” by which he means that faith must go before in such a manner that good works may follow.

For these things are honorable I refer this to the doctrine rather than to the works, in this sense: “It is excellent and useful that men be thus instructed; and, therefore, those things which he formerly exhorted Titus to be zealous in affirming are the same things that are good and useful to men.” We might translateτὰ καλά either “good,” or “beautiful,” or “honorable;” but, in my opinion, it would be best to translate it “excellent.” He states indirectly that all other things that are taught are of no value, because they yield no profit or advantage; as, on the contrary, that which contributes to salvation is worthy of praise.

Calvin: Tit 3:9

9.But avoid foolish questions There is no necessity for debating long about the exposition of this passage. He contrasts “questions” with sound and certain doctrine. Although it is necessary to seek, in order to find, yet there is a limit to seeking, that you may understand what is useful to be known, and, next, that you may adhere firmly to the truth, when it has been known. Those who inquire curiously into everything, and are never at rest, may be truly called Questionarians. In short, what the schools of the Sorbonne account worthy of the highest praise — is here condemned by Paul; for the whole theology of the Papists is nothing else than a labyrinth of questions. He calls them foolish; not that, at first sight, they appear to be such, (for, on the contrary, they often deceive by a vain parade of wisdom,) but because they contribute nothing to godliness.

When he adds genealogies, he mentions one class of “foolish questions;” for instance, when curious men, forgetting to gather fruit from the sacred histories, seize on the lineage of races, and trifles of that nature, with which they weary themselves without advantage. Of that folly we spoke towards the beginning of the First Epistle to Timothy. ²⁶⁵

He properly adds contentions; because in “questions” the prevailing spirit is ambition; and, therefore, it is impossible but that they shall immediately break forth into “contention” and quarrels; for there every one wishes to be the conqueror. This is accompanied by hardihood in affirming about things that are uncertain, which unavoidably leads to debates.

And fightings about the law He gives this disdainful appellation to those debates which were raised by the Jews under the pretence of the law; not that the law of itself produces them, but because the Jews, pretending to defend the law, disturbed the peace of the Church by their absurd controversies about the observation of ceremonies, about the distinction of the kinds of food and things of that nature.

For they are unprofitable and unnecessary In doctrine, therefore, we should always have regard to usefulness, so that everything that does not contribute to godliness shall be held in no estimation. And yet those sophists, in babbling about things of no value, undoubtedly boasted of them as highly worthy and useful to be known; but Paul does not acknowledge them to possess any usefulness, unless they tend to the increase of faith and to a holy life.

Calvin: Tit 3:10

10.Avoid an heretical man This is properly added; because there will be no end of quarrels and dispute, if we wish to conquer obstinate men by argument; for they will never want words, and they will derive fresh courage from impudence, so that they will never grow weary of fighting. Thus, after having given orders to Titus as to the form of doctrine which he should lay down, he now forbids him to waste much time in debating with heretics, because battle would lead to battle and dispute to dispute. Such is the cunning of Satan, that, by the impudent talkativeness of such men, he entangles good and faithful pastors, so as to draw them away from diligence in teaching. We must therefore beware lest we become engaged in quarrelsome disputes; for we shall never have leisure to devote our labors to the Lord’s flock, and contentious men will never cease to annoy us.

When he commands him to avoid such persons, it is as if he said that he must not toil hard to satisfy them, and even that there is nothing better than to cut off the handle for fighting which they are eager to find. This is a highly necessary admonition; for even they who would willingly take no part in strifes of words are sometimes drawn by shame into controversy, because they think that it would be shameful cowardice to quit the field. Besides, there is no temper, however mild, that is not liable to be provoked by the fierce taunts of enemies, because they look upon it as intolerable that those men should attack the truth, (as they are accustomed to do,) and that none should reply. Nor are there wanting men who are either of a combative disposition, or excessively hot-tempered, who are eager for battle. On the contrary, Paul does not wish that the servant of Christ should be much and long employed in debating with heretics.

We must now see what he means by the word heretic. There is a common and well-known distinction between a heretic and a schismatic. But here, in my opinion, Paul disregards that distinction: for, by the term “heretic” he describes not only those who cherish and defend an erroneous or perverse doctrine, but in general all who do not yield assent to the sound doctrine which he laid down a little before. Thus under this name he includes all ambitious, unruly, contentious persons, who, led away by sinful passions, disturb the peace of the Church, and raise disputings. In short, every person who, by his overweening pride, breaks up the unity of the Church, is pronounced by Paul to be “heretic.”

But we must exercise moderation, so as not instantly to declare every man to be a “heretic” who does not agree with our opinion. There are some matters on which Christians may differ from each other, without being divided into sects. Paul himself commands that they shall not be so divided, when he bids them keep their harmony unbroken, and wait for the revelation of God. (Phi 3:16.) But whenever the obstinacy of any person grows to such an extent, that, led by selfish motives, he either separates from the body, or draws away some of the flock, or interrupts the course of sound doctrine, in such a case we must boldly resist.

In a word, a heresy or sect and the unity of the Church — are things totally opposite to each other. Since the unity of the Church is dear to God, and ought to be held by us in the highest estimation, we ought to entertain the strongest abhorrence of heresy. Accordingly, the name of sect or heresy, though philosophers and statesmen reckon it to be honorable, is justly accounted infamous among Christians. We now understand who are meant by Paul, when he bids us dismiss and avoid heretics. But at the same time we ought to observe what immediately follows, —

After the first and second admonition; for neither shall we have a right to pronounce a man to be a heretic, nor shall we be at liberty to reject him, till we have first endeavored to bring him back to sound views. ²⁶⁶ He does not mean any “admonition,” whatever, or that of a private individual, but an “admonition” given by a minister, with the public authority of the Church; for the meaning of the Apostle’s words is as if he had said, that heretics must be rebuked with solemn and severe censure.

They who infer from this passage, that the supporters of wicked doctrines must be restrained by excommunication alone, and that no rigorous measures beyond this must be used against them, do not argue conclusively. There is a difference between the duties of a bishop and those of a magistrate. Writing to Titus, Paul does not treat of the office of a magistrate, but points out what belongs to a bishop. ²⁶⁷ Yet moderation is always best, that, instead of being restrained by force and violence, they may be corrected by the discipline of the Church, if there be any ground to believe that they can be cured.

Calvin: Tit 3:11

11.Knowing that he who is such is ruined He declares that man to be “ruined,” as to whom there is no hope of repentance, because, if our labor could bring back any man to the right path, it should by no means be withheld. The metaphor is taken from a building, which is not merely decayed in some part, but completely demolished, so that it is incapable of being repaired.

He next points out the sign of this ruin — an evil conscience, when he says, that they who do not yield to admonitions are condemned by themselves; for, since they obstinately reject the truth, it is certain that they sin willfully and of their own accord, and therefore it would be of no advantage to admonish them.

At the same time, we learn from Paul’s words that we must not rashly or at random pronounce any man to be a heretic; for he says, “Knowing that he who is such is ruined.” Let the bishop therefore beware lest, by indulging his passionate temper, he treat with excessive harshness, as a heretic, one whom he does not yet know to be such.

Calvin: Tit 3:13

13.Zenas a lawyer It is uncertain whether “Zenas”, was a Doctor of the Civil Law or of the Law of Moses; but as we may learn from Paul’s words that he was a poor man and needed the help of others, it is probable that he belonged to the same rank with Apollo, that is, an expounder of the Law of God among the Jews. It more frequently happens that such persons are in want of the necessaries of life than those who conduct causes in civil courts. I have said that Zenas’s poverty may be inferred from the words of Paul, because the expression, conduct him, means here to supply him with the means of accomplishing his journey, as is evident from what follows.

Calvin: Tit 3:14

14.And let ours also learn to excel in good works ²⁶⁸ That the Cretans, on whom he lays this burden, may not complain of being loaded with the expense, he reminds them that they must not be unfruitful, and that therefore they must be warmly exhorted to be zealous in good works. But of this mode of expression we have already spoken. Whether, therefore, he enjoins them to excel in good works, or to assign the highest rank to good works, he means that it is useful for them to have an opportunity afforded for exercising liberality, that they may not “be unfruitful” on this ground, that there is no opportunity, or that it is not demanded by necessity. What follows has been already explained in the other Epistles.

END OF CALVIN’S COMMENTARY ON TITUS

Defender: Tit 3:2

The coarse behavior of the Cretians was difficult to correct, even among those who became Christians. Titus had a real challenge as he sought to plant sound and winsome churches with such people. But when a person becomes a Christian, "old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2Co 5:17). Missionaries to pagan cultures have faced similar problems throughout the centuries since, but the gospel has time and again proved its power to transform lives. Notice that Paul does not say to try to accommodate Biblical teaching on the behavior of Christians to the customs and culture of their previous environment. The consistent, godly living of the converts may well, in time, transform the environment as well."

Defender: Tit 3:5

In spite of the strong emphasis which he had just placed on godly living (Tit 3:1-3), Paul, again, wants to make it abundantly clear that salvation is altogether by God's mercy and grace (Eph 2:8-10; Gal 2:16-21).

Defender: Tit 3:5

The "washing of regeneration" is symbolized by baptism, whereby immersion in water represents total cleansing, as well as death, burial, and resurrection (Rom 6:3-11). It also symbolizes being immersed into the body of Christ, as it were, by the Holy Spirit (Joh 3:5; 1Co 12:13) who renews us from spiritual death to eternal life when we receive Christ by faith. However, it is not the act of water baptism, but the "washing of regeneration" that saves us, and this is received by God's grace (Tit 3:7) through faith in the person and saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism beautifully symbolizes all that is taking place when we are "born again" (Joh 3:3) and become "a new creature" in Christ (2Co 5:17), but it is only that - a beautiful symbol. Without saving faith, it is meaningless."

Defender: Tit 3:6

He has not only saved us from sin and death, but saved us to have eternal life more "abundantly" (Greek plousios). The same word is used elsewhere only in 2Pe 1:11, speaking of our coming entrance into Christ's eternal kingdom, and in Col 3:16 and 1Ti 6:17, where it is translated "richly": "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly," for "the living God ... giveth us richly all things to enjoy.""

Defender: Tit 3:7

The Christian "hope," centered especially in Christ and His promised return (Tit 2:13), is not a forlorn hope, or mere wishful thinking. It is rather, anticipation of what we know is coming, by faith in God's promises. We have the "hope of eternal life which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began" (Tit 1:2). God is omnipotent, but there are three things He cannot do: "he cannot deny himself" (2Ti 2:13); He "cannot be tempted with evil" (Jam 1:13); and, most assuredly, He cannot lie. Therefore, our hope is real certainty, even though we do not see its fulfillment just yet (Rom 8:24, Rom 8:25). "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast." (Heb 6:19)."

Defender: Tit 3:8

This is one of Paul's four "faithful sayings" (1Ti 1:15). Even though Paul has just emphasized that we are saved by God's mercy and justified by His grace, he insists that we be careful to maintain good works. This was vitally important for a clear Christian testimony in the blatantly course culture of Crete, but it is surely no less important in the secularistic amoral culture of the modern world."

Defender: Tit 3:9

Paul gave repeated warnings about this matter in his three pastoral epistles (1Ti 1:4; 1Ti 4:7; 1Ti 6:4, 1Ti 6:20; 2Ti 2:16, 2Ti 2:23; Tit 1:14). Maintaining sound doctrine in a local church is vitally important (1Ti 4:13-16; 2Ti 1:13; 2Ti 2:15; 2Ti 4:2-4; Tit 1:9; Tit 2:1, Tit 2:7, Tit 2:8), but trivial questions and arguments about extra-Biblical matters should be avoided."

Defender: Tit 3:10

This is the only occurrence of the Greek word hairetikos in the New Testament (though its derivative, "heretic" has been used frequently in church history). The similar word, hairesis (translated "heresy" or "sect") occurs nine times. It was applied by the Jews to the Christians and by the Christians to the Pharisees and Sadducees (Act 5:17; Act 15:5; Act 24:5). Both Greek words are derived from hairetizo, meaning "choose." There is no inherently evil meaning suggested, but simply a marked difference from a standard teaching. A heresy only becomes wrong when it substantially contradicts a clear doctrine of Scripture (theistic evolution, denial of the virgin birth).

Defender: Tit 3:10

The Greek word here means "avoid" or "refuse," but not necessarily "excommunicate." If a heretic refuses a second admonition, however, his ideas should at least be ignored by the church. That this has not been done is evident in the widespread departure of churches and entire denominations from the true Christian faith. Even modern evangelical churches are being seriously undermined today by theistic evolutionism, humanistic psychology and other heresies that have been allowed to thrive therein, having first been promoted in their associated religious colleges and seminaries."

Defender: Tit 3:12

"Artemas" is not mentioned elsewhere, although "Tychicus" is referred to several times (Act 20:4) as a frequent companion and messenger of Paul's.

Defender: Tit 3:12

There is no mention in Acts of Paul ever having been in either Crete or Nicopolis. This is one reason why most scholars believe he must have been released from his first Roman imprisonment, after which he did travel to these and other places."

Defender: Tit 3:13

"Zenas" is not mentioned anywhere else. His Greek name suggests that he was a Greek lawyer, rather than Jewish. "Apollos" is mentioned a number of times elsewhere (Act 18:24).

Defender: Tit 3:13

Evidently, Apollos and Zenas had been assisting Titus in Greece, and Paul was now sending Artemas and Tychicus to replace them while they went on to minister elsewhere. Titus himself was going to be needed by Paul at Nicopolis."

TSK: Tit 3:1

Put : Isa 43:26; 1Ti 4:6; 2Ti 1:6; 2Pe 1:12, 2Pe 3:1, 2Pe 3:2; Jud 1:5

to be subject : Deu 17:12; Pro 24:21; Ecc 8:2-5, Ecc 10:4; Jer 27:17; Mat 22:21, Mat 23:2, Mat 23:3; Rom 13:1-7; 1Ti 2:2; 1Pe 2:13-17

to be ready : Tit 3:8, Tit 3:14, Tit 2:14; 1Co 15:58; Gal 6:9, Gal 6:10; Eph 2:10; Phi 1:11; Col 1:10; 1Ti 5:10; 2Ti 2:21; Heb 13:21

TSK: Tit 3:2

speak : Psa 140:11; Pro 6:19; Act 23:5; 1Co 6:10; 2Co 12:20; Eph 4:31; 1Ti 3:11; Jam 4:11; 1Pe 2:1, 1Pe 3:10, 1Pe 4:4; 2Pe 2:10; Jud 1:8, Jud 1:10

no : Pro 19:19, Pro 25:24; 1Ti 3:3; 2Ti 2:24, 2Ti 2:25

gentle : 2Sa 22:36; Isa 40:11; Mat 11:29; 2Co 10:1; Gal 5:22, Gal 6:1; Eph 4:2; Phi 4:5; Col 3:12, Col 3:13; 1Th 2:7; 2Ti 2:24, 2Ti 2:25; Jam 1:19, Jam 1:20, Jam 3:17; 1Pe 3:8

all men : 1Co 9:19; Gal 6:10; 1Th 5:14, 1Th 5:15; 1Pe 2:17

TSK: Tit 3:3

we : Rom 3:9-20; 1Co 6:9-11; Eph 2:1-3; Col 1:21, Col 3:7; 1Pe 4:1-3

foolish : Pro 1:22, Pro 1:23, Pro 8:5, Pro 9:6

disobedient : Mat 21:29; Act 9:1-6, Act 26:19, Act 26:20; Eph 2:2; 1Pe 1:14

deceived : Isa 44:20; Oba 1:3; Luk 21:8; Gal 6:3; Jam 1:26; Rev 12:9, Rev 13:14

serving : Joh 8:34; Rom 6:17, Rom 6:22

living : Rom 1:29-31; 2Co 12:20; 2Ti 3:2, 2Ti 3:3

hateful : Psa 36:2; Rev 18:2

TSK: Tit 3:4

the kindness : Tit 2:11; Rom 5:20,Rom 5:21; Eph 2:4-10

love : or, pity

God : Tit 1:3, Tit 2:10; 1Ti 1:1, 1Ti 2:3, 1Ti 4:10

appeared : Tit 2:11; 2Ti 1:10; Heb 9:26

TSK: Tit 3:5

by works : Job 9:20, Job 15:14, Job 25:4; Psa 143:2; Isa 57:12; Luk 10:27-29; Rom 3:20,Rom 3:28; Rom 4:5, Rom 9:11, Rom 9:16, Rom 9:30, Rom 11:6; Gal 2:16, Gal 3:16-21; Eph 2:4, Eph 2:8, Eph 2:9; 2Ti 1:9

according : Tit 3:4; Psa 62:12, Psa 86:5, Psa 86:15, Psa 130:7; Mic 7:18; Luk 1:50,Luk 1:54, Luk 1:72, Luk 1:78; Eph 1:6, Eph 1:7; Heb 4:16; 1Pe 1:3, 1Pe 2:10

washing : Joh 3:3-5; 1Co 6:11; Eph 5:26; 1Pe 3:21

renewing : Psa 51:10; Rom 12:2; Eph 4:23; Col 3:10; Heb 6:6

TSK: Tit 3:6

he shed : Pro 1:23; Isa 32:15, Isa 44:3; Eze 36:25; Joe 2:28; Joh 1:16, Joh 7:37; Act 2:33, Act 10:45; Rom 5:5

abundantly : Gr. richly, Eph 4:2, Eph 3:8

through : Tit 1:4; Joh 4:10, Joh 14:16, Joh 14:17, Joh 16:7; Rom 8:2

TSK: Tit 3:7

being : Tit 2:11; Rom 3:24, Rom 3:28, Rom 4:4, Rom 4:16, Rom 5:1, Rom 5:2, Rom 5:15-21, Rom 11:6; 1Co 6:11; Gal 2:16

made : Rom 8:17, Rom 8:23, Rom 8:24; Gal 3:29, Gal 4:7; Heb 6:17, Heb 11:7, Heb 11:9; Jam 2:5; 1Pe 3:7

hope : Tit 1:2, Tit 2:13

TSK: Tit 3:8

a faithful : Tit 1:9; 1Ti 1:15

that thou : Pro 21:28; Act 12:15; 2Co 4:13

which : Psa 78:22; Joh 5:24, Joh 12:44; Rom 4:5; 1Pe 1:21; 1Jo 5:10-13

be : Tit 3:1, Tit 3:14, Tit 2:14

good : Job 22:2, Job 35:7, Job 35:8; Psa 16:2, Psa 16:3; 2Co 9:12-15; Phm 1:11

TSK: Tit 3:9

avoid : Tit 1:14; 1Ti 1:3-7, 1Ti 4:7; 2Ti 2:23

unprofitable : Job 15:3; 1Co 8:1, 1Co 13:2; 2Ti 2:14

TSK: Tit 3:10

heretic : 1Co 11:19; Gal 5:20; 2Pe 2:1

after : Mat 18:15-17; 2Co 13:2

reject : Rom 16:17; 1Co 5:4-13; Gal 5:12; 2Th 3:6, 2Th 3:14; 2Ti 3:5; 2Jo 1:10

TSK: Tit 3:11

is subverted : Tit 1:11; Act 15:24; 1Ti 1:19, 1Ti 1:20; 2Ti 2:14; Heb 10:26

being : Mat 25:26-28; Luk 7:30, Luk 19:22; Joh 3:18; Act 13:46; Rom 3:19

TSK: Tit 3:12

Tychicus : Act 20:4; 2Ti 4:12

be : 2Ti 4:9, 2Ti 4:21

for : 1Co 16:6, 1Co 16:8, 1Co 16:9

TSK: Tit 3:13

the lawyer : Mat 22:35; Luk 7:30, Luk 10:25, Luk 11:45, Luk 11:52, Luk 14:3

Apollos : Act 18:24

on : Act 21:5, Act 28:10; Rom 15:24; 1Co 16:11; 3Jo 1:6-8

TSK: Tit 3:14

learn : Tit 3:8

maintain good works : or, profess honest trades, Act 18:3, Act 20:35 *Gr: Eph 4:28; 1Th 2:9; 2Th 3:8

that : Isa 61:3; Mat 7:19, Mat 21:19; Luk 13:6-9; Joh 15:8, Joh 15:16; Rom 15:28; Phi 1:11; Phi 4:17; Col 1:10; Heb 6:6-12; 2Pe 1:8

TSK: Tit 3:15

with me : Rom 16:21-24

Greet : Rom. 16:1-20

love : Gal 5:6; Eph 6:23; 1Ti 1:5; Phm 1:5; 2Jo 1:1, 2Jo 1:2; 3Jo 1:1

Grace : 1Co 16:23; Eph 6:24; 2Ti 4:22; Heb 13:25

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Tit 3:1

Put them in mind to be subject ... - See the duty here enjoined, explained in the notes at Rom 13:1, following.

Principalities and powers - See these words explained in the notes at Rom 8:38. The word here rendered "powers"( ἐξουσίαις exousiais ), is not, indeed, the same as that which is found there ( δυνάμεις dunameis ), but the same idea is conveyed; compare the notes at Eph 1:21.

To obey magistrates - That is, to obey them in all that was not contrary to the word of God; Rom 13:1 note, following; Act 4:19-20 notes.

To be ready to every good work - "To be prepared for"( ἑτοίμους hetoimous ); prompt to perform all that is good; Notes, Phi 4:8. A Christian should be always ready to do good as far as he is able. He should not need to be urged, or coaxed, or persuaded, but should be so ready always to do good that he will count it a privilege to have the opportunity to do it.

Barnes: Tit 3:2

To speak evil of no man - Greek, "to blaspheme ( βλασφημεῖν blasphēmein , compare the notes at Mat 9:3) no one."Doddridge renders it, "calumniate no one."The idea is, that we are not to slander, revile, or defame anyone. We are not to say anything to anyone, or of anyone, which will do him injury. We are never to utter anything which we know to be false about him or to give such a coloring to his words or conduct as to do him wrong in any way. We should always so speak to him and of him in such a way that he will have no reason to complain that he is an injured man. It may be necessary, when we are called to state what we know of his character, to say things which are not at all in his favor, or things which he has said or done that were wrong; but,

(1)\caps1     w\caps0 e should never do this for the purpose of doing him injury, or so as to find a pleasure in it; and,

(2)\caps1     w\caps0 here it is necessary to make the statement, it should be so as to do him no injustice.

We should give no improper coloring. We should exaggerate no circumstances. We should never attempt to express ourselves about his motives, or charge on him bad motives - for we know not what his motives were. We should state every palliating circumstance of which we have knowledge, and do entire justice to it. We should not make the bad traits of his character prominent, and pass over all that is good. In a word, we should show that we would rather find him to be a good man than a bad man - even if the result should be that we had been mistaken in our opinions. It is better that we should have been mistaken, than that he should be a bad man.

To be no brawlers - See the notes at 1Ti 3:3. The same Greek word occurs in both places. It is not elsewhere found in the New Testament.

But gentle - The word here used is rendered "moderation"in Phi 4:5, "patient"in 1Ti 3:3, and elsewhere "gentle;"see the notes at 1Ti 3:3.

Showing all meekness unto all men - In the reception of injuries; see the Mat 5:5 note; Eph 4:2 note.

Barnes: Tit 3:3

For we ourselves - We who are Christians. There is no reason for supposing, as Benson does, that this is to be understood as confined to Paul himself. There are some things mentioned here which were not probably true of him before his conversion, and the connection does not require us to suppose that he referred particularly to himself. He is stating a reason why those to whom Titus was appointed to preach should be urged to lead holy lives, and especially to manifest a spirit of order, peace, kindness, and due subordination to law. In enforcing this, he says, that those who were now Christians had formerly been wicked, disorderly, and sensual, but that under the influence of the gospel, they had been induced to lead better lives. The same gospel which had been effectual in their case, might, be in others. To others it would be an encouragement to show that there were cases in which the gospel had been thus efficacious, and they who were appointed to preach it might refer to their own example as a reason why others should be persuaded to lead holy lives. In preaching to others, also, they were not to be proud or arrogant. They were to remember that they were formerly in the same condition with those whom they addressed, and whom they exhorted to reformation. They were not to forget that what they had that was superior to others they owed to the grace of God, and not to any native goodness. He will exhort the wicked to repentance most effectually who remembers that his own former life was wicked; he will evince most of the proper spirit in doing it who has the deepest sense of the errors and folly of his own past ways.

Foolish - See this word explained in the notes at Luk 24:25, where it is rendered "fools;"compare Rom 1:14, where it is rendered "unwise,"and Gal 3:1, Gal 3:3; 1Ti 6:9, where it is rendered "foolish."

Disobedient - To law, to parents, to civil authority, to God. This is the natural character of the human heart; see Luk 1:17; Rom 1:30; 2Ti 3:2; Tit 1:16, where the same word occurs.

Deceived - By the great enemy, by false teachers, by our own hearts, and by the flattery of others. It is a characteristic of man by nature that he sees nothing in its true light, but walks along amidst constant, though changing and very beautiful illusions; compare Mat 24:4-5, Mat 24:11; 2Ti 3:13; 1Pe 2:25; Rev 12:9; Rev 18:23, where the same word occurs; see also Rev 20:3, Rev 20:8,Rev 20:10, where the same word is applied to that great deceiver who has led the world astray. Every one who is converted feels, and is ready to confess, that before conversion he was deceived as to the comparative value of things, as to the enjoyment which he expected to find in scenes of pleasure and riot, and often in what seemed to him well-formed plans.

Serving divers lusts and pleasures - Indulging in the various corrupt passions and propensities of the soul. We were so under their influence that it might be said we were their servants, or were slaves to them ( δουλεύοντες douleuontes ); that is, we implicitly obeyed them; see the notes at Rom 6:16-17.

Living in malice - Greek, "in evil"- ἐν κακίᾳ en kakia ; that is, in all kinds of evil; see the notes at Rom 1:29, where the word is rendered maliciousness.

And envy - Displeasure at the happiness and prosperity of others; Notes, Rom 1:29.

Hateful - στυγητοὶ stugētoi . This word does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament. It means that our conduct was such as to be worthy of the hatred of others. Of whom, before his conversion, is not this true?

And hating one another - There was no brotherly love; no true affection for others. There was ill-will felt in the heart, and it was evinced in the life. This is an apt description of the state of the heathen world before the gospel shines on it, and it may be regarded as the characteristic of all men before conversion. They have no true love for one another, such as they ought to cherish, and they are liable constantly to give indulgence to feelings which evince hatred. In contentions, and strifes, and litigations, and wars, this feeling is constantly breaking out. All this is suggested here as a reason why Christians should now be gentle and mild toward those who are evil. Let us remember what we were, and we shall not be disposed to treat others harshly. When a Christian is tempted to unkind thoughts or words towards others, nothing is more appropriate for him than to reflect on his own past life.

Barnes: Tit 3:4

But after that - Greek, when - ὅτε hote The meaning is, that "when the love of God was manifested in the plan of salvation, he saved us from this state God appeared"after we had sinned in this way, but that when his mercy was thus displayed we were converted from our sins, and made pure in his sight.

The kindness - χρηστότης chrēstotēs - "the goodness, or the benignity."The word is rendered "goodness"and "good"in Rom 2:4; Rom 3:12; Rom 11:22, thrice; "kindness,"2Co 6:6; Eph 2:7; Col 3:12; Tit 3:4; and "gentleness,"Gal 5:22. The act of redeeming us was one of great kindness, or goodness.

And love of God - Margin, "pity."The Greek word is φιλανθρωπία philanthrōpia - "philanthropy - the love of man."The plan of salvation was founded on love to man, and was the highest expression of that love; the notes at Joh 3:16. The Greek of this verse is, "When the kindness and love of God our Saviour to man was manifested, he saved us"Tit 3:5, to wit, from those sins of which we had before been guilty.

Barnes: Tit 3:5

Not by works of righteousness which we have done - The plan was not based on our own good works, nor are our own good works now the cause of our salvation. If people could have been saved by their own good works, there would have been no need of salvation by the Redeemer; if our own deeds were now the basis of our title to eternal life, the work of Christ would be equally unnecessary. It is a great and fundamental principle of the gospel that the good works of men come in for no share in the justification of the soul. They are in no sense a consideration on account of which God pardons a man, and receives him to favor. The only basis of justification is the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the matter of justification before God, all the race is on a level; see the notes at Eph 2:8-9.

But according to his mercy -

(1)    It had its origin in mercy;

(2)    It is by mere mercy or compassion, and not by justice;

(3)    It is an expression of great mercy, and,

(4)    It is now in fact conferred only by mercy.

Whatever we have done or can do, when we come to receive salvation from the hand of God, there is no other element which enters into it but mercy. It is not because our deeds deserve it; it is not because we have by repentance and faith wrought ourselves into such a state of mind that we can claim it; but, after all our tears, and sighs, and prayers, and good deeds, it is a mere favor. Even then God might justly withhold it if he chose, and no blame would be attached to him if he should suffer us to sink down to ruin.

He saved us - That is, he began that salvation in us which is to be completed in heaven. A man who is already renewed and pardoned may be spoken of as saved - for:

(1)\caps1     t\caps0 he work of salvation is begun, and,

(2)\caps1     w\caps0 hen begun it will certainly be completed; see the notes at Phi 1:6.

By the washing of regeneration - In order to a correct understanding of this important passage, it is necessary to ascertain whether the phrase here used refers to baptism, and whether anything different is intended by it from what is meant by the succeeding phrase - "renewing of the Holy Ghost."- The word rendered "washing"( λουτρόυ loutrou ) occurs in the New Testament only in this place and in Eph 5:26, where also it is rendered "washing"- "That he might sanctify and cleanse it (the church) with the washing of water by the word."The word properly means "a bath;"then water for bathing; then the act of bathing, washing, ablution. Passow and Robinson. It is used by Homer to denote a warm or cold bath; then a washing away, and is thus applied to the drink-offerings in sacrifice, which were supposed to purify or wash away sin. Passow. The word here does not mean "laver,"or the vessel for washing in, which would be expressed by λουτὴρ loutēr and this word cannot be properly applied to the baptismal font.

The word in itself would naturally be understood as referring to baptism (compare notes at Act 22:16), which was regarded as the emblem of washing away sins, or of cleansing from them. I say it was the emblem, not the means of purify ing the soul from sin. If this be the allusion, and it seems probable, then the phrase "washing of regeneration"would mean "that outward washing or baptism which is the emblem of regeneration,"and which is appointed as one of the ordinances connected with salvation; see the notes at Mar 16:16, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved."It is not affirmed in this phrase that baptism is the means of regeneration; or that grace is necessarily conveyed by it; and still less that baptism is regeneration, for no one of these is a necessary interpretation of the passage, and should not be assumed to be the true one. The full force of the language will be met by the supposition that it means that baptism is the emblem or symbol of regeneration, and, if this is the case, no one has a right to assume that the other is certainly the meaning.

And that this is the meaning is further clear, because it is nowhere taught in the New Testament that baptism is regeneration, or that it is the means of regeneration. The word rendered "regeneration"( παλιγγενεσία palingenesia ) - occurs in the New Testament only here and in Mat 19:28, - "in the regeneration when the Son of man,"etc. It means, properly, a new birth, reproduction, or renewal. It would properly be applied to one who should be begotten again in this sense, that a new life was commenced in him in some way corresponding to his being made to live at first. To the proper idea of the word, it is essential that there should be connected the notion of the commencement of life in the man, so that he may be said to live anew; and as religion is in the Scriptures represented as life, it is properly applied to the beginning of that kind of life by which man may be said to live anew. This word, occurring only here and in Mat 19:28, and there indubitably not referring to baptism, should not be here understood as referring to that, or be applied to that, because:

(1)\caps1     t\caps0 hat is not the proper meaning of the word;

(2)\caps1     t\caps0 here is no Scripture usage to sanction it;

(3)\caps1     t\caps0 he connection here does not demand it;

(4)\caps1     t\caps0 he correlatives of the word (see Joh 3:3, Joh 3:5-6, Joh 3:8; 1Pe 1:3,) are applied only to that great moral change which is produced by the Holy Spirit, and,

(5)\caps1     i\caps0 t is a dangerous use of the word.

Its use in this sense leaves the impression that the only change needful for man is that which is produced by being regularly baptized. On almost no point has so much injury been done in the church as by the application of the word "regeneration"to baptism. It affects the beginning of religion in the soul, and if a mistake is made there, it is one which must pervade all the views of piety.

And renewing of the Holy Ghost - This is an important clause, added by Paul apparently to save from the possibility of falling into error. If the former expression, "the washing of regeneration,"had been left to stand by itself, it might have been supposed possibly that all the regeneration which would be needed would be that which would accompany baptism. But he avoids the possibility of this error, by saying that the "renewing of the Holy Ghost"is an indispensable part of that by which we are saved. It is necessary that this should exist in addition to that which is the mere emblem of it - the washing of regeneration - for without this the former would be unmeaning and unavailing. It is important to observe that the apostle by no means says that this always follows from the former, nor does he affirm that it ever follows from it - whatever may be the truth on that point - but he asserts that this is that on which our salvation depends. - The word rendered "renewing"( ἀνακαίνωσις anakainōsis ) occurs only here and in Rom 12:2, where it is also rendered "renewing;"compare Note on that place. The verb ( ἀνακαινόω anakainoō ) occurs in 2Co 4:15, and Col 3:19, in both which places it is rendered "renewed,"and the corresponding word, ἀνακαινίζω anakainizō , in Heb 6:6.

The noun properly means making new again: a renewing; a renovation; compare H. Planck in Bib. Repos. i. 677. It is a word which is found only in the writings of Paul, and in ecclesiastical Greek writers. It would be properly applied to such a change as the Holy Spirit produces in the soul, making one a new man; that is, a man new, so far as religion is concerned - new in his views, feelings, desires, hopes, plans, and purposes. He is so far different from what he was before, that it may be said he enters on a new life; see the notes at Eph 4:23-24. The "renewing of the Holy Ghost"of course means that which the Holy Spirit produces, recognizing the fact, everywhere taught in the Scriptures, that the Holy Spirit is the Author of the new creation. It cannot mean, as Koppe supposes, the renewing of the mind itself, or producing a holy spirit in the soul.

Barnes: Tit 3:6

Which he shed on us - Greek, "Which he poured out on us"- ἐξέχην exechēn ; see the notes at Act 2:17. The same Greek word is used there as here. It occurs also in the same sense in Act 2:18, Act 2:33.

Abundantly - Margin, as in Greek, "richly."The meaning is, that the Holy Spirit had been imparted in copious measure in order to convert them from their former wickedness. There is no particular allusion here to the day of Pentecost, but the sense is, that the Holy Spirit had been imparted richly to all who were converted, at any time or place, from the error of their ways. What the apostle says here is true of all who become Christians, and can be applied to all who become believers in any age or land,

Through Jesus Christ our Saviour - See Notes, Act 2:33.

Barnes: Tit 3:7

That being justified by his grace - Not by our own works, but by his favor or mercy; see the notes at Rom 3:24.

We should be made heirs - See the notes at Rom 8:15, Rom 8:17.

According to the hope of eternal life - In reference to the hope of eternal life; that is, we have that hope in virtue of our being adopted with the family of God, and being made heirs. He has received us as his children, and permits us to hope that we shall live with him forever.

Barnes: Tit 3:8

This is a faithful saying - See the notes at 1Ti 1:15. The reference here is to what he had been just saying, meaning that the doctrine which he had stated about the method of salvation was in the highest degree important, and entirely worthy of belief.

And these things I will that thou affirm constantly - Make them the constant subject of your preaching. "That they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works."This shows that Paul supposed that the doctrines of the gospel were fitted to lead people to holy living; compare Tit 3:1, and the notes at Phi 4:8. The "good works"here refer not merely to acts of benevolence and charity, but to all that is upright and good - to an honest and holy life.

These things are good and profitable unto men - That is, these doctrines which he had stated were not mere matters of speculation, but they were fitted to promote human happiness, and they should be constantly taught.

Barnes: Tit 3:9

But avoid foolish questions and genealogies - See the 1Ti 1:4 note; 2Ti 2:16, 2Ti 2:23 notes.

And contentions, and strivings about the law - Such as the Jews started about various matters connected with the law - about meats and drinks, etc.; the notes at 1Ti 1:4; compare the notes at Act 18:15.

For they are unprofitable and vain - - They disturb and embitter the feelings; they lead to the indulgence of a bad spirit; they are often difficult to be settled, and are of no practical importance if they could be determined. The same thing might be said of multitudes of things about which men dispute so earnestly now.

Barnes: Tit 3:10

A man that is an heretic - The word "heretic"is now commonly applied to one who holds some fundamental error of doctrine, "a person who holds and teaches opinions repugnant to the established faith, or that which is made the standard of orthodoxy."Webster. The Greek word here used αἱρετικὸς hairetikos occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. The corresponding noun ( αἵρεσις hairesis ) occurs in the following places: Act 5:17; Act 15:5; Act 24:5; Act 26:5; Act 28:22, where it is rendered "sect;"and Act 25:14; 1Co 11:19; Gal 5:20; 2Pe 2:1, where it is rendered "heresy,"and "heresies;"see the notes at Act 24:14. The true notion of the word is that of one who is a promoter of a sect or party. The man who makes divisions in a church, instead of aiming to promote unity, is the one who is intended. Such a man may form sects and parties on some points of doctrine on which be differs from others, or on some custom, religious rite, or special practice; he may make some unimportant matter a ground of distinction from his brethren, and may refuse to have fellowship with them, and endeavor to get up a new organization. Such a man, according to the Scripture usage, is a heretic, and not merely one who holds a different doctrine from that which is regarded as orthodoxy. The spirit of the doctrine here is the same as in Rom 16:17, and the same class of persons is referred to. "Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have received; and avoid them."See the notes at that passage. The word here used is defined by Robinson ( Lexicon ), "one who creates dissensions, introduces errors, a factious person."It is not found in classic Greek, but often in ecclesiastical writers; see Suicer’ s Thesaurus.

After the first and second admonition - Compare Mat 18:15-17. That is, do not do it hastily and rashly. Give him an opportunity to explain himself, and to repent and abandon his course. No man is to be cut off without giving him a proper opportunity to vindicate his conduct, and to repent if he has done wrong. If after the first and second admonition a man who is undoubtedly doing wrong, will not repent, then he is to be cut off. The apostle does not say in what way this admonition is to be given, or whether it should be public or private. The language which he uses would justify either, and the method which is to be adopted is doubtless to be determined by circumstances. The thing which is to be reached is, that his fault is to be fairly set before his mind.

Reject - παραιτοῦ paraitou . This word is rendered "excuse"in Luk 14:18-19; "refuse,"Act 25:11; 1Ti 4:7; 1Ti 5:11; Heb 12:25; "avoid,"2Ti 2:23, and "entreated,"Heb 12:19. Its prevailing meaning, as used in connections like the one before us, is to reject in relation to an office; that is, to decline appointing one to an office. It probably had a primary reference to that here, and meant that a man who was given to making dissensions, or who was a factious person, should not be admitted to an office in the church. The general direction would also include this, - that he should not be admitted to the church. He is neither to be owned as a member, nor admitted to office; compare Mat 18:17. "Let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican."In regard to this passage, then, we may observe:

(1) That the utmost limit which this allows is mere exclusion. It does not allow us to follow the offender with injury.

\caps1 (2) i\caps0 t does not authorize us to oppose one on account of his mere private opinions. The essential idea is that of a factious, division-making man; a man who aims to form sects and parties, whether on account of opinions, or from any other cause.

\caps1 (3) i\caps0 t does not make it right to deliver such a man over to the "secular arm,"or to harm him in body, soul, property, or reputation. It gives no power to torture him on the rack, or with thumb-screws, or to bind him to the stake. It authorizes us not to recognize him as a Christian brother, or to admit him to an office in the church - but beyond this it gives us no right to go. He has a right to his own opinion still, as far as we are concerned, and we are not to molest him in the enjoyment of that right.

\caps1 (4) i\caps0 t demands that, when a man is undoubtedly a heretic in the sense here explained, there should be the utmost kindness towards him, in order if possible to reclaim him. We should not begin by attacking and denouncing his opinions; or by formally arraigning him; or by blazoning his name as a heretic; but he is to be dealt with in all Christian kindness and brotherly fidelity. He is to be admonished more than once by those who have the right to admonish him; and then, and then only, if he does not repent, he is to be simply avoided. That is to be an end of the matter so far as we are concerned. The power of the church there ceases. It has no power to deliver him over to anyone else for persecution or punishment, or in any way to meddle with him. He may live where he pleases; pursue his own plans; entertain his own opinions or company, provided he does not interfere with us; and though we have a right to examine the opinions which he may entertain, yet our work with him is done. If these plain principles had been observed, what scenes of bloody and cruel persecution in the church would have been avoided!

Barnes: Tit 3:11

Knowing that he that is such is subverted - Literally, "is turned out;"or, "is changed,"i. e., for the worse. He has gone from the right way, and therefore he should be rejected.

And sinneth, being condemned of himself - His own conscience condemns him. He will approve the sentence, for he knows that he is wrong; and his self-condemnation will be punishment sufficient. His own course, in attempting a division or schism in the church, shows him that it is right that he should be separated from the communion of Christians. He that attempts to rend the church, without a good reason, should himself be separated from it.

Barnes: Tit 3:12

When I shall send Artemas unto thee - This person is not elsewhere mentioned in the New Testament, and nothing more is known of him.

Or Tychicus - Notes, Act 20:4.

Be diligent - Notes, 2Ti 4:9. "To come unto me to Nicopolis."It was at this place, probably, that this epistle was written. In regard to its situation, see Introduction, Section 4.

For I have determined there to winter - Why Paul designed to spend the winter there, or what he purposed to do there, are questions on which no light can now be thrown. There is no evidence that he organized a church there, though it may be presumed that he preached the gospel, and that he did not do it without success. His requesting Titus to leave his important post and to come to him, looks as if his aid were needed in the work of the ministry there, and as if Paul supposed there was a promising field of labor there.

Barnes: Tit 3:13

Bring Zenas the lawyer - - This person is not elsewhere mentioned in the New Testament, and nothing more is known of him. He belonged doubtless to that class of persons so often mentioned in the New Testament as lawyers; that is, who were regarded as qualified to expound the Jewish laws; see the notes at Mat 22:35. It does not mean that he practiced law, in the modern sense of that phrase. He had doubtless been converted to the Christian faith, and it is not improbable that there were Jews at Nicopolis, and that Paul supposed he might be particularly useful among them.

And Apollos - Notes, Act 18:24. He was also well-skilled in the laws of Moses, being "mighty in the Scriptures"Act 18:24, and he and Zenas appear to have been traveling together. It would seem that they had been already on a journey, probably in preaching the gospel, and Paul supposed that they would be in Crete, and that Titus could aid them.

Diligently - 2Ti 4:9; Greek Speedily; i. e., facilitate their journey as much as possible.

That nothing be wanting unto them - Nothing necessary for their journey. Paul desired that they might meet with hospitable treatment from Christians in Crete, and might not be embarrassed for the want of that which was needful for their journey. It would seem most probable that they had been sent by Paul on a visit to the churches.

Barnes: Tit 3:14

And let ours - Our friends; that is, those who were Christians Paul had just directed Titus to aid Zenas and Apollos himself, and he here adds that he wished that others who were Christians would be char acterized by good works of all kinds.

To maintain good works - Margin, profess honest trades. The Greek will admit of the interpretation in the margin, or will include that, but there is no reason why the direction should be supposed to have any special reference to an honest mode of livelihood, or why it should be confined to that. It rather means, that they should be distinguished for good works, including benevolent deeds, acts of charity, honest toil, and whatever would enter into the conception of an upright life; see the notes at Tit 3:8.

For necessary uses - Such as are required by their duty to their families, and by the demands of charity; see Tit 3:8.

That they be not unfruitful - - That it may be seen that their religion is not barren and worthless, but that it produces a happy effect on themselves and on society; compare the Joh 15:16 note; Eph 4:28 note.

Barnes: Tit 3:15

All that are with me salute thee - Notes, Rom 16:3. Paul, at the close of his epistles, usually mentions the names of those who sent affectionate salutations. Here it would seem to be implied that Titus knew who were with Paul, and also that he himself had been traveling with him. He evidently refers not to those who were residing in the place where he was, but to those who had gone with him from Crete as his companions.

Greet them that love us in the faith - In the faith of the gospel, or as Christians. No names are here mentioned; compare 1Th 5:26; Col 4:15.

Grace be with you all - Notes, Rom 1:7; Rom 16:20.

The subscription, "It was written to Titus,"etc., is, like the other subscriptions at the close of the epistles, of no authority whatever; see the close of the notes at 1 Cor. In this subscription there are probably two errors:

(1) In the statement that Titus was "ordained the first bishop of the church of the Cretians;"because:

\tx720 \tx1080 (a)\caps1     t\caps0 here is no evidence that there was a church there called "the church of the Cretians,"as there were doubtless many churches on the island;

(b)\caps1     t\caps0 here is no evidence that Titus was the first Bishop of the church there, or that he was the first one there to whom might be properly applied the term "bishop"in the Scriptural sense. Indeed, there is positive evidence that he was not the first, for Paul was there with him, and Titus was "left"there to complete what he had begun.

©    There is no evidence that Titus was "bishop"there at all in the prelatical sense of the term, or even that he was a settled pastor; see the notes at Tit 3:1, Tit 3:5.

\caps1 (2) t\caps0 hat the epistle was written "from Nicopolis of Macedonia;"for

\tx720 \tx1080 (a)\caps1     t\caps0 here is no certain evidence that it was written at Nicopolis at all, though this is probable;

(b)\caps1     t\caps0 here is no reason to believe that the Nicopolis referred to was in Macedonia; see Introduction 4.

These subscriptions are so utterly destitute of authority, and are so full of mistakes, that it is high time they were omitted in the editions of the Bible. They are no part of the inspired writings, but are of the nature of "notes and comments,"and are constantly doing something, perhaps much, to perpetuate-error. "The opinion that Timothy and Titus were prelatical bishops, the one of Ephesus and the other of Crete, depends far more on these worthless subscriptions than on anything in the epistles themselves."Indeed, there is no evidence of it in the epistles; and, if these subscriptions were removed, no man from the New Testament would ever suppose that they sustained this office at all.

Poole: Tit 3:1

Tit 3:1,2 Christians are admonished to be subject to civil

powers, and of a peaceable and quiet demeanour.

Tit 3:3-8 They are saved from their sins by God’ s mercy through

Christ, but must maintain good works.

Tit 3:9 Genealogies and contentions about the law are to be avoided,

Tit 3:10,11 and obstinate heretics to be rejected.

Tit 3:12,13 Paul appointeth Titus when and where to come to him,

Tit 3:14 recommendeth acts of mercy to Christians,

Tit 3:15 and concludeth with salutations and a benediction.

Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers: all the supreme secular powers at this time were pagans, and no friends to the Christians in their dominions, which might be a temptation to the Christians to rebel against them, or at least not to yield them so free, universal, and cheerful an obedience as they ought; therefore the apostle presseth this duty upon them, and that not here only, but Rom 13:1 : see 1Pe 2:13 .

To obey magistrates: by the former term he might understand the supreme magistrates, by the latter, those inferior ranks; as the apostle Peter expresseth himself more particularly, 1Pe 2:13,14 .

To be ready to every good work to be free, and prepared to every work which is acceptable to God and honourable in itself.

Poole: Tit 3:2

To speak evil of no man Greek, to blaspheme no man. Blasphemy is a speaking evil, whether it be applied to God or man, though use hath so obtained, that we only in common discourse speak of blaspheming God.

To be no brawlers to be no fighters, (amacouv ) neither with hands nor tongues.

But gentle to be modest, fair, equitable men.

Showing all meekness unto all men forbearing wrath and passion in their converse with all.

Poole: Tit 3:3

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish without any knowledge, wisdom, or spiritual understanding.

Disobedient: the word signifieth as well unbelieving as disobedient, neither persuaded to assent to the truth, nor yet to live up to the rule of the gospel.

Deceived by the deceitfulness of sin.

Serving divers lusts and pleasures being slaves to our sensitive appetite.

Living in malice and envy suffering wrath to rest in our bosoms, till it boiled up to a desire of revenge, and showed itself in actions of that nature, and pining at the good and prosperity of others.

Hateful deserving to be abominated by good men.

And hating one another and hating good men, or such as were our neighbours: and having been so ourselves formerly, we ought to pity such as still are so.

Poole: Tit 3:4

Kindnesscrhstoths the word signifies one’ s easiness to do good to another; that native goodness that is in God, rendering him inclinable to love, and prone to do good unto the sons of men. This was in God from eternity, but appeared in his sending Christ, and then his Spirit, and in the application of Christ’ s redemption to particular souls.

Poole: Tit 3:5

Not by works of righteousness which we have done ; not according to our works, 2Ti 1:9 , whether ceremonial or moral.

But according to his mercy but from his own bowels freely yearning upon persons in misery.

He saved us he hath put us into a state of, and given us a right to, eternal salvation.

By the washing of regeneration washing us by regeneration, as in a laver, the pledge and sign of which is in baptism.

And renewing of the Holy Ghost the Holy Spirit changing and renewing our natures.

Poole: Tit 3:6

Which Holy Spirit, as well for the renewing of us, as for the collation of more common or extraordinary gifts, God poured out upon us

abundantly, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Saviour

Poole: Tit 3:7

That being justified by his grace that, through the free love of God, having the guilt of our sins removed, and the righteousness of Christ reckoned to us for righteousness,

we should be made heirs should, through adoption, be made children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, Rom 8:17 .

According to the hope of eternal life: some think that the words should be read thus: That we, according to hope, should be made heirs of eternal life; because otherwise, the text hath no object to relate to heirs. But what should we be heirs of, but the kingdom mentioned Mat 25:34 ? Though it be true, we are no more than heirs according to hope, nor is any man otherwise an heir of an inheritance, as heir stands distinguished from an owner or proprietor.

Poole: Tit 3:8

This is a faithful saying: we had this phrase before, 1Ti 1:15 3:1 4:9 2Ti 2:11 . It may be applied to what went before, or what follows.

And these things I will that thou affirm constantly this is the doctrine I would have thee preach, maintain, and stand to.

That they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works that those who assent to these things as true, and have cast their souls upon God and Jesus Christ for the fulfilling of them, may (considering good works are the condition annexed to the promise of this eternal life and salvation) be careful to practise all that God hath commanded them in all their relations.

These things are good and profitable unto men all these things are true in themselves, and profitable for men to know and understand.

Poole: Tit 3:9

But avoid foolish questions in the discharge of thy ministry meddle not with idle questions, 2Ti 2:23 , tending to no godly edifying.

And genealogies and sifting out genealogies, 1Ti 1:4 .

And contentions and strifes about words, or things unprofitable;

perverse disputings and oppositions of science falsely so called, 1Ti 6:4,5,20 .

And strivings about the law particularly questions about the law, the traditions and constitutions of the elders about it.

For they are unprofitable and vain these things are to no purpose or advantage.

Poole: Tit 3:10

A man that is an heretic: two things make up a heretic according to the common acceptation of the term now:

1. An error in some matters of faith.

2. Stubbornness and contumacy in the holding and maintaining of it.

Whether it so signified so early I cannot tell; it seems to refer to the former verse, supposing some that, notwithstanding all the endeavours of Titus, would be striving and contending for niceties about questions, genealogies, &c.

After the first and second admonition reject: for such, saith the apostle, admonish them once and again; if they will not have done, refuse them, reject them. Whether excommunication can be certainly built upon this text, may be doubted; paraiteomai signifies no more than to avoid, reject, or refuse.

Poole: Tit 3:11

Is subvertedezestraptai , is turned out of the true and right way and road;

and sinneth and is a transgressor,

being condemned of himself condemned of his own conscience; for he who spends his time about questions and genealogies, and strifes of words, and little questions about the law, instead of preaching Christ, is told by his own conscience that he doth not do his duty.

Poole: Tit 3:12

Of Artemas we read in no other place, but of

Tychicus often; they were both ministers, one of which Paul intended to send to take care of the church in Crete, in the absence of Titus, whom he would have come to him to Nicopolis, where he designed to take up his winter quarters; but being very loth that the flock at Crete should for a little time be without a shepherd, he limits the time of Titus’ s setting out towards him, till one of them should come into Crete.

Poole: Tit 3:13

Of this Zenas we read no more in holy writ, but of

Apollos we read both in the Acts, and 1Co 3:4,5,22 : it seemeth they were about to go to Paul to Nicopolis.

That nothing be wanting unto them the apostle would have Titus take care that they might want no necessaries that might accommodate them in their journey.

Poole: Tit 3:14

And let ours also either those of our order, ministers of the gospel, or those that are Christians.

Learn to maintain good works in the Greek it is, to excel, or to be in the front, or to show forth, or maintain, and each sense hath its patrons of note.

For necessary uses for the necessary uses of the church, or of others, or for their own necessary uses. I take their sense who would expound the phrase,

maintain good works by learning some honest trade, to be foreign to the true sense of the phrase.

Poole: Tit 3:15

Greet them that love us in the faith that love us as we are Christians, in and for the gospel.

Grace be with you all. Amen: the free love of God be thy portion, and the portion of all the Christians in Crete.

It was written to Titus, ordained the first Bishop of the church of the Cretians, from Nicopolis of Macedonia

Haydock: Tit 3:1

Princes and powers. At the time St. Paul wrote this epistle to Titus, there were many Jews, particularly the disciples of Judas of Gaulan, who maintained that the Hebrews were under no obligation of obeying any other than God, or at most the rulers of their own nation. St. Paul here admonishes them, that in conformity with the example and instruction of our divine Saviour, they ought likewise to obey every other temporal prince set over them by the Almighty, provided they commanded nothing contrary to the law of God. (St. Jerome, Estius, Menochius) ---

Piety teaches, and pastors should enforce three duties towards princes: submission to their authority, obedience to their laws, and a disposition of heart to meet all their just desires.

Haydock: Tit 3:3

We may see in this portrait of a child of Adam, drawn by the hand of a master, what we should have been without Jesus Christ, and what we perhaps have been, as often as he has abandoned us to ourselves. Whoever cannot read in this his own depravity, has never studied as he ought his own heart.

Haydock: Tit 3:4

The goodness and kindness. Literally, humanity of our Saviour. By humanity [1] some expound Christ's appearing in his human nature, but by the Greek is meant the love of God towards mankind. (Witham)

===============================

[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Benignitas et humanitas, Greek: chrestotes kai philanthropia. See Estius.

Haydock: Tit 3:5

Not by the works, &c. St. Paul in this verse alludes to the sacrament of baptism. This text is brought by divines to prove that baptism, like every other sacrament, produces its effect by its own power, (or, as it is termed in the schools, ex opere operato) independently of any disposition on the part of the receiver. We are saved, says the apostle, not by the works of justice, or any good works we have performed, but our salvation must be attributed solely to the mercy of our Saviour, God, manifested to us by the washing itself of regeneration and renovation of the Holy Ghost. ---

by the laver of regeneration, &c.[2] That is, baptism, by which we are born anew the adoptive children of God, by the grace of the Holy Ghost, whom he hath poured, &c. (Witham)

===============================

[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Lavacrum, Greek: loutron. See Ephesians v. 26.

Haydock: Tit 3:6

All presumption of human merits, which have not the grace of Jesus Christ for their principle, is here completely confounded; and the whole glory of our salvation is justly attributed to the mercy of God, through Jesus Christ. A new birth, new creature, new spirit. The effusion of the water upon the body in baptism, is a figure of the salutary effusion of the holy Spirit in the soul to renew it, and to make it a child of God.

Haydock: Tit 3:7

This admirable, and I may say divine adoption, is the sole foundation of a Christian's hope, as the eternal life of the blessed is the sole end of this adoption.

Haydock: Tit 3:8

It is a faithful saying. He means what he has already said, of our being justified by the grace and mercy of God. ---

And of these things I will have thee to affirm [3] earnestly. The sense is not, I would herein confirm thee, (as Mr. N. translates, without attention to the Greek, which in so many places shews us the literal sense of the Latin text) but that he would have his disciple, Titus, to confirm and settle others in the belief of these truths, that, as it follows, they may be careful to excel in good works. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

De his volo te confirmare, Greek: peri touton boulomai se diabebaiousthai: on which St. John Chrysostom says, ( Greek: log. st. p. 406.) Greek: toutesti, tauta dialegesthai; I would have to declare these things, &c.

Haydock: Tit 3:10

A man that is, &c. Many ancient copies have this passage thus, Avoid a heretic after one reprehension. St. Irenæus, Tertullian, St. Cyprian, St. Ambrose, &c. and many ancient Greek copies, omit a second reprehension. They thought once warning a heretic sufficient; a second correction only served to render him more insolent, and more obstinate in his false opinions. Certainly the faith of Christ has been so firmly established, that a man instructed in Scripture and tradition cannot conscientiously remain a heretic; he must be well aware of the crime of disunion; his own judgment, as St. Paul says, must condemn him.

Haydock: Tit 3:11

Knowing that he that is such a one is subverted: [4] a metaphor, from a house that is thrown down, even to the foundation, by the Greek. He speaks of heretics whose obstinacy seems evident, for no one is properly a heretic but who is obstinate in his errors. ---

And sinneth, being [5] condemned; or, condemned by his own judgment, when his ignorance cannot be a sufficient plea for him. (Witham) ---

Other offenders are judged and cast out of the Church by the sentence of the pastors of the same Church. Heretics, more unhappy, run out of the Church of their own accord; and by so doing, give judgment and sentence against their own souls. (Challoner)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

eversus est.

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Proprio judicio condemnatus, Greek: autokatakritos.

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Haydock: Tit 3:14

Let our men (that is, all Christians) also learn to excel in good and charitable works, by furnishing to others, for necessary uses, according to their wants. (Witham)

Haydock: Tit 3:15

There is no tie so tender or so strong as that of faith and charity. Nothing unites us truly together, but that which unites us all to God and to Jesus Christ, by an union of the same sentiments of faith, the same emotions of love, and the same inclinations of grace.

Gill: Tit 3:1

Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers,.... Not angels, good or bad, which are sometimes so called, but men in high places; the higher powers ordained of God, as the apostle elsewhere calls them; and which the Apostle Peter distinguishes into the king as supreme, and into governors under him: the Roman emperor and senate, the consuls, and proconsuls, deputies and governors of provinces and islands, are here meant; particularly such who were appointed over the island of Crete. Now the reasons why the apostle exhorts Titus to put in remembrance those that were under his care, to yield a cheerful subjection to their superiors, were, because the Jews, from whom the Christians were not distinguished by the Romans, were reckoned a turbulent and seditious people; which character they obtained, partly through the principles of the Scribes and Pharisees, which they at least privately entertained, as not to give tribute to Caesar, or be under any Heathen yoke; and partly through the insurrections that had been made by Judas of Galilee, and Theudas, and others; and besides, there were many Jews in the island of Crete, and the Cretians themselves were prone to mutiny and rebellion: to which may be added, that the false teachers, and judaizing preachers, that had got among them, despised dominion, and were not afraid to speak evil of dignities, according to the characters which both Peter and Jude give of them, and taught the saints to abuse their Christian liberty, and use it for a cloak of maliciousness, to the great scandal of the Christian religion.

To obey magistrates; inferior ones; in all things that are according to the laws of God, and right reason, that do not contradict what God has commanded, or break in upon the rights and dictates of conscience; in all things of a civil nature, and which are for the good of society, and do not affect religion, and the worship of God: hence it follows,

to be ready to every good work; which may be taken in a limited and restrained sense, and design every good work enjoined by the civil magistrate; and all right and lawful obedience that belongs to him, as giving to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, tribute, custom, fear, and honour to whom they are due; and which should be done readily and cheerfully: or it may be understood more comprehensively of good works in general, which wicked men are reprobate to, and unfit for; and which they that are sanctified are meet for, and ready to; though this may not only intend their capacity, fitness, and qualifications, for the performance of good works, but their alacrity, promptitude, and forwardness unto them.

Gill: Tit 3:2

To speak evil of no man,.... As not of one another, so not of the men of the world, to the prejudice of their names and characters, which are tender things, and ought to be gently touched; nor of magistrates, principalities, and powers, of persons in dignity and authority, which the false teachers were not afraid to speak evil of, and by their principles and practices taught others to do the same:

to be no brawlers; or "fighters", either by blows or words; not litigious and quarrelsome, wrangling and striving about things to no profit, and to the detriment and disturbance of civil government, churches, neighbourhood, and families; which is very unbecoming the followers of Jesus, who strove not, nor cried, nor was his voice heard in the streets. But gentle, showing all meekness to all men; yielding and giving way, rather choosing to suffer wrong than to brawl, contend, and litigate a point; taking the advice of Christ in Mat 5:39, carrying it in a meek and humble manner to men of all ranks and degrees, whether superior or inferior, rich or poor, bond or free, Jews or Gentiles, members of the church, or men of the world.

Gill: Tit 3:3

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish,.... Nothing has a greater tendency to promote humility, and check pride in the saints, than to reflect upon their past state and condition, what they themselves once were; and this is a reason why magistrates, though evil men, should be obeyed in things good and lawful, and why no man should be spoken evil of, and why every man should be treated in a gentle manner, and used with mildness and meekness; since the apostle himself, and Titus, and other saints, whom he designed this as an instruction for, were formerly, in their unregenerate state, just such persons themselves; and therefore should not glory over them, and treat them in a contemptuous manner: and besides, the same grace that had made a difference in them, could make one in these also, and which might be made in God's own time: and particularly, whereas they observed great ignorance in these men, they should consider that they also had been "foolish", and without understanding of things, divine and spiritual, and neither knew their own state and condition, nor the way of salvation by Christ; yea, the apostle himself, though he had a zeal for God, yet not according to knowledge; he did not know lust, nor the exceeding sinfulness of sin, until he was enlightened by the Spirit of God; he was ignorant of the righteousness of God, and went about to establish his own, which he imagined to be blameless; and thought he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus:

disobedient; both to the law of God, and Gospel of Christ; disbelieving the truths of the Gospel, and not subjected to the ordinances of it, notwithstanding the evidence with which they came, and the miracles by which they were confirmed.

Deceived; by the old serpent Satan, who deceives the whole world; and by an evil heart of unbelief, as well as by false teachers and leaders; and so, as the word signifies, were wandering about in darkness and ignorance, and were as sheep going astray, until they were returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of souls.

Serving divers lusts and pleasures; the lusts of the flesh are many and various, which promise pleasure to them that obey them, though that is but imaginary, and very short lived, and which subjects persons to bondage and slavery; for such who indulge to these things, are overcome by them, led captive, and brought into bondage, and are the servants of sin, vassals and slaves to their own corruptions; and such these saints had been, here spoken of:

living in malice and envy; they had not only malice and envy in their hearts against their fellow creatures, but practised it in their lives; yea, their lives were a continued series of malice and envy; particularly this was true of the apostle, who haled men and women out of their houses, and committed them to prison; breathed out slaughter and threatenings against the saints; was exceedingly mad against them, persecuted them to strange cities, and compelled them to blaspheme, and gave his vote for punishing them with death.

Hateful, and hating one another; abominable in the sight of God, as considered in themselves, and on account of their nature and practices; and to be abhorred by all good men; and who, by their continual feuds, quarrels, and animosities among themselves, showed an hatred, an abhorrence of one another.

Gill: Tit 3:4

But after that,.... After all this series and course of wickedness; notwithstanding all this foolishness, disobedience, deception, bondage to sin, envy, malice, and malignity; or "when" all this was, as the word may be rendered, amidst all this iniquity; when these persons were in the full career of sin, and so had done no preparatory works, or had any previous qualifications and dispositions for the grace of God:

the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared; unto them; and the Ethiopic version adds, "unto us". The apostle takes the advantage of the above character of himself, and others in their former state, to set off and magnify the grace of God in their conversion; so contraries, as black and white, illustrate each other. By "God our Saviour" is not meant the Lord Jesus Christ, though he is commonly designed by our Saviour, and is several times called God our Saviour in this epistle; see Tit 1:3 and who is truly God, and the only Saviour of lost sinners; and whose kindness and love towards them has appeared in many instances; as in his suretiship undertakings for them, in his assumption of their nature, and in his suffering and dying in their room and stead: and yet it appears from Tit 3:6 that God our Saviour here, is distinguished from Jesus Christ our Saviour there; and therefore here must be understood of God the Father; who contrived the scheme of salvation, appointed Christ to be his salvation, and made a covenant with him, in which it secured, and sent him in time to obtain it, and through his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, saves all his people: it is his kindness and love to men that is here spoken of; and which designs not his general and providential goodness and kindness, which extends to the whole human nature, and to all the individuals of it; but his special love and grace shown in his kindness in Christ Jesus; that good will to men the angels sung of at Christ's incarnation; or that free favour and love of God towards elect men, which is sovereign and special, from everlasting to everlasting, unchangeable and unspeakable, which is better than life; the excellency of which cannot be expressed, and which has shown itself in various instances: it is said to have "appeared"; because it was hid from all eternity in the heart of God, in the thoughts of his heart, in his purposes, counsel, and covenant, and has been made manifest in time; particularly, it has broke forth and showed itself in the mission of Christ into this world, and in redemption and salvation by him; wherein God has manifested and commended his love, and shown forth the exceeding riches of his grace; and also in the effectual calling, which being a time of life, is a time of love, and is owing to the great love of God, and is a fruit and evidence of his everlasting and unchangeable love; and it is this instance and appearance of it, which is here meant, since it follows the account of the state and condition of the saints by nature; and is what was made to them when in this state, by which means they were brought out of it.

Gill: Tit 3:5

Not by works of righteousness which we have done,.... The great instance of the kindness and love of God our Saviour is salvation; which the apostle denies that it is brought about by any works, even the best works of men; for "works of righteousness" are works done according to a righteous law, and in obedience to it; and in a righteous manner, from right principles of grace, in faith, and with a view to the glory of God; or otherwise they are not righteous actions, or works of righteousness; wherefore not works before, but after conversion, are here meant; for works before conversion are not properly works of righteousness: besides, these are such which we have done, who formerly were as before described, but now are regenerated and renewed by the Holy Ghost, and created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Now salvation, neither in whole, nor in part, is by these, either as causes; conditions, or means; See Gill on 2Ti 1:9; מעשים צדקה, "works of righteousness", is a Jewish phrase used for righteous or good works ^z.

but according to his mercy he saved us; the mercy of God is natural and essential to him, but the actings and exercise of it, towards this or the other objects, are sovereign and free, and according to his will; the effects of it are many, he is rich and abundant in it; and they are channelled in, and flow forth through the blood and righteousness of Christ; and this is the moving cause of salvation: this moved God to make a covenant with his Son, the blessings of which are the sure mercies of David, and in which God is merciful to the sins and unrighteousnesses of his people; it is owing to the tender mercy of God, that Christ, the dayspring from on high, has visited the earth; and the glory of it is very conspicuous in the affair of redemption by him; the pardon of sin is according to the multitude of God's tender mercies; and regeneration springs from the abundance of it; and even eternal life is the effect of it. Now according to this, God has "saved" his people; salvation is not only a thing determined, and resolved on in the mind of God, but is actually and completely accomplished by Jesus Christ, and an application of it is made to the saints in effectual calling; and because of the certain enjoyment of the whole of it, even eternal glory, the saints are said to be saved already; as they are also in faith and hope, as well as in Christ, their head and representative; See Gill on Eph 2:8. It follows, as the means of salvation,

by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; by the former is meant, not the ordinance of water baptism; for that is never expressed by washing, nor is it the cause or means of regeneration; the cause being the Spirit of God, and the means the word of God: and besides, persons ought to be regenerated before they are baptized; and they may be baptized, and yet not regenerated, as Simon Magus; nor is it a saving ordinance, or a point of salvation; nor can it be opposed to works of righteousness, as this washing is; for that itself is a work of righteousness; see Mat 3:15 and if persons were saved by that, they would be saved by a work of righteousness, contrary to the text itself: but regenerating grace is meant, or a being born of water, and of the Spirit; that is, of the grace of the Spirit, comparable to water for its purity and cleansing virtue: hence such who are regenerated and sanctified, are said to be washed and cleansed, having their hearts purified by faith, and their consciences purged from sin by the blood of Christ: by the latter,

the renewing of the Holy Ghost, is meant either the fruit and effect of the former, even newness of life and conversation, under the influence of the Holy Spirit; or else the gradual increase and progress of the work of grace upon the soul, renewed day by day in the spirit of the mind, by the Holy Ghost; or rather it means the same thing with regeneration, and is added partly as explanative of the washing of regeneration, showing that that is no other than the new creature, the new man, the new heart, and new spirit, formed in the soul, in the effectual calling; and partly to observe that the Holy Ghost is the author of it. Now it is in this way God saves his people, namely, by regenerating and renewing them; in this is the first appearance and discovery of the love of God to them; this is their open passage into a state of grace, and without this there is no entrance into glory; this is the foundation of all grace and good works, and by which saints appear to be heirs of the heavenly inheritance.

Gill: Tit 3:6

Which he shed on us abundantly,.... "Or richly"; either which love he shed abroad in the hearts of those whom he regenerated and renewed by his Spirit; or which water of regeneration, that is, grace, comparable to water, he plentifully shed, and caused to abound where sin had done; or rather whom, or which Holy Spirit, with his gifts and graces, such as faith, hope, and love, and every other, he poured forth in great abundance on them; see Isa 44:3

through Jesus Christ our Saviour; the love and kindness of God the Father our Saviour, comes through him; the mercy of God streams through him; the salvation itself is by, and through him; the grace communicated in regeneration and renovation is out of his fulness; the Spirit himself is given forth from him; and every supply of grace, by which the work is carried on, comes out of his hands; and everything wrought in us, that is well pleasing in the sight of God, is through him; and even the gift of God, eternal life itself.

Gill: Tit 3:7

That being justified by his grace,.... This is another way and means, as well as regeneration, by which God saves his people; for he saves no unjustified ones; no unrighteous persons shall inherit the kingdom of heaven; such as are without the wedding garment, and robe of Christ's righteousness, shall be cast into outer darkness: whom God saves, he justifies by the righteousness of his Son; and whomsoever he justifies, them he saves. The justification here spoken of is a declarative one, which takes place in regeneration; and which that is in order to, as here expressed, "that being justified": regeneration does not justify any, but makes the justified to appear to be such; justification is an act of God's gracious will conceived in his mind from eternity, by which he wills not to impute sin to his people, but to Christ their surety; and that they should be accounted righteous through the righteousness of his Son; in which act of his will the whole essence of justification in his sight lies: this was pronounced on Christ, as their head and representative at his resurrection, when he, as such, was justified, acquitted, and discharged, and they in him; and this is declared in the conscience of a sinner, by the Spirit of God, at his regeneration, when he passes from death to life; and this declaration is here intended, and which is the same with justification by faith; and is here said to be by the grace of God, as justification in every view is, and stands opposed to works of righteousness done by men, by which no man can be justified in the sight of God; in what sense justification is by the free grace of God; see Gill on Rom 3:24.

We should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life; or "according to hope we should be made heirs of eternal life". Eternal life is an inheritance, and so is not acquired by labour and industry, nor purchased, but is a free gift; it is a bequest of God the Father to his children, of his own free good will and pleasure; and it belongs only to children; they only are heirs, and they become such by adopting grace; neither regeneration, nor justification, make them the children of God, and heirs of the grace of life, but make them appear to be so: God, by his gracious act of adoption puts them among the children, and gives them the goodly heritage; and this adoption lies in eternal predestination in Christ, in whom the inheritance is obtained on that account, Eph 1:5. Regeneration shows them to be the adopted ones, and gives them the nature of children, and a meetness for the inheritance; and justification gives them a right unto it, upon the foot of justice, and opens a way for their enjoyment of it, consistent with the justice and holiness of God; see Gal 4:4, wherefore such as are washed with the washing of regeneration, and are renewed in the spirit of their minds, and justified by the grace of God; these are manifestly heirs of eternal life, of salvation, of a kingdom and glory, of all things, even of God himself, who is their portion, and exceeding great reward; and such in regeneration are begotten to a lively hope of it, and by this they are saved, Rom 8:24. And thus the apostle makes regeneration by the free mercy of God, and justification by his grace, and special adoption, and heirship, with a good hope through grace, the way and means in which God saves his people, who were like others by nature, and brings them to the enjoyment of eternal happiness.

Gill: Tit 3:8

This is a faithful saying,.... Meaning the whole of what is before expressed, concerning the state and condition of God's elect by nature; the appearance of the love and kindness of God to them in the effectual calling; the salvation of them, according to the mercy of God, and not by works of righteousness; regeneration, and renovation by the Spirit of God, in which such an abundance of grace is communicated; and justification by the free grace of God, as God's way of salvation; and by which men are made to appear to be heirs of eternal life, and to have hope of it: now all, and each of this is a faithful saying, is true doctrine, and to be believed, professed, and published: wherefore it follows,

and these things I will that thou affirm constantly; that is, the above doctrines; the Arabic version renders it, "I will that thou be firm in these things"; and the Syriac and Ethiopic versions, "I will that thou confirmest them": the sense of the apostle is, that he would have Titus be assured of those truths himself; be at a point about them, and without any doubt or hesitation concerning them; and abide firm and constant in them, and speak of them with certainty, boldness, and confidence to others; and endeavour to confirm and establish them in them: for which purpose he would have them be frequently inculcated and insisted on; and that with this further view,

that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works; for "that", does not design the subject matter of the charge, or what the apostle would have constantly affirmed, but the end, and final event and issue of it; and nothing can more strongly engage to a studious concern for the performance of good works than the frequent insisting upon the above doctrines of grace: "by good works", are meant, not merely honest trades, and the lawful occupations and businesses of life, which should be carefully attended to, and diligently followed, in order to be useful and profitable to themselves, their families, and others; but every good work, every branch of duty, moral, civil, and religious: to "maintain" these according to the signification of the word used, is to excel in them; to outdo others; to go before others, by way of example, and so to provoke to love and to good works; and to make them the employment and business of men's lives; for which there should be a thoughtfulness, a carefulness, a studious concern, especially in those who "have believed in God"; who are regenerated and renewed by the Spirit of God, and are justified by faith in the righteousness of Christ; who believe in him for peace, pardon, righteousness, life, and salvation: these are under great obligations to perform good works; the love of Christ should constrain them to them; and they are the only persons that are capable of doing them well, for they are sanctified, and made meet, and ready for every good work; they are created in Christ Jesus to them; they have the Spirit of Christ in them, and the strength of Christ with them, without which they cannot be performed well; and they have faith in Christ, without which it is impossible to please God.

These things are good and profitable unto men: which is to be understood not of good works, though these are good in themselves, and profitable to men in their effects; being done among them, and before them, they set them an example of doing good likewise, when evil communications corrupt good manners; and many of them issue in their temporal good, profit, and advantage: but rather the doctrines of the Gospel are here designed, which are before briefly treated of, and are said to be a faithful saying; and which the apostle would have affirmed with, certainty and constancy, in order to engage believers to the performance of good works; and that for this reason, because these doctrines are "good", excellent, valuable, and precious, comparable to gold, silver, and precious stones: the author, matter, end, and use of them are good; they come from God; they are concerning Jesus Christ, and his grace; they contain good tidings of good things; and are exceeding useful to influence faith, hope, love, and a cheerful obedience to the will of God: they are profitable in the hands of the Spirit of God for conviction, conversion, comfort, and edification; for the quickening and enlightening of dead and dark sinners; for the reviving, establishing, and building up of the saints; they are the wholesome words of Christ, and are according to godliness, and are nourishing, when other doctrines eat as a canker: and this sense is confirmed, not only by what goes before, but by what follows after in the next verse; where insipid notions and controversies are opposed unto them, as unprofitable and vain.

Gill: Tit 3:9

But avoid foolish questions,.... Such as were started in the schools of the Jews; see 2Ti 2:23

and genealogies; of their elders, Rabbins, and doctors, by whom their traditions are handed down from one to another, in fixing which they greatly laboured; see 1Ti 1:4 and contentions and strivings about the law; the rites and ceremonies of it, and about the sense of it, and its various precepts, as litigated in the schools of Hillell and Shammai, the one giving it one way, and the other another; and what one declared to be free according to the law, the other declared forbidden; which occasioned great contentions and quarrels between the followers of the one, and of the other, as both the Misna and Talmud show: and agreeably to this sense, the Syriac version renders it, "the contentions and strifes of the scribes"; the Jewish doctors, who were some on the side of Hillell, and others on the side of Shammai; as well as went into parties and strifes among themselves, and oftentimes about mere trifles; things of no manner of importance; wherefore it follows,

for they are unprofitable and vain; empty things, of no manner of use, to inform the judgment, improve the mind, or influence the life and conversation.

Gill: Tit 3:10

A man that is an heretic,.... An heretic, according to the notation of the word, is either one that makes choice of an opinion upon his own judgment, contrary to the generally received sense of the churches of Christ, and prefers it to theirs, and obstinately persists in it; separates from them, forms a party, and sets himself at the head of them, whom he has drawn into the same way of thinking with himself: or he is one that removes and takes away a fundamental doctrine of Christianity, which affects particularly the doctrine of the Trinity, the deity, and personality of Father, Son, and Spirit, and especially the doctrines relating to the person, office, and grace of Christ; one that brings in, or receives damnable doctrines; speaks or professes perverse things, and draws away disciples after him; or is among such disciples: for though schism and heresy do differ, and every schismatic may not be an heretic, yet every heretic is a schismatic; he makes a rent in the doctrine of Christ, and makes parties and divisions in his church; and such are not always to be contended and disputed with, but to be avoided and rejected:

after the first and second admonition reject; have nothing to do with him; have no society with him; admit him not to private conversation; and eject him from church communion, after he has been publicly admonished twice by the order of the church; for this is not to be understood of private admonition, by a particular person or persons; as in the case of private offences, Mat 18:15 but of public admonition, in the name of the church. An admonition with the Jews did not continue less than seven days ^a; some say ^b thirty; that is, there were so many days before it was out, or between one and another.

Gill: Tit 3:11

Knowing that he that is such is subverted,.... Or overturned and demolished; he is like an edifice, that is not only decaying, and falling, but is entirely everted, and pulled down; so that there is no hopes of a restoration or recovery; he is in a desperate condition, having opposed the person, or office, or sacrifice of Christ; having either trodden the Son of God underfoot, or counted his blood common, or done despite unto the spirit of grace; in either of which cases there is no more sacrifice for sin:

and sinneth; not practically, but doctrinally, and wilfully after he has received the knowledge of the truth; by denying the truth he received, in which he continues, notwithstanding the evidence of the word of God is against him; and; notwithstanding the arguments taken from it by the ministers of the Gospel, to convince him; and notwithstanding the admonitions of the church to recover him out of the snare of the devil:

being condemned of himself; not that an heretic is one that is convinced in his own conscience that he is in an error, and that that is a truth which he opposes; and yet he obstinately persists in the one, and continues to set himself against the other; for then, none but an hypocrite, that conceals his true sentiment, can be an heretic; nor can any man be known to be one unless he accuses himself; since no man can know the heart of another; and it would be impracticable in a church to deal with heretics, or reject and excommunicate them: but either the meaning is, that he is such an one, who by his own practice has condemned himself; for whereas he has separated himself not only from the faith of the church, but from the church itself; by so doing he practically condemns himself, or judges himself unworthy of the communion of the church, and so justifies the church in their rejection and exclusion of him: or rather, an heretic is one who having professed Christianity, and received the Scriptures as the only rule of faith and practice, and still professes to abide by the same, and that all doctrine is to be tried by them, and to be approved or condemned as that agrees or disagrees with them, stands condemned by those Scriptures, which he himself allows to be the rule of decision and determination; and so may be said to be self-condemned.

Gill: Tit 3:12

When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus,.... These were both of them ministers of the Gospel; there is no mention of Artemas anywhere else; some say he was one of the seventy disciples, and that he was afterwards bishop of Lystra; but these are uncertain things; See Gill on Luk 10:1; the name is a contraction of Artemidorus. Tychicus is often spoken of; and a very great character is given of him by the apostle, in Eph 6:21,

be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis; which was a city, not in Epirus, but in Thrace, situated by the river Nessus, and had its name from a victory obtained there: hither the apostle would have Titus come to him, after one or other of the above ministers were come to Crete; for as the apostle had the care of all the churches upon him, he would not remove a minister from one place to another, without making a provision in their room: his reasons for having Titus come to him, might be either to know the state of the churches in Crete; or because he stood in need of his assistance; or to send him elsewhere:

for I have determined there to winter; that is, to continue there all the winter; not without labour, but to preach the Gospel, and administer the ordinances to the saints there: and whereas he says "there"; this shows that this epistle was not written from thence, as the subscription asserts; for then he would have said "here", and not "there".

Gill: Tit 3:13

Bring Zenas the lawyer,.... Whether he was brought up to the civil law, either among the Greeks or Romans, is not certain; it may be he was a Jewish lawyer, or scribe, an interpreter of Moses's law among the Jews; for with them a lawyer and a scribe were one and the same, as appears from Mat 22:35 compared with Mar 12:28 and the Syriac version here calls him "a scribe", and the Ethiopic version "a scribe of the city"; which looks as if it was a civil office he bore; but however, be he what he will, he seems to have been now a preacher of the Gospel, being joined with Apollos, who certainly was one: he is said to have been one of the seventy disciples of Christ, and afterwards bishop of Diospolis; See Gill on Luk 10:1; his name is the contraction of Zenodorus: him the apostle would have Titus bring,

and Apollos, on their journey diligently; who was a Jew born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures; who had preached at Corinth, but was now at Crete; and whom the apostle, with Zenas, would have provided with everything necessary for their journey:

that nothing be wanting unto them; which might be proper for them in their travels, to make them comfortable, and their journey pleasant and easy.

Gill: Tit 3:14

And let ours also learn to maintain good works,.... By which are not only meant honest trades, as some choose to render the words: it is true, that a trade is a work; and an honest lawful employment of life is a good work; and which ought to be maintained, attended to, and followed, and to be learnt, in order to be followed. The Jews say, that he that does not teach his son a trade, it is all one as if he taught him to rob or steal; hence their doctors were brought up to trades; See Gill on Mar 6:3; as was the Apostle Paul, though he had an education under Gamaliel: and such an one is to be learned and maintained for necessary uses, for the good of a man's self, and for the supply of his family; for the assistance of others that are in need; for the support of the Gospel, and the interest of Christ; and for the relief of poor saints; that such may not be unfruitful and useless, in commonwealths, neighbourhoods, churches, and families. The Jews say ^c.

"there are four things which a man should constantly attend to with all his might, and they are these; the law, "good works", prayer, ודרך ארץ, and "the way of the earth", or "business"; if a tradesman, to his trade; if a merchant, to his merchandise; if a man of war to war.''

But though this may be part of the sense of these words, it is not the whole of it; nor are acts of beneficence to the poor of Christ, to the household of faith, to strangers and ministers, to whom good is especially to be done, only intended; though they, may be taken into the account, in agreement with the context; but all good works in general, which are done in conformity to the revealed will of God, in faith, from a principle of love, and with a view to the glory of God, are meant: to maintain them, is to endeavour to outdo others in them, not only the men of the world, but one another; and to set examples of them to others, and to provoke one another, by an holy emulation, to them; and to be constant in the performance of them: and which believers may "learn" partly from the Scriptures, which contain what is the good and perfect will of God; these show what are good works, and direct unto them, and furnish the man of God for them; and also the grace part of the Scripture, the doctrines of the grace of God, teach to deny sin, and to live sober, righteous, and godly lives; and from the examples of the apostles and followers of Christ; and above all from Christ himself, the great pattern and exemplar of good works: and this lesson of good works is to be learnt by ours; meaning not only those of the same function, who were in the same office, ministers of the Gospel, as were the apostle and Titus; but all that believed in God, who were of the same Christian community and society, professors of the same religion, and partakers of the same grace; and were not only nominally, but really of the same number, even of the number of God's elect, the redeemed from among men, the family of Christ, sharers in the common faith, and heirs of the grace of life; who lie under the greatest obligations to learn to do good works: "for necessary uses"; not to make their peace with God, or to atone for their sins, or to procure the pardon of them, or to cleanse them from them, or for their justification before God, or to obtain salvation and eternal life; but to glorify God, testify their subjection to him, and gratitude for mercies received; to show forth their faith to men; to adorn the doctrine of Christ, and a profession of it; to recommend religion to others; to stop the mouths of gainsayers, and put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: and "that they be not unfruitful"; in them, and in the knowledge of Christ; good works are the fruits of the Spirit, and of his grace; they are fruits of righteousness; and such as are without them are like trees without fruit, useless and unprofitable.

Gill: Tit 3:15

All that are with me salute thee,.... All the apostles, fellow labourers, and the ministers of the Gospel that were with him; and all the members of the church where he was, sent their Christian salutation to Titus; he being a person greatly esteemed, and whose praise was in all the churches:

greet them that love us in the faith; not merely as men, as their countrymen, as related to them in the flesh; or on account of any external things, but as believers; because of the doctrine of faith, professed and preached; and because of the grace of faith obtained and possessed; or who love us faithfully, sincerely, and uprightly, from their hearts, and not in word and tongue only:

grace be with you all, Amen; which is the common concluding salutation in all Paul's epistles. This shows that this epistle was not designed for Titus only, but for the saints at Crete.

It was written to Titus the first bishop of the church of the Cretians. But this subscription, as many others, is not to be depended upon; it is not very likely that Titus was bishop of this church at all; since his stay there was but short, nor indeed elsewhere, seeing he was an evangelist; though this is asserted both by Eusebius ^d, and Sophronius ^e, who adds, that he died and was buried here: and what follows, that it was written

from Nicopolis of Macedonia, does not seem to be just, as may be concluded from Tit 3:12. Many learned men think it was written from Colosse, or some neighbouring place; though when he wrote his epistle to the Colossians it looks as if he had never been there before: the Syriac version adds, "sent by the hands of Zenas and Apollos"; which is not unlikely, since he desires they might be accommodated by Titus with what was necessary for the remaining part of their journey, Tit 3:13.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Tit 3:1

¹ tc Most later witnesses (D² 0278 Ï lat sy) have καί (kai, “and”) after ἀρχαῖς (arcai", “rulers”), though the earliest and best witnesses (א A C D* F G Ψ 33 104 1739 1881) lack the conjunction. Although the καί is most likely not authentic, it has been added in translation due to the requirements of English style. For more discussion, see TCGNT 586.

NET Notes: Tit 3:2

¹ tn Or “discredit,” “damage the reputation of.”

NET Notes: Tit 3:4

¹ tn Verses 4-7 are set as poetry in NA²⁶/NA²⁷. These verses probably constitute the referent of the expression “this saying” in v. 8.

NET Notes: Tit 3:6

¹ tn Or “on us richly.”

NET Notes: Tit 3:7

¹ tn This is the conclusion of a single, skillfully composed sentence in Greek encompassing Titus 3:4-7. Showing the goal of God’s merciful salvation, v. 7 begins literally, “in order that, being justified…we might become heirs…”

² tn Grk “heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

NET Notes: Tit 3:8

¹ sn This saying (Grk “the saying”) refers to the preceding citation (Titus 3:4-7). See 1 Tim 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tim 2:11 for other occurrences of this phrase.

² tn Grk “concerning these things.”

NET Notes: Tit 3:9

¹ tn Cf. 1 Tim 1:4.

² sn Fights about the law were characteristic of the false teachers in Ephesus as well as in Crete (cf. 1 Tim 1:3-7; Titus 1:10, 14).

NET Notes: Tit 3:11

¹ tn Grk “knowing” (as a continuation of the previous clause).

² tn Grk “is perverted and is sinning.”

³ tn Grk “is sinning, being self-condemned.”

NET Notes: Tit 3:13

¹ tn Grk “Eagerly help.”

² tn Although it is possible the term νομικός (nomikos) indicates an expert in Jewish religious law here, according to L&N 33.338 and 56.37 it is more probable that Zenas was a specialist in civil law.

³ tn Grk “that nothing may be lacking for them.”

NET Notes: Tit 3:14

¹ tn Grk “that those who are ours” (referring to the Christians).

² tn Grk “and also let our people learn.”

NET Notes: Tit 3:15

¹ tn Or “faithfully.”

² tc Most witnesses (א² D¹ F G H Ψ 0278 Ï lat sy bo) conclude this letter with ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”). Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, early and excellent witnesses (א* A C D* 048 33 81 1739 1881 sa) lack the particle, rendering the omission the preferred reading.

Geneva Bible: Tit 3:1

Put ^{( 1 )} them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,

^{( 1 )} He declares particularly and separately that which he said before generally, noting out certain main and principal duties which men owe to men, and especially subjects to their magistrates.

Geneva Bible: Tit 3:3

^{( 2 )} For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, [and] hating one another.

^{( 2 )} He confirms again the former exhortation by propounding the free benefit of our regeneration, the symbol of which is our baptism. (Ed.)

Geneva Bible: Tit 3:5

Not by works of ^{( a )} righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the ^{( b )} Holy Ghost;

^{( a )} Literally, "of works which are done in righteousness": and this passage fully refutes the doctrine of meritorious works.

^{( b )} Which the power of the Holy Spirit works.

Geneva Bible: Tit 3:8

^{( 3 )} [This is] a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain ^{( c )} good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

^{( 3 )} Again with great earnestness emphasises how we ought to give ourselves to true godliness and avoid all vain questions, which serve to nothing but to cause strife and debate.

^{( c )} Give themselves earnestly to good works.

Geneva Bible: Tit 3:10

^{( 4 )} A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;

^{( 4 )} The ministers of the word must at once cast off heretics, that is, those who stubbornly and seditiously disquiet the Church, and will pay no attention to ecclesiastical admonitions.

Geneva Bible: Tit 3:12

^{( 5 )} When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.

^{( 5 )} Last of all, he writes a word or two regarding personal matters, and commends certain men.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Tit 3:1-15

1 Titus is yet further directed by Paul, both concerning the things that he should teach and not teach.

10 He is to reject obstinate heretics.

12 He appoints him time and place wherein he should come unto him.

Combined Bible: Tit 3:1

Put them in mind

Combined Bible: Tit 3:2

To speak evil of no man,

Combined Bible: Tit 3:3

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish,

Combined Bible: Tit 3:4

But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,

Combined Bible: Tit 3:5

Not by works of righteousness which we have done,

Combined Bible: Tit 3:6

Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

Combined Bible: Tit 3:7

That being justified

Combined Bible: Tit 3:8

[This is] a faithful saying,

Combined Bible: Tit 3:9

But avoid foolish questions,

Combined Bible: Tit 3:10

A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;

Combined Bible: Tit 3:11

Knowing that he that is such is subverted,

Combined Bible: Tit 3:12

Paul has planned to send Titus a replacement. When the replacement arrives Titus was to meet Paul in Nicopolis.       When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus,

Combined Bible: Tit 3:13

Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently,

Combined Bible: Tit 3:14

And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses,

Combined Bible: Tit 3:15

All that are with me salute thee.

Maclaren: Tit 3:8

Maintaining Good Works

These things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.'--Titus 3:8.

THERE is so much about good works' in the so-called Pastoral Epistles (the two to Timothy, and this to Titus), that some Critics who think they have sharp eyes have concluded that Paul was not their author. But surely it is very natural that as a man gets older he shall get more practical, and it is equally natural that he should fight the enemies who are in front of him at the moment, and not thrice slay the slain. Obviously the churches whom he had in view in his letters to Timothy and Titus did not stand in need of the elaborate and far-reaching argumentation of the Epistle to the Romans, or of the great protest against Jewish ritualism in the Epistle to the Galatians, or of the profound teaching about the Church which is in the Epistle to the Ephesians. The foundation had been laid, and, like a sensible man, Paul proceeded to build upon it. So instead of the difference in tone between those more theological letters and this more practical one being a cause of suspicion as to the authorship of the latter, it seems to me to be an argument in favour of the identity of authorship. The variation in tone corresponds to what happens in the case of every thoughtful Christian teacher as he grows in years, and comes to feel more and more that all doctrine is for practice. Here, then, we have the Apostle's last will and testament, so to speak, left to all the churches, that they which believe in God might be careful to maintain good works.'

According to that, the hall-mark of a Christian is conduct--good works.'

But we must beware of narrowing the meaning of that expression, as is too often done, so as to include in it mainly certain conventional forms of charity or beneficence, like slumming' or tract-distributing, or Sunday-school teaching, and the like. These and such as these are, no doubt, one form of good works, but by no means the whole, and their having all but monopolised the name is one reason why many Christian people fail to apprehend the full significance of New Testament teaching on the subject. These acts are but as a creek in a great sea. Paul tells us what he takes to be included in the designation, when he bids the Philippians think on' whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honourable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,' and having thought on them, do them.

I have omitted one word in that quotation, for Paul speaks also of' whatsoever things are lovely.' Loveliness is an essential quality of the highest kind of good works. Many of us know that the Greeks, wise beyond many who have clearer light but duller eyes, used the same word to express goodness and beauty. The Apostle uses that pregnant word in our text, and we should well ponder the teaching given by that word. For it tells Christians that they are to take heed to make their goodness lovely, not to graft grace on a crab-stock,' nor to present a frowning goodness to the world. It is not enough that they who believe in God should be careful to exhibit conduct which commends itself to every man's conscience as right and pure. They should also commend themselves as being fair with a more than earthly beauty, and lustrous with a more than earthly radiance. There are many Christian people who spoil the effect of high-principled, self-sacrificing conduct by forgetting that beautifulness is an essential part of the highest goodness. Sour grapes are not the grapes that are intended to be grown on the true vine.

But now, will you notice, as a further light upon Paul's notion of how to go about growing these grapes, what goes before? These things. I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which believe in God might be careful to maintain good works.' What are these things'? They are a brief summary of what we call the Gospel'; the evangelical teaching that' the kindness and love of God our Saviour' had appeared,' and that' He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost… that.., we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.' In effect Paul says to Timothy: Now keep on insisting upon that.' The word translated affirm constantly' is a very strong one. It means a forcible and continually repeated enunciation, and the plain English of Paul's injunction to Timothy is: Keep on preaching the gospel as the surest way to produce disciples full of good works. People say to us: Come down to daily life and conduct; never mind your dogmas.' If you leave out what these critics mean by dogma, and try to make daily life beautiful without it, you may as well hold your tongue. And the men who forget to affirm' these things constantly,' and preach morals without gospel, are like builders who begin to build on the second story, whose baseless castles in the air are sure to come down in ruins. The true way to produce moral conduct is to bring into clear prominence evangelical truth.

But notice again, it is those which believe in God who will be careful to maintain good works.' That is to say, faith is the productive cause of good works, and good works are, as I said, the hall-mark of faith.' If a man believes, then he will do good works.' The converse must also be true. If a man does not do good works, what, then, about his belief? Show me thy faith without thy works'--that is an impossible demand. The only way to show faith is by our works, and so all attempts to rend them apart, either in theory or in practice, are as absurd as it would be to take a piece of cloth, and try to tear away the inside from the outside. Faith' is the underside, good works' is the upper, and the web is one. Faith is the principle of works; works are the manifestation and making visible of faith.

So now turn for a moment to another point. The Apostle's command here implies a principle, that Christian work should always, and will always, if the faith is genuine, be in advance of all other sorts of good work. That is implied in one of the words used here which means literally be foremost, stand in the front,' and I see no reason why the literal meaning should not be retained here. If it is retained, we have the thought implied--if you are a Christian man you should be ahead of the world in your goodness. You should lead, and not follow, or keep step with those who are not Christians. The Church's morality on the wide scale and individual practice on the narrow, ought to be, and will be, if we are true to the gospel, far in advance of the ordinary opinion and practice of the day in which we live. If we are Christians, we are meant to be leaders, and that means that we shall often, like other leaders, have to endure a great deal of obloquy and calumny from the people whom we are trying to lead, and who are loitering behind us. The Christian Church, as the Apostle James says, is meant to be a kind of first fruits of God's creatures,' ripe before the others, riper than the others always. Does the Christian Church lead the conscience of England to-day? Does it even try to do it? Does it recognise that its function is not to re-echo the morality of the street or of the newspaper, but to peal out the morality of Jesus Christ? Is it enough that Christian people should be as good, as charitable, as beneficent, as much interested in social questions as others, or should have the better, the purer, and the happier lives of the community for their great aim, as much as other people have them? Would it be enough to say' the electric light is about as bright as a tallow candle?' Is it enough to say, Christian people keep abreast of the world's morality?' Let them go in advance, and if they go very far ahead sometimes, none the worse; the laggards will perhaps come up. But at all events, whether they do or not, I will that these things thou affirm constantly, in order that they which believe in God may take the lead in good works.'

And now there is a last point to be noted, and that is the Apostle's warning that, although thus the belief of the gospel, and the faith which springs from the belief, are the spring of good work, yet these will not become ours unless we are careful to stand in front.

What does that carefulness mean? The word implies two things, and the first of them may be put in the shape of an exhortation--bring your brains to bear on these truths that are being thus constantly affirmed.' Bring them into your hearts through your minds, that they may filter into and shape the life. I believe that one main reason why the morality of the Christian Church is not much further in advance of the morality of the world than it is, is because the individual members of the Church do not bring their minds into contact with the great truths of the gospel in such a fashion as they should. Christian practice is thin and poor and inconsistent, because Christian meditation on the gospel and on the Lord of the gospel, is shallow and infrequent. The truths that are to be affirmed' are the fuel that feeds the fire, and if there are no coals put on, the fire will very soon die down. And so there must be' carefulness,' which means the occupation of the mind with the truths that produce holiness of life.

And there must be another thing, there must be a definite and direct and continuous effort to increase our faith. I have been saying that faith is the underside of all noble conduct; and in the measure in which it is strengthened, in that measure accurately will our good works' increase. Suppose Manchester had had two pipes from Thirlmere instead of one, during recent droughts, should we have been in such straits for water? There was plenty in the lake, but we could not get it into our houses because we had not piping enough. There is plenty of power in our gospel and in our God to make us rich in good works.' What is lacking is that we have not that connection, which is made by faith, through which the fulness of God will flow into our lives. If they want to grow crops in Eastern lands they have little to do but to sow the seed and to irrigate. Christ has sown the seed in His gospel. We have to look after the irrigation, and the crops will come of themselves. So our main effort should be to keep ourselves in touch with that great Lord, and to increase the faith by which we make all His power our very own.

THE END

Philemon

MHCC: Tit 3:1-7

Spiritual privileges do not make void or weaken, but confirm civil duties. Mere good words and good meanings are not enough without good works. They were not to be quarrelsome, but to show meekness on all occasions, not toward friends only, but to all men, though with wisdom, Jam 3:13. And let this text teach us how wrong it is for a Christian to be churlish to the worst, weakest, and most abject. The servants of sin have many masters, their lusts hurry them different ways; pride commands one thing, covetousness another. Thus they are hateful, deserving to be hated. It is the misery of sinners, that they hate one another; and it is the duty and happiness of saints to love one another. And we are delivered out of our miserable condition, only by the mercy and free grace of God, the merit and sufferings of Christ, and the working of his Spirit. God the Father is God our Saviour. He is the fountain from which the Holy Spirit flows, to teach, regenerate, and save his fallen creatures; and this blessing comes to mankind through Christ. The spring and rise of it, is the kindness and love of God to man. Love and grace have, through the Spirit, great power to change and turn the heart to God. Works must be in the saved, but are not among the causes of their salvation. A new principle of grace and holiness is wrought, which sways, and governs, and makes the man a new creature. Most pretend they would have heaven at last, yet they care not for holiness now; they would have the end without the beginning. Here is the outward sign and seal thereof in baptism, called therefore the washing of regeneration. The work is inward and spiritual; this is outwardly signified and sealed in this ordinance. Slight not this outward sign and seal; yet rest not in the outward washing, but look to the answer of a good conscience, without which the outward washing will avail nothing. The worker therein is the Spirit of God; it is the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Through him we mortify sin, perform duty, walk in God's ways; all the working of the Divine life in us, and the fruits of righteousness without, are through this blessed and holy Spirit. The Spirit and his saving gifts and graces, come through Christ, as a Saviour, whose undertaking and work are to bring to grace and glory. Justification, in the gospel sense, is the free forgiveness of a sinner; accepting him as righteous through the righteousness of Christ received by faith. God, in justifying a sinner in the way of the gospel, is gracious to him, yet just to himself and his law. As forgiveness is through a perfect righteousness, and satisfaction is made to justice by Christ, it cannot be merited by the sinner himself. Eternal life is set before us in the promise; the Spirit works faith in us, and hope of that life; faith and hope bring it near, and fill with joy in expectation of it.

MHCC: Tit 3:8-11

When the grace of God towards mankind has been declared, the necessity of good works is pressed. Those who believe in God, must make it their care to maintain good works, to seek opportunities for doing them, being influenced by love and gratitude. Trifling, foolish questions must be avoided, and subtle distinctions and vain inquiries; nor should people be eager after novelties, but love sound doctrine which tends most to edifying. Though we may now think some sins light and little, if the Lord awaken the conscience, we shall feel even the smallest sin heavy upon our souls.

MHCC: Tit 3:12-15

Christianity is not a fruitless profession; and its professors must be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. They must be doing good, as well as keeping away from evil. Let " ours" follow some honest labour and employment, to provide for themselves and their families. Christianity obliges all to seek some honest work and calling, and therein to abide with God. The apostle concludes with expressions of kind regard and fervent prayer. Grace be with you all; the love and favour of God, with the fruits and effects thereof, according to need; and the increase and feeling of them more and more in your souls. This is the apostle's wish and prayer, showing his affection to them, and desire for their good, and would be a means of obtaining for them, and bringing down on them, the thing requested. Grace is the chief thing to be wished and prayed for, with respect to ourselves or others; it is " all good."

Matthew Henry: Tit 3:1-8

Here is the fourth thing in the matter of the epistle. The apostle had directed Titus in reference to the particular and special duties of several sorts of persons; now he bids him exhort to what concerned them more in common, namely, to quietness and submission to rulers, and readiness to do good, and to equitable and gentle behaviour towards all men - things comely and ornamental of religion; he must therefore put them in mind of such things. Ministers are people's remembrancers of their duty. As they are remembrancers for the people to God in prayers (Isa 62:6), so are they from God to them in preaching: I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance, 2Pe 1:12. Forgetfulness of duty is a common frailty; there is need therefore of reminding and quickening them thereto. Here are the duties themselves, and the reasons of them.

I. The duties themselves, which they were to be reminded of. 1. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates. Magistracy is God's ordinance for the good of all, and therefore must be regarded and submitted to by all; not for wrath and by force only, but willingly and for conscience' sake. Principalities, and powers, and magistrates, that is, all civil rulers, whether supreme and chief or subordinate, in the government under which they live, of whatever form it be; that they be subject to them and obey them in things lawful and honest, and which it belongs to their office to require. The Christian religion was misrepresented by its adversaries as prejudicial to the rights of princes and civil powers, and tending to faction and sedition, and to rebellion against lawful authority; therefore to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, and stop the mouths of malicious enemies, Christians must be reminded to show themselves examples rather of all due subjection and obedience to the government that is over them. Natural desire of liberty must be guided and bounded by reason and scripture. Spiritual privileges do not make void or weaken, but confirm and strengthen, their obligations to civil duties: "Remind them therefore to be subject to principalities and powers and to obey magistrates. "And, 2. To be ready to every good work. Some refer this to such good works as are required by magistrates and within their sphere: "Whatever tends to good order, and to promote and secure public tranquility and peace, be not backward, but ready, to promote such things."But, though this be included, if not first intended, yet is it not to be hereto restrained. The precept regards doing good in all kinds, and on every occasion that may offer, whether resecting God, ourselves, or our neighbour - what may bring credit to religion in the world. Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report: if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things (Phi 4:8), to do and follow and further them. Mere harmlessness, or good words and good meanings only, are not enough without good works. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless, and the widow in their affliction, and keep unspotted from the world. "Not only take, but seek, occasion for doing good, keep fitness and readiness that way; put it not off to others, but embrace and lay hold on it thyself, delight and rejoice therein, put all in mind of this."And, 3. To speak evil of no man: mēdena blasphēmein , to revile, or curse, or blaspheme none: or (as our translation more generally) to speak evil of none, unjustly and falsely, or unnecessarily, without call, and when it may do hurt but no good to the person himself or any other. If no good can be spoken, rather than speak evil unnecessarily, say nothing. We must never take pleasure in speaking ill of others, nor make the worst of any thing, but the best we can. We must not go up and down as tale-bearers, carrying ill-natured stories, to the prejudice of our neighbour's good name and the destruction of brotherly love. Misrepresentations, or insinuations of bad intentions, or of hypocrisy in what is done, things out of our reach or cognizance, these come within the reach of this prohibition. As this evil is too common, so it is of great malignity. If any man seemeth to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, that man's religion is vain, Jam 1:26. Such loose uncharitable talk is displeasing to God, and hurtful among men. Pro 17:9, He that covereth a transgression seeketh love (that is, to himself by this tenderness and charity, or rather to the transgressor); but he that repeateth a matter (that blazes and tells the faults of another abroad) separateth very friends; he raises dissensions and alienates his friend from himself, and perhaps from others. This is among the sins to be put off (Eph 4:31); for, if indulged, it unfits for Christians communion here and the society of the blessed in heaven, 1Co 6:10. Remind them therefore to avoid this. And, 4. To be no brawlers; amachous einai - no fighters, either with hand or tongue, no quarrelsome contentious persons, apt to give or return ill and provoking language. A holy contending there is for matters good and important, and in a manner suitable and becoming, not with wrath nor injurious violence. Christian must follow the things that are conducive to peace, and that in a peaceful, not a rough and boisterous and hurtful way, but as becomes the servants of the God of peace and love (Rom 12:19), Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; this is the Christian's wisdom and duty. The glory of a man is to pass over a transgression; it is the duty of a reasonable, and therefore certainly of a Christian man, whose reason is improved and advanced by religion; such may not, and will not, presently fall foul on one who has offended him, but, like God, will be slow to anger, and ready to forgive. Contention and strife arise from men's lusts, and exorbitant unruly passions, which must be curbed and moderated, not indulged; and Christians need to be reminded of these things, that they do not by a wrathful contentious spirit and behaviour displease and dishonour God and discredit religion, promoting feuds in the places where they live. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. Wherefore it follows, 5. But gentle; epieikeis , equitable and just, or candid and fair in constructions of things, not taking words or actions in the worst sense; and for peace sometimes yielding somewhat of strict right. And, 6. Showing all meekness to all men. We must be of a mild disposition, and not only have meekness in our hearts, but show it in our speech and conduct. All meekness - meekness in all instances and occasions, not towards friends only, but to all men, though still with wisdom, as James admonishes, Jam 3:13. "Distinguish the person and the sin; pity the one and hate the other. Distinguish between sin and sin; look not on all alike, there are motes and beams. Distinguish also between sinner and sinner: of some have compassion, others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, thus making a difference, Jud 1:22, Jud 1:23. Mind these things; the wisdom that is from above is pure and peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated. "Meekness of spirit and demeanour renders religion amiable; it is a commanded imitation of Christ the grand exemplar, and what brings it own reward with it, in the ease and comfort of the disposition itself and the blessings accompanying it. These shall be glad and rejoice, shall be taught and guided in their way, and satisfied with bread, and beautified with salvation. Thus of the duties themselves, which Titus was to put people in mind of: for which,

II. He adds the reasons, which are derived

1. From their own past condition. Consideration of men's natural condition is a great means and ground of equity and gentleness, and all meekness, towards those who are yet in such a state. This has a tendency to abate pride and work pity and hope in reference to those who are yet unconverted: "We ourselves also were so and so, corrupt and sinful, therefore we should not be impatient and bitter, hard and severe, towards those who are but as ourselves once were. Should we then have been willing to be contemned, and proudly and rigorously dealt with? No, but treated with gentleness and humanity; and therefore we should now so treat those who are unconverted, according to that rule of equity: Quod tibi non vis fieri, alteri ne feceris - What you would not have done to you that do not you to another. "Their past natural condition is set forth in divers particulars. We ourselves also were sometimes, (1.) Foolish; without true spiritual understanding and knowledge, ignorant of heavenly things. Observe, Those should be most disposed to bear with others' follies who may remember many of their own; those should be meek and gentle, and patient towards others, who once needed and doubtless then expected the same. We ourselves also were sometimes foolish. And, (2.) Disobedient; heady and unpersuadable, resisting the word, and rebellious even against the natural laws of God, and those which human society requires. Well are these set together, foolish and obedient. For what folly like this, to disobey God and his laws, natural or revealed? This is contrary to right reason, and men's true and greatest interests; and what so foolish as to violate and go counter to these? (3.) Deceived, or wandering; namely, out of the ways of truth and holiness. Man in this his degenerate state is of a straying nature, thence compared to a lost sheep; this must be sought and brought back, and guided in the right way, Psa 119:176. He is weak, and ready to be imposed upon by the wiles and subtleties of Satan, and of men lying in wait to seduce and mislead. (4.) Serving divers lusts and pleasures; namely, as vassals and slaves under them. Observe, Men deceived are easily entangled and ensnared; they would not serve divers lusts and pleasures as they do, were they not blinded and beguiled into them. See here too what a different notion the word gives of a sensual and fleshly life from what the world generally has of it. Carnal people think they enjoy their pleasures; the word calls it servitude and vassalage: they are very drudges and bond slaves under them; so far are they from freedom and felicity in them that they are captivated by them, and serve them as taskmasters and tyrants. Observe further, It is the misery of the servants of sin that they have many masters, one lust hurrying them one way, and another; pride commands one thing, covetousness another, and often a contrary. What vile slaves are sinners, while they conceit themselves free! the lusts that tempt them promise them liberty, but in yielding they become the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought into bondage. (5.) Living in malice, one of those lusts that bear rule in them. Malice desires hurt to another and rejoices in it. (6.) And envy, which grudges and repines at another's good, frets at his prosperity and success in any thing: both are roots of bitterness, whence many evils spring: evil thoughts and speeches, tongues set on fire of hell, detracting from and impairing the just and due praises of others. Their words are swords, wherewith they slay the good name and honour of their neighbour. This was the sin of Satan, and of Cain who was of that evil one, and slew his brother; for wherefore slew he him, but of this envy and malice, because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous? These were some of the sins in which we lived in our natural state. And, (7.), Hateful, or odious - deserving to be hated. (8.) And hating one another. Observe, Those that are sinful, living and allowing themselves in sin, are hateful to God and all good men. Their temper and ways are so, though not simply their persons. It is the misery of sinners that thy hate one another, as it is the duty and happiness of saints to love one another. What contentions and quarrels flow from men's corruptions, such as were in the nature of those who by conversion are now good, but in their unconverted state made them ready to run like furious wild beasts one upon another! The consideration of its having been thus with us should moderate our spirits, and dispose us to be more equal and gentle, meek and tenderhearted, towards those who are such. This is the argument from their own past condition here described. And he reasons,

2. From their present state. "We are delivered out of that our miserable condition by no merit nor strength of our own; but only by the mercy and free grace of God, and merit of Christ, and operation of his Spirit. Therefore we have no ground, in respect of ourselves, to condemn those who are yet unconverted, but rather to pity them, and cherish hope concerning them, that they, though in themselves as unworthy and unmeet as we were, yet may obtain mercy, as we have:"and so upon this occasion the apostle again opens the causes of our salvation, Tit 3:4-7.

(1.) We have here the prime author of our salvation - God the Father, therefore termed here God our Saviour. All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, 2Co 5:18. All things belonging to the new creation, and recovery of fallen man to life and happiness, of which the apostle is there speaking, all these things are of God the Father, as contriver and beginner of this work. There is an order in acting, as in subsisting. The Father begins, the Son manages, and the Holy Spirit works and perfects all. God (namely, the Father ) is a Saviour by Christ, through the Spirit. Joh 3:16, God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him might not perish, but have everlasting life. He is the Father of Christ, and through him the Father of mercies; all spiritual blessings are by Christ from him, Eph 1:3. We joy in God through Jesus Christ, Rom 5:11. And with one mind, and one mouth, glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Rom 15:5.

(2.) The spring and rise of it - the divine philanthropy, or kindness and love of God to man. By grace we are saved from First to last. This is the ground and motive. God's pity and mercy to man in misery were the first wheel, or rather the Spirit in the wheels, that sets and keeps them all in motion. God is not, cannot be, moved by any thing out of himself. The occasion is in man, namely, his misery and wretchedness. Sin bringing that misery, wrath might have issued out rather than compassion; but God, knowing how to adjust all with his own honour and perfections, would pity and save rather than destroy. He delights in mercy. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. We read of riches of goodness and mercy, Rom 2:4; Eph 2:7. Let us acknowledge this, and give him the glory of it, not turning it to wantonness, but to thankfulness and obedience.

(3.) Here is the means, or instrumental cause - the shining out of this love and grace of God in the gospel, after it appeared, that is, in the word. The appearing of love and grace has, through the Spirit, great virtue to soften and change and turn to God, and so is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth. Thus having asserted God to be the author, his free grace the spring, and the manifestation of this in the gospel the means of salvation, that the honour of all still may be the better secured to him,

(4.) False grounds and motives are here removed: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us; not for foreseen works of ours, but his own free grace and mercy alone. Works must be in the saved (where there is room for it), but not among the causes of his salvation; they are the way to the kingdom, not the meriting price of it; all is upon the principle of undeserved favour and mercy from first to last. Election is of grace: we are chosen to be holy, not because it was antecedently seen that we should be so, Eph 1:4. It is the fruit, not the cause, of election: God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, 2Th 2:13. So effectual calling, in which election breaks out, and is first seen: He hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling; not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 2Ti 1:9. We are justified freely by grace (Rom 3:24), and sanctified and saved by grace: By grace you are saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, Eph 2:8. Faith and all saving graces are God's free gift and his work; the beginning, increase, and perfection of them in glory, all are from him. In building men up to be a holy temple unto God, from the foundation to the top-stone, we must cry nothing but Grace, grace unto it. It is not of works, lest any man should boast; but of grace, that he who glorieth should glory only in the Lord. Thus the true cause is shown, and the false removed.

(5.) Here is the formal cause of salvation, or that wherein it lies, the beginnings of it at least - in regeneration or spiritual renewing, as it is here called. Old things pass away, and all things become new, in a moral and spiritual, not in a physical and natural, sense. It is the same man, but with other dispositions and habits; evil ones are done away, as to the prevalency of them at present; and all remains of them in due time will be so, when the work shall be perfected in heaven. A new prevailing principle of grace and holiness is wrought, which inclines, and sways, and governs, and makes the man a new man, a new creature, having new thoughts, desires, and affections, a new and holy turn of life and actions; the life of God in man, not only from God in a special manner, but conformed and tending to him. Here is salvation begun, and which will be growing and increasing to perfection; therefore it is said, He saved us. What is so begun, as sure to be perfected in time, is expressed as if it already were so. Let us look to this therefore without delay; we must be initially saved now, by regeneration, if on good ground we would expect complete salvation in heaven. The change then will be but in degree, not in kind. Grace is glory begun, as glory is but grace in its perfection. How few mind this! Most act as if they were afraid to be happy before the time; they would have heaven, they pretend, at last, yet care not for holiness now; that is, they would have the end without the beginning; so absurd are sinners. But without regeneration, that is, the first resurrection, there is no attaining the second glorious one, the resurrection of the just. Here then is formal salvation, in the new divine life wrought by the gospel.

(6.) Here is the outward sign and seal thereof in baptism, called therefore the washing of regeneration. The work itself is inward and spiritual; but it is outwardly signified and sealed in this ordinance. Water is of a cleansing and purifying nature, does away the filth of the flesh, and so was apt to signify the doing away of the guilt and defilement of sin by the blood and Spirit of Christ, though that aptness alone, without Christ's institution, would not have been sufficient. This it is that makes it of this signification on God's part, a seal of righteousness by faith, as circumcision was, in the place of which it succeeds; and on ours an engagement to be the Lord's. Thus baptism saves figuratively and sacramentally, where it is rightly used. Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord, Act 22:16. So Eph 5:26, That he might sanctify and cleanse us by the washing of water by the word. Slight not this outward sign and seal, where it may be had according to Christ's appointment; yet rest not in the outward washing, but look to the answer of a good conscience, without which the external washing will avail nothing. The covenant sealed in baptism binds to duties, as well as exhibits and conveys benefits and privileges; if the former be not minded, in vain are the latter expected. Sever not what God has joined; in both the outer and inner part is baptism complete; as he that was circumcised became debtor to the whole law (Gal 5:3), so is he that is baptized to the gospel, to observe all the commands and ordinances thereof, as Christ appointed. Disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, Mat 28:19, Mat 28:20. This is the outward sign and seal of salvation, baptism, called here the washing of regeneration.

(7.) Here is the principal efficient, namely, the Spirit of God; it is the renewing of the Holy Ghost; not excluding the Father and the Son, who in all works without themselves are concurring; nor the use of means, the word and sacraments, by which the Spirit works; through his operation it is that they have their saving effect. In the economy of our salvation, the applying and effecting part is especially attributed to the Holy Spirit. We are said to be born of the Spirit, to be quickened and sanctified by the Spirit, to be led and guided, strengthened and helped, by the Spirit. Through him we mortify sin, perform duty, walk in God's ways; all the acts and operations of the divine life in us, the works and fruits of righteousness without us, all are through this blessed and Holy Spirit, who is therefore called the Spirit of life, and of grace and holiness; all grace is from him. Earnestly therefore is he to be sought, and greatly to be heeded by us, that we quench not his holy motions, nor resist and oppose him in his workings. Res delicatula est Spiritus - The Spirit is a tender thing. As we act towards him, so may we expect he will to us; if we slight, and resist, and oppose his workings, he will slacken them; if we continue to vex him, he will retire. Grieve not therefore the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed to the day of redemption, Eph 4:30. The Spirit seals by his renewing and sanctifying, his witnessing and assuring work; he distinguishes and marks out for salvation, and fits for it; it is his work: we could not turn to God by any strength of our own, any more than we can be justified by any righteousness of our own.

(8.) Here is the manner of God's communicating this Spirit in the gifts and graces of it; not with a scanty and niggardly hand, but most freely and plentifully: Which he shed on us abundantly. More of the Spirit in its gifts and graces is poured out under the gospel than was under the law, whence it is eminently styled the ministration of the Spirit, 2Co 3:8. A measure of the Spirit the church has had in all ages, but more in gospel times, since the coming of Christ, than before. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus Christ; that is, a more plentiful effusion of grace, fulfilling the promises and prophecies of old. Isa 44:3, I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy offspring: this greatest and best of blessings, an effusion of grace, and of the sanctifying gifts of the Spirit. Joe 2:28, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; not on Jews only, but Gentiles also. This was to be in gospel times; and accordingly (Act 2:17, Act 2:18, Act 2:33), speaking of Christ risen and ascended, having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth (says Peter) this that you now see and hear: and Act 10:44, Act 10:45, The Holy Ghost fell on all those that heart the word, Gentiles as well as Jews. This indeed was, in a great measure, in the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, but not without his sanctifying graces also accompanying many if not all of them. There was then great abundance of common gifts of illumination, outward calling and profession, and general faith, and of more special gifts of sanctification too, such as faith, and hope, and love, and other graces of the Spirit. Let us get a share in these. What will it signify if much be shed forth and we remain dry? Our condemnation will but be aggravated the more if under such a dispensation of grace we remain void of grace. Be filled with the Spirit, says the apostle; it is duty as well as privilege, because of the means which God in the gospel is ready to bless and make effectual; this is the manner of God's communicating grace and all spiritual blessings under the gospel - plentifully; he is not straitened towards us, but we towards him and in ourselves.

(9.) Here is the procuring cause of all, namely, Christ: Through Jesus Christ our Saviour. He it is who purchased the Spirit and his saving gifts and graces. All come through him, and through him as a Saviour, whose undertaking and work it is to bring to grace and glory; he is our righteousness and peace, and our head, from whom we have all spiritual life and influences. He is made of God to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Let us praise God for him above all; let us go to the Father by him, and improve him to all sanctifying and saving purposes. Have we grace? Let us thank him with the Father and Spirit for it: account all things but loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of him, and grow and increase therein more and more.

(10.) Here are the ends why we are brought into this new spiritual condition, namely, justification, and heirship, and hope of eternal life: That, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Justification in the gospel sense is the free remission of a sinner, and accepting him as righteous through the righteousness of Christ received by faith. In it there is the removing of guilt that bound to punishment, and the accepting and dealing with the person as one that now is righteous in God's sight. This God does freely as to us, yet through the intervention of Christ's sacrifice and righteousness, laid hold on by faith (Rom 3:20, etc.): By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified; but through the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all those that believe, whence (Rom 3:24) we are said to be justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. God, in justifying a sinner in the way of the gospel, is gracious to him, and yet just to himself and his law, forgiveness being through a perfect righteousness, and satisfaction made to justice by Christ, who is the propitiation for sin, and not merited by the sinner himself. So it is here: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. It is by grace, as the spring and rise (as was said), though through the redemption that is in Christ as making the way, God's law and justice being thereby satisfied, and by faith applying that redemption. By him (by Christ) all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses, Act 13:39. Hence the apostle desires to be found in him, not having his own righteousness, which was of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Let us not trust therefore in our own righteousness or merit of good works, but in Christ's righteousness alone, received by faith for justification and acceptance with God. Inherent righteousness we must have, and the fruits of it in works of obedience; not however as our justifying righteousness before God, but as fruits of our justification, and evidences of our interest in Christ and qualification for life and happiness, and the very beginning and part of it; but the procuring of all this is by Christ, that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs. Observe, Our justification is by the grace of God, and our justification by that grace is necessary in order to our being made heirs of eternal life; without such justification there can be no adoption and sonship, and so no right of inheritance. Joh 1:12, Whoever received him (namely, Christ), to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to those that believed on his name. Eternal life is set before us in the promise, the Spirit works faith in us and hope of that life, and so are we made heirs of it and have a kind of possession of it even now; faith and hope bring it near, and fill with joy in the well-grounded expectation of it. The meanest believer is a great heir. Though he has not his portion in hand, he has good hope through grace, and may bear up under all difficulties. There is a better state in view. He is waiting for an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for him. How well may such comfort themselves with these words! And now all this gives good reason why we should show all meekness to all men, because we have experienced so much benefit by the kindness and love of God to us, and may hope that they, in God's time, may be partakers of the like grace as we are. And thus of the reasons of equal and gentle, meek and tender behaviour to wards others, from their own bad condition in time past, and the present more happy state into which they are brought, without any merit or deservings of their own, and whereinto by the same grace others may be brought also.

III. The apostle, having opened the duties of Christians in common, with the reasons respecting themselves, adds another from their goodness and usefulness to men. Observe, When he has opened the grace of God towards us, he immediately presses the necessity of good works; for we must not expect the benefit of God's mercy, unless we make conscience of our duty (Tit 3:8): This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly (this is a true Christian doctrine of highest importance, and which ministers must most earnestly and constantly press and inculcate), that those who have believed in God do not think that a bare naked faith will save them; but it must be an operative working faith, bringing forth the fruit of righteousness; they must make it their care to maintain good works, not to do them occasionally only, and when opportunities come in their way, but to seek opportunities for doing them. These things are good and profitable unto men: these good works, say some, or the teaching of these things, rather than idle questions, as follows. These things are good in themselves and the teaching of them useful to mankind, making persons a common good in their places. Note, Ministers, in teaching, must see that they deliver what is sound and good in itself, and profitable to those that hear: all must be to the use of edifying both of persons and societies.

Matthew Henry: Tit 3:9-15

Here is the fifth and last thing in the matter of the epistle: what Titus should avoid in teaching; how he should deal with a heretic; with some other directions. Observe,

I. That the apostle's meaning might be more clear and full, and especially fitted to the time and state of things in Crete, and the many judaizers among them, he tells Titus what, in teaching, he should shun, Tit 3:9. There are needful questions to be discussed and cleared, such as make for improvement in useful knowledge; but idle and foolish enquiries, tending neither to God's glory nor the edification of men, must be shunned. Some may have a show of wisdom, but are vain, as many among the Jewish doctors, as well as of later schoolmen, who abound with questions of no moment or use to faith or practice; avoid these. - And genealogies (of the gods, say some, that the heathen poets made such noise about; or rather those that the Jews were so curious in): some lawful and useful enquiries might be made into these things, to see the fulfilling of the scriptures in some cases, and especially in the descent of Christ the Messiah; but all that served to pomp only, and to feed vanity, in boasting of a long pedigree, and much more such as the Jewish teachers were ready to busy themselves in and trouble their hearers with, even since Christ had come, and that distinction of families and tribes had been taken away, as if they would build again that policy which now is abolished, these Titus must withstand as foolish and vain. - And contentious, and strivings about the law. There were those who were for the Mosaic rites and ceremonies, and would have them continued in the church, though by the gospel and the coming of Christ they were superseded and done away. Titus must give no countenance to these, but avoid and oppose them; for they are unprofitable and vain: this is to be referred to all those foolish questions and genealogies, as well as those strivings about the law. They are so far from instructing and building up in godliness, that they are hindrances of it rather: the Christian religion, and good works, which are to be maintained, will hereby be weakened and prejudiced, the peace of the church disturbed, and the progress of the gospel hindered. Observe, Ministers must not only teach things good and useful, but shun and oppose the contrary, what would corrupt the faith, and hinder godliness and good works; nor should people have itching ears, but love and embrace sound doctrine, which tends most to the use of edifying.

II. But because, after all, there will be heresies and heretics in the church, the apostle next directs Titus what to do in such a case, and how to deal with such, Tit 3:10. He who forsakes the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, who broaches false doctrines and propagates them to the corrupting of the faith in weighty and momentous points, and breaks the peace of the church about them, after due means used to reclaim him, must be rejected. "Admonish him once and again, that, if possible, he may be brought back, and thou mayest gain thy brother; but, if this will not reduce him, that others be not hurt, cast him out of the communion, and warn all Christians to avoid him."- Knowing that he that is such is subverted (turned off from the foundation) and sinneth grievously, being self-condemned. Those who will not be reclaimed by admonitions, but are obstinate in their sins and errors, are subverted and self-condemned; they inflict that punishment upon themselves which the governors of the church should inflict upon them: they throw themselves out of the church, and throw off its communion, and so are self-condemned. Observe, 1. How great an evil real heresy is, not lightly therefore to be charged upon any, though greatly to be taken heed of by all. Such a one is subverted or perverted - a metaphor from a building so ruined as to render it difficult if not impossible to repair and raise it up again. Real heretics have seldom been recovered to the true faith: not so much defect of judgment, as perverseness of the will, being in the case, through pride, or ambition, or self-willedness, or covetousness, or such like corruption, which therefore must be taken heed of: "Be humble, love the truth and practise it, and damning heresy will be escaped."2. Pains and patience must be used about those that err most grievously. They are not easily and soon to be given up and cast off, but competent time and means must be tried for their recovery. 3. The church's means even with heretics are persuasive and rational. They must be admonished, instructed, and warned; so much nouthesia imports. 4. Upon continued obstinacy and irreclaimableness, the church has power, and is obliged, to preserve its own purity, by severing such a corrupt member which discipline may by God's blessing become effectual to reform the offender, or if not it will leave him the more inexcusable in his condemnation.

III. The apostle subjoins some further directions, Tit 3:12, Tit 3:13. Here are two personal things enjoined: -

1. That Titus should hold himself ready to come to Paul at Nicopolis (a city of Thrace, as is reckoned, on the borders of Macedonia), as soon as Artemas or Tychicus should be sent to Crete, to supply his place, and take care of the churches there when he should leave them. The apostle would not have them in their young and weak state be without one or other of chief sufficiency, to guide and help them. Titus, it seems, was not their ordinary fixed bishop or pastor, but an evangelist, otherwise Paul would not have called him so much from his charge. Of Artemas we read little, but Tychicus is mentioned on many occasions with respect. Paul calls him a beloved brother, and faithful minister, and fellow-servant in the Lord: one fit therefore for the service intimated. When Paul says to Titus, Be diligent to come to me to Nicopolis, for I have determined there to winter, it is plain that the epistle was not written from Nicopolis, as the postcript would have it, for then he would have said, I determined here, not there, to winter.

2. The other personal charge to Titus is that he would bring two of his friends on their journey diligently, and see them furnished, so that nothing should be wanting to them. This was to be done, not as a piece of common civility only, but of Christian piety, out of respect both to them and the work they were sent about, which probably was to preach the gospel, or to be in some way serviceable to the churches. Zenas is styled the lawyer, whether in reference to the Roman or the Mosaic law, as having some time been his profession, is doubtful. Apollos was an eminent and faithful minister. Accompanying such persons part of their way, and accommodating them for their work and journeys, was a pious and needful service; and to further this, and lay in for it, what the apostle had before exhorted Titus to teach (Tit 3:8) he repeats here: Let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful, Tit 3:14. Let Christians, those who have believed in God, learn to maintain good works, especially such as these, supporting ministers in their work of preaching and spreading the gospel, hereby becoming fellow-helpers to the truth, 3Jo 1:5-8. That they be not unfruitful. Christianity is not a fruitless profession; the professors of it must be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. It is not enough that they be harmless, but they must be profitable, doing good, as well as eschewing evil. - " Let ours set up and maintain some honest labour and employment, to provide for themselves and their families, that they be not unprofitable burdens on the earth;"so some understand it. Let them not think that Christianity gives them a writ of ease; no, it lays an obligation upon them to seek some honest work and calling, and therein to abide with God. This is of good report, will credit religion and be good to mankind; they will not be unprofitable members of the body, not burdensome and chargeable to others, but enabled to be helpful to those in want. To maintain good works for necessary uses; not living like drones on the labours of others, but themselves fruitful to the common benefit.

IV. The apostle concludes with salutations and benedictions, Tit 3:5. Though perhaps not personally known (some of them at least), yet all by Paul testify their love and good wishes to Titus, owning him thereby in his work, and stimulating him to go on therein. Great comfort and encouragement it is to have the heart and prayers of other Christians with and for us. Greet those that love us in the faith, or for the faith, who are our loving fellow-christians. Holiness, or the image of God in any, is the great endearing thing that gives strength to all other bonds, and is itself the best. Grace be with you all. Amen. This is the closing benediction, not to Titus alone, but to all the faithful with him, which shows that though the epistle bears the single name of Titus in the inscription, yet it was for the use of the churches there, and they were in the eye, and upon the heart, of the apostle, in the writing of it. " Grace be with you all, the love and favour of God, with the fruits and effects thereof, according to need, spiritual ones especially, and the increase and feeling of them more and more in your souls."This is the apostle's wish and prayer, showing his affection to them, his desire of their good, and a means of obtaining for them, and bringing down upon them, the thing requested. Observe, Grace is the chief thing to be wished and begged for, with respect to ourselves or others; it is, summarily, all good. Amen shuts up the prayer, expressing desire and hope, that so it may, and so it shall be.

Barclay: Tit 3:1-2

Here is laid down the public duty of the Christian; and it is advice which was particularly relevant to the people of Crete. The Cretans were notoriously turbulent and quarrelsome and impatient of all authority. Polybius, the Greek historian, said of them that they were constantly involved in "insurrections, murders and internecine wars." This passage lays down six qualifications for the good citizen.

The good citizen is law-abiding. He recognizes that, unless the laws are kept, life becomes chaos. He gives a proper respect to those who are set in authority and carries out whatever command is given to him. Christianity does not insist that a man should cease to be an individual, but it does insist that he remember that he is also a member of a group. "Man," said Aristotle, "is a political animal." That means that a man best expresses his personality not in isolated individualism but within the framework of the group.

The good citizen is active in service. He is ready for every work, so long as it is good. The characteristic modern disease is boredom; and boredom is the direct result of selfishness. So long as a man lives on the principle of, "Why should I do it? Let someone else do it," he is bound to be bored. The interest of life lies in service.

The good citizen is careful in speech. He must slander no one. No man should say about other people what he would not like them to say about him. The good citizen will be as careful of the words he speaks as of the deeds he does.

The good citizen is tolerant. He is not aggressive. The Greek word is amachos (269), which means not a fighter. This does not mean that the good citizen will not stand for the principles which he believes to be right, but that he will never be so opinionated as to believe that no other way than his own is right. He will allow to others the same right to have their convictions as he claims for himself to have his own.

The good citizen is kind. The word is epieikes (1933), which describes the man who does not stand upon the letter of the law. Aristotle said of this word that it denotes "indulgent consideration of human infirmities" and the ability "to consider not only the letter of the law, but also the mind and intention of the legislator." The man who is epieikes (1933) is ever ready to avoid the injustice which often lies in being strictly just.

The good citizen is gentle. The word is praus (4239), which describes the man whose temper is always under complete control. He knows when to be angry and when not to be angry. He patiently bears wrongs done to himself but is ever chivalrously ready to spring to the help of others who are wronged.

Qualities like these are possible only for the man in whose heart Christ reigns supreme. The welfare of any community depends on the acceptance by the Christians within it of the duty of demonstrating to the world the nobility of Christian citizenship.

Barclay: Tit 3:3-7

The dynamic of the Christian life is twofold.

It comes first from the realization that converts to Christianity were once no better than their heathen neighbours. Christian goodness does not make a man proud; it makes him supremely grateful. When he looks at others, living the pagan life, he does not regard them with contempt; he says, as Whitefield said when he saw the criminal on the way to the gallows: "There but for the grace of God go I."

It comes from the realization of what God has done for men in Jesus Christ. Perhaps no passage in the New Testament more summarily, and yet more fully, sets out the work of Christ for men than this. There are seven outstanding facts about that work here.

(i) Jesus put us into a new relationship with God. Till he came, God was the King before whom men stood in awe, the Judge before whom men cringed in terror, the Potentate whom they could regard only with fear. Jesus came to tell men of the Father whose heart was open and whose hands were stretched out in love. He came to tell them not of the justice which would pursue them for ever but of the love which would never let them go.

(ii) The love and grace of God are gifts which no man could ever earn; they can only be accepted in perfect trust and in awakened love. God offers his love to men simply out of the great goodness of his heart and the Christian thinks never of what he has earned but only of what God has given. The keynote of the Christian life must always be wondering and humble gratitude, never proud self-satisfaction. The whole process is due to two great qualities of God.

It is due to his goodness. The word is chrestotes (5544) and means benignity. It means that spirit which is so kind that it is always eager to give whatever gift may be necessary. Chrestotes is an all-embracing kindliness, which issues not only in warm feeling but also in generous action at all times.

It is due to God's love to men. The word is philanthropia (5363), and it is defined as love of man as man. The Greeks thought much of this beautiful word. They used it for the good man's kindliness to his equals, for a good king's graciousness to his subjects, for a generous man's active pity for those in any kind of distress, and specially for the compassion which made a man ransom a fellow-man when he had fallen into captivity.

At the back of all this is no merit of man but only the benign kindliness and the universal love which are in the heart of God.

(iii) This love and grace of God are mediated to men through the Church. They come through the sacrament of baptism. That is not to say that they can come in no other way, for God is not confined within his sacraments; but the door to them is ever open through the Church. When we think of baptism in the earliest days of the Church, we must remember that it was the baptism of grown men and women coming directly out of paganism. It was the deliberate leaving of one way of life to enter upon another. When Paul writes to the people of Corinth, he says: "You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified" (1Co 6:11). In the letter to the Ephesians he says that Jesus Christ took the Church that "he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word" (Eph 5:26). In baptism there came to men the cleansing, re-creating power of God.

In this connection Paul uses two words.

He speaks of rebirth (paliggenesia, 3824). Here is a word which had many associations. When a proselyte was received into the Jewish faith, after he had been baptized he was treated as if he were a little child. It was as if he had been reborn and life had begun all over again. The Pythagoreans used the word frequently. They believed in reincarnation and that men returned to life in many forms until they were fit to be released from it. Each return was a rebirth. The Stoics used the word. They believed that every three thousand years the world went up in a great conflagration, and that then there was a rebirth of a new world. When people entered the Mystery Religions they were said to be "reborn for eternity." The point is that when a man accepts Christ as Saviour and Lord, life begins all over again. There is a newness about life which can be likened only to a new birth.

He speaks of a renewing. It is as if life were worn out and when a man discovers Christ there is an act of renewal, which is not over and done with in one moment of time but repeats itself every day.

Barclay: Tit 3:3-7

(iv) The grace and love of God are mediated to men within the Church, but behind it all is the power of the Holy Spirit. All the work of the Church, all the words of the Church, all the sacraments of the Church are inoperative unless the power of the Holy Spirit is there. However highly a Church be organized, however splendid its ceremonies may be, however beautiful its buildings, all is ineffective without that power. The lesson is clear. Revival in the Church comes not from increased efficiency in organization but from waiting upon God. Not that efficiency is not necessary, but no amount of efficiency can breathe life into a body from which the Spirit has departed.

(v) The effect of all this is threefold. It brings forgiveness for past sins. In his mercy God does not hold our sins against us. Once a man was mourning gloomily to Augustine about his sins. "Man," said Augustine, "look away from your sins and look to God." It is not that a man must not be all his life repentant for his sins; but the very memory of his sins should move him to wonder at the forgiving mercy of God.

(vi) The effect is also present life. Christianity does not confine its offer to blessings which shall be. It offers a man here and now life of a quality which he has never known before. When Christ enters into a man's life, for the first time he really begins to live.

(vii) Lastly, there is the hope of even greater things. The Christian is a man for whom the best is always still to be; he knows that, however wonderful is life on earth with Christ, the life to come will be greater yet. The Christian is the man who knows the wonder of past sin forgiven, the thrill of present life with Christ, and the hope of the greater life which is yet to be.

Barclay: Tit 3:8-11

This passage stresses the need for Christian action and the danger of a certain kind of discussion.

The word we have translated to practise fine deeds is proistasthai (4291), which literally means to stand in front of and was the word used for a shopkeeper standing in front of his shop crying his wares. The phrase may mean either of two things. It might be a command to Christians to engage only in respectable and useful trades. There were certain professions which the early Church insisted that a man should quit before he was allowed even to ask for membership. More probably the phrase has the wider meaning that a Christian must practise good deeds which are helpful to men.

The second part of the passage warns against useless discussions. The Greek philosophers spent their time on their fine-spun problems. The Jewish Rabbis spent their time building up imaginary genealogies for the characters of the Old Testament. The Jewish scribes spent endless hours discussing what could and could not be done on the Sabbath, and what was and was not unclean. It has been said that there is a danger that a man may think himself religious because he discusses religious questions. It is much easier to discuss theological questions than to be kind and considerate and helpful at home, or efficient and diligent and honest at work. There is no virtue in sitting discussing deep theological questions when the simple tasks of the Christian life are waiting to be done. Such discussion can be nothing other than an evasion of Christian duties.

Paul was certain that the real task of the Christian lay in Christian action. That is not to say that there is no place for Christian discussion; but the discussion which does not end in action is very largely wasted time.

It is Paul's advice that the contentious and opinionative man should be avoided. The King James Version calls him the heretic. The Greek is hairetikos (141). The verb hairein means "to choose"; and hairesis (139) means "a party, or a school or a sect." Originally the word carries no bad meaning. This creeps in when a man erects his private opinion against all the teaching, the agreement and the tradition of the Church. A heretic is simply a man who has decided that he is right and everybody else is wrong. Paul's warning is against the man who has made his own ideas the test of all truth. A man should always be very careful of any opinion which separates him from the fellowship of his fellow believers. True faith does not divide men; it unites them.

Barclay: Tit 3:12-15

As usual Paul ends his letter with personal messages and greetings. Of Artemas we know nothing at all. Tychicus was one of Paul's most trusted messengers. He was the bearer of the letters to the Colossian and the Ephesian Churches (Col 4:7; Eph 6:21). Nicopolis was in Epirus and was the best centre for work in the Roman province of Dalmatia. It is interesting to remember that it was there that Epictetus, the great Stoic philosopher, later had his school.

Apollos was the well-known teacher (Act 18:24). Of Zenas we know nothing at all. He is here called a nomikos (3544). That could mean one of two things. Nomikos (3544) is the regular word for a scribe and Zenas may have been a converted Jewish Rabbi. It is also the normal Greek for a lawyer; and, if that is its meaning, Zenas has the distinction of being the only lawyer mentioned in the New Testament.

Paul's last piece of advice is that the Christian people should practise good deeds, so that they themselves should be independent and also able to help others who are in need. The Christian workman works not only to have enough for himself but also to have something to give away.

Next come the final greetings; and then, as in every letter, Paul's last word is grace.

Constable: Tit 1:5--3:12

II. INSTRUCTIONS FOR SETTING THE CHURCH IN ORDER 1:5--3:11

As in 1 Timothy, Paul plunged into the business of his letter immediately since he was writing a trusted colleague. This partially explains the absence of a thanksgiving section in these two epistles. The serious threat of false teaching may be another reason. By contrast, 2 Timothy is more personal, and it contains a thanksgiving.

Constable: Tit 3:1-11

2. The behavior of all in the church 3:1-11

Paul broadened the focus of his instructions to clarify the responsibilities of all Christians in view of God's grace.

Constable: Tit 3:1-8

Individual responsibility 3:1-8

"After a brief exhortation to Titus (2:15) to teach these things' (at least 2:1-14), Paul returns in this section to the major concern of the letter--'good works' (i.e., genuinely Christian behavior) for the sake of the outsider (3:1-8) and in contrast to the false teachers (3:9-11)."⁶⁸

Constable: Tit 3:1-2

Instructions 3:1-2

Several duties of all Christians follow. We should (1) be subject to governmental rulers and other authorities by being obedient to them and (2) be ready to do whatever is good. We should (3) slander no one and (4) be peaceable (Gr. amachous, lit. nonfighting), gentle, and considerate toward everyone (cf. 1 Pet. 2:23).

"The Christian must not adopt the arts of the agitator."⁶⁹

"So far Paul has been concerned with the internal arrangements of the Cretan churches and the duties of their members to one another. Now he comments briefly on their relationship to the civil power and their pagan environment generally. The point he makes is that they should be models of good citizenship precisely because the new, supernatural life of the Spirit bestowed by [Spirit] baptism finds expression in such an attitude."⁷⁰

"People who are ever fighting are wretched citizens and neighbors; people who are willing to yield in gentleness are admirable, especially when they follow the gentle spirit of Jesus."⁷¹

Constable: Tit 3:3-8

Rationale 3:3-8

3:3 To motivate his readers to obey these commands Paul encouraged them by reminding them of the way they used to be. They had already come a long way. Each characteristic he mentioned in this verse contrasts with one he had urged his readers to adopt earlier in this epistle. They--Paul included himself--had been foolish, not sensible; disobedient, not submissive; deceived, not enlightened; and enslaved, not free and self-disciplined. Moreover they had been malicious, not peaceable; envious, not considerate; and hateful, not loving.

3:4-5 The appearance Paul referred to is the sending of Jesus Christ to die for us, the Incarnation. That was the greatest revelation of God's kindness and love for humankind. God took the initiative. God does not save people because they behave righteously but because He is merciful (cf. Rom. 3:27-28; 4:4-5; Gal. 2:16-17; Eph. 2:8-9; 2 Tim. 1:9). The salvation He provides consists of rebirth that Paul likened here to washing off sin's filth (John 3:3-8; Rom. 6:4; Eph. 5:26; 1 Pet. 1:3, 23) and renewal by God's Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 5:17). He did not mention human faith because his emphasis here was on God's grace in providing salvation.

"He came to tell men, not of the justice which would pursue them for ever until it caught up with them, but of the love which would never let them go."⁷²

In verse 5 "washing" could refer to conversion and "renewing" to the coming of the Holy Spirit on the new believer. Another view is that "washing" could refer to baptism with "regeneration" and "renewing" describing what the Spirit does in salvation. Probably "washing" is a metaphor for spiritual cleansing rather than for baptism with the emphasis in the entire phrase being on the Spirit's cleansing, regenerating work.⁷³

Note the reference to the work that all three members of the Trinity accomplished in our salvation in these verses.

3:6-7 God poured out His Holy Spirit on believers richly. He did this first at Pentecost (Acts 2), but He does it since then whenever individuals experience conversion (cf. Rom. 5:5). His grace always exceeds our need. God has not only graciously declared us righteous, but He has also graciously made us the heirs of eternal life. Paul's whole emphasis was on the grace of God. We owe everything to God's grace.

Note that in verses 5-7 Paul explained what God did (saved, washing, regeneration, renewing, justified), its basis (God's mercy), its means (the Holy Spirit), and its goal (hope of eternal life).

3:8 The "trustworthy statement" (1 Tim. 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tim. 2:11) Paul referred to is probably what he had just written in verses 4-7. The first "these things" in this verse are the things that he had just described in those verses. Titus was to speak about these great truths confidently (cf. 2:15). The intended result was to be that those who have trusted God for salvation would practice good works (cf. Eph. 2:8-10; James 2:14-26). The second "these things" in the verse refers to these good works. This verse summarizes the point Paul made throughout this epistle. Good works, he added, are essentially excellent as well as profitable for everyone on the practical level.

"The best way a local church has to witness to the lost is through the sacrificial service of its members."⁷⁴

Constable: Tit 3:9-11

Titus' responsibility 3:9-11

3:9 On the other hand Titus should shun what was worthless and unprofitable. In view of the context Paul especially meant those things the false teachers were promoting (1:14; 1 Tim. 1:3-7; 6:4; 2 Tim. 2:23). Examples of these kinds of controversies that the Jewish commentaries have preserved are the following. Should a Jew eat an egg laid on a festival day? What sort of wick and oil should a Jew use for candles he burns on the Sabbath? The genealogies in view were speculations about the origins and descendants of persons, which some thought had spiritual significance.⁷⁵

"I have learned that professed Christians who like to argue about the Bible are usually covering up some sin in their lives, are very insecure, and are usually unhappy at work or at home."⁷⁶

3:10-11 If a false teacher who engendered faction rather than unity by his teaching refused to change his ways after one or two warnings, Titus should have nothing more to do with him (cf. Matt. 18:15-17).⁷⁷ The reason for this rejection is that the false teacher is not straight in his thinking, he is sinning, and he is self-condemned. If such a person refuses to judge himself, God will judge him (1 Cor. 11:31-32). I believe all the leaders of God's people should follow this instruction. Paul evidently did not intend it only for Titus. Church leaders should give ministry by such a false teacher no platform in the church.

"The significance of refuting false teaching in this letter is indicated by Paul's direct attack on factious men at the beginning of the letter (1:10ff.) and now at its conclusion (3:9-11). His outstanding theological statements (1:1-4; 2:11-15; 3:3-7) provide the sound doctrine' that motivates believers to good works' and makes the gospel attractive' to a lost world. In contrast, the false teachers with their erroneous teaching motivate their followers to works that in essence deny' a true knowledge of God (1:16) and destroy the doctrinal unity of the church."⁷⁸

Constable: Tit 3:12-15

III. CONCLUSION 3:12-15

Paul closed this epistle by sending Titus instructions concerning fellow workers, a final charge, and greetings. He did so to enable him to complete his task of setting the church in order.

3:12 Paul evidently intended to send either Artemas or Tychicus (2 Tim. 4:12) to take Titus' place in Crete. Paul wanted Titus to join him for the coming winter in Nicapolis ("city of victory"), probably the one in Illyricum that lay on the Adriatic coast of western Greece opposite northern Italy.

3:13 Zenas and Apollos (cf. Acts 18:24-19:1) were apparently in Crete with Titus and planned to leave Crete for other places of ministry. They may have previously carried this letter from Paul to Titus. Paul urged Titus and the Cretan Christians to help these two brethren by ministering to their needs. The apostle gave them a concrete opportunity to put good deeds into practice.

3:14 Paul gave a final encouragement to the Cretans through Titus to be faithful in providing for their own regular financial responsibilities (cf. 2 Thess. 3:7-12). "Engage in good deeds [occupations]" probably refers to normal wage-earning activities rather than special fund-raising projects (cf. v. 8). The NIV rendering "provide for daily necessities" translates this thought more clearly than the NASB. The stereotype of Cretans generally (1:12) evidently applied to some in the church. Industriousness would provide the Christians with what they needed; they would not be unfruitful (cf. v. 9; Luke 8:14; John 15:2).

3:15 We do not know who was with Paul when he wrote this epistle or where he was when he wrote it, but obviously he was in the company of other Christians. Paul sent greetings to the faithful in Crete and closed with a benediction for them. The second "you" is plural in the Greek text.

"As in I Tim. vi. 21 and 2 Tim. iv. 22, the plural betrays that the letter was expected to be read out publicly."⁷⁹

Paul opened and closed this epistle with references to faith and grace (1:4).⁸⁰

College: Tit 3:1-15

TITUS 3

IV. STANDARDS FOR CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOR (3:1-11)

A. RESPECT FOR GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES (3:1)

¹ Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, ² to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.

Paul now returns to the "good" works of 2:14 to emphasize the need for these deeds for the sake of the outsider (vv. 1-8). He then contrasts the Christian life and its works with that of the false teachers (vv. 9-11).

3:1 Remind the people

Paul's instruction for Titus to "remind" (literally "keep on reminding") the people is a natural transition from his instructions to "teach, encourage, and rebuke" in 2:15. The material Titus is to present is not new to his audience; he is to point out the implications of the gospel.

to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient,

The people are "to be subject" (cf. 2:5, 9) "to rulers and authorities" and "to be obedient" (peiqarcei'n , peitharchein , literally "to be persuaded by" or "to listen to the advice of"). Although "rulers and authorities" may be used of angelic powers (Eph 3:10; 6:2; Col 1:16), here the phrase refers to secular governmental officials (cf. Luke 12:11). Paul expressed a similar concern for civic authorities in 1 Tim 2:2. Paul never addresses the issue of how the Christian should respond to officials who are hostile to and attempt to suppress the Christian faith. He is likely reflecting on a time when the government was relatively tolerant of Christianity (cf. Rom 13:1-8). Christians are called "to obey," or better perhaps "to heed" the laws of the land as long as those laws do not contradict the laws of God.

to be ready to do whatever is good,

Christians are "to be ready to do whatever is good" (literally "to be prepared for every good work"; cf. 2 Tim 2:21; 3:17). While some see this obligation as directed toward civic duty, i.e., good citizenship, others would see the instruction as more general in nature. Perhaps it is best to follow the lead of Knight and say that "the immediate context is with the government but the statement is not meant to be confined to that." The obligation does provide the perfect transition to v. 2 and obligations "toward all men."

B. RESPECT FOR ALL (3:2)

3:2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate,

Christians are "to slander no one" (cf. 1 Tim 6:5), a stark contrast with the false teachers who are involved in "foolish controversies" and "arguments" (v. 9). They are to be "peaceable" (ajmavcou" , amachous , better "uncontentious"; see discussion at 1 Tim 3:3) and "considerate" (or perhaps "conciliatory"), in contrast to the quarrels about the law (mavca" nomikav" , machas nomikas ) of the opponents to the gospel.

and to show true humility toward all men.

The final phrase may well be seen as the "key" to the Christian lifestyle in a pagan world. "Humility" (prau?th" , praütçs ; cf. 1 Tim 6:11; 2 Tim 2:25), often rendered "meekness," "may best be understood by contrast to its opposites, roughness, bad temper, sudden anger, brusqueness." In the original the word "humility" is qualified by the word "all" producing the "true humility" of the NIV. This humility is to be shown "toward all men," i.e., toward the world in general, toward Christians and non-Christians, toward enemies and friends.

C. THE THEOLOGICAL BASIS FOR LIVING

WITH NON-CHRISTIANS (3:3-8)

³ At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵ he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. ⁸ This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

Paul now gives the theological basis for his earlier call for Christian living. The motivation for this life will be the believers' conversion experience.

3:3 At one time we too

The NIV does not translate the Greek word (gavr , gar ) "for" which provides the link to the previous section. The "we too" of v. 3 in no way indicates that the non-Christian lifestyle described there was characteristic of his Jewish background. Fee asserts, "One should note that whenever Paul is moved to speak about the gospel he takes up the personal self-identification of 'we too' (cf. 2:11-14; 2 Tim 1:9-10; Gal 1:4; etc.)." The "we too were" may well be intended to imply that the outsiders still are bearing the sinful qualities that follow (i.e., "we too were . . . just as they now do").

were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

The pre-Christian life was "foolish" ("without spiritual understanding"), "disobedient" (cf. 1:16), "deceived" (or "led astray"; cf. 1 Tim 4:1-2; 2 Tim 3:13), and "enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures" (cf. Paul's description of the bondage of sin in Rom 6:6-7). The pre-Christian life was characterized by "malice" (or "badness") and "envy" (cf. 1 Tim 6:4). They were "being hated" (or "detestable") and "hating one another."

3:4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,

In v. 4 Paul begins the contrast between the pre-regenerate life and the life of the Christian by rehearsing what God had done in Jesus. "Appeared" here refers to the incarnation of Christ (see discussion on 2:11). The incarnation demonstrates "the kindness" (in the list of the "fruit of the Spirit," Gal 5:22) and "love" (filanqrwpiva , philanthrôpia , literally "love for mankind," cf. the English word "philanthropy") "of God." See the discussion of "God our Savior" at 1:3.

3:5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

God had, in the appearance of his "kindness" and "love," saved us. Paul paints the picture of that salvation much as he would in any of his letters. First Christians are saved "not because of righteous things [they] had done" (cf. Rom 4:4-5; Eph 2:8-9; Phil 3:9; 2 Tim 1:9). Salvation is rather "because of his mercy" (1 Tim 1:12-16). Paul generally talks of God's "grace" rather than his "mercy" as the cause of salvation, but the idea is really the same (cf. "his grace" in v. 7).

He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

This salvation is then accomplished "through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit." There has been considerable discussion in scholarly circles of this last phrase due to some grammatical ambiguities. If the word "through" (diav , dia ) had been repeated with the second phrase, "renewal by the Holy Spirit," interpretation would have been relatively easy. Paul would then have been referring to two events: a "washing of rebirth" and a "renewal of the Holy Spirit."

Since, however, the word "through" does not appear before renewal of the Holy Spirit, two options exist. (1) Paul may be saying that God has saved us "through the washing," which is characterized by "rebirth and renewal," a washing which is accomplished "by the Holy Spirit." (2) Or, Paul may be understood as saying that God has saved us through an event that can be described both as "the washing characterized by rebirth" and as "renewal" either "characterized by or given by the Holy Spirit." The second option does have a sense of balance in its favor - two genitive words or phrases understood together before "and" (washing; rebirth) and two after (renewal; the Holy Spirit). The first option has much to be said in its favor. "Rebirth" is clearly dependent upon "washing." Considerable debate has occurred over whether "washing" (loutrovn , loutron ) should be seen as a reference to baptism or merely a metaphor for the cleansing of the Holy Spirit. If "washing" is seen as a clear reference to baptism, then it is relatively easy to argue that "rebirth" and "renewal" are accomplished at that point. If, however, "washing" is taken as initial cleansing from sin and "renewal" as sanctification which can be deemed progressive, then the second option above is more reasonable. Since "washing," even understood metaphorically, would have been seen by Paul as connected to baptism, it seems reasonable to assume that Paul had baptism in mind.

Since the word "rebirth" (paliggenesiva , palingenesia and not ajnagevnnhsi" , anagennçsis ) really does not convey the idea of birth, but rather of a "new genesis," Knight has suggested that the phrase should be translated "the washing of a new beginning" or "the washing of conversion." The word "renewal" (ajnakaivnwsi" , anakainôsis ) need not be seen as a process; it rather indicates "a making new." "Rebirth" and "renewal" are thus "nearly synonymous metaphors." However one understands "washing, rebirth, and renewal," emphasis clearly falls on the Holy Spirit as the source of the new life God has made available to believers.

3:6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,

In this verse Paul continues his discussion of the role of the Holy Spirit in the conversion and life of the believer. God has "poured the Holy Spirit out on us generously" (plousivw" , plousiôs , literally, "richly" or "abundantly") "through Jesus Christ our Savior." It is significant that the Holy Spirit is given by God "through Jesus." Paul's description of Jesus as Savior after using the term of God earlier in the chapter (v. 4) follows the alternating pattern of describing God and Jesus as Savior already noted in Titus (see discussion on 2:13).

3:7 so that, having been justified by his grace,

At this juncture Paul describes salvation using his common forensic or legal metaphor of justification: "having been justified by his grace." Christians have received a not-guilty verdict on the basis of God's "grace" and not on the basis of their own works, a theme common to Paul (Rom 3:24; 5:1, 9; 1 Cor 6:11; Gal 2:16-17; 3:24).

we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

The Spirit's work in the Christian's life has an eschatological or future, end-time effect: "that . . . we might become heirs" (cf. Gal 4:7; Rom 8:17) "having the hope" (see Titus 1:2; 1 Tim 4:10) "of eternal life" (see the discussion at 1 Tim 1:6; 6:12; Titus 1:2).

3:8 This is a trustworthy saying.

Here Paul proclaims the section above, likely 3:4-7, as another of the "faithful" or "trustworthy" sayings of the Pastoral Epistles (cf. 1 Tim 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tim 2:11). Paul's statement that the saving work of God in Jesus is accomplished by grace is reliable, and the Christians on Crete must live accordingly.

And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.

The "these things" which Titus is "to stress" (also used by Paul of the false teachers in 1 Tim 1:7 where the NIV renders the verb "confidently affirm") is used at least in reference to vv. 4-7 and perhaps in reference to all of the good works Paul has called the Christians on Crete to do, i.e., the whole of the Christian lifestyle as prescribed in this letter. Paul's goal for Titus' preaching is "that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good" (literally "good works," the very purpose of God's redemptive act, 2:7, 14; 3:1).

These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

Again one must decide to what "these things" refers. Although it is possible to see Paul as referring to the kindness of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit, it is more reasonable to see a reference to "doing what is good" in the previous sentence, i.e., "good deeds," a theme which runs throughout. Such deeds are intrinsically "excellent" (literally "good"), and they are "profitable" (or "beneficial") "for everyone" (literally "for human beings"). The Christian life lived in a pagan world has a positive effect on non-believers.

D. FINAL WARNINGS CONCERNING

FALSE TEACHERS AND THE DIVISIVE (3:9-11)

⁹ But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. ¹⁰ Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. ¹¹ You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

Paul now turns in vv. 9-11 to warn Titus and the church on Crete of the corrupting influence of false teachers whose deeds are not "excellent and profitable" (v. 8) but rather are "unprofitable and useless" (v. 9).

3:9 But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.

Although the imperative "avoid" is second person singular addressing Titus, Paul's instructions are intended for all the Christians on Crete. He begins by spelling out four of the "unprofitable and useless" deeds of the false teachers from which Christians must steer clear: "foolish" (cf. 2 Tim 2:23) "controversies" (cf. 1 Tim 6:4; 2 Tim 2:23); "genealogies" (see the discussion of this term in 1 Tim 1:4); "arguments" (literally "strifes"; see discussion 1 Tim 6:4); and "quarrels about the law" (cf. 2 Tim 2:23; see also the discussion of "not quarrelsome" in v. 2 and 1 Tim 3:3; of "word battles" in 1 Tim 6:4; 2 Tim 2:14). The mention of "the law" here, of "the circumcision group" in 1:10, and of "Jewish myths" and "commands" in 1:14 help to establish the makeup of the false teachers as Hellenistic Jewish Christians.

3:10 Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him.

After outlining the deeds of the false teachers that Titus, along with the other Christians on Crete, were to "avoid," Paul instructs Titus how he is to respond to the teachers themselves. Paul describes them as "divisive" (aiJretikovn , hairetikon , thus the KJV translation "heretic"). Paul's use of this adjective does not indicate the nature of their teaching but rather their behavior (cf. 1 Cor 11:19; Gal 5:20 where the noun is used). He is concerned about the destructive nature of their teaching and their behavior (cf. 1:1). Titus is to "warn" (or "admonish") "a divisive person once" with the hope of redeeming them (the normal reason for correcting or taking disciplinary action in Paul; cf. 1 Tim 1:20; 2 Tim 2:25-26; 2 Cor 2:5-1; 2 Thess 3:14-15). The "divisive" are then given a second chance to repent. If that attempt is to no avail, Titus and the church are to "have nothing to do with him" (literally "reject"; see 1 Tim 5:11 where the same verb is used but rendered "do not put them on such a list" by the NIV). The phrase "have nothing to do with him" represents a single Greek word (paraitou' , paraitou ). It is used in the same sense in Hebrews 12:25.

3:11 You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

Paul wants Titus to realize that, without a doubt, divisive people are "warped" (a perfect tense verb in Greek, meaning "has gotten off track and remains so") "and sinful" (a present tense verb in Greek, probably intended by Paul to indicate "keeps on sinning"). Such a person is "self-condemned," i.e., his continued sinful behavior and rejection of correction indicate that he has put himself on the outside. Such a one is without excuse and is, therefore, to be rejected by Titus and the church.

V. PERSONAL DIRECTIONS AND

CLOSING SALUTATIONS (3:12-15)

¹² As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to winter there. ¹³ Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they have everything they need. ¹⁴ Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives.

¹⁵ Everyone with me sends you greetings. Greet those who love us in the faith.

Grace be with you all.

Paul follows his normal custom of giving some final personal instructions and greetings at the end of his epistles. As Fee has noted, while both 1 Timothy and Titus are "all business," in Titus he takes time for the personal, something missing from the closing of 1 Timothy even though 1 Timothy has more frequent personal exhortations. This may indicate that the situation at Crete is less urgent and that Paul's goal is preventing fires rather than putting them out.

3:12 As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you,

Despite all his instructions to Titus about dealing with the Christians on Crete, Paul apparently intends for Titus to be replaced by either Artemas or Tychicus soon after he receives this letter which is likely carried by Zenas and Apollos (v. 13). As he writes this letter, Paul is uncertain who will replace Titus. Artemas appears nowhere else in Scripture. Tychicus travelled with Paul in Acts 20:4 and is mentioned in two of the prison epistles as one who will deliver the letter and bring news (Col 4:7; Eph 6:21). From 2 Tim 4:12 it is clear that Tychicus was sent by Paul to Ephesus and in 2 Tim 4:10 that Titus went to Dalmatia up the coast from Nicopolis. From this data one would assume that Artemas likely served as Titus' replacement.

do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to winter there.

Paul's desire was that Titus make every effort to join him at Nicopolis, where he had "decided to winter." It is impossible to know with any certainty where Paul was as he wrote Titus, but it is clear that he was not yet in Nicopolis. There are several ancient cities which bear the name "Nicopolis" ("victory city"). The most likely location is the one which served as the capital of Epirus. It would suit the mention of Titus being in Dalmatia in 2 Tim 4:10. The city was about 200 miles northwest of Athens. Spending the winter on land was the reasonable thing to do since travel by sea in winter was difficult if not impossible (see Paul's own travel pushing the fall envelope, Acts 27:12; 28:11).

3:13 Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they have everything they need.

Apparently Zenas and Apollos have been with Paul and will be traveling through Crete. They are apparently carrying the letter (cf. v. 14). Titus is to help them and see that their needs are met, a normal way to deal with traveling missionaries (cf. Acts 15:3; 21:5; Rom 15:24; 1 Cor 16:6, 11; 2 Cor 1:16; 3 John 6). Paul describes Zenas as "the lawyer" indicating that he serves as a Roman jurist. Apollos is undoubtedly the famous Alexandrian preacher (Acts 18:24-19:1; 1 Cor 1:12; 3:4-22; 16:12).

3:14 Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives.

Paul instructs Titus that "our people too [a word not translated in the NIV] must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good." The untranslated "too" (kaiΙ , kai ) indicates that the people of the church must be devoted "to doing what is good" (again literally "good works") as Paul has instructed Titus to do with regard to Zenas and Apollos. Paul gives two reasons for these good works: to "provide for daily necessities," i.e., the pressing needs; and to "live lives" that are not "unproductive" (literally "unfruitful").

3:15 Everyone with me sends you greetings. Greet those who love us in the faith.

Grace be with you all.

The letter ends with the normal greetings: first from "everyone with" Paul to Titus, and then from Paul to "those who love" him and his fellow workers "in the faith." Fee suggests that Paul's use of "those who love us in the faith" may be "an indirect reference to the fact that some in Crete have proven themselves disloyal to Paul and his gospel." Paul closes with the normal farewell: "Grace be with you all" (cf. 1 Tim 6:21), a clear indication that Paul intended for the letter to be read by the church on Crete as well as by Titus.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

Commentary -- Other

Critics Ask: Tit 3:10

TITUS 3:10 —Should the wayward be instructed or expelled from the church?

PROBLEM: This verse says we should “reject” them, and in 1 Corinthians 5 the adulterous member was excommunicated (v. 5 ). But in 2 Timothy 2:25 leaders are exhorted, “in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance.”

SOLUTION: The severity of the action of the church will depend on the seriousness of the sin of the member being disciplined. Those who are living in immorality should, after being exhorted to change, be excommunicated, since their sin has a leavenous or contagious effect on others ( 1 Cor. 5:5-7 ). Even so, if they repent, they should be reinstated in the church (cf. 2 Cor. 2:6-7 ), since the primary purpose of discipline is not to reject, but to reform.

The main difference in the severity of the discipline was in thepenitence of the person being disciplined. If the person repented, he was to be reinstated ( 2 Cor. 2:6- 7 ). If not, then “after the first and second admonition” ( Titus 3:10 ) he was to be rejected.   

Evidence: Tit 3:2

This is the spirit in which we should share our faith . See Jam 3:17 .

Evidence: Tit 3:3

This is why we should never have a holier-than-thou attitude toward the unsaved (see also 1Co 6:9-11 ).

The deceitfulness of sin . Two women from Southern California were about to cross the Mexican border to return to the U.S. when they saw what looked like a very small, sick animal in the ditch beside their car. As they examined it in the darkness of the night, they saw that it was a tiny Chihuahua. There they decided to take it home with them and nurse it back to health. However, because they were afraid that they were breaking the law, they put it in the trunk of their car, and drove across the border. Once they were in the U.S., they retrieved the animal and nursed it until they arrived home.

One of the women was so concerned for the ailing dog that she actually took it to bed with her, and reached out several times during the night to touch the tiny animal and reassure it that she was still present.

The dog was so sick the next morning, she decided to take it to the veterinarian. That’s when she found out that the animal wasn’t a tiny sick dog. It was a Mexican water rat, dying of rabies.

The world, in the blackness of its ignorance, thinks that sin is a puppy to be played with. It is the light of God’s Law that enlightens the sinner to the fact that he is in bed with a deadly rat.

We were once " deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures," but now, if we are truly converted, our eyes have been opened. We see sin for the sugar-coated venom that it is.

Evidence: Tit 3:5

New birth—its necessity for salvation . See 1Pe 1:3 .

For those trusting in good works , see Gal 2:16 footnote.

Evidence: Tit 3:7

He is no Christian who does not seek to serve his God. The very motto of the Christian should be " I serve." CHARLES SPURGEON

Evidence: Tit 3:10

It is wise to avoid those brethren who only want to argue about doctrine. Rather, put your energy into reaching the lost.

Evidence: Tit 3:11

The Bible tells us that God created everything with things that are not seen. See Heb 11:3 footnote.

Evidence: Tit 3:15

Intelligence Tests

(Do not read these questions yourself. If you do, you will fail to see their evangelistic potential. Instead, have someone ask you the questions.)

1 How many of each animal did Moses take into the ark?

2 What is the name of the raised print that deaf people use?

3 Is it possible to end a sentence with the word " the" ?

4 Spell the word " shop." What do you do when you come to a green light?

5 It is noon. You look at the clock. The big hand is on three. The little hand is on five. What time is it?

6 Spell the word " silk." What do cows drink?

7 Listen carefully: You are the driver of a train. There are thirty people on board. At the first stop ten people get off. At the next stop five people get on. Now for the question: What is the name of the train driver?

Answers:

1 None. It was Noah.

2 Deaf people don’t use raised print.

3 The question is an example of one.

4 Go.

5 Noon.

6 Water.

7 You are the driver of the train.

The Bible warns, " He who trusts his own heart is a fool" ( Pro 28:26 ). The tests are an excellent way to humble an unsaved person and show him that he can’t trust his own judgments. This may be followed with, " If you make a mistake with something as simple as this, could you be wrong in your beliefs about God, Judgment Day, the existence of hell, etc.?"

Introduction / Outline

Robertson: Titus (Book Introduction)

The Epistle to Titus

Probably 66 or 67 Apparently From Nicopolis

JFB: Titus (Book Introduction)

GENUINENESS.--CLEMENT OF ROME quotes it [Epistle to the Corinthians, 2]; IRENÆUS [Against Heresies, 3.3.4] refers to it as Paul's; THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH [To Autolychus, 3.14], quotes it as Scripture. Compare CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA [Miscellanies, 1, p. 299]; TERTULLIAN [The Prescription against Heretics, 6].

TIME AND PLACE OF WRITING.--This Epistle seems to have been written from Corinth [BIRKS], subsequently to his first imprisonment, when Paul was on his way to Nicopolis (Tit 3:12) in Epirus, where he purposed passing the winter, shortly before his martyrdom, A.D. 67. BIRKS thinks, from the similarity of the Epistle to Titus and First Timothy, that both were written from the same place, Corinth, and at dates not widely apart; First Timothy shortly after coming to Corinth, before he had planned a journey to Epirus, the Epistle to Titus afterwards. The journey to Crete and Ephesus for the bearers of his letters would be easy from Corinth, and he could himself thence easily pass into Epirus. He had shortly before visited Crete, wherein a Church existed (though without due organization), the first foundation of which he may have partly laid at his former visit (Act 27:7, &c.), when on his way to his first imprisonment at Rome. That he returned to the East after his first imprisonment appears most probable from Phi 2:24; Phm 1:22. However, there may have been seeds of Christianity sown in Crete, even before his first visit, by the Cretans who heard Peter's preaching on Pentecost (Act 2:11).

OCCASION OF WRITING.--Corrupt elements soon showed themselves in the Cretan Church, similar to those noticed in the Epistles to Timothy, as existing in the Ephesian Church, Judaism, false pretensions to science, and practical ungodliness. Paul, on his late visit, had left Titus in Crete to establish Church government, and ordain presbyters (deacons are not mentioned). Titus had been several times employed by Paul on a mission to the Corinthian Churches, and had probably thence visited Crete, which was within easy reach of Corinth. Hence the suitableness of his selection by the apostle for the superintendence of the Cretan Church. Paul now follows up with instructions by letter those he had already given to Titus in person on the qualifications of elders, and the graces becoming the old, the young, and females, and warns him against the unprofitable speculations so rife in Crete. The national character of the Cretans was low in the extreme, as EPIMENIDES, quoted in Tit 1:12, paints it. LIVY [History, 44.45], stigmatizes their avarice; POLYBIUS [Histories, 6.46.9], their ferocity and fraud; and [Histories, 6.47.5], their mendacity, so much so, that "to Cretanize" is another name for to lie: they were included in the proverbial three infamous initials "K" or "C," "Cappadocia, Crete, Cilicia."

NOTICES OF TITUS.--It is strange that he is never mentioned by this name in Acts, and there seems none of those mentioned in that book who exactly answers to him. He was a Greek, and therefore a Gentile (Gal 2:1, Gal 2:3), and converted by Paul (Tit 1:4). He accompanied the apostle on the deputation sent from the Church of Antioch to Jerusalem, to consult the apostles respecting the circumcision of Gentile converts (Act 15:2); and, agreeably to the decree of the council there, was not circumcised. He was in company with Paul at Ephesus, whence he was sent to Corinth to commence the collection for the Jerusalem saints, and to ascertain the effect of the First Epistle on the Corinthians (2Co 7:6-9; 2Co 8:6; 2Co 12:18), and there showed an unmercenary spirit. He next proceeded to Macedon, where he joined Paul, who had been already eagerly expecting him at Troas (2Co 2:12-13, "Titus my brother," 2Co 7:6). He was then employed by the apostle in preparing the collection for the poor saints in Judea, and became the bearer of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (2Co 8:16-17, 2Co 8:23). Paul in it calls him "my partner and fellow helper concerning you." His being located in Crete (Tit 1:5) was subsequent to Paul's first imprisonment, and shortly before the second, about A.D. 67, ten years subsequent to the last notice of him in Second Corinthians (2Co 12:18), A.D. 57. He probably met Paul, as the apostle desired, at Nicopolis; for his subsequent journey into Dalmatia, thence (or else from Rome, whither he may have accompanied Paul) would be more likely, than from the distant Crete (2Ti 4:10, written subsequently to the Epistle to Titus). In the unsettled state of things then, Titus' episcopal commission in Crete was to be but temporary, Paul requiring the presence of Titus with himself, whenever Artemas or Tychicus should arrive in Crete and set him free from his duties there.

Tradition represents him to have died peaceably in Crete, as archbishop of Gortyna, at an advanced age.

JFB: Titus (Outline)

• ADDRESS: FOR WHAT END TITUS WAS LEFT IN CRETE. QUALIFICATIONS FOR ELDERS: GAINSAYERS IN CRETE NEEDING REPROOF. (Tit. 1:1-16)
• DIRECTIONS TO TITUS: HOW TO EXHORT VARIOUS CLASSES OF BELIEVERS: THE GRACE OF GOD IN CHRIST OUR GRAND INCENTIVE TO LIVE GODLY. (Tit 2:1-15)
• WHAT TITUS IS TO TEACH CONCERNING CHRISTIANS' BEHAVIOR TOWARDS THE WORLD: HOW HE IS TO TREAT HERETICS: WHEN AND WHERE HE IS TO MEET PAUL. SALUTATION. CONCLUSION. (Tit 3:1-15)

TSK: Titus 3 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Tit 3:1, Titus is yet further directed by Paul, both concerning the things that he should teach and not teach; Tit 3:10, He is to reject obstinate heretics; Tit 3:12, He appoints him time and place wherein he should come unto him.

Poole: Titus 3 (Chapter Introduction)

CHAPTER 3

MHCC: Titus (Book Introduction)

This epistle chiefly contains directions to Titus concerning the elders of the Church, and the manner in which he should give instruction; and the latter part tells him to urge obedience to magistrates, to enforce good works, avoid foolish questions, and shun heresies. The instructions the apostle gave are all plain and simple. The Christian religion was not formed to answer worldly or selfish views, but it is the wisdom of God and the power of God.

MHCC: Titus 3 (Chapter Introduction)

(Tit 3:1-7) Obedience to magistrates, and becoming behaviour towards all, are enforced from what believers were before conversion, and what they are made, through Christ.

(Tit 3:8-11) Good works to be done, and useless disputes avoided.

(Tit 3:12-15) Directions and exhortations.

Matthew Henry: Titus (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Epistle of St. Paul to Titus

This Epistle of Paul to Titus is much of the same nature with those to Timothy; both were converts of Paul, and his companions in labours and sufferings; both were in the office of evangelists, whose work was to water the churches planted by the apostles, and to set in order the things that were wanting in them: they were vice-apostles, as it were, working the work of the Lord, as they did, and mostly under their direction, though not despotic and arbitrary, but with the concurring exercise of their own prudence and judgment, 1Co 16:10, 1Co 16:12. We read much of this Titus, his titles, character, and active usefulness, in many places - he was a Greek, Gal 2:3. Paul called him his son (Tit 1:4), his brother (2Co 2:13), his partner and fellow-helper (2Co 8:23), one that walked in the same spirit and in the same steps with himself. He went up with the apostles to the church at Jerusalem (Gal 2:1), was much conversant at Corinth, for which church he had an earnest care, 2Co 8:16. Paul's second epistle to them, and probably his first also, was sent by his hand, 2Co 8:16-18, 2Co 8:23; 2Co 9:2-4; 2Co 12:18. He was with the apostle at Rome, and thence went into Dalmatia (2Ti 4:10), after which no more occurs of him in the scriptures. So that by them he appears not to have been a fixed bishop; if such he were, and in those times, the church of Corinth, where he most laboured, had the best title to him. In Crete (now called Candia, formerly Hecatompolis, from the hundred cities that were in it), a large island at the mouth of the Aegean Sea, the gospel had got some footing; and here were Paul and Titus in one of their travels, cultivating this plantation; but the apostle of the Gentiles, having on him the care of all the churches, could not himself tarry long at this place. He therefore left Titus some time there, to carry on the work which had been begun, wherein, probably, meeting with more difficulty than ordinary, Paul wrote this epistle to him; and yet perhaps not so much for his own sake as for the people's, that the endeavours of Titus, strengthened with apostolic advice and authority, might be more significant and effectual among them. He was to see all the cities furnished with good pastors, to reject and keep out the unmeet and unworthy, to teach sound doctrine, and instruct all sorts in their duties, to set forth the free grace of God in man's salvation by Christ, and withal to show the necessity of maintaining good works by those who have believed in God and hope for eternal life from him.

Matthew Henry: Titus 3 (Chapter Introduction)

Of duties which concern Christians more in common, and the reasons of them (Tit 3:1-8). What Titus in teaching should avoid, and how he should deal with a heretic, with some other directions (Tit 3:9-14), and salutations in the close (Tit 3:15).

Barclay: Titus (Book Introduction)

A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS OF PAUL

The Letters Of Paul

There is no more interesting body of documents in the New Testament than the letters of Paul. That is because of all forms of literature a letter is most personal. Demetrius, one of the old Greek literary critics, once wrote, "Every one reveals his own soul in his letters. In every other form of composition it is possible to discern the writercharacter, but in none so clearly as the epistolary." (Demetrius, On Style, 227). It is just because he left us so many letters that we feel we know Paul so well. In them he opened his mind and heart to the folk he loved so much; and in them, to this day, we can see that great mind grappling with the problems of the early church, and feel that great heart throbbing with love for men, even when they were misguided and mistaken.

The Difficulty Of Letters

At the same time, there is often nothing so difficult to understand as a letter. Demetrius (On Style, 223) quotes a saying of Artemon, who edited the letters of Aristotle. Artemon said that a letter ought to be written in the same manner as a dialogue, because it was one of the two sides of a dialogue. In other words, to read a letter is like listening to one side of a telephone conversation. So when we read the letters of Paul we are often in a difficulty. We do not possess the letter which he was answering; we do not fully know the circumstances with which he was dealing; it is only from the letter itself that we can deduce the situation which prompted it. Before we can hope to understand fully any letter Paul wrote, we must try to reconstruct the situation which produced it.

The Ancient Letters

It is a great pity that Paulletters were ever called epistles. They are in the most literal sense letters. One of the great lights shed on the interpretation of the New Testament has been the discovery and the publication of the papyri. In the ancient world, papyrus was the substance on which most documents were written. It was composed of strips of the pith of a certain bulrush that grew on the banks of the Nile. These strips were laid one on top of the other to form a substance very like brown paper. The sands of the Egyptian desert were ideal for preservation, for papyrus, although very brittle, will last forever so long as moisture does not get at it. As a result, from the Egyptian rubbish heaps, archaeologists have rescued hundreds of documents, marriage contracts, legal agreements, government forms, and, most interesting of all, private letters. When we read these private letters we find that there was a pattern to which nearly all conformed; and we find that Paulletters reproduce exactly that pattern. Here is one of these ancient letters. It is from a soldier, called Apion, to his father Epimachus. He is writing from Misenum to tell his father that he has arrived safely after a stormy passage.

"Apion sends heartiest greetings to his father and lord Epimachus.

I pray above all that you are well and fit; and that things are

going well with you and my sister and her daughter and my brother.

I thank my Lord Serapis [his god] that he kept me safe when I was

in peril on the sea. As soon as I got to Misenum I got my journey

money from Caesar--three gold pieces. And things are going fine

with me. So I beg you, my dear father, send me a line, first to let

me know how you are, and then about my brothers, and thirdly, that

I may kiss your hand, because you brought me up well, and because

of that I hope, God willing, soon to be promoted. Give Capito my

heartiest greetings, and my brothers and Serenilla and my friends.

I sent you a little picture of myself painted by Euctemon. My

military name is Antonius Maximus. I pray for your good health.

Serenus sends good wishes, Agathos Daimonboy, and Turbo,

Galloniuson." (G. Milligan, Selections from the Greek Papyri,

36).

Little did Apion think that we would be reading his letter to his father 1800 years after he had written it. It shows how little human nature changes. The lad is hoping for promotion quickly. Who will Serenilla be but the girl he left behind him? He sends the ancient equivalent of a photograph to the folk at home. Now that letter falls into certain sections. (i) There is a greeting. (ii) There is a prayer for the health of the recipients. (iii) There is a thanksgiving to the gods. (iv) There are the special contents. (v) Finally, there are the special salutations and the personal greetings. Practically every one of Paulletters shows exactly the same sections, as we now demonstrate.

(i) The Greeting: Rom_1:1 ; 1Co_1:1 ; 2Co_1:1 ; Gal_1:1 ; Eph_1:1 ; Phi_1:1 ; Col_1:1-2 ; 1Th_1:1 ; 2Th_1:1 .

(ii) The Prayer: in every case Paul prays for the grace of God on the people to whom he writes: Rom_1:7 ; 1Co_1:3 ; 2Co_1:2 ; Gal_1:3 ; Eph_1:2 ; Phi_1:3 ; Col_1:2 ; 1Th_1:1 ; 2Th_1:2 .

(iii) The Thanksgiving: Rom_1:8 ; 1Co_1:4 ; 2Co_1:3 ; Eph_1:3 ; Phi_1:3 ; 1Th_1:3 ; 2Th_1:3 .

(iv) The Special Contents: the main body of the letters.

(v) Special Salutations and Personal Greetings: Rom 16 ; 1Co_16:19 ; 2Co_13:13 ; Phi_4:21-22 ; Col_4:12-15 ; 1Th_5:26 .

When Paul wrote letters, he wrote them on the pattern which everyone used. Deissmann says of them, "They differ from the messages of the homely papyrus leaves of Egypt, not as letters but only as the letters of Paul." When we read Paulletters we are not reading things which were meant to be academic exercises and theological treatises, but human documents written by a friend to his friends.

The Immediate Situation

With a very few exceptions, all Paulletters were written to meet an immediate situation and not treatises which he sat down to write in the peace and silence of his study. There was some threatening situation in Corinth, or Galatia, or Philippi, or Thessalonica, and he wrote a letter to meet it. He was not in the least thinking of us when he wrote, but solely of the people to whom he was writing. Deissmann writes, "Paul had no thought of adding a few fresh compositions to the already extant Jewish epistles; still less of enriching the sacred literature of his nation. He had no presentiment of the place his words would occupy in universal history; not so much that they would be in existence in the next generation, far less that one day people would look at them as Holy Scripture." We must always remember that a thing need not be transient because it was written to meet an immediate situation. All the great love songs of the world were written for one person, but they live on for the whole of mankind. It is just because Paulletters were written to meet a threatening danger or a clamant need that they still throb with life. And it is because human need and the human situation do not change that God speaks to us through them today.

The Spoken Word

One other thing we must note about these letters. Paul did what most people did in his day. He did not normally pen his own letters but dictated them to a secretary, and then added his own authenticating signature. (We actually know the name of one of the people who did the writing for him. In Rom_16:22 Tertius, the secretary, slips in his own greeting before the letter draws to an end). In 1Co_16:21 Paul says, "This is my own signature, my autograph, so that you can be sure this letter comes from me." (compare Col_4:18 ; 2Th_3:17 .)

This explains a great deal. Sometimes Paul is hard to understand, because his sentences begin and never finish; his grammar breaks down and the construction becomes involved. We must not think of him sitting quietly at a desk, carefully polishing each sentence as he writes. We must think of him striding up and down some little room, pouring out a torrent Paul composed his letters, he had in his mindeye a vision of words, while his secretary races to get them down. When of the folk to whom he was writing, and he was pouring out his heart to them in words that fell over each other in his eagerness to help.

INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS TO TIMOTHY AND TITUS

Personal Letters

1 and 2 Timothy and Titus have always been regarded as forming a separate group of letters, different from the other letters of Paul. The most obvious difference is that they, along with the little letter to Philemon, are written to persons, whereas all other Pauline letters are written to Churches. The Muratorian Canon, which was the earliest official list of New Testament books, says that they were written "from personal feeling and affection." They are private rather than public letters.

Ecclesiastical Letters

But it very soon began to be seen that, though these are personal and private letters, they have a significance and a relevance far beyond the immediate. In 1Ti_3:15 their aim is set down. They are written to Timothy "that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the Church of the living God." So, then, it came to be seen that these letters have not only a personal significance, but also what one might call an ecclesiastical significance. The Muratorian Canon says of them that, though they are personal letters written out of personal affection, "they are still hallowed in the respect of the Catholic Church, and in the arrangement of ecclesiastical discipline." Tertullian said that Paul wrote "two letters to Timothy and one to Titus, which were composed concerning the state of the Church (de ecclesiastico statu)." It is not then surprising that the first name given to them was Pontifical Letters, that is, written by the pontifex, the priest, the controller of the Church.

Pastoral Letters

Bit by bit they came to acquire the name by which they are still known--The Pastoral Epistles. In writing of I Timothy Thomas Aquinas, as long ago as 1274, said, "This letter is as it were a pastoral rule which the Apostle delivered to Timothy." In his introduction to the second letter, he writes, "In the first letter he gives Timothy instructions concerning ecclesiastical order; in this second letter he deals with a pastoral care which should be so great that it will even accept martyrdom for the sake of the care of the flock." But this title, The Pastoral Epistles, really became affixed to these letters in 1726 when a great scholar, Paul Anton by name, gave a series of famous lectures on them under that title.

These letters then deal with the care and organization of the flock of God; they tell men how to behave within the household of God; they give instructions as to how Godhouse should be administered, as to what kind of people the leaders and pastors of the Church should be, and as to how the threats which endanger the purity of Christian faith and life should be dealt with.

The Growing Church

The supreme interest of these letters is that we get in them a picture of the infant Church. In those early days it was an island in a sea of paganism. The people in it were only one remove from their heathen origin. It would have been so easy for them to relapse into the pagan standards from which they had come; the tarnishing atmosphere was all around. It is most significant that missionaries tell us that of all letters the Pastoral Epistles speak most directly to the situation of the younger Churches. The situation with which they deal is being re-enacted in India, in Africa, in China every day. They can never lose their interest because in them we see, as nowhere else, the problems which continually beset the growing Church.

The Ecclesiastical Background Of The Pastorals

From the beginning these letters have presented problems to New Testament scholars. There are many who have felt that, as they stand, they cannot have come directly from the hand and pen of Paul. That this is no new feeling may be seen from the fact that Marcion, who, although he was a heretic, was the first man to draw up a list of New Testament books, did not include them among Paulletters. Let us then see what makes people doubt their direct Pauline authorship.

In them we are confronted with the picture of a Church with a fairly highly developed ecclesiastical organization. There are elders (1Ti_5:17-19 ; Tit_1:5-6 ); there are bishops, superintendents or overseers (1Ti_3:1-7 ; Tit_1:7-16 ); there are deacons (1Ti_3:8-13 ). From 1Ti_5:17-18 we learn that by that time elders were even salaried officials. The elders that rule well are to be counted worthy of a double pay and the Church is urged to remember that the labourer is worthy of his hire. There is at least the beginning of the order of widows who became so prominent later on in the early Church (1Ti_5:3-16 ). There is clearly here a quite elaborate structure within the Church, too elaborate some would claim for the early days in which Paul lived and worked.

The Days Of Creeds

It is even claimed that in these letters we can see the days of creeds emerging. The word faith changed its meaning. In the earliest days it is always faith in a person; it is the most intimate possible personal connection of love and trust and obedience with Jesus Christ. In later days it became faith in a creed; it became the acceptance of certain doctrines. It is said that in the Pastoral Epistles we can see this change emerging.

In the later days men will come who will depart from the faith and give heed to doctrines of devils (1Ti_4:1 ). A good servant of Jesus Christ must be nourished in the words of faith and good doctrine (1Ti_4:6 ). The heretics are men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith (2Ti_3:8 ). The duty of Titus is to rebuke men that they may be sound in the faith (Tit_1:13 ).

This comes out very particularly in an expression peculiar to the Pastorals. Timothy is urged to keep hold of "the truth that has been entrusted to you" (2Ti_1:14 ). The word for that has been entrusted is paratheke (G3866). Paratheke means a deposit which has been entrusted to a banker or someone else for safe-keeping. It is essentially something which must be handed back or handed on absolutely unchanged. That is to say the stress is on orthodoxy. Instead of being a close, personal relationship to Jesus Christ, as it was in the thrilling and throbbing days of the early Church, faith has become the acceptance of a creed. It is even held that in the Pastorals we have echoes of the earliest creeds.

"God was manifested in the flesh;

Vindicated in the Spirit;

Seen by angels;

Preached among the nations;

Believed on in the world;

Taken up in glory" (1Ti_3:16 ).

That indeed sounds like the fragment of a creed to be recited.

"Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descended from

David, as preached in my gospel" (2Ti_2:8 ).

That sounds like a reminder of a sentence from an accepted creed.

Within the Pastorals there undoubtedly are indications that the day of insistence on acceptance of a creed has begun, and that the days of the first thrilling personal discovery of Christ are beginning to fade.

A Dangerous Heresy

It is clear that in the forefront of the situation against which the Pastoral Epistles were written there was a dangerous heresy which was threatening the welfare of the Christian Church. If we can distinguish the various characteristic features of that heresy, we may be able to go on to identify it.

It was characterized by speculative intellectualism. It produced questions (1Ti_1:4 ); those involved in it doted about questions (1Ti_6:4 ); it dealt in foolish and unlearned questions (2Ti_2:23 ); its foolish questions are to be avoided (Tit_3:9 ). The word used in each case for questions is ekzetesis (compare G1567 and G2214), which means speculative discussion. This heresy was obviously one which was a play-ground of the intellectuals, or rather the pseudo-intellectuals of the Church.

It was characterized by pride. The heretic is proud, although in reality he knows nothing (1Ti_6:4 ). There are indications that these intellectuals set themselves on a plane above the ordinary Christian; in fact they may well have said that complete salvation was outside the grasp of the ordinary man and open only to them. At times the Pastoral Epistles stress the word all in a most significant way. The grace of God, which brings salvation, has appeared to all men (Tit_2:11 ). It is Godwill that all men should be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (1Ti_2:4 ). The intellectuals tried to make the greatest blessings of Christianity the exclusive possession of a chosen few; and in contradistinction the true faith stresses the all-embracing love of God.

There were within that heresy two opposite tendencies. There was a tendency to asceticism. The heretics tried to lay down special food laws, forgetting that everything God has made is good (1Ti_4:4-5 ). They listed many things as impure, forgetting that to the pure all things are pure (Tit_1:15 ). It is not impossible that they regarded sex as something unclean and belittled marriage, and even tried to persuade those who were married to renounce it, for in Tit_2:4 the simple duties of the married life are stressed as being binding on the Christian.

But this heresy also issued in immorality. The heretics even invaded private houses and led away weak and foolish women in evil desires (2Ti_3:6 ). They professed to know God, but denied him by their deeds (Tit_1:16 ). They were out to impose upon people and to make money out of their false teaching. To them gain was godliness (1Ti_6:5 ); they taught and deceived for base gain (Tit_1:11 ).

On the one hand this heresy issued in an unchristian asceticism, and on the other it produced an equally unchristian immorality.

It was characterized, too, by words and tales and genealogies. It was full of godless chatter and useless controversies (1Ti_6:20 ). It produced endless genealogies (1Ti_1:4 ; Tit_3:9 ). It produced myths and fables (1Ti_1:4 ; Tit_1:14 ).

It was at least in some way and to some extent tied up with Jewish legalism. Amongst its devotees were those of the circumcision (Tit_1:10 ). The aim of the heretics was to be teachers of the law (1Ti_1:7 ). It pressed on men Jewish fables and the commandments of men (Tit_1:14 ).

Finally, these heretics denied the resurrection of the body. They said that any resurrection that a man was going to experience had been experienced already (2Ti_2:18 ). This is probably a reference to those who held that the only resurrection the Christian experienced was a spiritual one when he died with Christ and rose again with him in the experience of baptism (Rom_6:4 ).

The Beginnings Of Gnosticism

Is there any heresy which fits all this material? There is, and its name is Gnosticism. The basic thought of Gnosticism was that all matter is essentially evil and spirit alone is good. That basic belief had certain consequences.

The Gnostic believed that matter is as eternal as God; and that when God created the world he had to use this essentially evil matter. That meant that to them God could not be the direct creator of the world. In order to touch this flawed matter he had to send out a series of emanations--they called them aeons--each one more and more distant from himself until at last there came an emanation or aeon so distant that it could deal with matter and create the world. Between man and God there stretched a series of these emanations, each with his name and genealogy. So Gnosticism literally had endless fables and endless genealogies. If a man was ever to get to God, he must, as it were, ascend this ladder of emanations; and to do that he needed a very special kind of knowledge including all kinds of passwords to get him past each stage. Only a person of the highest intellectual calibre could hope to acquire this knowledge and know these passwords and so get to God.

Further, if matter was altogether evil, the body was altogether evil. From that, two opposite possible consequences sprang. Either the body must be held down so that a rigorous asceticism resulted, in which the needs of the body were as far as possible eliminated and its instincts, especially the sex instinct, as far as possible destroyed; or it could be held that, since it was evil, it did not matter what was done with the body and its instincts and desires could be given full rein. The Gnostic therefore became either an ascetic or a man to whom morality had ceased to have any relevance at all.

Still further, if the body was evil, clearly there could be no such thing as its resurrection. It was not the resurrection of the body but its destruction to which the Gnostic looked forward.

All this fits accurately the situation of the Pastoral Epistles. In Gnosticism we see the intellectualism, the intellectual arrogance, the fables and the genealogies, the asceticism and the immorality, the refusal to contemplate the possibility of a bodily resurrection, which were part and parcel of the heresy against which the Pastoral Epistles were written.

One element in the heresy has not yet been fitted into place--the Judaism and the legalism of which the Pastoral Epistles speak. That too finds its place. Sometimes Gnosticism and Judaism joined hands. We have already said that the Gnostics insisted that to climb the ladder to God a very special knowledge was necessary; and that some of them insisted that for the good life a strict asceticism was essential. It was the claim of certain of the Jews that it was precisely the Jewish law and the Jewish food regulations which provided that special knowledge and necessary asceticism; and so there were times when Judaism and Gnosticism went hand in hand.

It is quite clear that the heresy at the back of the Pastoral Epistles was Gnosticism. Some have used that fact to try to prove that Paul could have had nothing to do with the writing of them, because, they say, Gnosticism did not emerge until much later than Paul. It is quite true that the great formal systems of Gnosticism, connected with such names as Valentinus and Basilides, did not arise until the second century; but these great figures only systematized what was already there. The basic ideas of Gnosticism were there in the atmosphere which surrounded the early Church, even in the days of Paul. It is easy to see their attraction, and also to see that, if they had been allowed to flourish unchecked, they could have turned Christianity into a speculative philosophy and wrecked it. In facing Gnosticism, the Church was facing one of the gravest dangers which ever threatened the Christian faith.

The Language Of The Pastorals

The most impressive argument against the direct Pauline origin of the Pastorals is a fact which is quite clear in the Greek but not so clear in any English translation. The total number of words in the Pastoral Epistles is 902, of which 54 are proper names; and of these 902 words, no fewer than 306 never occur in any other of Paulletters. That is to say more than a third of the words in the Pastoral Epistles are totally absent from Paulother letters. In fact 175 words in the Pastoral Epistles occur nowhere else in the New Testament at all; although it is only fair to say that there are 50 words in the Pastoral Epistles which occur in Paulother letters and nowhere else in the New Testament.

Further, when the other letters of Paul and the Pastorals say the same thing they say it in different ways, using different words and different turns of speech to express the same idea.

Again, many of Paulfavourite words are absent entirely from the Pastoral Epistles. The words for the cross (stauros, G4716) and to crucify (stauroun, G4717) occur 27 times in Paulother letters, and never in the Pastorals. Eleutheria (G1657) and the kindred words which have to do with freedom occur 29 times in Paulother letters, and never in the Pastorals. Huios (G5207), "son," and huiothesia (G5206), "adoption," occur 46 times in Paulother letters, and never in the Pastorals.

Moreover, Greek has many more of those little words called particles and enclitics than English has. Sometimes they indicate little more than a tone of voice; every Greek sentence is joined to its predecessor by one of them; and they are often virtually untranslatable. Of these particles and enclitics there are 112 which Paul uses altogether 932 times in his other letters that never occur in the Pastorals.

There is clearly something which has to be explained here. The vocabulary and the style make it hard to believe that Paul wrote the Pastoral Epistles in the same sense as he wrote his other letters.

PaulActivities In The Pastorals

But perhaps the most obvious difficulty of the Pastorals is that they show Paul engaged in activities for which there is no room in his life as we know it from the book of Acts. He has clearly conducted a mission in Crete (Tit_1:5 ). And he proposes to spend a winter in Nicopolis, which is in Epirus (Tit_3:12 ). In Paullife as we know it that particular mission and that particular winter just cannot be fitted in. But it may well be that just here we have stumbled on the solution to the problem.

Was Paul Released From His Roman Imprisonment?

Let us sum up. We have seen that the Church organization of the Pastorals is more elaborate than in any other Pauline letter. We have seen that the stress on orthodoxy sounds like second or third generation Christianity, when the thrill of the new discovery is wearing off and the Church is on the way to becoming an institution. We have seen that Paul is depicted as carrying out a mission or missions which cannot be fitted into the scheme of his life as we have it in Acts. But Acts leaves it quite uncertain what happened to Paul in Rome. It ends by telling us that he lived for two whole years in a kind of semi-captivity, preaching the gospel without hindrance (Act_28:30-31 ). But it does not tell us how that captivity ended, whether in Paulrelease or his execution. It is true that the general assumption is that it ended in his condemnation and death; but there is a by no means negligible stream of tradition which tells that it ended in his release, his liberty for two or three further years, his reimprisonment and his final execution about the year A.D. 67.

Let us look at this question, for it is of the greatest interest.

First, it is clear that when Paul was in prison in Rome, he did not regard release as impossible; in fact, it looks as if he expected it. When he wrote to the Philippians, he said that he was sending Timothy to them, and goes on, "And I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself shall come also" (Phi_2:24 ). When he wrote to Philemon, sending back the runaway Onesimus, he says, "At the same time prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be granted to you" (Phm_1:22 ). Clearly he was prepared for release, whether or not it ever came.

Second, let us remember a plan that was very dear to Paulheart. Before he went to Jerusalem on that journey on which he was arrested, he wrote to the Church at Rome, and in that letter he is planning a visit to Spain. "I hope to see you in passing," he writes, "as I go to Spain." "I shall go on by way of you," he writes, "to Spain" (Rom_15:24 , Rom_15:28 ). Was that visit ever paid?

Clement of Rome, when he wrote to the Church at Corinth about A.D. 90, said of Paul that he preached the gospel in the East and in the West; that he instructed the whole world (that is, the Roman Empire) in righteousness; and that he went to the extremity (terma, the terminus) of the West, before his martyrdom. What did Clement mean by the extremity of the West? There are many who argue that he meant nothing more than Rome. Now it is true that someone writing away in the East in Asia Minor would probably think of Rome as the extremity, of the West. But Clement was writing from Rome; and it is difficult to see that for anyone in Rome the extremity of the West could be anything else but Spain. It certainly seems that Clement believed that Paul reached Spain.

The greatest of all the early Church historians was Eusebius. In his account of Paullife he writes: "Luke who wrote the Acts of the Apostles, brought his history to a close at this point, after stating that Paul had spent two whole years at Rome as a prisoner at large, and preached the word of God without constraint. Thus, after he had made his defence, it is said that the Apostle was sent again on the ministry of preaching, and that on coming to the same city a second time he suffered martyrdom" (Eusebius: Ecclesiastical History, 2.22.2). Eusebius has nothing to say about Spain, but he did know the story that Paul had been released from his first Roman imprisonment.

The Muratorian Canon, that first list of New Testament books, describes Lukescheme in writing Acts: "Luke related to Theophilus events of which he was an eye-witness, as also, in a separate place, he evidently declares the martyrdom of Peter (he probably refers to Luk_22:31-32 ); but omits the journey of Paul from Rome to Spain."

In the fifth century, two of the great Christian fathers are definite about this journey. Chrysostom in his sermon on 2Ti_4:20 says: "Saint Paul after his residence in Rome departed to Spain." Jerome in his Catalogue of Writers says that Paul "was dismissed by Nero that he might preach Christgospel in the West."

Beyond doubt a stream of tradition held that Paul journeyed to Spain.

This is a matter on which we will have to come to our own decision. The one thing which makes us doubt the historicity of that tradition is that in Spain itself there is not and never was any tradition that Paul had worked and preached there, no stories about him, no places connected with his name. It would be indeed strange if the memory of such a visit had become totally obliterated. It could well be that the whole story of Paulrelease and journey to the west arose simply as a deduction from his expressed intention to visit Spain (Rom 15 ). Most New Testament scholars do not think that Paul was released from his imprisonment; the general consensus of opinion is that his only release was by death.

Paul And The Pastoral Epistles

What then shall we say of Paulconnection with these letters? If we can accept the tradition of his release, and of his return to preaching and teaching, and of his death as late as A.D. 67, we might well believe that as they stand they came from his hand. But, if we cannot believe that--and the evidence is on the whole against it--are we to say that they have no connection with Paul at all?

We must remember that the ancient world did not think of these things as we do. It would see nothing wrong in issuing a letter under the name of a great teacher, if it was sure that the letter said the things which that teacher would say under the same circumstances. To the ancient world it was natural and seemly that a disciple should write in his mastername. No one would have seen anything wrong in one of Pauldisciples meeting a new and threatening situation with a letter under Paulname. To regard that as forgery is to misunderstand the mind of the ancient world. Are we then to swing completely to the other extreme and say that some disciple of his issued these letters in Paulname years after he was dead, and at a time when the Church was much more highly organized than ever it was during his lifetime?

As we see it, the answer is no. It is incredible that any disciple would put into Paulmouth a claim to be the chief of sinners (1Ti_1:15 ); his tendency would be to stress Paulholiness, not to talk about his sin. It is incredible that anyone writing in the name of Paul would give Timothy the homely advice to drink a little wine for the sake of his health (1Ti_5:23 ). The whole of 2Tim 4 is so personal and so full of intimate, loving details that no one but Paul could have written it.

Wherein lies the solution? It may well be that something like this happened. It is quite obvious that many letters of Paul went lost. Apart from his great public letters, he must have had a continuous private correspondence; and of that we possess only the little letter to Philemon. It may well be that in the later days there were some fragments of Paulcorrespondence in the possession of some Christian teacher. This teacher saw the Church of his day and his locality in Ephesus threatened on every side. It was threatened with heresy from without and from within. It was threatened with a fall away from its own high standards of purity and truth. The quality of its members and the standard of its office-bearers were degenerating. He had in his possession little letters of Paul which said exactly the things that should be said, but, as they stood, they were too short and too fragmentary to publish. So he amplified them and made them supremely relevant to the contemporary situation and sent them out to the Church.

In the Pastoral Epistles we are still hearing the voice of Paul, and often hearing it speak with a unique personal intimacy; but we think that the form of the letters is due to a Christian teacher who summoned the help of Paul when the Church of the day needed the guidance which only he could give.

FURTHER READING

Titus

D. Guthrie, The Pastoral Epistles (TC; E)

W. Lock, The Pastoral Epistles (ICC; G)

E. F. Scott, The Pastoral Epistles (MC; E)

E. K. Simpson, The Pastoral Epistles

Abbreviations

CGT: Cambridge Greek Testament

ICC: International Critical Commentary

MC: Moffatt Commentary

TC: Tyndale Commentary

E: English Text

G: Greek Text

Barclay: Titus 3 (Chapter Introduction)

The Christian Citizen (Tit_3:1-2)

The Double Dynamic (Tit_3:3-7)

Cause And Effect (Tit_3:3-7 Continued)

The Necessity Of Action And The Danger Of Discussion (Tit_3:8-11)

Final Greetings (Tit_3:12-15)

Constable: Titus (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Historical background

Paul may have visited Crete more than once. It seems unlikely that he would have had time to plant a church in Crete on his way to Rome as a prisoner (Acts 27:7-13, 21). One may have already been in existence then (cf. Acts 2:11). Perhaps Paul returned to Crete following his release from his first Roman imprisonment. In any case, he had been there and had instructed Titus to remain there when he departed (Titus 1:5).

Evidently Paul wrote Titus after he wrote 1 Timothy. Titus 3:12 seems to indicate that his plans were more settled than when he wrote 1 Timothy 3:14.¹

Titus was a Greek Gentile (Gal. 2:3). He had probably become a Christian under the influence of Paul and had become one of the apostle's protégés (Titus 1:4). Titus had been with Paul since the apostle's early ministry. He accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their mission of mercy to the Jerusalem church when Paul was laboring in Antioch of Syria, Titus' home. This happened before Paul's first missionary journey (Gal. 2:1; Acts 11:27-30). Titus was also Paul's special representative to the Corinthian church during Paul's third missionary journey. He carried the "severe letter" from Ephesus (2 Cor. 12:18; cf. 2 Cor. 2:3-4; 7:8-12) and returning to Ephesus through Macedonia met Paul in Macedonia (2 Cor. 7:6-16). He was, in addition, the leader of the group of men Paul sent to the churches in Macedonia and Achaia to pick up the collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem (2 Cor. 8:6, 16, 23).

"Tradition has it that Titus, having become first bishop of Crete, died there in advanced years. His successor, Andreas Cretensis, eulogized him in the following terms: The first foundation-stone of the Cretan church; the pillar of the truth; the stay of the faith; the never silent trumpet of the evangelical message; the exalted echo of Paul's own voice'."²

Paul left Titus in Crete to set the church there in order (Titus 1:5).³ However, he planned to send Artemas or Tychicus to relieve Titus so Titus could join Paul in Nicapolis for the winter (3:12). There were several towns with the name "Nicapolis" in Paul's arena of ministry. This one was probably the one in Illyricum (parts of modern Yugoslavia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and northern Albania) that lay east of northern Italy across the Adriatic Sea. When Paul wrote 2 Timothy, Titus was with him (2 Tim. 4:10, Dalmatia being another name for Illyricum). Perhaps Paul also wrote this letter from Nicapolis or maybe from Macedonia (1 Tim. 1:3) or some other place. A date between 62 and 66 A.D. seems a safe estimate for the time of its composition. Zenas and Apollos may have delivered this letter to Titus on Crete (Titus 3:13).

The churches on the island of Crete were unorganized, though there appear to have been Christians in many of its cities (1:5). Titus' task of setting the churches in order included dealing with false teachers (1:10-11). The Cretans had a reputation for being idle and somewhat corrupt (1:12). These traits apparently characterized some of the faithful as well as the false teachers (3:14). Part of Titus' task consisted of motivating them to change.

"Nowhere else does Paul more forcefully urge the essential connection between evangelical truth and the purest morality than in this brief letter."⁴

"The dominant theme in Titus, therefore, is good works (1:8, 16; 2:7, 14; 3:1, 8, 14), that is, exemplary Christian behavior and that for the sake of outsiders (2:5, 7, 8, 10, 11; 3:1, 8)."⁵

Message⁶

By way of review, in 1 Timothy we saw that the purpose of the local church is to be the supporting pedestal of God's truth. To fulfill this function each church needs proper organization. In Titus, Paul emphasized the importance of church organization. In 2 Timothy he emphasized the importance of church leadership.

It is significant that this letter deals with a church in a very difficult place, Crete (1:12-13a). It is also noteworthy that in this letter Paul revealed that Christians in this difficult place could adorn the doctrine of God (2:9-10). Even those Christians in the most trying of circumstances in that difficult place (i.e., slaves) can adorn the doctrine of God. To show the true spiritual power of the church God selected the most difficult soil. In this way the Holy Spirit teaches us that the church can fulfill its purpose in the most dark, desolate, difficult places on earth. He can do so even through people whose situations in life are the most trying.

The subject of revelation in the epistle is the true church of Jesus Christ. What Paul said about the church is that it must be orderly. We could write, "Let everything be done decently and in order," (1 Cor. 14:40) over this book.

First, Paul revealed the motive of church order, why the church must be orderly. It must be orderly because people must come to the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness (1:1; 1 Tim. 3:16). Godliness is the end product of the gospel. The mystery of godliness is what the church supports and displays to the world. The business of the church is to correct and convict those who speak against godliness (1:9). It does this by revealing God's truth. Its business is to counteract the influence of evil people (2:12).

The Cretans were liars (1:12). Christians are to live sensibly (2:12). Cretans were evil beasts. Christians are to live righteously. Cretans were lazy gluttons. Christians are to be godly. Negatively Christians do this by denying ungodliness and worldly lusts (2:12).

Second, Paul revealed the method of church order, how the church can be orderly. It is by the oversight of overseers (1:7). An overseer (elder) is by definition one who sees clearly what is going on. An overseer in the church needs to see three things clearly.

He must see God's truth clearly (1:9). He must know the Word of God.

He must also see the conditions in which the people under his care live. An elder who does not know what is going on in the lives of the Christians in his church cannot exercise oversight (1:9).

He must also see clearly the method of oversight God has prescribed. His duties include enunciating the truth (teaching), applying the truth (exhorting), and urging obedience to the truth (reproving; 2:15).

Third, Paul revealed the might of church order, what the church has that enables it to be orderly (2:11-14). The power of an ordered church lies in two "appearings." The first is the appearing of grace at the first advent. The second is the appearing of glory at the second advent. The revelation of the grace of God in the Cross should motivate the church. The revelation of the glory of God when Christ returns for us at the Rapture should also motivate the church. We gain motivation as we look backward and forward at our Lord's two appearings.

The appeal of Paul in this epistle is that the church be true to Jesus Christ. The church as a whole, individual Christians, and the church overseers each have a responsibility to this end.

First, the responsibility of the church as a whole (all Christians in a local church) is to adorn the doctrine (2:10). Paul commanded this of slaves. If they could do it, all others can. "Adorn" is a translation of the Greek word kosmeo from kosmos meaning order and beauty. The verb also occurs in Matthew 25:7 where it reads "trimmed." When we remove the burned off part of a wick, the flame burns brighter. Just so when we trim a life or a church of sin and encumbrances, it bears a brighter witness to Christ. This process of trimming is what it means to adorn the doctrine. To adorn means to set forth attractively, as a musician does who plays a piece of music beautifully. This is a corporate as well as an individual responsibility.

Second, the responsibility of the individual Christian is to maintain good works (3:8). This does not refer just to charity or philanthropy. It refers to doing truly noble and beautiful works from the best of motives (cf. Eph. 2:10).

Third, the duty of the overseer is to affirm the essentials of the faith confidently (3:8). G. Campbell Morgan wrote, "We do not help men and women to adorn the doctrine when we debate our doubts in their presence."⁷ We should preach our convictions, not our questions.

By way of application this epistle teaches several things.

First, the church will be powerful in the world to the extent that it reveals God's truth. Its influence does not lie primarily in its ability to lobby for political change. Its influence lies mainly in its ability to proclaim and demonstrate God's truth to the world.

Second, it teaches that church leaders must be people who are under the rule of God's truth. We should not select them because of their business experience, social influence, or wealth. It is the spiritual life of a man mastered by the truth of God that qualifies him for church leadership.

Third, this epistle teaches that the power of an overseer is that of God's truth, not that of his office. No real power comes because a person fills an office. Real power comes as a result of a person's example and words. A church's elders should be her most spiritually influential men.

Fourth, Titus teaches that the measure of the success of a church's overseers is the extent to which the church members fulfill their function in the world. The measure of success is not the number of people attending services. It is the number and effectiveness of people proclaiming God's truth in the world by their godly lives and verbal witness. How much ministry are the saints carrying on during the week?

The church then must be orderly so that it can fulfill its function, namely to proclaim God's truth in the world. This is a statement of the message of the book.

Constable: Titus (Outline)

Outline

I. Salutation 1:1-4

II. Instructions for setting the church in order 1:5-3:11

A. The appointment of elders 1:5-9

B. The correction of false teachers 1:10-16

C. The conduct of the saints 2:1-3:11

1. The behavior of various groups in the church 2:1-15

2. The behavior of all in the church 3:1-11

III. Conclusion 3:12-15

Constable: Titus

Titus

Bibliography

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_____. The Pastoral Epistles. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries series. London: Tyndale Press, 1964.

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: Titus (Book Introduction)

THE

EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL, THE APOSTLE,

TO TITUS.

INTRODUCTION.

The design of this epistle is much the same as in the two former to Timothy. He had made this his beloved son Titus, chief bishop of Crete; in which island were formerly a hundred cities, on which account it was called Hecatompolis. It is now called Candy. We have a commentary of St. Jerome on this epistle, tom. iv, p. 409. E. B. (Witham) --- Titus was an uncircumcised Gentile: we know not on what occasion he attached himself to St. Paul. It is however certain that he was a great utility to St. Paul in the government of the Church. --- St. Paul having preached the faith in the island of Crete, left his beloved Titus there to finish the work which he had begun. Afterwards the apostle, on a journey to Nicopolis, a city of Macedonia, wrote this epistle to Titus; in which he directs him to ordain bishops and priests for the different cities, shewing him the principal qualities necessary for the bishop, also gives him particular advice for his own conduct to his flock, exhorting him to hold to strictness of discipline, but seasoned with lenity. It was written about thirty-three years after our Lord's ascension. (Challoner)

====================

Gill: Titus (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO TITUS

Titus, to whom this epistle is inscribed, was a Greek, an uncircumcised Gentile, and so remained; nor did the apostle circumcise him, as he did Timothy, when he became his companion; nor did the apostles at Jerusalem oblige him to be circumcised, when Paul took him with Barnabas along with him thither, Gal 2:1. He was a man of great grace, and large gifts, and very dear to the apostle: he calls him his brother, his partner, and fellow helper, and says he walked in the same spirit, and in the same steps, 2Co 2:13. He was employed by the apostle much, and sent into various parts, on different occasions: he sent him to Corinth, to finish there the collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem, 2Co 8:6 and to Dalmatia, to know the state of the saints there, and to confirm them in the faith, 2Ti 4:10. As he was a Greek, so his name is a Greek name, yet used among the Romans, as Titus Vespasian, and others ^a; and among the Jews, so we read of R. Chijah bar ojyj, "Titas" ^b, and of R. Judah ben Titas ^c: when and where this epistle was written, is not very easy to determine; some think it was written between the first and second time the apostle was in bonds at Rome; and certain it is, that he was not in bonds when he wrote it, for he desires Titus to meet him at Nicopolis, Tit 3:19 from whence some have supposed it to be written, as the subscription shows; but others think it was wrote much earlier, and when the apostle was at Ephesus, towards the close of his three years stay there, before he went into Macedonia; but it seems rather that it was written when he returned from Macedonia into Greece: he left Titus at Crete, and staying in Greece three months, he intended to have sailed to Syria, but was prevented by the Jews lying in wait for him, upon which he steered his course to Macedonia again; and as he was going there, or when there, writes this letter to Titus, to come to him at Nicopolis. The occasion of it was partly the judaizing preachers, and false teachers, that got into that island, and were corrupting the principles of the people; and partly the unbecoming conversation and practices of some professors of religion: and whereas the apostle had left Titus in Crete, to finish what he had begun, and to put the churches in order, and see that they had proper officers, particularly pastors over them, that they might be taken care of, both with respect to doctrine and practice; the design of this epistle is to lay before Titus the several qualifications of a pastor, which might be instruction to him, and to the churches, in the choice and ordination of them; and to stir him up to zeal and diligence in refuting false teachers, and dealing with heretics; and to put him upon exhorting the saints to the discharge of their duty, in every branch of it, from the best principles, by arguments taken from the grace of God, and the doctrines of it. This epistle is supposed to be written about the year 55.

Gill: Titus 3 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO TITUS 3

In this chapter the apostle exhorts Titus to press various duties incumbent on Christians, with arguments engaging to them; gives him some directions about dealing with heretics, and some instructions about private matters, and particular persons, and closes it with salutations. And first, he charges him to put his hearers in mind of their duty, to be subject to civil magistrates, and readily perform whatever is right and proper for them to do; and to abstain from blaspheming and brawling, and to exercise gentleness and meekness to all men, Tit 3:1. The arguments inducing thereunto are taken partly from their former state and condition, while unregenerate: when they were as ignorant and as wicked as other men, they are exhorted to behave well to; and partly from the consideration of the salvation they were now partakers of, Tit 3:3 which leads on the apostle to give an account of its causes and means: the moving cause of it is the love and mercy of God; the way and means in which it is brought about, are not works of righteousness done by men, but the regenerating and renewing grace of the Spirit, which is plentifully bestowed through Jesus Christ the Saviour, and justification by the free grace of God, by virtue of which men become heirs unto, and have an hope of eternal life, Tit 3:4 which several blessings of grace should be constantly insisted on in the ministry of the word, in order to engage believers carefully to perform good works; and because such doctrines are good in themselves, and profitable to men; whereas questions, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law, are foolish, vain, and unprofitable, and to be avoided, Tit 3:8, wherefore an heretical man should be rejected from all Christian conversation and communion, after he has been admonished at least twice, seeing he is off of the foundation, has sinned, and is self-condemned, Tit 3:10. Next the apostle desires Titus to meet him at Nicopolis, where his design was to pass the winter, upon sending two ministering brethren to Crete, who are mentioned by name, Tit 3:12 and that he would accommodate two others, who are also named, with everything convenient for their journey, Tit 3:13 and charges him to exhort the brethren under his care to learn to be diligent and industrious in the performance of good works, which have their necessary uses, and prevent unfruitfulness, Tit 3:13. And the epistle is concluded with salutations, and the apostle's usual benediction, Tit 3:15.

College: Titus (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION

PLACE OF ORIGIN AND DATE

At the time of writing Titus, Paul was in or on his way to Nicopolis where he planned to spend the winter (3:12). Titus had been left at Crete to complete the work which he and Paul had begun (1:5). The only other reference to Crete in the New Testament occurs when Paul spent time at the harbor of Fair Havens (Acts 27:8). Because of the brevity of that stay, it is unlikely that Paul engaged in evangelistic work at that time. While it is possible that Paul completed evangelistic work in Crete during some of the gaps in Acts (cf. the details in 2 Cor 11:23-29 which are not narrated in Acts), it seems probable that Titus - like 1 Timothy - occurred after Paul's release from the "house arrest" of Acts 28:30 but before the later arrest assumed by 2 Timothy.

While Robinson argues for a date of A.D. 57 for Titus with Paul writing the work on his way to Jerusalem, thus finding a place for the book within the chronology of Acts, few scholars find this suggestion plausible. Those who hold that Titus is pseudonymous date the book in the second century (see on The Place of Origin and Date of 1 Timothy). Those who hold to Pauline authorship date the book before 2 Timothy and in the same time period as 1 Timothy, the mid 60s.

DESTINATION AND AUDIENCE

In contrast to the work at Ephesus where Timothy was working with an established church, Titus' task was to grow a church in a climate that was less than desirable. Timothy's task was to maintain a healthy eldership, but Titus was called upon to appoint elders for a young church.

Titus himself is not mentioned in the book of Acts. He was a Gentile and became Paul's test case for circumcision, securing for Gentiles a gospel separate from the law (Gal 2:1, 3). In all likelihood he was one of Paul's converts (Titus 1:4). He was probably a co-worker with Paul from the early years of Paul's ministry and, as such, was trusted with some very difficult situations (2 Cor 2:3-4, 13; 7:6-16; 8:16-24). After Titus and Paul had evangelized the island of Crete, Titus had been left to set things in order in the churches. He was soon to be replaced by Artemas and to join Paul in Nicopolis (Titus 3:12).

As Titus ministered to the church in Crete, he confronted hostile environs. This small island in the Mediterranean Sea was, at best, an outpost. Its inhabitants were known for their lying, gluttony, and laziness (Titus 1:12, 13).

THE CONTRIBUTION OF TITUS

Titus is very much like 1 Timothy. Only two passages (2:11-14; 3:3-7) have no corresponding material in 1 Timothy. Fee has noted that "Titus has often been viewed as a miniature 1 Timothy and, except for 2:11-14 and 3:3-7, has been treated with benign neglect." There are, however, some striking differences between Titus and 1 Timothy. First the church at Crete had only recently been established while the church at Ephesus had been in existence for some time. As Fee has noted, even the lack of urgency in terms of Paul's instructions to the young evangelist and in terms of the false teachers may indicate that he is preparing the evangelist and the church for what they may face rather than what they are already facing.

The dominant theme in Titus is good works (1:8, 16; 2:7, 14; 3:1, 8, 14). These good works will provide this young church and its minister with a means of affecting outsiders (2:5, 7, 8, 10, 11; 3:1, 8).

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

College: Titus (Outline)

OUTLINE

I. SALUTATION - 1:1-4

II. APPOINTING ELDERS - 1:5-16

A. Qualification of Elders - 1:5-9

B. Elders' Duty to False Teachers - 1:10-16

III. INSTRUCTIONS FOR VARIOUS GROUPS - 2:1-15

A. Behavior and Sound Doctrine - 2:1

B. Instructions for Older Men - 2:2

C. Instructions for Older Women - 2:3

D. Instructions for Younger Women - 2:4-5

E. Instructions for Younger Men - 2:6-8

F. Instructions for Slaves - 2:9-10

G. The Theological Basis for the Christian Life - 2:11-15

IV. STANDARDS FOR CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOR - 3:1-11

A. Respect for Government Authorities - 3:1

B. Respect for All - 3:2

C. The Theological Basis for Living with Non-Christians - 3:3-8

D. Final Warnings Concerning False Teachers and the Divisive - 3:9-11

V. PERSONAL DIRECTIONS AND CLOSING SALUTATIONS - 3:12-15

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV