Titus 3:12

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.

Titus 3:6

3:6 whom he poured out on us in full measure ¹  through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Titus 1:3

1:3 But now in his own time ²  he has made his message evident through the preaching I was entrusted with according to the command of God our Savior.

Titus 1:5

Titus’ Task on Crete

1:5 The reason I left you in Crete was to set in order the remaining matters and to appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

Titus 3:5

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,

Titus 2:12

2:12 It trains us ³  to reject godless ways ⁴  and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

Titus 2:14

2:14 He ⁵  gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, ⁶  who are eager to do good. ⁷ 

Titus 3:3

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.

Titus 3:15

3:15 Everyone with me greets you. Greet those who love us in the faith. ⁸  Grace be with you all. ⁹ 

Titus 3:4

3:4 ¹⁰  But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared,

Titus 3:7

3:7 And so, ¹¹  since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life.” ¹² 

Titus 1:4

1:4 To Titus, my genuine son in a common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior!

Titus 2:8

2:8 and a sound message that cannot be criticized, so that any opponent will be at a loss, ¹³  because he has nothing evil to say about us.

Titus 2:13

2:13 as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing ¹⁴  of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ 

Titus 3:14

3:14 Here is another way that our people ¹⁶  can learn ¹⁷  to engage in good works to meet pressing needs and so not be unfruitful.

Titus 2:10

2:10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, ¹⁸  in order to bring credit to ¹⁹  the teaching of God our Savior in everything.

Titus 3:8

Summary of the Letter

3:8 This saying ²⁰  is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on such truths, ²¹  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.

[3:6]  ¹ tn Or “on us richly.”

[1:3]  ¹ tn The Greek text emphasizes the contrast between vv. 2b and 3a: God promised this long ago but now has revealed it in his own time.

[2:12]  ¹ tn Grk “training us” (as a continuation of the previous clause). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 12 by translating the participle παιδεύουσα (paideuousa) as a finite verb and supplying the pronoun “it” as subject.

[2:12]  ² tn Grk “ungodliness.”

[2:14]  ¹ tn Grk “who” (as a continuation of the previous clause).

[2:14]  ² tn Or “a people who are his very own.”

[2:14]  ³ tn Grk “for good works.”

[3:15]  ¹ tn Or “faithfully.”

[3:15]  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.

[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.

[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…”

[3:7]  ² tn Grk “heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

[2:8]  ¹ tn Or “put to shame.”

[2:13]  ¹ tn Grk “the blessed hope and glorious appearing.”

[2:13]  ² tn The terms “God and Savior” both refer to the same person, Jesus Christ. This is one of the clearest statements in the NT concerning the deity of Christ. The construction in Greek is known as the Granville Sharp rule, named after the English philanthropist-linguist who first clearly articulated the rule in 1798. Sharp pointed out that in the construction article-noun-καί-noun (where καί [kai] = “and”), when two nouns are singular, personal, and common (i.e., not proper names), they always had the same referent. Illustrations such as “the friend and brother,” “the God and Father,” etc. abound in the NT to prove Sharp’s point. The only issue is whether terms such as “God” and “Savior” could be considered common nouns as opposed to proper names. Sharp and others who followed (such as T. F. Middleton in his masterful The Doctrine of the Greek Article) demonstrated that a proper name in Greek was one that could not be pluralized. Since both “God” (θεός, qeos) and “savior” (σωτήρ, swthr) were occasionally found in the plural, they did not constitute proper names, and hence, do fit Sharp’s rule. Although there have been 200 years of attempts to dislodge Sharp’s rule, all attempts have been futile. Sharp’s rule stands vindicated after all the dust has settled. For more information on Sharp’s rule see ExSyn 270-78, esp. 276. See also 2 Pet 1:1 and Jude 4.

[3:14]  ¹ tn Grk “that those who are ours” (referring to the Christians).

[3:14]  ² tn Grk “and also let our people learn.”

[2:10]  ¹ tn Or “showing that genuine faith is productive.” At issue between these two translations is the force of ἀγαθήν (agaqhn): Is it attributive (as the text has it) or predicate (as in this note)? A number of considerations point in the direction of a predicate ἀγαθήν (e.g., separation from the noun πίστιν (pistin) by the verb, the possibility that the construction is an object-complement, etc.), though is not usually seen as an option in either translations or commentaries. Cf. ExSyn 188-89, 312-13, for a discussion. Contextually, it makes an intriguing statement, for it suggests a synthetic or synonymous parallel: “‘Slaves should be wholly subject to their masters…demonstrating that all [genuine] faith is productive, with the result [ecbatic ἵνα] that they will completely adorn the doctrine of God.’ The point of the text, then, if this understanding is correct, is an exhortation to slaves to demonstrate that their faith is sincere and results in holy behavior. If taken this way, the text seems to support the idea that saving faith does not fail, but even results in good works” (ExSyn 312-13). The translation of ἀγαθήν as an attributive adjective, however, also makes good sense.

[2:10]  ² tn Or “adorn,” “show the beauty of.”

[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.

[3:8]  ² tn Grk “concerning these things.”