Titus 3

Tit 3:1-15.

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.

1. Put them in mind--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.

to be subject--"willingly" (so the Greek).

principalities . . . powers--Greek,

"magistracies . . . authorities."

to obey--the commands of "magistrates"; not necessarily

implying spontaneous obedience. Willing obedience is

implied in "ready to every good work." Compare

Ro 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).

2. To speak evil of no man--especially, not of "dignities" and

magistrates.

no brawlers--"not quarrelsome," not attacking others.

gentle--towards those who attack us. Yielding, considerate, not

urging one's rights to the uttermost, but forbearing and kindly (see on

Php 4:5).

Very different from the innate greediness and spirit of

aggression towards others which characterized the Cretans.

showing--in acts.

all--all possible.

meekness--(See on

2Co 10:1);

the opposite of passionate severity.

unto all men--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.

3. For--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."

we--Christians.

were--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.

sometimes--once.

foolish--wanting right reason in our course of living. Irrational.

The exact picture of human life without grace. Grace is the sole remedy

for foolishness.

disobedient--to God.

deceived--led astray. The same Greek, "out of the way"

(Heb 5:2).

serving--Greek, "in bondage to," serving as

slaves."

divers--The cloyed appetite craves constant variety.

pleasures--of the flesh.

malice--malignity.

hateful . . . hating--correlatives. Provoking the

hatred of others by their detestable character and conduct, and in turn

hating them.

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.

kindness--Greek, "goodness," "benignity," which manifests His

grace.

love . . . toward man--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.

of God our Saviour--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).

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

5. Not by--Greek, "Out of"; "not as a result springing

from works," &c.

of righteousness--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].

we--emphatically opposed to "His."

mercy--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).

the washing--rather, "the laver," that is, the baptismal font.

of regeneration--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

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

Ga 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,

Mt 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.

and renewing--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).

6. Which--the Holy Ghost.

he shed--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.

abundantly--Greek, "richly"

(Col 3:16).

through Jesus Christ--the channel and Mediator of the gift of the

Holy Ghost.

our Saviour--immediately; as the Father is mediately "our Saviour."

The Father is the author of our salvation and saves us by Jesus Christ.

7. That, &c.--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."

his grace--Greek, "the grace of the former," that

is, God

(Tit 3:4;

Ro 5:15).

heirs--

(Ga 3:29).

according to the hope of eternal life--

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.

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."

these things, &c.--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).

These things--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).

9. avoid--stand aloof from. Same Greek, as in

2Ti 2:16;

see on

2Ti 2:16.

foolish--Greek, "insipid"; producing no moral fruit. "Vain

talkers."

genealogies--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')."

strivings about the law--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."

10. heretic--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.

reject--decline, avoid; not formal excommunication, but, "have

nothing more to do with him," either in admonition or intercourse.

11. is . . . subverted--"is become perverse."

condemned of himself--He cannot say, no one told him better:

continuing the same after frequent admonition, he is self-condemned.

"He sinneth" wilfully against knowledge.

12. When I shall send--have sent.

Artemas or Tychicus--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.

Nicopolis--"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.

13. Bring . . . on their journey--Enable them to

proceed forward by supplying necessaries for their journey.

Zenas--the contracted form of Zenodorus.

lawyer--a Jewish "scribe," who, when converted, still retained the

title from his former occupation. A civil lawyer.

Apollos--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.

14. And . . . also--Greek, "But . . .

also." Not only thou, but let others also of "our" fellow

believers (or "whom we have gained over at Crete") with thee.

for necessary uses--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."

15. Greet--"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.

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

with you all--not that the Epistle is addressed to all the

Cretan Christians, but Titus would naturally impart it to his flock.

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