Titus 1:4

to Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the father and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior.

The character of the letter is immediately indicated by the expression of apostolic dignity combined with the glory of the evangelical ministry: Paul, a servant of God, but an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of the elect of God and the knowledge of truth which is in agreement with godliness. A servant of God the apostle calls himself, finding an especial distinction in connecting the idea of milling and humble service with the work of his office. For his is a ministry entrusted to him by God and in the interest of God's kingdom for the purpose of gaining souls for heaven. But not only does he bear this honoring distinction, it is rather his highest honor to be an apostle of Jesus Christ in the most restricted sense of the term. He furthermore explains his apostolic work and office as being in accordance with the faith of the elect of God and the knowledge of the truth which is in agreement with godliness. Paul himself possessed the faith which is peculiar to the elect of God, and this faith furnished both the motive and the power for the proper exercise of the duties which devolved upon him in this office. This faith is based upon the knowledge of the truth of the Gospel, of the salvation in Christ Jesus. It was no mere head-knowledge of which he speaks, for this would at best have made him a competent servant of men, but it was a grasping of the truth with spirit and mind, a realization of its wonderful blessings. The fact that the Word of the Gospel is the truth was his firm conviction, and he knew that this was in agreement with true piety. The pure doctrine of the Gospel and true righteousness of life are correlates; if a person has sincerely accepted the former, he will give evidence in his whole life of the latter.

The apostle gives a further characterization of his office: Upon the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the times of the world, but has revealed at His own time in the preaching with which I was entrusted according to the precept of God, our Savior. Paul is a servant of God and an apostle of Christ Jesus on the basis of the hope of eternal life, 1 Corinthians 15:14; 2 Timothy 1:1: Romans 6:22. The hope: the firm conviction of the certainty of salvation, fills the apostle with courage and joy and strength to fulfill the duties of his office properly. This hope of the Christians cannot fail, because God has already given the promise, and this promise is certain by virtue of his faithfulness and truth; for God cannot lie, Psalms 33:4. Before the times of this world, before the foundations of the earth were laid, from eternity, He gave a promise based upon the grace which He also granted in Christ Jesus, namely, to give eternal life to His own. This counsel of God, according to which He set forth eternal life as a prize or reward of merry, was then proclaimed. At His own time, in the fullness of time as determined by Him. He revealed His Word in the preaching of the Gospel as it was entrusted to Paul. This counsel and will had indeed been made known ever since the first announcement of the Savior's coming, in the Garden of Eden, but chiefly in type and prophecy. The full revelation came with the incarnation of Christ, Hebrews 1:1: Galatians 4:4, but particularly through the Gospel as preached by Christ and the apostles. The Word of the Gospel thus, as a true means of grace, actually transmits the true spiritual life from God, as the Source of all life. And God, who chose Paul to be His apostle, thereby entrusted him with the proclamation of this life-giving message. It was not his own choice, he did not seek the honor for himself, but now that it has been given to him, he emphasizes very strongly that he holds his office according to the precept or commandment of God, the Savior. It is the same thought which the apostle voices also in other passages of the Pastoral Letters. Titus, therefore, as the recipient of the letter, could claim for its contents apostolic and therefore divine authority. Note that the designation of God as the Savior serves as a tender invitation to all men not to regard Him as a stern Judge, whose greatest delight is the damnation of sinners, but as a loving Father in Christ Jesus, who wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Having established his authority and thus that of Titus as his representative in proclaiming the truths contained in this letter. Paul now addresses his pupil directly: To Titus, my true son according to the common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus, our Savior. It appears from these words that Titus had also been converted through the preaching of the great apostle, that he was his spiritual son. At the same time Paul's words indicate that Titus had his spiritual father's mind and spirit. Even though Titus, who was a descendant of Gentiles, had not grown up in the blessings of the Old Testament people, yet his relation to Paul was no less intimate for that reason. On the contrary, they are united by the bonds of the same faith, whose object is Christ the Savior, as revealed in the Gospel. And so Paul adds his apostolic salutation and wish that grace and peace from above might rest upon Titus. He is to become a partaker of the riches of God's grace and mercy, of the peace which belongs to the believers the reconciliation effected by Christ, and thus of the fullness of salvation. In calling God the Father and Christ Jesus the Savior, Paul again stresses the character of the Gospel as a message of redemption, as a proclamation of salvation, in the granting of which the Father and the Son are equally interested.