Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Titus 1:6

εἴ τις ἐστὶν�. If any man has nought laid to his charge. No suggestion as to the scarcity of such persons can be founded on the form of the sentence εἴ τις κ.τ.λ.; cp. e.g. 2 Corinthians 11:20. The list of qualifications, negative and positive, which follows, should be compared with the list in 1 Timothy; see on 1 Timothy 3:2 ff.

μιᾶς γυναικὸς�. As at 1 Timothy 3:2, this is desirable because the ἐπίσκοπος is to be ἀνέγκλητος; see the note on that passage.

τέκνα ἔχων πιστά, having believing children; the emphasis is on πιστά. It is not the fact that the ἐπίσκοπος has children that is important, but that if he has children they should be professing Christians and of good behaviour. See 1 Timothy 3:4-5 and the notes thereon.

It has been suggested that this qualification marks the fact that Christianity had been established for some time in Crete, as Christians of the second generation are contemplated, and that thus it corresponds (in a measure) to μὴ νεόφυτον of 1 Timothy 3:6. But this is to miss the point, which is merely a further provision that the ἐπίσκοπος shall be ἀνέγκλητος. We have no knowledge as to when the Gospel reached Crete; quite possibly it was carried there by some of those Cretans who heard it preached on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:11).

μὴ ἐν κατηγορίᾳ�, who are not accused of dissoluteness. For ἀσωτία cp. Ephesians 5:18 and 1 Peter 4:4; the Prodigal Son lived ἀσώτως (Luke 15:13). The word signifies every kind of riotous and profligate living. ἄσωτος γὰρ, says Aristotle, ὁ διʼ αὑτὸν� (Nic. Eth. IV. 1. 5).

ἢ�, or insubordinate. See, for the reason of this, 1 Timothy 3:5 and the note thereon. For the word ἀνυπότακτος see on 1 Timothy 1:9.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Titus 1:6

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