Titus 1 - Introduction
Title The oldest known form is the briefest, To Titus. So also the subscription to the Epistle should run. Ch. 1. The Apostolate. Its Scope and Method... [ Continue Reading ]
Title The oldest known form is the briefest, To Titus. So also the subscription to the Epistle should run. Ch. 1. The Apostolate. Its Scope and Method... [ Continue Reading ]
Apostolic Greeting 1. _Paul, a servant of God_ A BOND-SERVANT (as R.V. margin) or SLAVE OF GOD; in St Paul's other uses of this word as his title it is -slave of Jesus Christ." The variation has been well pointed to as an evidence of genuineness; -a forger would not have made a deviation so very not... [ Continue Reading ]
_in hope of eternal life_ The force of this phrase -in hope" in N.T. is seen best from 1 Corinthians 9:10, -to plow in hope to thresh in hope of partaking," or Romans 4:18, -who in hope believed against hope." It stands strongly by itself with a verb of some _other_strong feeling or action, equivale... [ Continue Reading ]
_but hath in due times_ See note on 1 Timothy 6:15: and compare Galatians 6:9. The phrase may well be thought the Hellenistic equivalent of the more classical form with preposition and substantive alone, John 5:4; Romans 5:6 -in due season Christ died," in accordance with the growing use of _idios_,... [ Continue Reading ]
_to Titus_, mine _own son_ With R.V. render MY TRUE CHILD, as in 1 Timothy 1:2, where the force of the phrase is drawn out. On the connexion of Titus with St Paul see Introduction, p. 67 sqq. _after the common faith_ The insertion of -the" implies -the faith common to the Church, to believers gener... [ Continue Reading ]
Commission of Titus, generally, and in regard to Bishops or Presbyters 5. The salutation, which has laid down emphatically the principle of apostolical authority, is followed at once by an uncompromising assertion of the authority delegated to Titus, and its chief exercise by him in ordination. Not... [ Continue Reading ]
_if any be blameless, the husband of one wife_ -Blameless"; the word has occurred 1 Timothy 3:10, to the same effect as -without reproach" in 1 Timothy 3:2, that word describing a character -such as cannot be laid hold of," this denoting a life -such as cannot be called in question," Vulg. -sine cri... [ Continue Reading ]
_For a bishop must be blameless_ Or, as R.V., THE BISHOP. Both are correct and idiomatic; note on 1 Timothy 3:2. -Bishop" here is admitted to refer to the -presbyter" of Titus 1:5, -bishop" describing the nature of the duties assigned, viz. superintendence and pastoral oversight, while -presbyter" r... [ Continue Reading ]
_a lover of hospitality_ As in 1 Timothy 3:2, where its appropriateness to the times is explained. _a lover of good_men] An adjective occurring only in N.T. suggested by the similar compound preceding, as with the similar play of words 2 Timothy 3:4, -lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
_holding fast the faithful word_ Or, THE FAITHFUL SAYING, keeping the connexion with the technical phrase of these Epistles, 1 Timothy 1:15. -Though no one "faithful saying" is quoted, yet it may be used comprehensively of them all, and is here guaranteed by "the teaching" of the Apostle himself." D... [ Continue Reading ]
The unruly rival teachers are to be repressed 10. _many unruly_ Add MEN, leaving the pair of attributes to go together, as in the Pauline usage, EMPTY TALKERS AND DECEIVERS OF THE MIND. Both compounds occur only here in N.T.; but the substantive, meaning _vaniloquentia_, has occurred 1 Timothy 1:6,... [ Continue Reading ]
_whose mouths must be stopped_ The verb is so used in classical Greek often; the -stopping" must have reference to the -convict" of Titus 1:9; Titus 1:13. Compare the use of -to muzzle" in the Gospels, e.g. Mark 4:39, -Peace, _be still_," and 1 Peter 2:15, where the -ignorance of foolish men" is -to... [ Continue Reading ]
_One of themselves_ Rather, ONE OF THEM, there being nothing to indicate emphasis till the next two words come, A PROPHET OF THEIR OWN; the force is, -there is a Cretan saying and by a prophet of their own:" for the adjective see Titus 1:3. Epimenides was a poet priest and prophet of Gnossus in Cre... [ Continue Reading ]
_This witness is true_ Not to be taken, as Dr Farrar says, _au pied de la lettre_, as though the Cretans were indiscriminately wicked. Nor to be taken as authority for -scolding" in the modern sermon. The _spirit_of St Paul and of Titus must be taken with the _letter_: and the counsel of Bp Wilberfo... [ Continue Reading ]
_not giving heed to Jewish fables_ See note on 1 Timothy 1:4 and Introduction, pp. 45 sqq. -The old Judaism got itself entangled in a new Platonism. Those _endless genealogies_which had always charmed the Israelite, as he traced his own pedigree from Seth and Abraham and David, were now beginning to... [ Continue Reading ]
_Unto the pure all_things are _pure_ To the same effect as 1 Timothy 4:3-5. Cf. Matthew 15:2; Matthew 15:11 for the -wholesome words of Jesus Christ" on the same point. The _true_principle of lawful Christian abstinence is given (with the same phrase) Romans 14:20. -The "all things" are those which... [ Continue Reading ]
_They profess that they know God_ Vulg. -confitentur"; -profess" is retained by R.V., though its modern sense is more generally -pretend": the Greek is -openly acknowledge," and the word is used of those Books of the Bible which are -homologoumena," -fully acknowledged." This sense of -profess" rema... [ Continue Reading ]