Titus 3:1,2
As your Cretan folk are naturally intractable, be careful to insist on obedience to the constituted authorities, and on the maintenance of friendly relations with non-Christians.... [ Continue Reading ]
As your Cretan folk are naturally intractable, be careful to insist on obedience to the constituted authorities, and on the maintenance of friendly relations with non-Christians.... [ Continue Reading ]
With these instructions as to duty towards civil authority, compare Romans 13:1 _sqq._, 1 Peter 2:13 _sqq_. It is perhaps significant of the difference between Crete and the province of Asia, as regards respect for law, that in 1 Timothy 2:1-3, reasons are given why we should pray for rulers, while... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀμάχους … ἐπιεικεῖς : coupled as qualifications of the episcopus, 1 Timothy 3:3. πᾶσαν πραΰτητα : _the greatest possible meekness_. Compare Ephesians 4:2; 1 Peter 3:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἦμεν γάρ ποτε καὶ ἡμεῖς : The connexion is: you need not suppose that it is hopeless to imagine that these wild Cretan folk can be reclaimed. We ourselves are a living proof of the power of God's grace. Ephesians 2:3 _sqq_. is an exact parallel. _Cf._ also 1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 5:8; Colossia... [ Continue Reading ]
Cretans who hear this epistle need not feel hurt as though I were thinking of them with exceptional severity. We were such ourselves until we came to know the love of God, unmerited and saving and sanctifying and perfecting.... [ Continue Reading ]
χρηστότης καὶ φιλανθρωπία : (_benignitas … humanitas_) is a constant combination in Greek. See many examples supplied by Field. Here it expresses the notion of John 3:16, οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον κ. τ. λ. and of Ephesians 2:4-6. Perhaps also, as von Soden suggests, the kindness of God is... [ Continue Reading ]
The ἡμεῖς and ἡμᾶς refer to the same persons as those mentioned in Titus 3:3, _i.e._, the apostles and those who have had a similar experience. The verse may be paraphrased as a statement of fact thus: God saved us by Baptism, which involves two complementary processes, (_a_) the ceremony itself whi... [ Continue Reading ]
οὗ ἐξέχεεν : Joel 3:1 (Joel 2:28) is the passage alluded to. _Cf._ in addition to reff. given above, Acts 10:45; Romans 5:5; Galatians 4:6. The οὗ refers of course to πνεύματ. ἁγ. by attraction, not to ἀνακαινώσεως. All gifts of the Holy Spirit that come through Jesus Christ are a continuation of th... [ Continue Reading ]
ἵνα, κ. τ. λ.: It is not quite certain, whether this expresses the object of ἐξέχεεν or of ἔσωσεν. The former connexion brings out best the climax of the passage. κληρονόμοι marks the highest point to which man can attain in this life. See reff. The two preceding stages are marked by λουτρὸν παλινγε... [ Continue Reading ]
πιστὸς ὁ λόγος. Here it is evident that ὁ λόγος does not refer to any isolated Saying, but to the doctrinal statement contained in Titus 3:4-7 regarded as a single concept as we, when we speak of _The Incarnation_, sum up in one term a whole system of theology while τούτων refers to the various topi... [ Continue Reading ]
To sum up what I have been saying: Belief in God is not a matter of theory or of speculation, but of practice; it must be accompanied by good works. This true religion unites the beautiful and the profitable. On the other hand, foolish speculations and controversies about the law are profitless and... [ Continue Reading ]
ζητήσεις and γενεαλογίαι are associated together in 1 Timothy 1:4 (where see notes). Here they are co-ordinated; there the γενεαλογίαι are one of the sources whence ζητήσεις originate. The nature of the ἔρεις here deprecated is determined by the context. ἔρεις indicate the spirit of contentiousness;... [ Continue Reading ]
αἱρετικὸν ἄνθρωπον : St. Paul passes from the reprehensible opinions to the man who propagates them. He is the same kind of man as the φιλόνεικος of 1 Corinthians 11:16; or “he that refuseth to hear the church” of Matthew 18:17; he is of “them which cause divisions and occasions of stumbling,” Roman... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰδώς : _since thou mayest know_. ἐξέστραπται : _subversus est_. Argument with a man whose basal mental convictions differ from your own, or whose mind has had a twist, is mere waste of breath. αὐτοκατάκριτος : _proprio iudicio condemnatus_ (Vulg.). He is self-condemned because his separation from... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅταν πέμψω πρός σε : It is natural to suppose that Artemas or Tychicus would take the place of Titus as apostolic legate in Crete. This temporary exercise of apostolic superintendence marks a stage in the development of monarchical local episcopacy in the later sense. Ἀρτεμᾶν : The name is “Greek,... [ Continue Reading ]
Come to me, as soon as you can be spared. Forward Zenas and Apollos. Let our friends in Crete remember that fruitfulness in good works is the one thing needful for them.... [ Continue Reading ]
νομικόν : In the absence of any example of this word being used as the equivalent of _legisperitus_ (Vulg.), _jurisconsultus_ or _jurisperitus_, it seems best to assume that Zenas was a νομικός in the usual N.T. sense, an expert in the Mosaic Law. Ἀπολλὼν : For Apollos, see article in Hastings' _D.... [ Continue Reading ]
The δέ does not mark an antithesis between οἱ ἡμέτεροι and the persons who have just been mentioned, but is rather resumptive of Titus 3:8; repeating and emphasising at the close of the letter that which St. Paul had most at heart, the changed lives of the Cretan converts. οἱ ἡμέτεροι of course mean... [ Continue Reading ]
Final Salutation. οἱ μετʼ ἐμοῦ : The preposition is different elsewhere in Paul: οἱ σὺν ἐμοὶ πάντες ἀδελφοί, Galatians 1:2; οἱ σὺν ἐμοὶ ἀδελφοί, Philippians 4:21. οἱ μετʼ αὐτοῦ is a constant phrase in the Synoptists. There is a similar use of μετά in Acts 20:34 (a speech of St. Paul's), and in 2 Ti... [ Continue Reading ]