INTRODUCTION TO TITUS 1 This chapter contains the inscription of the epistle, the apostle's salutation and preface to it; an account of the qualifications of an eider, or pastor of a church; a description of these teachers; and a charge to Titus to rebuke the Cretians for their errors and immoralit... [ Continue Reading ]
PAUL, A SERVANT OF GOD,.... So James styles himself, James 1:1 and others of the apostles, as Peter and Jude, call themselves the servants of Jesus Christ; and as does the Apostle Paul also; and both seem to be esteemed by them as high characters and titles of honour, by which they chose to be descr... [ Continue Reading ]
IN HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE,.... Or "for the hope of eternal life"; in order to bring souls to the hope of it. This is another end of the Gospel ministry, as to bring God's elect to faith in Christ, and to the knowledge and acknowledgement of the truth, as it is in Jesus, so to the hope of eternal glory... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HATH IN DUE TIMES MANIFESTED HIS WORD,.... Either Christ, his essential Word; or the word of truth, the Gospel of salvation; or rather his word of promise of eternal life in Christ Jesus: THROUGH PREACHING; through the ministry of the word by the apostles; in which Christ is revealed in the glo... [ Continue Reading ]
TO TITUS, MINE OWN SON AFTER THE COMMON FAITH,.... Not in a natural, but in a spiritual sense; the apostle being the instrument of his conversion, as he was of the conversion of Onesimus, and of many of the Corinthians, and therefore is said to beget them, Philemon 1:10 and so was their spiritual fa... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THIS CAUSE LEFT I THEE IN CRETE,.... Not in his voyage to Rome, Acts 27:7 but rather when he came from Macedonia into Greece, Acts 20:2. Crete is an island in the Mediterranean sea, now called Candy; Acts 2:11. Here Paul preached the Gospel to the conversion of many; but not having time to finis... [ Continue Reading ]
IF ANY BE BLAMELESS,.... In his outward life and conversation, not chargeable with any notorious crime; 1 Timothy 3:2, THE HUSBAND OF ONE WIFE; 1 Timothy 3:2: HAVING FAITHFUL CHILDREN; legitimate ones, born in lawful wedlock, in the same sense as such are called godly and holy, in Malachi 2:15 1... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR A BISHOP MUST BE BLAMELESS,.... This shows that a bishop and an elder is the same; and the Syriac version here renders it, "an elder"; the character or qualification necessary to him is the same as before, and in like manner to be understood; unless it should more particularly refer to his faith... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT A LOVER OF HOSPITALITY,.... 1 Timothy 3:2 A LOVER OF GOOD MEN, or "of good"; the Syriac version renders it, "of good things"; as prayer, preaching, reading, meditation, spiritual conversation, and every religious exercise: or "of good men"; for such an elder or bishop has chiefly to do and conv... [ Continue Reading ]
HOLDING FAST THE FAITHFUL WORD,.... The doctrine of the Gospel, so called because it is true, and to be believed; it is the word of truth, and truth itself, and contains nothing but truth; and because it never deceived any, that gave credit to its doctrines, and its promises; and because it is pure,... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THERE ARE MANY UNRULY,.... Persons who are not subject to the law of God, or Gospel of Christ; whose spirits are not subject to the prophets; and who will not submit themselves to them that have the rule over them, nor attend to the admonitions of the church, nor be brought into any regularity a... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSE MOUTHS MUST BE STOPPED,.... Or they be silenced, by reasons and arguments fetched out of the word of God; as were the Sadducees and Pharisees by Christ, so that they durst ask him no more questions; and as the Jews at Damascus were by Saul, who confounded them, proving in the clearest and stro... [ Continue Reading ]
ONE OF THEMSELVES, EVEN A PROPHET OF THEIR OWN,.... This was Epimenides, in whose poems stand the words here cited; the apostle rightly calls him "one of themselves", since he was a Cretian by birth, of the city of Gnossus; it is reported of him, that being sent by his father to his sheep in the fie... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS WITNESS IS TRUE,.... The apostle confirms what the poet had said; he knew it to be fact from his own experience, and by the observation he had made when in the island: he does not say, that all that Epimenides had said, in the poem referred to, was true; but this character, which he had given o... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT GIVING HEED TO JEWISH FABLES,.... Concerning God himself, the angels, and the creation of man; concerning the giving of the law at Mount Sinai; concerning the Messiah and his earthly kingdom, and the feast that will be made for the righteous in his days, which will consist of flesh, fish, and fo... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO THE PURE ALL THINGS ARE PURE,.... The apostle having made mention of Jewish fables, and the traditions of the elders, takes notice of some darling notions, that these judaizing Christians had imbibed or retained; that there were some things, which being touched, or handled, or tasted, occasione... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY PROFESS THAT THEY KNOW GOD,.... That there is a God; that there is but one, only, true, and living God, the God of Israel, as professed by the Jews; and that this God is Father, Son, and Spirit, as believed by the Christians: for the persons the apostle speaks of were judaizing Christians. Yet... [ Continue Reading ]