INTRODUCTION TO TITUS 3
In this chapter the apostle exhorts Titus to press various duties
incumbent on Christians, with arguments engaging to them; gives him
some directions about dealing with heretics, and some instructions
about private matters, and particular persons, and closes it with
salutati... [ Continue Reading ]
PUT THEM IN MIND TO BE SUBJECT TO PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS,.... Not
angels, good or bad, which are sometimes so called, but men in high
places; the higher powers ordained of God, as the apostle elsewhere
calls them; and which the Apostle Peter distinguishes into the king as
supreme, and into govern... [ Continue Reading ]
TO SPEAK EVIL OF NO MAN,.... As not of one another, so not of the men
of the world, to the prejudice of their names and characters, which
are tender things, and ought to be gently touched; nor of magistrates,
principalities, and powers, of persons in dignity and authority, which
the false teachers w... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE OURSELVES ALSO WERE SOMETIMES FOOLISH,.... Nothing has a
greater tendency to promote humility, and check pride in the saints,
than to reflect upon their past state and condition, what they
themselves once were; and this is a reason why magistrates, though
evil men, should be obeyed in things... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT AFTER THAT,.... After all this series and course of wickedness;
notwithstanding all this foolishness, disobedience, deception, bondage
to sin, envy, malice, and malignity; or "when" all this was, as the
word may be rendered, amidst all this iniquity; when these persons
were in the full career of... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT BY WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH WE HAVE DONE,.... The great
instance of the kindness and love of God our Saviour is salvation;
which the apostle denies that it is brought about by any works, even
the best works of men; for "works of righteousness" are works done
according to a righteous law, and... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH HE SHED ON US ABUNDANTLY,.... "Or richly"; either which love he
shed abroad in the hearts of those whom he regenerated and renewed by
his Spirit; or which water of regeneration, that is, grace, comparable
to water, he plentifully shed, and caused to abound where sin had
done; or rather whom, o... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT BEING JUSTIFIED BY HIS GRACE,.... This is another way and means,
as well as regeneration, by which God saves his people; for he saves
no unjustified ones; no unrighteous persons shall inherit the kingdom
of heaven; such as are without the wedding garment, and robe of
Christ's righteousness, sha... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS A FAITHFUL SAYING,.... Meaning the whole of what is before
expressed, concerning the state and condition of God's elect by
nature; the appearance of the love and kindness of God to them in the
effectual calling; the salvation of them, according to the mercy of
God, and not by works of righte... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT AVOID FOOLISH QUESTIONS,.... Such as were started in the schools
of the Jews; see 2 Timothy 2:23
AND GENEALOGIES; of their elders, Rabbins, and doctors, by whom their
traditions are handed down from one to another, in fixing which they
greatly laboured; see 1 Timothy 1:4 and contentions and str... [ Continue Reading ]
A MAN THAT IS AN HERETIC,.... An heretic, according to the notation of
the word, is either one that makes choice of an opinion upon his own
judgment, contrary to the generally received sense of the churches of
Christ, and prefers it to theirs, and obstinately persists in it;
separates from them, for... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOWING THAT HE THAT IS SUCH IS SUBVERTED,.... Or overturned and
demolished; he is like an edifice, that is not only decaying, and
falling, but is entirely everted, and pulled down; so that there is no
hopes of a restoration or recovery; he is in a desperate condition,
having opposed the person, or... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN I SHALL SEND ARTEMAS UNTO THEE, OR TYCHICUS,.... These were both
of them ministers of the Gospel; there is no mention of Artemas
anywhere else; some say he was one of the seventy disciples, and that
he was afterwards bishop of Lystra; but these are uncertain things;
Luke 10:1; the name is a con... [ Continue Reading ]
BRING ZENAS THE LAWYER,.... Whether he was brought up to the civil
law, either among the Greeks or Romans, is not certain; it may be he
was a Jewish lawyer, or scribe, an interpreter of Moses's law among
the Jews; for with them a lawyer and a scribe were one and the same,
as appears from Matthew 22:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND LET OURS ALSO LEARN TO MAINTAIN GOOD WORKS,.... By which are not
only meant honest trades, as some choose to render the words: it is
true, that a trade is a work; and an honest lawful employment of life
is a good work; and which ought to be maintained, attended to, and
followed, and to be learnt... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THAT ARE WITH ME SALUTE THEE,.... All the apostles, fellow
labourers, and the ministers of the Gospel that were with him; and all
the members of the church where he was, sent their Christian
salutation to Titus; he being a person greatly esteemed, and whose
praise was in all the churches:
GREET... [ Continue Reading ]