Titus 1 - Nisbet James - Church Pulpit Commentary

Titus 1

¹ Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

² in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

³ but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;

⁴ to Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Stewards of God

⁵ For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:

⁶ if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.

⁷ For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;

⁸ but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;

⁹ holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.

¹⁰ For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:

¹¹ whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.

¹² One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.

¹³ This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;

¹⁴ not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.

¹⁵ Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.

¹⁶ They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

Titus 1

SERVANTS OF GOD

‘Paul, a servant of God.’

Tit 1:1 ‘Servant of God,’ ‘servant of Jesus Christ’—this is the title by which each one of the writers of the epistles of the New Testament describes himself in one place or another. The title indicates their work in life, the place they hold in the world, and the definite object to which all their powers and activity are devoted.

That distinct, definite character, which Scripture presents to us, when St. Paul calls himself the servant of God, may be shown under most opposite outward conditions. But under all the different forms it has essential and common features.

I. It is exclusive in its object and complete in its self-dedication.—St. Paul’s surrender of himself was unreserved.

II. It contemplates as the centre of all interest and hope, the highest object of human thought and human devotion, a presence beyond the facts of experience, the experience of the invisible God.

III. It accepts as the measure of its labour and its endurance the Cross of Jesus Christ.—For such a life a price had to be paid, and St. Paul’s price was the acceptance of the fellowship of the Cross of Christ. The likeness of the Cross pervades every life of duty and earnestness—in lifelong trouble, in bereavement, in misunderstanding, in unjust suffering, in weary labour, in failure and defeat—God’s proof and test of strength is laid upon us all.

Dean Church.

Illustration

‘There is no reason why, without extravagance, without foolish or overstrained enthusiasm, we should not still believe that a life like St. Paul’s is a natural one for a Christian to choose. We still reverence his words; and his words have all along the history of the Church found echoes in many hearts. There is a great past behind us; a past which is not dead, but lives—lives in every thought we think, and every word we speak, lives in our hopes, in our confidences and joy in life, lives in those high feelings which thrill and soothe us at the grave. May we not be unworthy of such a past!’