THE
PULPIT COMMENT ARY EDITED BY THE
VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D. DEAN OF GLOUCESTER
AND BY THE
REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A.
TITUS <!Etposition anti ~omilttirs BY THE RIGHT HON. AND RIGHT REV. LORD A. C. HERVEY, D.D. LORD DISHOP OF BATH .cl.~D WELLS
~omilits bl! W11tious xiutbors REV. PROF. T. CROSKERY, D.D. REV. D. THO:\L-\S, D.D. REV. W. M. STATHAM
NEW EDITION
FUNK & W AGNALLS COMP ANY LONDON AND NEW YORK 1913 THE EPISTLE OF
PAUL TO TITUS.
EXPOSITION. authors of these heresiea were chiPfly .Jew• CHAPTER I. (v.,,. 10), of whom there wao a con~idtr.. lde Vur. 1.-Knowledy• for acknowledging, coluny iii Crete (Co11ybee.re and Howson, A.V.; according to for after, A.V. A aer• vol. !i. p. 475; e.~d Le,vin, vol. ii. p. 337). Ao- vant of God (3ouAos e,ou); so in the super- cording to godliness (for the use of ,;,.-,13.,,. scriptions: Rom. i. 1 ; Phil. i. l, 3ouAos in the p.istoral Epistles, see 1 Tim. ii. 2; ·1.,,a-oii Xp,o-Toii; Jas. i. 1; 2 Pet. i. 1; Jude iii. 16; iv. 7, 8; vi. 11, 5, 6, 11; 2 Tim. iii. l; Rev. i. 1. St. Paul also calls himself 5, and notes). "the servant of Christ" (Gal. i. 10); and Ver. 2.-Who for that, A. V.; times eternal the phrase, 3oiiAov Kvp(ov, occurs in 2 Tim. ii. for the UIOTld began, A. V. In hope of eterua.l 24. But neither "servant of God" nor nny life. This seems to be a further description equivalent is in the superscription of either of the scope or sphere of the apostolate, I or 2 Timothy. " Servant" is a helter which, a• some take ••I, is baaed up,m the rendering than "slave," as Farrar renders hope of eternal life. Who oannot lie it. An apostle, etc. ; as in both 1 and 2 (ci,j,.u3;\s); here only in the New Testa- Timothy, and also in Rom. i. 1 ; l Cor. i. 1 ; ment, rarely in the LXX., but common in 2 Cor. i. 1, eto.; ah<Jwing that this is not classical Greek. The epithet is here used a private letter, bot a public and official to show the certainty of the fulfilment of dooument, conveying official nuthority to the pr?mise made be~~~e the ages (comp. Titus over the Church in Crete. Aooording Heb. v1. 18; Numb. x.xm. 19). Before timea to the faith of God'a eleot. The phrase is eternal (see 2 Tim. i. 9, note). The trans- peculiar to this passage, and the exe.ot force lation, " before times eternal," oonveys nu of ,cuTa. is not easy to determine (see Bishop sense ; x,,&1101 al~v,o, are " the times of ages Ellicott's notes, who renders 1CuTd "for," past " (Rom. xvi. 25), placed iD opposition and explains that "the faith of God'■ eleol to the ,ca,po! ,3,ol, or to tlie '' now " of 2 Tilll. ia the de■tination of the e.postleahip," with L 10, in whioh the manifestation of the the further explanation that this meaning promise took place. of HTd. is about equivalent to "with special Ver. 3.-Jn hu ou,,n '"°"°"" for 11ath i,. reference to," or "destination for," as its duo time•, A. V. ; in the me•oage for through object). It ia nearly the same thing to say preaching, A.V.; iohereurith J u,a,, entru,tod that the true faith, and the perfeot know- for whioh u committed unto me, A. V. In ledge of the truth, and the hope of eternal his own see.sons. The mlllgin, it, own •eaa011<1, life promised by God, are the sphere in is preferable (eee 1 Tim. ii. 7, note). The whioh the apostollo office moves and e.ots. phrase is equivalent to "the fulneso of " The faith of God'e elect," etc., eeems to the time" (Ge.I. iv. 4). Manifested his imply that there was in some who were not Word. There ie a ohonge of oonatructiou. oleot (1 John ii. 19, 20) a corruption of the " The relative sent.,nce passes almost im- faith, a departure from it-a faith that was perceptibly into a prin,nry sentence" (BuU- no faith, and something calling itself truth me.nn in Huther).; "his Word" becomes which was not "e.ocording to godliness," the object of the verb " me.de manifest," and IIO to point to rieing hereeie■. 1 The instead of" eternal life," as one would have expeoted. His Word is the whole revela- 1 Chry•uetom, however, un<leretands the tion of the gospel, including the Penon pbr&•", i&A118du T,js KaT" •~a-,{J,Cav, to ,lenote and work of Je■ ue Christ. Compare St. religioUB truth as distinguished fro11 any Pder'e address to ComeliUB (Aot.11 x. 36). other kind of troth. Thill " Word," whioh lay in the mind of God 'l'll'UII. • 2 THE EPISTLE TO TITUS. [OH, I, 1-16