The Pulpit Commentary — Titus — Section 16

tbey have the goepel eent to them, and not others? Ask why some ehould inherit health, otheI'I! disease; eorne wealth, oth~rs poverty; some intellectual powers of a high order, others minds but little removed from brute intelligence. "AJI these worlieth the eeltsnme Spirit, devising to every man severally as he will." Now, to further and promote fe.ith among those to whom the gospel goes is one of its grand purposes. (t) As the promotion of the knowledge "of the truth which is after [according to] godli- ness." More accurately rendered, "The knowled~e of the truth which is beside, or which leadeth to godliness'' (Ellicott). The grand purpose here indicated seems to be t.ba1 all who are divinely favoured with the gospel should so believe it, and practise it, that they may become godly in their lives. What a sublime design is this, to make men God-like I Or, as it is expressed in the next chapter, "The grace of God bath appeartd t,, all meri, teaching ue that, denying worldly lusts, we should live soberly, rig:htenusly, and godly in this present world." 2. An enterprise employing the highest huma11 agency. "Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ," "Paul's mode of designating himself here," says Dr. Fairbairn, "does not exactly coincide with his torm of expression in any other Epistle. Elsewhere he calls himself a servant, a bondman or Christ (Rom. i. 1; Gal. i. 10; Phil. i. 1; Col. iv. 12), but here only of God. A noteworthy variation, not on its own account, but as a mark of genuineness; lor it is impos,ible to conceive what motive could have induced any imitator to depart in such a mann'"r from the apostle's usual phraseology. The 61 coupling his calling as an apostle of Christ with his relation to God as a servant, cannot be taken in an adver- sative sense, for there is really no opposition; but it is used, as not unfrequently, to subjoin eomething new, different ancl. distinct from what precedes, though not strictly opposed to it." Paul was one of the greatest of men. In natural endowments, pene- trating insight, vigour of thought, logical force, and rhetorical aptitude, be had in his a.ge but few equals. His acquirements, too, were great. Brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, acquainted with Grecian culture, and master of rabbinic law, he could stand side by side with ,he greatest reasoners, sages, and orators of his time. But, beyond all this, be was specially called and qualified by God for propagating the gospel of his Son. There is no enterprise on this earth demanding a higher kind of human agency than the gospel, nor (notwithstanding the mental feeblenes8 and the moral meanness , f the thousands in every age who have worked, and are working, in connection with it) can there be fuund a higher class of men, both intellectual and moral, than somt. who have been, and still are, employed in indoctrinating men with tbe truths of the gospel II. As A TRANSCENDENT PROMIBE. .. In hope of eternal life, which God, that [who] cannot lie, promised before the world began [times eternal]." Tbis promise is: 1. Transcendent in value. " Eternal life.'' Tbis means something more than an endless existence. An intermi11e.ble existence might be an interminable curse. lt means not only an existencp without end. but an existence without evil, without sin, error, sorrow, miser:}', Ay, and more than this, an endless existence in connection with good, and with good only, witb knowledge, holiness, liberty, an<l companionship with the best crested spirits, and wi1h the great God himself. Eternal life is eternal goodness. 2. Transce11dent in certitude. It is made by God, " that cannot lie." Are not all things possible witb him? Yes, in what may be. called a physical sense. It is possible lor bim to destroy, in the twinkling of an eye, the present creation, and to produce a new one. But, in a mO'f'al eense, there is an impokncy. His "cannot" here is his will not, and his "will not" is his glory. A higher eulogy you cannot pronounce on any man than to say be cannot be ungenerous, he cannot be false, he cannot be unjust, he cannot be dishonourabl,·. Inability to do wrong is the glory of the Infinite. This promise, then, cannot fail; it must be realized. "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away." 3. Transcen,lent in age. "Promised before the worl<l began [times eternal]." When was that? Before tbe foundation of the earth was laid, or the wlH els of time began their revolutions. Wt,en he occupied the '>oundlessness of immensity alone. Tbe gospel is an old promise: the Lamb we.s ~t,i."n "Lei<1re th,-foumlation ,:f the warld." The gospd is not a threat, but a promise. Ill. As A GRADCAL l!EVELATION. "But bath in due times [in his owu seasons) auu.ife~ted his Wurd throu~h preaciiing, [in the message] which is committe,l unto me fwli,·rtwiLI, I 11.1, P11t1 u,.tu-1] according to the co1111Da11d111ent of Gud our S,iviour." OB, L 1-16.] THE EPISTLE TO TITUS. 19