The Pulpit Commentary — Titus — Section 25

for the gloriom appearmg of the great God, sentences, where K6pw• is used as our Lord'■ 11fldour8at1iour, A.V. Looking for(,rpauB,x6- title, an exactly similar construction to that l'•va1); the word commonly applied to wo.it- in the text is employed, as 2 These. i. 12; ing for the kingdom of God (Mark xv. 43; 2 Pet. i. I; 2 Cor. i. 2; Gal. i. 3; Eph. i. 2; Luke ii. 25, 38; xii. 36 ; xxiii. 51 ; Jude vi. 23, etc. He also observes, arter Winer. 2 I). The blessed hope. The hope here that I he insertion of f,µ.&,v after ::.wTiipo, is means the thing hoper! for, as in Acts xxiv. an additional reason for the omission or the 14 (where both the subjective hope and the article before ::;;,.,.,.71pa,, as in Luke i. 78; thing hoped for are included); Go.l. v. 5; Rom. i. 7; 1 Cor. i. 3, and elsewhere; and Col. i. 5 (comp. too Rom. viii. 24, 25). tl,at the epithet µ..-yd.A.au prefixed to 0•ov Here the hope is called em phe.tice.lly " the m:i l·c., it still more difficult to connect e.,,;; blessed hope," the hope of Christ's aecon,l with .Zw-r7}pos- 1]µ.ii,v 'hJO"oV Xp,<TToll; and coming in glory, that hope which la the joy lastly, he compares this passage with I Tim. and life, the strength and comfort, of every ii. 3, 5. 6, and thinks the conclusion inevi- Christian soul. This is the, only place in table that the apostle, writing two sentences the New Testament where v.aK&pw, is BO closely corresponding-writte11, it may be applied to an object which does not itself added, so near to one another in time- enjoy the blessing, but is a source of ble,a- would have had in view, in both passages, ing to others. Of the fifty passages where the same distinc:tion of persons wh;ch is so it occurs it is applied in forty-three to strongly marked in l Tim. iii. 3, 5_ On persona, twice to God, three times to parts these grounds he pronounces against the of the body (the Virgin's womb, and the rendering which is adopted by the Reviser! eyes and ears of those who saw and heard Version. Huther's conclusion is the same; Christ), once· impersonally (" It is more partly from the grammatice.l possibility of blessed to give," etc., Acts xx. 35 ), and once, two subjects (here ®•av and 'h1uav Xp«rTa,,) in this passage, to the hope. And ·appearing having only one article, which leaves the of the glory. In construing this clause, as question of whether there are here rme or well as the following, the ea.me difficulty two subjects to be decided on other grounds occurs. There is only one article to the than simple grammar; and parlly and two subjects. The question arises-Can chiefly from the donble consideration tha: two different subjects stand under one (I) nowhere in :Scripture is ®••• connected article? Hutber affirms that they ce.n, and directly with l710-00, XpurT&., as Kvp,o, anrl refers forprooftoButtman and Winer; and, ::iwT,jp so often are; and (2) that the col loca- indeed, it is impossible to treat "the hope" tion of God (0•6s) and Christ as two subjects and the "appearing" as one subject. Ac- is of constant occurrence, a.s e.g. 1 Tim. i. cepting this, the clause before us should be 1, 2; v. 21; vi. 13; 2 Tim. i. 2; iv_ I ; Titus rendered, Looking for the blessed hope, and i. 4; to which may probably be added 2 the appearing of the gl.ory of the great God. Pet. i. l; Jude 4; 2 Th, sa. i. 12; he de- 'l'his is a desoription of the second coming cides, surely rightly, that the clause should of the Lord, of whom it is expressly said be rendned, the great God and our Safliour that he will "come in the glory of his Jesus Christ. Another question arises whether Father" (Matt. xvi. 27; Mark viii. 38). the glory belongs to both subjects. Pro- 'l'he appearing of Christ will be the appear- bably, though not necessarily, it does, since ing of the glory of the great God, not the we are told in Matt. xvii 27 that " the Son appearing of God the Father, to whom the of man shall cAme in the glory of the term ,,,,,.,,a.vda. is never applied, but of Father;" and in Matt. x.xv. 31, "the Son of ~he Son, who is· the Brightness of his man shell come in his gl .. ry" (comp. Matt. Father's glory. 0nr great liod and Savionr xix. 28). The whole sentence will then Jesus Christ. No doubt the Greek words ste.11d thus: Looking for the blessed hope, can be so rendered, and perl,aps (gT11mme.ti- and for the appearing of thp, glory u/ the cally) most naturally, as e.g. in 2 Pet. i. 11, great God and of our Sar·iour Je:ms Ghrist, where we read, "The kingdom of our Lord eto. The great God ( Tov l'•;,<lAou); not else- and Saviour Jesus Christ;" and so 2 Pet. where in the Kew Testament (except in the iii. 18. But, on the other band, according T.R. of Rev. xix. 17), but fe.miliu.r to us to what is sai,l above, they need not be so from Ps. xcv. 3, "The Lord is a great God," rendered. "The great God" and "our a.ad elsewhere, as Dcut. x. 17; vii. 21; Pa. Saviour Jesus Christ" may be two separate lxxvii. H, etc. In Malt. v. 35 we read subjects, as "the blessed hope" aud " ap- "the great King" of God. This grand pearing of the glory" are. An,l we have to descri µtion of Toll µ.E>..>..ovTos a.Lciivoi, u the inquire, from the usual language of i-orip- world to come," ia in contrast with T~ vvv ture, which of the two is most probable. criwv,, "this present world," in which our Alford, in a k.,g note, shows that awT¾P is present life ia pl\ssed, but which i• so deeply often used without the article (I Tim. i. l ; iutluenced by " the blessed hope" of th<Lt iv. 10 ; Phil. iii. 20); that in ano.logous futurtl and glorious wod,1  2H THE EPISTLE TO TITUS. [ OB. IL 1--,16,