Titus 3

Titus 3:1

And let it be thy frequent and special care to exhort all Christians under thee to yield all honest obedience to the kings and governors under whom they live, and to be ready and cheerful to the practice of all acts of charity. ² very mild (see note [a] 2 Cor. x.) and patient toward those that oppose them and truth itself.

Titus 3:3

As remembering that we ourselves, before our conversion to Christ, were as opposite to the truth, and as perversely so as any can be now supposed to be.

Titus 3:4

But when Christ, of his great mercy and bounty to mankind, was pleased to reveal himself to us,

Titus 3:5

Then, out of his free undeserved mercy toward us, not in respect of, nor by way of return unto, any good action of ours, he rescued and delivered us out of our sinful courses, put us into a state of salvation upon our giving ourselves up in baptism his vowed, reformed servants, sealing unto us the pardon of all our sins, and then bestowing his Spirit upon us to bring forth in us all fruits of new life;

Titus 3:6

Which Spirit most plentifully descended on us from God the Father, Christ Jesus his Son obtaining that mercy from him;

⁹ Or, teach: for the King’s MS. reads δίδασκε. ¹ peaceable, ἀμάχους. ² various, νοικίλαίς.

Titus 3:7

That having our lives amended, and our sins pardoned by his grace and mercy, we should become, as children of God, his heirs (at present in hope) of eternal life.

Titus 3:8

This is an important, special Christian doctrine, which I would have thee be earnest in telling men, and convincing them of the importance of it, that all that have professed to be Christians should make it their principal care to see that all that belong to them, together with themselves, do not only live in the universal duties of Christians, but also particularly follow some honest labour or vocation, ver. 14, and Ephes. iv. 28; for these are the things that are good in themselves, and useful to mankind; of good report in the actors, and beneficial to the community; keep others from being burdened with the slothful, and enable them to be themselves helpful to others.

[a] good works] That καλὰ ἔργα both here and ver. 14 should signify honest trades or callings, there will be small doubt or difficulty, when it is observed how ἐργάζεσθαι, to labour, is used 1 Cor. iv. 12, and ix. 6, of St. Paul’s working in his calling, and so 1 Thess. ii. 9, and 2 Thess. iii. 8, 10-12, then by comparing Ephes. iv. 28, ἐργοζόμενος τὸ ἀγαθὸν ταῖς χερσὶ, working with his hands that which is good, where bodily labour is called working of good. Thus a very ancient Greek author, Palæphatus, Περ. Ἀπιστ., speaking of Actæon, that spent all his time upon hunting, he adds, τοῦ δὲ ἀγαθοῦ πράγματος ἡμέλει, he neglected the good thing, that is, his business, all men being then, saith he, αὐτουργοί, having no servants, but doing their own business themselves, tilling the ground, &c., and he being the richest ὃς ἐγεώργει καὶ ἐργαστικώτατος ὑπῆρχε, who was most laborious in his husbandry; whereas this man, saith he, ἡμέλει τῶν οἰκείων, neglected his domestic, or his own affairs. Where ἀγαθὸν πρᾶγμα, the good thing, and οἰκεῖα, his own or domestic affairs, are all one, and signify the business of the calling. Thus Acts ix. 36, Tabitha is said to be full of good works, that is, a very laborious work-woman, that wrought or made many garments, ver. 39; and by that means, as it follows, was a very liberal, charitable olmsgiver, gave the garments, when she had made them, to old widows, &c. Thus in Cicero vitæ actio signifies “a trade, or the whole business of the life,” 1. 1. De Nat. Deor. De actione vitæ multa dicuntur. So Gen. xlvii. 3. τί τὸ ἔργον ὑμῶν; what is your occupation? to which they answer that they are shepherds. So in Sophocles’s Œdipus, when the question is,

“Ἔργον μεριμνῶν ποῖον, ἡ βίον τίνα; “What is your trade or manner of living?” the answer is, Ποιμναῖς τὰ πλεῖστα τοῦ βίου ξυνειπάμην,

“I have spent most of my time in keeping of sheep.” So Jonah i. 8. Τίς σου ἡ ἐργασία; What is thy occupation? This may further appear by προϊστασθαι, which is here used with it; for that signifies to profess or work in any art or calling. So Synesius Ep. 2. προίστη τῆς τέχνης λαμπρῶς, “she hath followed her trade bravely.” So in Cicero Pro Domo, Qui sacerdotiis præfuerant, “the priests.” In Chrysost. Hom. 31. in Rom. οἱ ἀπὸ χειρῶν ζῶντες, καὶ ἐργαστηρίου προϊστηκότες, “they live by their hands, and profess, or work, in the shop.” And this is enforced by what here follows, “for these things are profitable to men;” answerable to what is added, Eph. iv. 28, that he may be able to give to him that needeth, out of the fruits and earnings of his labour: and so here, ver. 14, (where the same exhortation is repeated,) he addeth πρὸς τὰς ἀνογκαίας χρείας, for necessary uses, (see note [f]), that they be not ἄκαρποι, unfruitful, that is, that they may give to others, which he calls καρπὸς, fruit, Philipp. iv. 27, and the fruits of righteousness, ch. i. 11.

Titus 3:9

As for the Gnostics, that employ themselves in compiling a new model of divinity, made up of foolish disputes, and of heathen notions of poetical genealogies, (see 1 Tim. i. 4,) and contentions about the observing the Mosaical law, (that Christians be circumcised, Gal. vi. 12,) and by so doing put themselves out of their calling, live idly, disorderly, 2 Thess. iii. 6. 11, these spend their time upon vanities, that neither themselves nor others are the better but the worse for.

Titus 3:10

Whosoever maketh any division in the church, that teacheth any doctrine contrary to that which hath been taught by Christ and the apostles, and, that he may get followers, separates from the church, from the communion of Christians there, it is thy office and duty toward such an one, first to admonish him once or twice, (Matt. xviii. 16,) and if that will not work upon him or reduce him, then to set a mark upon him, as on one which is under the censures of the church, and to appoint all men to break off familiar converse with him;

[b] heretick] The literal notation of the word αἱρετικὸς may best be taken from the verb αἱρετίζω, from which it immediately comes, as from δογματίζω δογματικὸς, and the like. What that is will be seen by these severals in Hesychius: αἱρετικὶ με, προτιμωτέραν ἡγήσεταί με, “to prefer before others;” αἱρετίζειν, αἱρεῖσθαι, ἀρίσκεσθαι, “to choose, to be pleased;” αἱρετιῶ (it should be αἱρετίζω) προσλαμβάνω; αἱρῶ αὐτοὺς πρὸς ἐμαντὸν, “to take or receive others to oneself.” All which put together will make up this compound, to take up an opinion upon one’s own

[c] first and second admonition] The first and second admonition here refers to the method prescribed by Christ in proceeding against Christian offenders, Matt. xviii. 15, but in some circumstances differs from it. There is mention of a threefold admonition, one by the injured person alone, a second by two or three taken with him, the third by the church: but here only a first and second admonition. The cause of this difference is to be taken from the quality of the person to whom this Epistle is written, Titus a bishop: whereas there the speech was addressed to every private Christian that is injured by any. Here the first admonition of the bishop carries an authority along with it far above that of the private person, and the two or three with him, and so may well supply the place of both those; and then the second here will be parallel to the third there; and so after that is despised or proved uneffectual, it is seasonable to proceed to censures, to excommunicate the contumacious, which is the meaning of the παραιτοῦ here, the avoiding of him. Thus 2 Cor. xiii. 2, immediately after the second admonition delivered by St. Paul, προλέγω τὸ δεύτερον, I foretell you the second time, (characterized, ver. 1, by in the mouth of two or three witnesses,) he tells the offenders, οὐ φείσομαι, I will not spare, but proceed to censures. And ver. 10, he tells them that this admonition is, ἵνα μὴ ἀποτόμως χρήσωμαι, that he may not proceed to excision or cutting off, which he there calls καθαίρεσις, taking away, the word ordinarily used in the Canons for excommunication.

Titus 3:11

Knowing that such a man is a perverse, wilful sinner, inflicting that punishment on himself which the governors of the church are wont to do on male-factors, that is, cutting himself off from the church of which he was a member.

[d] condemned of himself] Αὐτοκατάκριτος, self-condemned, signifies not the man’s public accusing or condemning his own doctrines or practices; for that self-condemnation, being an effect and part of repentance, would rather be a motive to free any from the censures of the church which were already under them, than aggravate their crime, or bring that punishment upon them. Nor yet, 2dly, can it denote him that offends, and yet still continues to offend against conscience; and

γ 2

Titus 3:13

Furnish Apollos and Zenas the lawyer, that

³ by hope heirs of eternal life, κληρονόμοι—κατ’ ἀλπίδα ζωῆς αἰωνίου. ⁴ make it their care to set up good works. ⁵ self-condemned. ⁶ make haste, σπούδασον. ⁷ Set forth—carefully, Ἐπούδαλαι ποδοκῆρον.

Titus 3:14

Who came into this world in form of flesh, and delivered himself up to a shameful death, on purpose that he might ransom us out of the power of Satan, from that course of vicious living in which men were before engaged, Rom viii. 20, and cleanse us in an eminent manner to be an holy, pious people, most diligent to advance to the highest pitch of all virtue. “and those that do not practise accordingly, proceed to the censures of the church against them. And take care thou permit not thy admonitions to be set at nought or despised by any. ### CHAP. III. PUT them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,