Titus 1:1-3:15

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Titus 1:1-4

Here is the preface to the epistle, showing, I. The writer. Paul, a Gentile name taken by the apostle of the Gentiles, Acts 13:9, 46, 47. Ministers will accommodate even smaller matters, so that they may be any furthering of acceptance in their work. When the Jews rejected the gospel, and the Gentiles received it, we read no more of this apostle by his Jewish name Saul, but by his Roman one, Paul. A servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Here he is described by his relation and... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Titus 1:1-4

1:1-4 This is a letter from Paul, the slave of God and the envoy of Jesus Christ, whose task it is to awaken faith in God's chosen ones, and to equip them with a fuller knowledge of that truth, which enables a man to live a really religious life, and whose whole work is founded on the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began. In his own good time God set forth his message plain for all to see in the proclamation with which I have been entrusted by the royal... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Titus 1:1-4

Further, in this passage we can see the essence of an apostle's gospel and the central things in his task. (i) The whole message of the apostle is founded on the hope of eternal life. Again and again the phrase eternal life recurs in the pages of the New Testament. The word for eternal is aionios ( Greek #166 ); and properly the only one person in the whole universe to whom that word may correctly be applied is God. The Christian offer is nothing less than the offer of a share in the... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Titus 1:1-4

This passage tells us of God's purpose and of his way of working that purpose out. (i) God's purpose for man was always one of salvation. His promise of eternal life was there before the world began. It is important to note that here Paul applies the word Saviour both to God and to Jesus. We sometimes hear the gospel presented in a way that seems to draw a distinction between a gentle, loving, and gracious Jesus, and a hard, stern, and severe God. Sometimes it sounds as if Jesus had done... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Titus 1:1-4

We do not know a great deal about Titus, to whom this letter was written, but from the scattered references to him, there emerges a picture of a man who was one of Paul's most trusted and most valuable helpers. Paul calls him "my true son," so it is most likely that he himself converted him, perhaps at Iconium. Titus was the companion for an awkward and a difficult time. When Paul paid his visit to Jerusalem, to a Church which suspected him and was prepared to mistrust and dislike him, it... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Titus 1:1

Paul, a servant of God ,.... So James styles himself, James 1:1 and others of the apostles, as Peter and Jude, call themselves the servants of Jesus Christ; and as does the Apostle Paul also; and both seem to be esteemed by them as high characters and titles of honour, by which they chose to be described and known. Paul, before his conversion, was a servant of sin, of divers lusts and pleasures, and which he owns in this epistle, Titus 3:3 but being called by grace, he became free from... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Titus 1:1

Paul, a servant of God - In several places of his other epistles St. Paul styles himself the servant of Jesus Christ, but this is the only place where he calls himself the servant of God. Some think that he did this to vindicate himself against the Jews, who supposed he had renounced God when he admitted the Gentiles into his Church. But if thus to vindicate himself was at all necessary, why was it not done in his Epistle to the Romans, the grand object of which was to prove that the... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Titus 1:1

Verse 1 1.A servant of God This extended and laborious commendation of his apostleship shows that Paul had in view the whole Church, and not Titus alone; for his apostleship was not disputed by Titus, and Paul is in the habit of proclaiming the titles of his calling, in order to maintain his authority. Accordingly, just as he perceives those to whom he writes to be disposed, he deals largely or sparingly in those ornaments. Here his design was, to bring into subjection those who had haughtily... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Titus 1:1

Knowledge for acknowledging, A.V.; according to for after, A.V. A servant of God ( δοῦλος θεοῦ ); so in the superscriptions: Romans 1:1 ; Philippians 1:1 , ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ ; James 1:1 ; 2 Peter 1:1 ; Jud 2 Peter 1:1 ; Revelation 1:1 . St. Paul also calls himself "the servant of Christ" ( Galatians 1:10 ); and the phrase, δοῦλον κυρίου , occurs in 2 Timothy 2:24 . But neither "servant of God" nor any equivalent is in the superscription of either 1 or... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Titus 1:1

Christian ministry. "A servant of God." One of the great revelations of the gospel is the dignity of service. "To be ministered unto" was the end of Roman ambition. Pride and precedence ruled supreme. The Jews sought to be "Herods;" the Gentiles sought for consulships and proctorships. Everywhere we see patrician selfishness in proud palaces, and, as a dark opposite, whole colonies of slaves. The words that fell from the lips of the Master were illustrated in his life: "The Son of man... read more

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