Titus 1:4

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 1:4

To Titus, mine own son after the common faith ,.... Not in a natural, but in a spiritual sense; the apostle being the instrument of his conversion, as he was of the conversion of Onesimus, and of many of the Corinthians, and therefore is said to beget them, Philemon 1:10 and so was their spiritual father, and they his children: Titus was, in this sense, his "own son", or a true son, a legitimate one; a true convert; one really born again; a sincere believer, an Israelite indeed: and this... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Titus 1:4

To Titus, mine own son - Him whom I have been the instrument of converting to the Christian faith; and in whom, in this respect, I have the same right as any man can have in his own begotten son. See the preface; and see on 1 Timothy 1:2 ; (note). read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Titus 1:4

Verse 4 4To Titus, my own son, according to the common faith. Hence it is evident in what sense a minister of the word is said to beget spiritually those whom he brings to the obedience of Christ, that is, so that he himself is also begotten. Paul declares himself to be the father of Titus, with respect to his faith; but immediately adds, that this faith is common to both, so that both of them alike have the same Father in heaven. Accordingly, God does not diminish his own prerogative, when he... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Titus 1:1-4

Apostolic address and salutation. The full representation which the apostle gives of his apostolic office is designed at once to mark the authority by which he gives the instructions that follow, and to serve as an index to the contents of the whole Epistle. I. THE CLAIMS OF THE APOSTLE . "Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ." 1. He is a servant of God. Not, as he often describes himself, "a servant of Jesus Christ." The title seems to mark the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Titus 1:1-4

Redemptive truth. "Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ," etc. These words direct our attention to certain phases of redemptive truth. The substratum of the gospel is not merely truth, but redemptive truth. Truth, not merely to enlighten the intellect and to discipline the mental faculties, but to raise the human soul from spiritual ignorance to intelligence, from spiritual bondage to liberty, from selfishness to benevolence, from materialism to spirituality, from the... read more

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