Titus 1:4

‘To Titus, my true child after a common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.’

His letter is specifically addressed to Titus, but almost certainly intended to be read publicly. Note the greeting of ‘grace be with you all’ in Titus 3:15. He describes Titus as his ‘true child’. Many of his children in the faith had let him down, but not Titus. And he and Titus are sharers in a common faith, along with all who ‘love the Lord Jesus in sincerity’ (Ephesians 6:24). It is the truth concerning Jesus crucified and risen that binds them together, and it is for all equally, both Jew and Gentile.

‘Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.’ Paul tends to vary his salutations, but this is the only example where ‘our Saviour’, forms a part of such a salutation. The idea has an unusual prominence in this letter. Paul is conscious that the young Cretan believers should be fully aware of the saving activity of God and Jesus Christ. It is not, however, unique for Jesus is described as ‘the Saviour’ in Ephesians 5:23; Philippians 3:20; and ‘our Saviour’ in 1 Timothy 2:3; 2 Timothy 4:10. Compare also Luke 2:11; John 4:42; Acts 5:13; Acts 13:23; 2 Peter 1:1; 2Pe 1:11 ; 2 Peter 2:20; 2 Peter 3:2; 2Pe 3:18 ; 1 John 4:14; Jude 1:25.

His prayer for Titus is that God would reveal towards him His grace, His unmerited favour and compassion, and would grant him wellbeing and peace in his heart and in his life. In one way or another this was a common greeting combining Gentile and Jewish greetings. The usual combination of God, in this case ‘the Father’, and Christ Jesus, in this case ‘our Saviour’, but regularly ‘the Lord’, demonstrates the equal status that Paul applies to Jesus in the Godhead. God and Jesus can be spoken of in the same breath. Both are the objects of our worship, both are the source of our hope.