Apostolic Address and Salutation
T. Croskery Titus 1:1-4 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect… 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 relation (1) of one who had once been a slave to sin, but, having become free through Christ Jesus, was still, so far as obligation, service, and life were concerned, a servant of God; (2) his devotion to God after the type of Old Testament service, Moses and the prophets being pre-eminently called the "servants of God;" (3) his ministry in the service of a royal Master (Matthew 18:23-32), who makes him a member of his household, a pillar of his temple, a sharer of his throne (Revelation 3:21). 2. He is an apostle of Jesus Christ. This is a more exact definition of his office. (1) He had his commission and his doctrine from him. (2) He had all the signs and proofs of an apostle in him, for he had received power to work miracles as well as to declare Divine truth. (3) It is, therefore, vain and deceptive for any to assume the name who cannot show the signs of an apostle. II. THE END OF THE APOSTOLIC OFFICE. "For the faith of God's elect, and the full knowledge of the truth which is after godliness." It was designed for the furtherance of the faith and knowledge of believers. 1. The apostle felt that he was appointed to preach the doctrine of faith, and to be the instrument of bringing men to the obedience of faith. (Romans 1:5; Romans 10:17.) (1) Therefore all claims to apostolic authority by men who have abandoned the faith, or overlaid it with error and superstition, are to be rejected by the Church of God. (2) All true faith rests on the Divine foreordination; for it is "the faith of God's elect." Election is, therefore, not to be regarded as equivalent to faith, much less as its consequence (Ephesians 1:4); for it is its true cause. The Father is the Elector, as the Son is the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit the Sanctifier. 2. The apostolic office was designed likewise to impart the full knowledge of the truth which is after godliness. (1) Truth is the object - the Word of truth, which comes from him who is the God of truth, who is Christ the Truth itself, who is the Spirit of truth. It was this truth that the apostle preached with all faithfullness and clearness. (2) Knowledge is the subjective aspect of it, and becomes ours through faith. (3) The fruit of this truth is "godliness" It is designed to promote holiness of life and character. It is impossible that this knowledge can be morally unfruitful. III. THE BASIS OF THIS TRUTH. "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before eternal times." The ground and condition of this truth is the hope of eternal life, which is the animating principle at once of the apostle and of the Church of God. 1. The principle of hope. The word occurs fifty-two times in the New Testament, and is always connected with God, with the Mediator, and with believers. (1) Its author is God, who is "the God of hope" (Romans 15:13), who has given us "a good hope through grace" (2 Thessalonians 2:16), and given us Christ as "our Hope," even "the Hope of glory." (2) Hope connects us with the future as memory with the past, and is intended to neutralize the materializing influence of earthly life around us. Thus, God has given us prophecy and promise to gratify the wants, the longings, and the anticipations of the human soul. 2. The object and sum of Christian hope. "Eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before eternal times." (1) This life is in Christ Jesus; "for the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). But it includes (a) the full fruition of God to all eternity; (b) the fellowship of the Redeemer's throne; (c) the fullness of joy; (d) likeness to Christ. (2) It is eternal life, without a break in the happy continuity of bliss; for it is life without sin or death to mar its perfectness. It is eternal, because he is at once its Author and Support, as being that "Eternal Life that was with the Father" (1 John 1:2). (3) The age of this promise. "Before eternal times." (a) This is not merely before the times of the world, or (b) before the world began, (c) but really in the eternity past; because the reference is not to the covenants of Adam or Abraham, but to the covenant of redemption in Christ before the foundation of the world (2 Timothy 1:9-11). The apostle does not merely say that the promise of eternal life was the result of a Divine purpose fixed from eternity, but that it was made from eternity to believers, because it was made to Christ, whose members they are. It is impossible to understand the meaning of these words without reference to the federal transaction between the Father and the Son (Zechariah 6:13). This was the very "promise of life in Christ Jesus" of which the apostle speaks to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:1). (4) The guarantee for the fulfillment of this promise. "God, that cannot lie, promised" it. God gave both a promise and an oath to Abraham, that "by two immutable things, in which it was impossible that God should lie," we should have a sure hope (Hebrews 6:18). IV. THE MANIFESTATION OF THIS ANCIENT PROMISE. "But in his own seasons manifested his Word in the message wherewith I was entrusted, according to the commandment of God our Savior." 1. The manifestation was made in God's own seasons. (1) It is not to be supposed that it was made only by the Apostle Paul, for it was made by the other apostles; and ages before their day it was manifested, with more or less clearness, under the Old Testament dispensation. (2) But the Apostle Paul was one of those specially entrusted with the Word, and specially with "the revelation of the mystery hid for ages" (Romans 16:25). 2. The Word of God, and the whole order and fullness of the Church, are to be regarded as the unfolding of the ancient promise of eternal life. 3. The Word is made manifest by preaching. (Romans 10:17.) Preaching is an institute peculiar to Christianity, which it formed for itself as its chosen mode of utterance. Christianity is not a philosophy or a thaumaturgy. It is propagated, not by priests, but by preachers. There are no priests in Christianity but the one High Priest of our profession, who, if he were on earth, would not be a priest (Hebrews 8:4). 4. The preaching is done in virtue of a Divine call or commission. "Wherewith I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior." All the ministries of the New Testament, high and low, are committed as trusts to the Church. Therefore a minister ought to have a true call from on high before accepting the responsibilities of office. The apostle was very emphatic in announcing his call to the apostleship, not as in any way due to his own wilt or wish, but to Divine command, it was the command of "God his Savior;" not the Son, but the Father - the usual phrase of the apostle being "according to the will of God" (2 Timothy 1:1). V. THE APOSTOLIC SALUTATION. "To Titus, my true son after the common faith." 1. The person thus addressed. (1) Titus was a pure Gentile. It is interesting to remember that the dearest friends and companions of the apostle's life were Gentiles, and not Jews - such as Luke, Titus, and Timothy, who was half-Gentile. Was this leaning caused in any degree by the distrusts and enmities with which he was pursued through life by his Jewish countrymen? (2) Titus was, like Timothy, one of the apostle's converts. This fact would endear him to the apostle's heart. He was a genuine son of the apostle in virtue of the faith common to all Christians; implying that (a) there is but one faith (Ephesians 4:5); (b) one Object of faith, Jesus Christ; (c) one end of faith, eternal life. (3) Titus was evidently one of the apostle's most trusty disciples, though he was less a companion than Timothy, and less allied to him on the terms of an affectionate intimacy. Titus was firm, strong, and capable, with adaptability in the way of administration and of repressing moral disorders among distracted or disturbed communities. 2. The greeting. "Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior." (1) The blessings sought for Titus. "Grace and peace." (a) Grace is the full and eternal fountain of the goodness of God, opened to the wants of men in the blessed gospel; (b) peace is the blessing of the saints, to which they are called in one body, and the safeguard of heart and mind through him who is their Peace (Philippians 4:7). (2) The source of these blessings, alike God the Father and God the Son, as being equally the Author and Giver of all spiritual blessings. The whole structure of the Epistle is based on the doctrine of the Deity of Christ. - T.C. Parallel Verses KJV: Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; WEB: Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's chosen ones, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,