Titus 3:1

Tit_3:1-2

Put them in mind to be subject

Obedience to civil magistrates

I.

Who are to be understood by civil rulers. All those who are in the peaceable possession of civil power.

II. It is the duty of subjects to obey their civil rulers.

1. The Scripture expressly enjoins this duty upon subjects.

2. The duty of submission naturally results from the relation which subjects bear to their rulers. There would be no propriety in calling the body of the people subjects, unless they were under obligation to obey those in the administration of government.

3. All subjects ought to obey their rulers for the sake of the public good.

III. Ministers ought to inculcate such submission to civil magistrates.

1. Preachers are expressly required to press this plain and important duty upon the people of their charge.

2. It becomes the preachers of the gospel, in this case, to fellow the example of the inspired teachers--John the Baptist, Christ, etc.

3. It no less belongs to the office of gospel ministers to teach men their duty towards civil rulers than to teach them any other moral or religious duty.

4. There are some peculiar reasons why the duty of submission to civil authority should be more especially inculcated upon the minds of subjects.

(1) Men are extremely apt to forget that they are under any moral obligation to obey the rulers of the land.

(2) There is scarcely any duty more disagreeable to the human heart than submission to civil government.

(3) The safety and happiness of the whole body politic more essentially depend upon each members performing this, than any other duty. Where there is no subordination, there can be no government; and where there is no government, there can be no public peace nor safety.

Concluding reflections:

1. There is no ground to complain of the ministers of the gospel for inculcating political duties.

2. There appears to be no more difficulty in determining the measure of submission to civil government than the measure of submission to any other human authority.

3. It is extremely criminal to disobey civil rulers, and oppose the regular administration of government.

4. It is criminal not only to disobey and resist civil authority, but also to countenance, cherish, and inflame a spirit of disobedience and rebellion.

5. Those in executive authority are under indispensable obligation to give rebels and traitors a just recompense of reward. They are Gods ministers to execute wrath upon them that do evil; and they ought not to hold the sword of justice in vain. (N. Emmons, D. D.)

The Christians loyalty to secular government

I. Its nature.

1. Subjection to the general government.

2. Obedience to the local authorities.

3. Readiness to help the government in times of emergency.

4. Carefulness in respect to the reputation of their fellow citizens.

5. Peaceful and order-loving.

II. Its reasons.

1. The spiritual change wrought upon believers.

2. Some blessed features of the source of this change.

(1) Its graciousness.

(2) Its method.

(3) Its abundance.

(4) Its justifying power.

(5) Its benefits and tendency.

Lessons:

1. The superiority of Christianity.

(1) The best thing for the State.

(2) The best thing for individuals.

(3) The best thing for the family.

2. The unmistakable evidences of the Divine origin of Christianity.

(1) In its love of man.

(2) In its legitimate effects on man and on society. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)

The subjects duty

I. The manner of propounding the counsel. Titus is here enjoined two things:

1. To call back into their minds an old doctrine--not what they had newly learned since their becoming Christians, but what nature and reason had taught them long before.

2. To inculcate, or beat often upon this point.

(1) Because men generally are ambitious of liberty, unwilling, if lust or pride of heart be listened to, to be subject to any yoke, whether of God or man; ever ready to think one man as good as another, and with Korah to suggest that every Moses and Aaron takes too much upon him.

(2) Because the dispersed Jews (of whom there was no small number at that time in Crete) stood very much upon temporal privileges; as upon Abraham, the temple, the law, etc. And ever loath they were to stoop to the authority of the Gentiles.

(3) Because the Christians at that time, both of Jews and Gentiles, stood as much upon spiritual privileges, not thinking it sufficient to be set free from the thraldom of Satan, and bondage of sin, and so to be made spiritual kings unto God and the Lamb; unless by a boundless (Christian) liberty, as they supposed, they might be at their own hands to do as they listed.

II. The substance of the precept itself.

1. The duties required.

(1) By subjection is meant honour, reverence, and respect to the persons whom God has set in authority over us.

(2) By obedience is meant a free voluntary readiness of mind to yield to, and to execute whatsoever lawful command of a superior. Where there is conscience of subjection, there will be cheerfulness in obedience.

2. The second considerable in the substance of the precept is

(1) The persons to whom these duties belong, namely, to all magistrates, which are here distributed into two ranks, principalities, powers. By the former we understand such who have primary and plenary power under God, and by this their proper power and authority have an absolute command within their several dominions; such are Caesars, kings, and chief governors in free states. The latter signifieth such as exercise delegated authority, that is, hold from those higher powers; and such are all inferior officers, whether in Church or State, who have no authority to act in any public business, but what they receive from the supreme magistrate.

2. The persons from whom these dues are to be paid. This is soon decided. The persons solvent, are all Christians in general, without any exception, but of the supreme magistrate himself, clergy as well as laity--all who are under authority. The apostle includes all in the word αὐτους, put them in mind, that is, all inferiors. Every soul must be subject to the higher powers. Having thus far explained the subject matter of the apostles command,

I proceed to the observations arising out of it.

1. Christian religion destroys not government or civil authority but ratifieth and confirmeth it.

2. The kingdom of Christ is not of this world, His authority divideth not civil inheritances, His sceptre swalloweth not up (as did Aarons rod the others) the sceptre of worldly monarchs. His weapons are not carnal; the keys of His kingdom are no temporal jurisdiction.

3. One ordinance of God doth not abolish another. The laws of Christ in His Church bring not in lawlessness into the Commonwealth; nor is God the God of order in the first, and the Author of confusion in the latter. For one ordinance of God to destroy another would argue want of wisdom in God, the Ordainer. The very thought thereof is blasphemous. Nay, on the contrary, for the Churchs sake (which He loveth) He keepeth order, and maintains government in commonwealths, that His Church, whilst it is agathering in the world, might find safe harbour therein; that this dove of Christ might have a place where to set without danger the sole of her foot. (John Cleaver, M. A.)

Ministers remembrancers

1. The scope of the ministry is to put men in mind, and keep in them the remembrance of every Christian duty. Thus, ministers may be called the Lords remembrancers, not only for putting the Lord in mind of His covenant towards His people, and of the peoples wants, but also that they must not be silent, but restless in whetting the doctrine of God, legal and evangelical upon the people, and so be ever putting them in mind of their covenant and duty unto God. Paul acknowledged himself such a remembrancer (Rom_15:15).

2. None is so far instructed, but is wanting much in knowledge, and much more in the cheerful practice of that which he knoweth; and therefore every one hath need of quickening and stirring up.

3. None are so strong but they stand in need of this confirmation, as well as the former quickening, neither can any caution or any admonition be too much in things of such moment.

4. No mans memory is so sound, but as out of a leaking vessel good things are ever running out; and when such things are slipt away, they had need be renewed and recalled again.

(1) Ministers must not desist from teaching and exhorting, as many that think a little enough; nor discouraged when people forget their wholesome doctrine; but encourage themselves in their duty, which is to keep in mens memories the mindfulness of their duties.

(2) When they come to teach, they may not seek out vain and strange speculations, which were never heard of before, but teach plain things, yea, and deep mysteries in plain manner, as such who respect the weakness both of the apprehension and memory of their hearers.

(3) An wholesome thing it is to teach the same things often, whereby things delivered are recalled into the memory. Curious men cannot abide repetitions, nor hear common things, notwithstanding these be excellent helps of memory, which is the cause of such gross and everywhere palpable ignorance in the most familiar principles of religion. But the wisdom of godly teachers will be not too much to yield unto the niceness of their hearers; nor to fear to do that which is the safest for them, as Paul speaketh; which if it be, let it be to us what it will or can, it will be our part that by our practice they may find the profit. We learn hence, also, what it is that should profess and take up the memories of Christians, namely, those lessons of Christianity which they hear in the ministry.

For

1. The commandment must be bound up upon our hearts, and we ought to make our memories the statute book of our souls, and by diligent meditation, chain this book unto ourselves (Pro_4:21).

2. Herein standeth the sanctity of the memory, partly by retaining the rules of life, and partly in presenting and offering them unto the mind upon occasion of practice, both to direct and urge the conscience to obedience. Thus David hid the Word in his heart, the blessed fruit of which was that he did not sin against God; and indeed holy memory preserveth the holiness of the whole man.

3. Forgetfulness of the Word is everywhere in the Scriptures taxed as a grievous and hateful sin: Be not forgetful hearers, deceiving your own selves, saith James; Have you forgotten how I fed so many thousand, etc., saith Christ to the disciples; and the author to the Hebrews, Have ye forgotten the exhortation? (T. Taylor, D. D.)

Subjection to civil rulers

I. Public authority presupposed.

II. Subjection and obedience enjoined. Put them in mind to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work--intimating to us that we must show our obedience by our ready compliance in good works; for if the magistrate command what is evil, there is no obligation to perform it, because nothing can oblige us to do evil. But what if the thing commanded be neither good nor evil, but of an indifferent nature; what must we do in that case? Why then we must undoubtedly obey it; for otherwise there will be nothing left wherein the magistrate may use his power. What is good or evil in itself must be done or avoided for Gods sake. What is not so in itself, but only in regard of the end for which it is enacted, being judged so by the magistrate for the good of the community, this must be observed, both for Gods sake and his too, because God requires our obedience to Him in these things, But what then becomes of our liberty, if another must judge for us? It is where it was before; we must obey, and yet we are as free as Christ hath made us; nay, I doubt not to add, we are most Christs freemen when we duly obey our governors just laws; for seeing Christ hath commanded us to be subject not only for wrath, but for conscience sake, that so we may avoid the guilt of sin, that obedience which keeps us from sin (which is the only vassalage of a Christian) can by no means infringe, but does rather advance our Christian liberty.

III. The duty of pastors and teachers inculcated. Put them in mind, admonish them often of it, and bring it to their remembrance, as St. Peter does twice together in another case (2Pe_1:12-13).

1. Let us consider that obedience to magistrates is a prime duty of piety and religion, wherein the honour and authority of God are particularly concerned; not only because He requires it by manifold precepts, but because magistrates are His officers and ministers, by whom He governs the world and administers His providence towards men, and to whom He has given part of His own power for that purpose.

2. The exigence of our civil affairs, and the preservation of the public does exact this duty from us. For the execution of justice between man and man, the safe and quiet enjoyment of Gods blessings, and the welfare and peace of the whole community, are extremely concerned and advanced by it.

3. Obedience to our governors is founded on the highest equity and reason; for day by day we receive invaluable benefits by the influence of their government and conduct; protection of our lives and estates, of our privileges, properties, and religion; secure possession of the gifts of God, and liberty to increase our substance by trade and traffic, and to eat the fruit of our labour, etc.

4. Obedience to our governors is a duty incumbent on us in point of ingenuity and gratitude. For in preserving the peace and prosperity of the nation, they do not only preserve ours, but for our advantage also they undergo many cares and troubles, great toil and labour, attending continually for this very thing (Rom_13:6).

5. No man can disobey his governors without breaking the most sacred laws of justice and honesty; without downright perjury towards God, and perfidiousness towards man. (Henry Dove, D. D.)

Duty

I. In relation to civil government.

1. Mans social tendencies indicate it.

2. Mans social exigencies indicate it.

II. In relation to general society.

1. Usefulness.

2. Charitableness.

3. Courteousness

III. In relation to our moral self. It is a duty which every man owes to himself, to remember all the wrong of his past life

1. That he may be charitable towards others.

2. That he may be stimulated to efforts of self-improvement.

3. That he may adore the forbearance of God in His past dealings.

4. That he may devoutly appreciate the morally redemptive agency of Christ.

5. That he may realise the necessity of seeking the moral restoration of others.

Lessons:

1. The possibility of the moral improvement of souls.

2. The obligation to the moral improvement of souls. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The authority of law

I. Law is of God. Therefore godly men are obedient to human laws, when not inconsistent with the dictates of conscience, as being ordinances of God.

II. Authority is derived from God. Therefore righteous lawgivers and just judges are to be esteemed as Gods gifts to a nation.

III. Obedience to law an essential preparation for good works. No amount of religious profession, and no degree of activity in the performance of Christian duties, can compensate for the neglect of social duties or disregard of the claims of citizenship. (F. Wagstaff.)

The Christian citizen

1. Individual excellence is what makes national strength. St. Paul tells Titus that he must preach personal purity, obedience, and peace to all the citizens around him.

2. Charity to others is best promoted by an honest consideration of what we are ourselves. No man, who is conscientious, can fail to remember many a mean act he has during his life committed.

3. The apostle tells Titus that he will make the better citizen the oftener he recalls to mind how much he owes, and must forever owe, to sovereign grace, as a child of God and an heir of heaven. People nowadays are excessively diffident in attributing their successes or their virtues to their piety. Yet now and then the world will find it out for itself. Havelocks men in campaigns wrote their record by their prayers as well as by their prowess.

4. The apostle adds a lesson for Titus about his preaching, which every Christian, trying to instruct others, might lay well to heart; namely, that the best of all teaching in truth is the teaching of a true life. He tries to lead him away from mere formulas, and force him to deal with real things in a real way for greatest good. After the first phase of Christian life, remarks Merle dAubigne, in which a man thinks only of Christ, there usually ensues a second, when the Christian will not voluntarily worship with assemblies opposed to his personal convictions. That is a gentle way of saying that, after a new convert cools a little in piety, he takes a time of becoming denominational and belligerent. Perhaps the Apostle Paul imagined Titus was going to do that, and so told him he had better not. If there be any truth in the line, The child is father of the man, it is manifest most plainly in religious life. The young believer perpetuates himself in the old. Maurice, son of William the Silent, at the age of seventeen, took for his device a fallen oak, with a young sapling springing from its root; to this he gave the motto, Tandem fit surculus arbor, The sapling will by and by become a tree. It seems very trite to write all that out soberly; but really it is a thing most unfortunately forgotten. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

Civil duties

The rule of Rome, which then lay upon all those lands in which the gospel was being preached, was a rule which rested on the sword. Everywhere ancient nations had been subjugated, venerable thrones had been overturned, the freedom of commonwealths, jealous of their independence, had been ruthlessly suppressed; and, although it was the policy of Rome to leave the old forms of administration untouched wherever possible, it was of course as impossible to conceal from the conquered peoples the degrading tokens of their subjection, as it is for us to do so in our Indian Empire. Roman troops sentinelled the palaces where Roman proconsuls sat in the seats of dethroned kings; Roman judges administered the law; writs ran in the Roman tongue; oaths were sworn to the Roman Caesar; taxes were paid in Roman coin. The military power which imposed such subjection upon haughty and once mighty nations was at the best a heavy yoke. The imperial laws were on the whole just, but they were stern and could be mercilessly enforced. Nor were the imperial courts above the imputation of corruption. The imposts were very heavy. Provincial governors were usually rapacious. The provincial revenues were drained off to feed the monstrous dissipation of the capital. For the most part, therefore, the provinces groaned beneath a burden which the strongest of them was unable to shake off, but which was enough to goad the most passive into turbulence. It was into a society thus honeycombed with political disaffection, and ready at every point to burst into revolt, that Christianity entered with its new conceptions of human dignity and spiritual freedom. Its entrance could not fail to add to the ferment. It quickened in mens minds that sense of injustice which oppression breeds. It deepened their irritation at the insolence and wrong doing of the dominant race. It produced a longing for the happier era when the kingdom of God, which they had received into their hearts, should be also a kingdom of social equity and brotherhood. Hence it became an urgent duty with the leaders of the young society to warn their converts against political restlessness. Do as they might, the Christians could hardly hope, under a government like Neros, to escape suspicion. They were pretty certain to be reckoned among the dangerous forces in a community which heaved with discontent. But to do anything to encourage such suspicion, or afford the authorities a pretext for repression, would have been foolish as well as wrong; for it would have compromised the gospel at its outset by mixing it up in matters with which the gospel has nothing directly to do. Indirectly, no doubt, the new faith was sure to affect in the long run political affairs, as it affects every province of human life. No community of brave men who are animated by the lessons of Christianity will always sit still, contented in a condition of vassalage. The gospel has proved herself the mother of freedom. The most resolute and successful resistance that has ever been offered to arbitrary power has been offered by men whom the truth had made free, and who carried their Bible beneath the same belt to which they buckled their sword. But personal and political liberty is a secondary effect of the gospel, after it has penetrated the structure of society and has had time to reform nations on its own lines. For the individual convert in the age of Paul to revolt against the emperor or to run away from his master, would have been to misrepresent his faith to his contemporaries. The question at what time or in what way a Christian state is justified in deposing its tyrant, in order to organise itself as a free commonwealth, is a question which, as it concerns the Christian community and not the individual merely, so it can only arise under a different condition of things altogether. What the gospel enjoins upon private citizens, so long as governments stand and a successful resistance by the people at large is out of the question, is--submission. They are to discern underlying all authority, so long as it is legitimate, a Divine ordinance, and to render such obedience as is due to the magistrate within his proper sphere, not merely through dread of consequences, but still more for the sake of a good conscience towards God. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)

Christians should be taught good citizenship

the schools should teach the children that their first duty and highest privilege is to become good citizens; and a good citizen, be he cobbler or manufacturer, tailor or senator, upholsterer or cabinet officer, will never condescend to become an incompetent or unworthy member of the community. Were all the boys and girls to leave school fully imbued with this knowledge, the country would be safe; the political firmament would be sustained upon shoulders firmer than those of Atlas, and its stars would shine with ever-increasing number and brilliancy. The third and highest form of spiritual power is moral and religious. Give me leave simply to state my belief that the only solid basis for an enduring nation is the Rock of Ages. Any other foundation is unstable and insecure as the sands of the seashore. Let the tower be built in obedience to Gods laws, and it will reach unto heaven, the children of men will reunite in permanent harmony, science and religion will coincide, and the one universal speech will be of Gods Word written on the sun, moon, and stars, on the solid earth itself, and in the gospel. (Professor B. Pierce.)

Honouring authority

It was held in the olden time, but is not now, that authority came from God to the king, and then descended, in the form of law, from the king to the people. We have turned that theory bottom side up, although there are texts of Scripture which run that way. Now we find no difficulty in this land, since we are republicans, in jumping those texts. Honour the king, meant honour the king; but we say, Yes, honour authority; and the king represents authority. So we bridge the difficulties without much trouble. When the people have committed their interests to the hands of individuals, they are justly jealous, because they have seen that human nature is fragile timber, like the slender supports of a bridge over which too much must not go, or it will break down under the pressure; properly, there is a wise watchfulness of those who are empowered to execute the law, and to represent, in the various spheres of magistracy, from the lowest to the highest, the will and interests of a great people; but the untaught and unbalanced way in which men exercise this proper watchfulness leads--somewhat in connection with the other things of which I have spoken--to what amounts to almost a universal suspicion. If there is one corrupt judge on the bench, ten judges suffer. If there is one bad senator, the whole senate suffers. If there are a score of purchaseable legislators, then the whole legislature suffers. There is no discrimination made in that matter. Our people have come to look upon those who are entrusted with power as being suspicious persons. The way men get that power rather tempts to this injustice. The rude and mischievous ways of partisans tend to inimical feeling in this same sphere. Men and brethren, do you ever reflect that he that hauls down a magistrate, except where there is absolute and assignable evidence of corruption; that he that deteriorates the authority of a judge; that he that takes from the responsibility and respectability of the representatives of the people, or of the members of the general government, or of governors; that he that makes an assault upon them which shall lower the respect and confidence of the community for them, is striking at the whole system of law and government? Worse than that, it is a blow aimed at the faith of whole classes of men in virtue, in patriotism, and in integrity. A class of men has grown up--and is growing up continually, with the spectacle before them, on every side, of rude and unjust criticisms and depreciations--who say that everybody is selfish, and that nobody but illusionists suppose that there is any such thing as a disinterested service of ones country. I am ashamed to see so many young men growing up with the feeling that heroism of patriotism is unknown except as a poetic adornment, or a mere spangle on the dress of pretentious patriots. (H. W. Beecher.)

The Christian citizen

The civic virtues planted and fostered by Christianity are a theme interesting and profitable for study. One of the credentials of its Divine origin is its usefulness for this world. Finding mankind individually and socially disordered, and full of painful suffering in consequence, it is an antiseptic, arresting deadly processes, a balm, full of gentle healing, and a tonic which strengthens every manly purpose, and enters integrally into all true life of the state. It first purifies and exalts, then it directs, though using only moral forces.

I. Christians must be loyal subjects to government, ready for every good work. They must be often reminded of the obedience due to principalities, powers, and magistrates. The essential excellence and authority of human law can best be understood and appreciated by those who know the worth and heed the claims of the Divine. They know that the fabric of society is in some true sense a Divine institution. But, you say, government is corrupt, and God cannot be the author of political corruption. Very true, but the whole idea and framework of government is not corrupt. There is a sum of truth underlying the simple fact of government which is entitled to respect. Abuses should be keenly recognised, but remedies should be sought for them not by angry assault or disgusted contempt or sullen neglect. In healing the body politic, the laws of life must be respected, and employed as patiently and intelligently as when the physical body is to be healed. The practical side of Christianity in such teaching is specially timely and important today. Monetary values, domestic peace and security, time-honoured institutions, received ideas and principles, are assailed by influences and methods before which the wise, the good, and the strong well may stand somewhat in dread, if not in awe. What shall save the fairest portions of earth from such refluent waves of barbarism? The gospel is the only complete remedy. Bayonets and grapeshot may quell a temporary demonstration; but the only effectual cure is in that respect for government which Paul learned of Jesus Christ, and which Christian experience alone can fully understand. Then faithful reconstruction is possible by methods constructive, not destructive, in a spirit reverent to the essential dignity and claims of government. The Christian is not unmindful of the ills of the world, nor is he careless about their remedy. He is a man of affairs. He neither ignores nor scorns nor idly dreams about the ravages of sin wherever manifest. He deliberately and boldly grapples with them, but he uses methods which respect the laws of life and healing, laws written in the nature of things and the will of God. He knows meekness is compatible with manliness. The meek man thrusts no one aside, frowns not upon the humblest, but lives in abiding consciousness of the wants, powers, and claims of others. When this is the spirit of the world, there will be no more riots, forcible levies, assassinations; and it is only by cultivating this and kindred virtue, in the spirit of the gospel, that the worlds peace will be secured.

II. What are the motives and considerations upon which the apostle rests these urgent instructions? Not, as we might have expected, because such walk and conversation were useful and becoming, but he points (Tit_3:3-7) to the sad degradation of their own past lives, full of the opposites of all Christian virtues--foolishness, disobedience, lustful pleasures, malice, envy, and hatreds. From these they have just escaped; they must pity the moral ruin which stains and disables those yet blinded. He adduces a yet stronger consideration--their difference is all a pure gift, through the kindness and love of God our Saviour. Out of such experience, all the more because it is exalted and refined, Paul admonishes to the most practical and assiduous performance of Christian duty under the general name of good works. In these instructions to Titus, Paul was in full sympathy with the gospel in our Lords time, in all time. Let us note the practical workings of Christianity for the individual and the state.

1. Christianity is the only source and safeguard of lasting patriotism. Patriotism is more than aroused sensibility, or quickened emotions, however worthy. There must be loyalty to principles, and those principles take root in the teachings of Him who valued humanity not by its degradation, but by its possibilities, who revealed the law of self-sacrifice, and who enforced all his precepts by a corresponding life of voluntary humiliation and unfailing service.

2. Organised and efficient philanthropy is unknown apart from Christianity. Man is not by nature wholly regardless of the sufferings and wants of his fellow men; but sinful practices soon blunt and disable humane promptings.

3. Christianity promotes harmony, and the best conditions of growth in society and the state. Intelligence is also an incident to the prevalence of the gospel; and before it, the dark vagaries of demagogues and fanatics appear in their repulsive deformity. Patience and forbearance with those who oppose themselves are essential conditions of prosperous life in all circles from the neighbourhood to the republic. These virtues are permanently active only when inspired by Christian benevolence. Charity suffereth long and is kind. In short, Christian doctrines and institutions are the foundation of all public utilities and perpetuity. (Monday Club Sermons.)

Ready to every good work

Christian duty

I. Every Christian must make account with himself that every Christian duty belongs to Him.

1. This doctrine first teacheth us to learn the rule of every good work, legal or evangelical. Content not thyself that thou canst say the commandments, nor if thou canst say that thou hast kept the whole letter of the law from thy youth; but study the whole Scripture, which is an exposition and large commentary of those ten words; hear it, read it diligently, meditate upon it, apply it to thy heart and life, else knowest thou not how to begin any good work.

2. If every good work belong to every Christian then may not men post over the matter to the minister. The common conceit is, that the clergy should be holy, hospitable, and so qualified as we have heard in the first chapter; but for common men and unlearned it will be acceptable enough if they be almost Christians, that is, as good as never a whir; whereas the Lord bindeth upon every Christian, of what condition soever, the practice of every good work which is offered him within the compass of his calling.

3. If a Christian must employ himself in every good work, then must men so cast and contrive their courses, and neither duties of piety hinder the duties of their calling, nor these stand in the way of the other. And he that hath the heart of the wise to know time and judgment, forecasteth both wisely, and knoweth one of these to be subordinate, but not opposite unto the other. Hence must Christians forecast, and remember the Sabbath beforehand, and so order and husband their times and seasons, that there may be place and time and opportunity for every good work in the weekday, and especially for the best works, whether public exercises of religion or private prayers and exercises in the family.

II. That every Christian ought to keep in himself a fitness and readiness to every good work is plain in the Scriptures. For

1. In duties of piety, we are enjoined not only to come to the house of God, but to take heed to our feet, and to wash our hands in innocency before we compass the altar, and first to sanctify ourselves before God and reconcile ourselves to men, and then bring our gift. If we preach, we must do it readily, and of a ready mind, and then we have reward. If you hear, you must be wise to hear, and ready to hear, rather than to offer a sacrifice of fools.

2. In performance of duties of love and mercy unto men, we are called to readiness in distributing (1Ti_6:18), and mindfulness to distribute (Heb_13:16).

3. In private duties, when God giveth us peace and opportunity, we must serve Him with cheerfulness and good hearts (Deu_28:47).

4. In private injuries, we must be ready to receive, yea, to offer reconciliation, and to forgive, which is another good work, and so in the rest. Reasons

1. We herein become like unto God, whose nature is to accommodate Himself to our good; whose readiness to give bountifully and forgive freely is hereby shadowed.

2. Hereby we also beautify, and as it were gild our duties, when they come off without delays, without grudging, murmuring, or heaviness, but am from men inured to well-doing.

3. Hereby we may lay hold of Christian consolation, in that this ready and willing mind is accepted, where often power of doing good is wanting, and indeed the regenerate often want power and ability unto good, but to want will and desire is dangerous.

III. Some rules of practice for the better setting us forward in this duty.

1. Get into thy soul the conscience of this commandment, accounting it worthy of all thine obedience, being so often urged in the Scriptures, and made in the end of the former chapter, the end of Christs purchasing of us. This reason drawn from the fear of God prevailed so far with Job, that thence he was moved to use mercifulness to all sorts of men; for Gods punishment was fearful unto me, and I could not escape His highness.

2. Take every opportunity of well-doing while it is offered, for else the opportunity may be cut off from thee, or thou from it. This is the apostles rule, While we have time do good unto all (Gal_6:10), that is, take the present occasion of doing all the good thou canst.

(1) In regard of thyself, perform the principal and main duty, know the day of thy visitation; slack not this thy term time, but get the oil of faith, knowledge of God, and obedience to His Word, that thy lamp may ever be shining to the glorifying of the Father which is in heaven; in one word, forget not while thou hast time to give all diligence to make thine election sure.

(2) In regard of others, if now thou canst do them good in soul or body, delay it not. Say not unto thy neighbour, go, and come again tomorrow, and I will give thee, if now thou hast it (Pro_3:28); and what knoweth any man, whether this may be the last day wherein he can do good to himself or others?

3. Go yet one step further, to seek and watch occasions of doing good, and be glad when thou hast obtained them, that so thou mayest ever be furthering thy reckoning. We read of the patriarchs, Abraham and Lot, how they sat at their doors watching to entertain strangers, that they espied them afar off, ran out to meet them, and most earnestly entreated them to abide and refresh themselves; show thyself herein the son of Abraham. (T. Taylor, D. D.)

Christian usefulness

I. The course specified. Every good work. Every department of religion may be so denominated, repentance, faith, restitution, obedience, prayer, praise.

1. There is the work of mercy to the bodies of our fellow men. Our fires will burn brighter, our clothes be warmer, our food sweeter, our slumbers more refreshing, if we tread in the steps of the blessed Jesus, who went about doing good.

2. There is the good work of compassion to the souls of our fellow men. How many are ignorant and out of the way. What can we do to win souls to Christ?

3. There is the good work of affection and kindness to the household of faith.

II. The direction given.

1. The qualification, Be ready.

(1) That we have the disposition. Naturally, we have not the disposition. But the grace of God always imparts it. If the heart be good, then we shall have dispositions of goodness.

(2) That we do good cheerfully. That it is not our burden. Not a sacrifice. Not a painful, but easy yoke.

(3) It is to do good promptly. To be ready. To be at the call. Everything nearly depends upon being in season.

(4) Includes perseverance. Never to wish to cease, till the Saviour says it is enough.

2. The extent of the direction. Be ready to every good work. As you have ability and opportunity.

3. The motives which should influence us.

(1) Our religion is emphatically one of goodness. It allows of nothing malignant, or malevolent, even to enemies.

(2) Our spiritual improvement is connected with it. It is by acting that we are conformed to Christ.

(3) Our happiness is inseparably connected with it. It is heaven on earth. The joy of angels, felt and realised by man.

(4) Our future amount of glory is connected with it. We are to be judged by our work, not by our faith, gifts, etc.

Application

1. Urge on the unregenerate the work of repentance.

2. Urge believers to be ready, etc. (J. Burns, D. D.)

To the active Christian

I. The course of action enjoined.

1. Good works to the bodies of others.

2. Good works to the souls of others.

3. Good works to the Christian Church.

II. The qualifications supposed.

1. Cheerfulness.

2. Promptitude.

3. Perseverance.

4. Catholicity.

III. The motives.

1. The genius of our religion.

2. The example of Christ.

3. Personal improvement.

4. Future reward of grace. (G. Brooks.)

Readiness to good works explained and recommended

I. What this advice implies. To be ready is to be prepared, by laying a proper foundation in ourselves for doing good works. And this must be by the attainment of Divine knowledge and grace.

1. Knowledge is first necessary. Ignorance unfits and hinders many from doing good works. They know not the nature of good works, their necessity, that without them faith is dead, their utility, amiable character, the will of God on this subject, nor how they may perform their duty in this respect.

2. By the attainment of grace (2Co_9:8), pardoning grace; a consciousness of guilt burdening and discouraging the mind, and hindering good works; renewing grace; only a good tree bringeth forth good fruit; strengthening grace; enabling us to break, or shake off, the fetters of sin, which incapacitate us to do the will of God.

II. The importance of being thus ready. The glory of God is herein greatly concerned (Mat_5:16; Joh_15:8; Php_1:11). God is glorified by our holy tempers and heavenly affections, but especially by our substantial, good, and useful works. Great credit and honour is thus brought to the gospel. These things are profitable to men, by lessening their miseries, or preventing or enabling them to obtain happiness. Our own good is involved herein. It is an evidence of our sincerity, and of the genuineness of our religion, to ourselves and others; an evidence of our repentance, faith, hope, love, our justification, regeneration, and growth in grace. Our own peace of mind, as well as our religious character, is involved in this point. It is the means of exercising our grace and gifts, and thereby retaining them (Mat_13:12; Joh_15:2).

III. The means to be used in order that this advice may be complied with. The Word of God is the chief means of knowledge and of grace, whereby we may have the preparation, inclination, and ability mentioned above for every good work (2Ti_3:15-17). This must be heard, read, searched, and diligently studied. It must also be received in faith and love, be obeyed in an humble and submissive spirit, through the influence and succour of the Holy Spirit (2Co_9:8). This Spirit must be sought in sincere, fervent, and importunate prayer, without which we shall not possess either the right disposition, or sufficient ability to do good works. Christian fellowship is a further means. We must exhort one another daily (Heb_10:25), and take example from such as appear, or have appeared, eminent in usefulness. (J. Benson.)

To speak evil of no man

On evil speaking

I. There are several, reasons for which Christians ought to be exhorted to refrain from evil speaking.

1. It is not only a mean and shameful, but a pernicious fault; it produces much harm in society, and is a cause why many live hateful and hating one another, and die in the same unfriendly disposition.

2. It is a common and widespread fault, and few, very few, are entirely free from it. It is not confined to wicked and profane persons; it is to be found in some measure even in those who have their virtues, their good and useful, and amiable qualities and accomplishments, who live soberly and honestly, who love their friends and are active to serve and oblige them, who are not uncharitable to the poor, who have a sense of religion, and worship God both in public and in private.

3. They who are addicted to it, either seldom reflect upon its odious nature, or are not sensible when and how often they thus offend, or have several plausible though vain excuses to justify themselves.

II. Evil speaking consists in spreading reports to the disadvantage of our neighbour; and of this fault there are three distinct kinds or degrees.

1. The worst kind of it is to spread lies of our own invention concerning others.

2. The next is to report things to their disadvantage, of the truth of which we are not sufficiently assured.

3. The lowest degree is to say of them that evil which we know to be true.

III. There is no occasion to prove and expose the folly and dishonesty of the two former kinds. It would be losing time and words. I shall, therefore, chiefly discourse of the latter, and show how blamable even this is for the most part.

1. We should not be too forward to publish the faults of others, because it is no sufficient excuse for us, that what we say is true, and that they against whom we speak deserve such usage.

2. Another argument against censoriousness is contained in this plain precept of the gospel--Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye so unto them.

3. We should not accustom ourselves to discourse about the faults of our neighbour, because it may betray us by degrees into a worse kind of evil speaking.

4. We should not be forward to expose the faults of others, because by so doing we may bring upon them a punishment too heavy for the offence.

5. We should be cautious how we censure others, because we may misrepresent them, and yet say nothing of them that is not true.

6. To disclose the faults and indiscretions of others is often very pernicious to society, raises infinite variances amongst men, and tends to destroy the slender remains of love and charity which subsist in the Christian world.

7. Since for the most part we cannot discern the exact nature and degree of other mens faults, we may easily think too hardly and judge too severely of them. Their faults, when we know not the circumstances attending them, are like objects seen by us at a great distance, or at twilight: we see them neither in shape, nor in size or colour, such as they really are.

8. That we may restrain ourselves from talking of the faults of others, we should also consider that such discourse is produced by bad causes, and proceeds from a corrupted heart; and that all good and wise persons who hear us will judge of us accordingly. Speech is the child of thought; and a child it is which greatly resembles its parent. When the discourse is censorious and malicious, the mind which conceives it is no better.

9. Besides, this is an offence which seldom escapes correction. If human laws cannot chastise it, except in some few cases, the persons who are ridiculed or censured will fully supply that defect. 10. Lastly, we should be cautious not to give way to this inclination, because if we be once accustomed to it there is no probability that we shall ever leave it off. Of all bad habits, those of the tongue are, perhaps, the hardest to be cured. The reason is this: We deceive ourselves in thinking that words can do little or no hurt, and that the guilt of them is inconsiderably small, and consequently we speak at random what comes uppermost. (J. Jortin, D. D.)

Evil speaking

I. The nature of this vice. It consists in saying things of others which tend to their disparagement and reproach, to the taking away or lessening of their reputation and good name; and this whether the things said be true or not. If they be false, and we know it, then it is downright calumny; and if we do not know it, but take it upon the report of others, it is, however, a slander; and so much the more injurious because really ground less and undeserved. If the thing be true, and we know it to be so, yet it is a defamation, and tends to the prejudice of our neighbours reputation; and it is a fault to say the evil of others which is true, unless there be some good reason for it; besides, it is contrary to that charity and goodness which Christianity requires, to divulge the faults of others, though they be really guilty of them, without necessity or some other very good reason for it. Again, it is evil speaking, and the vice condemned in the text, whether we be the first authors of an ill-report or relate it from others; because the man that is evil spoken of is equally defamed either way. Again, whether we speak evil of a man to his face, or behind his back: the former way indeed seems to be the more generous, but yet is a great fault, and that which we call reviling: the latter is more mean and base, and that which we properly call slander, or backbiting. And lastly, whether it be done directly and in express terms, or more obscurely and by way of oblique insinuation; whether by way of downright reproach, or with some crafty preface of condemnation; for so it have the effect to defame, the manner of address does not much alter the case: the one may be more dexterous, but is not one jot less faulty.

II. The extent of this prohibition. In what cases, by the general rules of Scripture and right reason, are we warranted to say the evil of others that is true?

1. It is not only lawful, but very commendable, and often our duty, to do this in order to the probable amendment of the person of whom evil is spoken. But then we must take care that this be done out of kindness, and that nothing of our own passion be mingled with it; and that under pretence of reproving and reforming men we do not reproach and revile them, and tell them of their faults in such a manner as if we did it to show our authority rather than our charity.

2. This likewise is not only lawful, but our duty, when we are legally called to bear witness concerning the fault and crime of another.

3. It is lawful to publish the faults of others in our own necessary defence and vindication.

4. This also is lawful for caution and warning to a third person that is in danger to be infected by the company, or ill example of another; or may be greatly prejudiced by reposing too much confidence in him, having no knowledge or suspicion of his bad qualities: but even in this case we ought to take great care that the in character we give of any man be spread no farther than is necessary to the good end we designed in it.

III. The evil of this practice, both in the causes and the consequences of it.

1. We will consider the causes of it. And it commonly springs from one or more of these evil roots.

(1) One of the deepest and most common causes of evil speaking is ill nature and cruelty of disposition: and by a general mistake ill nature passeth for wit, as cunning doth for wisdom; though in truth they are nothing akin to one another, but as far distant as vice and virtue. And there is no greater evidence of the bad temper of mankind than the general proneness of men to this vice.

(2) Another cause of the commonness of this vice is, that many are so bad themselves in one kind or other. For to think and speak ill of others is not only a bad thing, but a sign of a bad man.

(3) Another source of this vice is malice and revenge. When men are in heat and passion they do not consider what is true, but what is spiteful and mischievous, and speak evil of others in revenge of some injury which they have received from them; and when they are blinded by their passions, they lay about them madly and at a venture, not much caring whether the evil they speak be true or not.

(4) Another cause of evil speaking is envy. Men look with an evil eye upon the good that is in others, and think that their reputation obscures them, and that their commendable qualities do stand in their light; and therefore they do what they can to cast a cloud over them, that the bright shining of their virtues may not scorch them.

(5) Another cause of evil speaking is impertinence and curiosity; an itch of talking and meddling in the affairs of other men, or any bad thing that is talked of in good company.

(6) Men often do this out of wantonness and for diversion. But what can be more barbarous, next to sporting with a mans life, than to play with his honour and reputation?

2. The ordinary, but very pernicious consequences and effects of it, both to others and to ourselves.

(1) To others; the parties I mean that are slandered. To them it is certainly a great injury, and commonly a high provocation, but always matter of no small grief and trouble to them.

(2) The consequences of this vice are as bad or worse to ourselves. Whoever is wont to speak evil of others gives a bad character of himself, even to those whom he desires to please, who, if they be wise enough, will conclude that he speaks of them to others, as he does of others to them. But there is an infinitely greater danger hanging over us from God. If we allow ourselves in this evil practice, all our religion is good for nothing.

IV. Some further arguments and considerations to take men off from this vice.

1. That the use of speech is a peculiar prerogative of man above other creatures, and bestowed upon him for some excellent end and purpose; that by this faculty we might communicate our thoughts more easily to one another, and consult together for our mutual comfort and benefit, not to enable us to be hurtful and injurious, but helpful and beneficial to one another.

2. Consider how cheap a kindness it is to speak well, at least not to speak ill of anybody. A good word is an easy obligation, but not to speak ill requites only our silence, which costs us nothing.

3. Consider that no quality doth ordinarily recommend one more to the favour and goodwill of men, than to be free from this vice.

4. Let every man lay his hand upon his heart, and consider how himself is apt to be affected with this usage.

5. When you are going to speak reproachfully of others, consider whether you do not lie open to just reproach in the same, or some other kind. Therefore give no occasion, no example of this barbarous usage of one another.

6. Consider that it is in many cases as great a charity to conceal the evil you hear and know of others, as if you relieved them in a great necessity. And we think him a hard-hearted man that will not bestow a small alms upon one in great want.

V. Some rules and directions for the prevention and cure of this great evil.

1. Never say any evil of any man, but what you certainly know.

2. Before you speak evil of any man consider whether he hath not obliged you by some real kindness, and then it is a bad return to speak ill of him who hath done us good.

3. Let us accustom ourselves to pity the faults of men, and to be truly sorry for them, and then we shall take no pleasure in publishing them.

4. Whenever we hear any man evil spoken of, if we know any good of him let us say that.

5. That you may speak evil of any, do not delight to hear ill of them.

6. Let every man mind himself, and his own duty and concernment. Do but endeavour in good earnest to mend thyself, and it will be work enough for one man, and leave thee but little time to talk of others.

7. Lastly, let us set a watch before the door of our lips, and not speak but upon consideration; I do not mean to speak finely, but fitly. Especially when thou speakest of others, consider of whom and what thou art going to speak: use great caution and circumspection in this matter: look well about thee; on every side of the thing, and on every person in the company, before thy words slip from thee, which when they are once out of thy lips are forever out of thy power. (Archbishop Tillotson.)

Detraction

I. Consider that rash and inconsiderate censures are inconsistent with the justice which you owe to your brethren. The Author of our nature hath wisely ordained that approbation should follow virtue as its natural reward. This the virtuous are allowed to propose to themselves as an inferior motive of conduct; and this they expect as what belongs to them of right. The esteem which a man hath merited by his integrity and usefulness may be considered as a property of which he cannot innocently be deprived; and the extent of the injury done by detraction, is proportioned to the value of the possession which it invades. Now, what interest is dearer to the ingenuous than the preservation of their good name? You detest the villain who robs the industrious of their well-earned store; you abhor the oppressor who plunders the innocent and the deserving of the means of their support; yet how light and trivial are such injuries as these in comparison of the rum of their virtuous name, which, even in the midst of poverty, would ensure them respect. Would men weigh duly the mischiefs which detraction occasions, that pernicious humour would be less frequently indulged; for it is not always from malice and cruelty of nature that detraction proceeds: it arises, often, from an inconsiderate gaiety of mind, and means not to ruin the character which it delights to expose. The effects of such conduct are not, perhaps, obvious, because they are not immediate; but they are not, on this account, the less certain, or the less direful. With a mans reputation his usefulness and success are closely connected; and one unguarded expression may involve a deserving family in want and wretchedness. The only compensation which you can possibly make is to vindicate the violated character at the expense of your own; and this is an atonement most humiliating to yourselves, yet to the unhappy sufferer often of little avail; for many listen with avidity to the tale of slander, who will lend to your exculpation an indifferent ear; nor will your influence be sufficient to repair the reputation which your levity or your baseness hath ruined.

II. That a censorious turn of mind is destructive also of your own felicity. The man who is addicted to this odious vice, acquires, by degrees, an unhappy acuteness in marking the imperfections of his brethren. To him, therefore, the society of men can have no charms; for he beholds in every human being an object of dislike. Is not that mans mind ill-formed for happiness, who, amidst the various appearances which nature exhibits, dwells always on such as are dismal and destructive; who observes only the inhospitable desert, the blasting lightning, and the wintry storm; but marks not the beauties which adorn the spring, the riches which descend in the shower, or the stores with which autumn gladdens the earth? Nor does his happiness suffer merely from the effect of detraction on his own disposition. His conduct renders him an object of general aversion. Even his gay companions, whom his destructive pleasantry may entertain for a season, despise and dread the promoter of their mirth. They know that the edge of his satire will soon be turned against themselves; and that their own characters are destined to bleed by the very same weapons by which others have been assailed. Those who have suffered by his calumny, are entitled to vindicate, at his expense, their injured reputation; and every friend of innocence will aid them in the attempt. Merely to refute his slander, implies a reproach to which no prudent man would choose to expose himself. But how rarely doth human resentment confine itself within such moderate bounds. The rage of the injured will probably prompt them to retaliate. The security of others will seemed to be concerned in the cause. It will not appear sufficient that the aspersion be removed. The character of the detractor is devoted to ruin. In the snare which he hath laid for others, his own feet are entangled, and he falls by the sword which he hath whetted against his brethren. (W. Moodie, D. D.)

Evil speaking

I. All evil speaking my be referred to two heads, for it is

(1) either the uttering of false and evil things, or

(2) of true things falsely and evilly.

1. The former.

(1) When men speak upon no ground, as when men, present or absent, are accused of the evils which they never did (2Sa_16:3).

(2) When men speak some evil of others upon weak and insufficient grounds, as when any either publicly or privately chargeth some other man before his face or behind his back with evil upon suspicions (2Sa_10:3).

(3) When men cast railing, cursing, or reviling speeches upon another, present or absent, openly or secretly, and covertly by insinuation (2Sa_15:3)

2. The latter kind of evil speaking is in true things, as

(1) When a man speaketh of something done or spoken, but destroyeth the sense (Mat_26:61; Joh_2:19).

(2) In uttering nothing but truth, but with wicked insinuations and collections of evil (1Sa_22:9-10).

(3) In speaking of good things, but either lessening them or depraving them, as Gone of bad intent for bad ends in hypocrisy.

(4) In speaking of things evil and not so well done.

(a) By uncovering infirmities, which is the guise of cursed Chains, who are ever revealing to their brethren other mens nakedness, which an ingenious disposition, yea, humanity itself (if there were no religion), would cover and hide (Pro_11:13).

(b) Whereas we can excuse our own faults twenty ways, by amplifying the faults and offences of others, be they never so apparent, we become evil speakers in a high degree, as sycophants who make the scapes of men far greater than they are, affirming often that to be done of deliberation which was done rashly and in hot blood, or presumptuously when it was perhaps done but weakly, and imputing that to want of conscience which perhaps was want Of heedfulness and foresight; and thus the sin is heightened when men so wickedly speak of that which they ought altogether to be silent in and not to speak at all.

II. Now, because of all sins, there is not a more manifest and general mischief in all the life of man, wherein even Christians themselves are not exempted, who carry a very world of wickedness about with them, and yet wipe their mouths as though all were well with them; therefore will it not be amiss to take a little pains with this sin, scarce so accounted of, and to show

1. How unseemly it is for a Christian.

2. How dangerous in itself.

3. The means to repress and avoid it.

1. For the first

(1) To utter slander, saith Solomon, is a note of a fool; and the slander itself is a fools bolt, which is soon shot. And the apostle in so many places affirming it to be the practice of the old man, which must be cast off, maketh it hence an unbeseeming thing for Christians that profess new life to walk in such heathenish courses.

(2) This cursed speaking, whereby our brethren are hurt in their names, is the devils language, who thence hath his name, and argueth a venomous and hateful disposition not becoming the children of God:

(3) True religion will not stand with such a tattling course as many Christians take up, who, like the Athenians, delight in nothing more than hearing and telling news; and once getting a tale by the end, they are in travail till they have delivered it to others, and with these all opportunity of good and edifiable speech perisheth.

(4) Were it not most disgraceful for a Christian to be counted a thief, or a continual robber in the highway, or a continual breaker of the peace? and yet this sin is a greater breach of love than theft or spoiling of the goods, for a good name is more precious then gold, more sweet than the sweetest ointment.

2. The second point is the danger of this sin, which cannot but attend it, unless we conceive no danger in breaking such express commandments as we have (Lev_19:16; Jam_4:11). The defence of many a man is, I speak nothing but the truth, and so long I may speak it. But if that thou speakest be a tale true or false (as it is if without a calling thou playest the pedlar, and settest to sale the name of thy brother), these commandments cast and condemn thee. Others think it is a fault indeed, but not so great a fault to speak the thing we know by another; but look upon it, not as it may seem in thine eye, but in the penalty the Scripture hath set upon it; (Psa_15:3) it hindereth the entrance into the holy mountain of God, and (1Co_6:10) railers and revilers shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven; and therefore it is no such small matter as many take it for. Others reply, What are words but wind? and God is not so straitlaced; if a man should go to hell for every word, who shall come to heaven? This, indeed, is an ancient natural conceit that outward profession and ceremony will carry a man to heaven, although in the particulars of the life the power of godliness be never expressed. But mark how the Lord answereth such vain conceits (Psa_50:19-20). God hath His time then to call upon old reckonings, and then thou shalt not think words wind, but know to thy cost that life and death was in the power of thy tongue. Others yet see no such danger, or, if any be, it is far off. But this sin, beside the just hire of it hereafter, carrieth a secret plague with it for the present, for look, as thou dealest with another mans name, so shall thine be dealt with, and with what measure thou metest to others shall men measure to thee again.

3. The third thing to be considered is the means to avoid this sin of evil speaking, which may be reduced to five rules.

(1) Look to thine heart, for if it, being the fountain, be corrupted, the issues and streams cannot but be bitter; and if thou giveth thyself leave to think evil of any man, as accounting the thought free, thou canst not but one time or other utter it. Purge well thine heart, therefore

(a) Of pride, which maketh a man speak disdainfully of those who want the things which themselves seem to have, and liberally take up any language if he can make the detraction of another a ladder for himself to climb upon.

(b) Of envy, which, grieving at the graces and good things in another, seeketh to darken them, as Satan, envying Jobs prosperity, said, He serveth not God for nought.

(c) Of flattery, which for favour or reward will tune the tongue to any ear.

(2) Be careful to contain thyself within thine own calling; follow thine own plough; beware of the sin of busybodies, who love to play the bishops in other mens dioceses, who, if they had not with the witch in the fable, put off their own eyes at home, they might find foul corners enough well worthy of reformation in themselves; but therefore load they others, because they spare themselves; they throw no stones at their own faults first, and therefore they are at good leisure to pry into other mens, and so become the devils gunpowder for want of better employment.

(3) Beware in all thy speeches with men of strife of words, for from hence evil speeches arise, and many words want not iniquity.

(4) In all companies pray to the Lord to set a watch before thy mouth, and to keep the door of thy lips, for the tongue can no man of himself tame, being such an unruly evil.

(5) Beware of consenting to this sin in another, for as thou art bound not to relate, so not to receive, any evil speeches of thy brother. Solomon counselleth not to meddle with the slanderer and flatterer; wise chapmen must beware of such base pedlars. (T. Taylor, D. D.)

Evil speaking

I. The precept.

1. We should never in severe terms inveigh against any man without reasonable warrant, or presuming on a good call and commission for the purpose.

2. We should never speak so of any man without apparent just cause: we must not reproach men for things innocent or indifferent, for not complying with our humour or interests.

3. We should not cast reproach on any man without some necessary reason: in that charity which covereth a multitude of sins, we are bound to extenuate and excuse the faults of our brethren, so far as truth and equity permit.

4. We should never speak ill of our neighbour beyond measure, be the cause never so just, the occasion never so necessary.

5. We should never speak ill of any man out of bad principles or for bad ends; from no sudden anger, inveterate hatred, revengeful disposition, contempt, or envy; to compass any design of our own, to cherish any malignity or ill-humour; neither out of wantonness nor out of negligence and inadvertency; in fine from no other principle but that of charity, and to no other intent but what is charitable.

II. Inducements to its observance.

1. Let us consider that nothing more than railing and reviling is opposite to the nature, and inconsistent with the tenor of our religion.

2. It is therefore often expressly condemned and prohibited as evil.

3. Against no practice are severer punishments denounced. St. Paul adjudges the railer to be banished from good society (1Co_5:11), and from heaven (1Co_6:10).

4. Such language is in its nature the symptom of a weak and distempered mind: a stream that cannot issue from a sweet spring.

5. This practice plainly signifies low spirit, ill-breeding, and bad manners, and is thence unbecoming to any wise, honest, or honourable person: all such have an aversion to it, and cannot entertain it with complacency.

6. He that uses this kind of speech, as he harms and troubles others, so does he create thereby great inconveniences and mischiefs to himself.

7. Hence with evidently good reason is he that uses such language called a fool; and he that abstaineth from it is commended as wise (Pro_18:6-7).

8. Lastly, we may consider that it is a grievous perversion of the design of speech, which so much distinguishes us above other creatures, to use it in defaming and disquieting our neighbour: far better were it that we could say nothing than that we should speak ill. (Isaac Barrow, D. D.)

Avoiding evil speaking

Philip Henry used to remind those who spoke evil of people behind their backs of that law, Thou shalt not curse the deaf. Those that are absent are deaf; they cannot right themselves; therefore say no ill of them. A friend of his, inquiring of him concerning a matter which tended to reflect upon some people, he began to give him an account of the story, but immediately broke off, and checked himself with these words, But our rule is to speak evil of no man, and would proceed no further in the story. The week before he died a person requested the loan of a particular book from him. Truly, said he, I would lend it to you, but that it takes in the faults of some which should rather be covered with a mantle of love. (W. Baxendale.)

Sin of evil speaking

Remember, this contradicts your nature and your destiny; to speak ill of others makes you a monster in Gods world. Get the habit of slander, and then there is not a stream which bubbles fresh from the heart of nature--there is not a tree that silently brings forth its genial fruit in its appointed seasons, which does not rebuke and proclaim you a monstrous anomaly in Gods world. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

Cure for evil speaking

When will talkers refrain from evil speaking? When listeners refrain from evil hearing? At present there are many so credulous of evil, they will receive suspicions and impressions against persons whom they dont know, from a person whom they do know--an authority to be good for nothing. (A. W. Hare, M. A.)

No brawlers

Contention to be avoided

I. Not that every striking and fighting is hereby forbidden. For

1. Every man is bound to contend in his place for the truth--for religion, truth, and sound doctrine against falsehood, error, heresy, and superstition.

2. The ruler and people may by lawful war repel openly either idolatry or injury from Church or commonwealth, for if it had been altogether unlawful, John Baptist would have advised the soldiers rather to have given over their calling and taken no wages at all than to have been content with their wages.

3. Private men may seek the face of the ruler to prevent or redress an injury, and thus contend in judgment, which is no sin unless it be for trifles or of revenge: so Paul appealed to Caesar, and helped himself by the benefit of law.

4. It is lawful for every Christian, in defect of the magistrates aid, in the lawful defence of themselves, lives, and goods, to become magistrates unto themselves, in which case they may without sin both strike and slay, so as desire of revenge and intent of bloodshedding be absent.

5. Neither is domestical discipline excluded by this precept, whereby fathers and masters may, if the fault require, put on severity in their just corrections of their servants and children.

II. But the sin here condemned is when men suffer their lusts so far to sway, as they not only follow the things which make to Christian peace, but are enemies unto concord and brotherly love--men of such violent affections as are ready, not only to return injury with injury, but with seventy-fold revenge; right Lamechs and rough Ismaels, whose hand is against every man; men of a word and a blow, fitter for the camp than the congregation of Christian men. Now, what an hateful thing is it that a Christian should be indited at the Lords bar for a common barrator and quarreller? How unlike should he be to God, who is a God of peace, and loveth peace and the sons of peace? How far from having any part in the merit of Christ, who hath dearly by His precious blood bought the reconcilement of all things? How unanswerable were it unto this profession of Christianity, which cannot become a kingdom divided against itself? How prejudicial to Christian duties, both interrupting prayers and withstanding the acceptation of them, when the gift is brought without a reconcilable mind? How doth this course in Cains way violate all bonds both of nature and grace? signing a man to be out of the commission, out of the natural fraternity in the first Adam, and much more out of the spiritual in the second, yea, arguing such fierce men to be rather of the serpents and crocodiles seed, between which and man God hath put an enmity, than of men, seeing they have put off all respect of creation, of adoption, of flesh, and of faith.

III. If any ask, But by what means shall I avoid this sin of contention and quarrelling?

1. Bridle the tongue, for this is an immediate follower of evil speaking, and it runneth from the tongue into the hand.

2. Let the consideration of our common brotherhood be a means to cut off contention (Gen_13:8).

3. Consider what a scandal it is to profane scorners of religion that such as profess themselves scholars of Christ should live together like dogs and cats (as we say), and by ungodly quarrels and heartburns be still building up the works of the devil which Christ hath destroyed; why should such a thing be heard in Gath and Askelon? why should Priamus and his son laugh us to scorn?

4. Get a low conceit of thyself and be small in thine own eyes, for whence riseth contention and strife but from the lust in the members, namely, the inordinate bearing of a mans self above that which is meet? Only by pride (saith Solomon) man maketh contention, and, indeed, experience showeth that the most suits at this day are not so much for right and equity as for victory.

5. Because some in their own temper are of more mild and quiet spirits, and rather lie open to this sin by others instigation than their own propensity and disposition. That rule of Solomon is worth noting, to take heed of parttaking, of meddling, and mingling oneself in other mens strifes and contentions, for this were to take a dog by the ears or a bear by the tooth. (T. Taylor, D. D.)

Gentle

Christian gentleness

We are called to the practice of that property of wisdom which is from above, which is peaceable and gentle, and to buckle unto us, as the elect of God, tender mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another. The benefit will be exceeding great. For

1. This wisdom teacheth us to be soft in our speeches, as they that know how a soft answer breaketh wrath, a rare example whereof we have in Jdg_8:2.

2. It teacheth us softness in our whole conversation and exercise of our personal and general callings. It suffereth not the magistrate to be so stern that an inferior should come to him as a man that were to bring a bottle to an elephant, which he is afraid of, which timidity Augustus reproved in a petitioner. It suffereth not the minister to be lordly in his doctrine or discipline, but compassionate and tender in both. It suffereth not the father or master to be a lion in his house, but causeth them to govern sweetly and to dispense severity, and weigh out correction as physic to the children and servants.

3. It teacheth even the superior to yield some part of his right to his inferior, as Abraham to Lot, If thou take the right hand, I will turn to the left, nay, as Christ Himself being God and Lord of all, yet for peace sake, and to avoid offence, did pay tribute unto Caesar.

4. Further, how necessary a virtue this is cannot but appear to him that considereth how frail our flesh and blood is, how full of infirmities, how lying open to offences, how needful of much forgiveness at Gods hand and mans; and yet no forgiveness at Gods hand, but on condition of our forgiveness of men, for so is the petition in the Lords Prayer; nor at mans, for what measure ye mete out to men shall men measure to you again.

5. How sweet a grace it is appeareth also in that it preserveth the outward peace of a man, and especially the peace of a good conscience. (T. Taylor, D. D.)

Gentleman defined

A Christian is God Almightys gentleman. The real gentleman should be gentle in everything; at least in everything that depends on himself--in carriage, temper, constructions, aims, desires. He ought, therefore, to be mild, calm, quiet, even, temperate: not hasty in judgment, not exorbitant in ambition, not overbearing, not proud, not rapacious, not oppressive: for these things are contrary to gentleness. (J.C. Hare.)

Showing all meekness unto all men

Christian meekness

I. The nature of this grace will appear in the description of it. Meekness is a grace of God, whereby the heart and affections are inclined unto a mild and loving, a kind and courteous carriage towards our neighbour, even then when they might be provoked to anger. Where three things are laid down to be further opened to the better knowledge of this virtue

1. That it is a grace of God, for the next verse will teach us that we are born as rough as Esau in our corrupted nature; and therefore this strippeth and goeth beyond the best nature, being a fruit of the Spirit, and is called the spirit of meekness, because it is such a peculiar work of the Spirit, and proceedeth not of the flesh.

2. The work of it is properly to preserve Christian affection, in moderating all revengeful passions, not suffering the heart to be easily overcome with bitterness, but is as a wall or fence of the soul, receiving all the shot of injurious and hostile actions and speeches, and yet keeping all safe within, not permitting the possessor hastily or violently either to offer to another or remove from himself such injuries. The mother of it is humility, the daughter is long-suffering, and therefore we read it set between these two in diverse places. It preserveth peace within when it is provoked to war, to anger, and return of wrongs, for then is the chief use of this grace, which is therefore added, because many men seem to have attained this virtue, when it is never a whir so. Let them alone, offend them not, you shall have them gentle, courteous, affable, and tractable enough; but cross them a little, and stir their blood, oh, now you must pardon them; they have their affections, and you shall know they can be passionate and angry as well as others; here shall you see the best nature betraying her meekness. But Christian meekness must step in to overcome evil with good when it is provoked to return evil, or else what great thing doest thou? It is no hard thing for the very Infidel and Turk to be kind to the kind, nay, the wild beast, if thou goest no further, will be as meek as thou, who the most of them hurt not unprovoked.

II. This meekness must be showed forth, not hid with ourselves, but it must be brought into the light, that others may have the benefit of it, for as this grace is a sign and pawn of our election, which, as the elect of God, we must put on and array ourselves withal (Col_3:12), so also must it be the ornament of our vocation, whereby we glorify God, adorn our profession, and win others unto the liking of it. Hence the apostle, praying the Ephesians to walk worthy of their high calling, teacheth them that this they shall do if they put on humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, etc. (Eph_4:2), for otherwise, if men partake not in these graces, the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace cannot long last undissolved.

III. This meekness must be showed to all men--believers, unbelievers, friends, enemies, the better and the worse, which is a special point not to be neglected, because it is the ground of the verses following. (T. Taylor, D. D.)

The might of meekness

Conversing the other day with a friend on some point of domestic difficulty, it was replied by the latter, Should I give up in that way, and be as meek as a lamb, I should be good for just nothing at all. No, I answered, there is nothing mightier than meekness. This sentiment, which, at the time, flashed upon my mind like a gleam of new truth, I have found, by subsequent reflection, to rest on a broad basis.

I. In the first place, meekness involves the largest self-control.

1. Meekness is not mental indolence. A person may be too lazy to resent a wrong, too intellectually lazy--like some big house dog in the farmers kitchen, submitting with marvellous resignation to be kicked or pulled by the ears, if only he may be left in his snug, warm corner, and meeting it all with a most humble and beseeching whine. If this were meekness, we would not hesitate to pronounce it the weakest thing on earth.

2. It is not impassibility. Some are natural stoics. In some respects they are fortunate beings; utter strangers to that red-hot sense of injustice which sometimes bursts forth in words of heaven-lit prophecy--sometimes in words set on fire of hell. They escape that terrible knowledge the souls capacity to suffer. And yet, doubtless; they are not to be envied; for the words of the poet are equally true when reversed:

Chords that vibrate sweetest pleasure

Thrill the deepest notes of woe.

3. Nor is it dulness of perception. Some seem not to know when they are ill-treated. They are ignorant of the proprieties of life, of what is due to position; there is an entire lack of native dignity of character. True meekness, on the contrary, achieves its highest triumphs where the perceptions are most quick-sighted, the sensibilities keenest, and the mind most active and vigorous in all its operations. It is just here that we can best discern its true nature, its inherent might, the hiding of its power. So far from being a mere passivity, it is activity in its highest form. It is self-control in its broadest sway when girding itself in its full strength. It is victory over all that is mightiest in pride and passion, attained by the full and conjoint action of all the nobler powers of the soul. It is man in his sovereignty, ruling within the realm of his spirit, as the prince-subject of Jehovah. Its highest embodiment was Jesus of Nazareth.

II. Again, meekness is mighty in Gods might. He loves the meek. They are the most like His Son--resembling Him in just that quality which was His most prominent characteristic. Still again, the might of meekness is seen in its power to secure happiness. Life is a perpetual wild chase after happiness. Who are winners? Pride? Passion? Ambition? Wealth? Nay, nay, not yet, they each exclaim as they rush by, dripping with sweat; and catching breath, they add, but the goal is just ahead, and then the prize is ours. The result is even as when a hungry man dreameth, and behold he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty. Yet, far off, away from the bustling and anxious crowd, I behold the meek man already inheriting the earth, in sweet fruition of the world that now is, and in joyous expectancy of that which is to come. The reign of passion is over. He has learned to recognise, in all events that affect him, not accidents, but Providence; not a stern and blind fate, but a kind and wise Father; not the present means and instruments merely, but the aim of final result. The peace of God that passeth understanding keeps his heart. The whole world has become a Beulah; and while meekly performing its duties, its eye catches sweet glimpses of the far-off land; his heart leaps betimes at snatches of the distant music, and his temples are fanned, ever and anon, by the refreshing breezes that are wafted thitherward. He has an antepast of heaven; a joyous earnest of his inheritance. Here, then, I say, is might. He gains what worldlings of every class toil and tug for, but always lose; or, as Cicero says, respecting another point, They desire it, he has it. Once more: there is nothing like meekness to overcome the resistance of passion and pride in others. And yet it is just here that the worldly wise despise it most. I am assailed. I erect myself in proud might. I bid defiance to wrath. I mock at the deadliest threats of my enemy. I dare him to do his worst. Like Achilles before Agamemnon, I fling at his feet the oath pledge of battle. By all that is most fearful I swear to stand him foot to foot to the death. And what is the result of all this? Why, Greek meets Greek. Words fly back to words, wrath flashes to wrath, threats are hurled to threats, and pride towers aloft to pride. But what boots it all? You turn from the encounter, leaving your enemy never stouter in his resistance, while the tiger passions tear your own bosom, or react in paroxysms of futile tears. Now, what has meekness accomplished in just such cases? Silenced the proud words of the enemy; extinguished his raging wrath; roused up the elements of his better nature, and turned them against himself. It has completely subdued him; and the proud Greek has sat at the feet of his foe a weeping child. I say, then, let passion exhaust all its resources--let it tower to very sublimity, let it be a fit subject for an epic, let a Homer immortalise its deeds. Meekness is mightier; it will accomplish what passion shall labour for in vain. Meekness:--Meekness is the quality which heathenism everywhere has scouted as meanspiritedness, but which the gospel of Christ has canonised. It is that one condition of soul which, springing out of genuine penitence for sin, a profound sense of personal unworthiness, and a profound appreciation of the Divine mercy, predisposes a man to forbearance under provocation and forgiveness for injury. It has nothing in common with pusillanimity, but it has its origin in the religious experience which we call conversion; for it is when the sap root of human pride is broken by a thorough crushing down of the soul under the discovery of its sinfulness before God; it is when the strong man, reduced to cry for mercy at the hands of Infinite Justice, is fain to receive forgiveness, and hope, and peace with God as unmerited gifts from the very grace of his Redeemer; it is then, and through that religions change, that the heart grows susceptible of true meekness. Then humbleness eaters--humbleness, the child of penitence, and mild charity too, for all men, and a tender feeling--a feeling that one who has himself done so much evil in his day ought to bear with the evil doing of other men, that one who owes everything to mercy should be, above all things, merciful. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)

Meekness

A little lad on being asked, What is meekness? replied, Mary is meekness. Mary? Yes, my sister Mary, for she always gives smooth answers to rough questions.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tit 3:1-3. Put them. — All the Cretian Christians; in mind to be subject — Passively, not resisting; to principalities — Supreme rulers; and powers — Subordinate governors; and to obey magistrates — Actively, as far as conscience permits. It is probable that the reason whey the apostle enjoined this so particularly was, because the Judaizing teachers in Crete affirmed, that no obedience was due from the worshippers of the true God to magistrates who were idolaters, and because by that doctrine they were beginning to make not only the Jewish, but the Gentile believers, bad subjects, and liable to be punished as evil-doers. To be ready to every good work — In every relation which they sustain; to speak evil of no man — Neither of magistrates, nor of any others. “The word βλασφημειν, besides evil-speaking, denotes all those vices of the tongue which proceed either from hatred or from contempt of others, and which tend to hurt their reputation, such as railing, reviling, mocking speeches, whisperings, &c.”

To be no brawlers — Greek, αμαχους ειναι, not to be contentious: or quarrelsome, to assault none; but gentle — Επεικεις, yielding, when assaulted, and often giving up their own right rather than contend; showing — In their tempers, words, and actions; all meekness — A mild, inoffensive, and kind behaviour; unto all men — Even enemies, and such as we ourselves once were. For we ourselves also — Or, even we ourselves, though now new creatures in Christ Jesus; were sometimes, ποτε, formerly, foolish — Ανοητοι, ignorant, of God and divine things; unreasonable, particularly in rejecting the Lord Jesus, though demonstrated to be the true Messiah by the most incontrovertible evidences; and imprudent, or destitute of true wisdom, (as the word also implies,) being enemies to ourselves, in that we were disobedient to the divine commands, though holy, just, and good; and refused to hearken to the glad tidings of salvation announced in the gospel of his grace. The cause of this unreasonable and foolish conduct was, that we were deceived by the grand enemy of our souls, the subtle serpent that lies in wait to deceive; deluded by the allurements of this insnaring world, and erred, or wandered, (as the word πλανωμενοι means,) from the right way of truth and righteousness into by-paths of error and sin, promising ourselves liberty; but serving — Δουλευοντες, enslaved to, divers lusts — Επιθυμιαις, desires, irregular and inordinate; (see on Tit 2:12;) and pleasures — Which perished in the using, but nevertheless were alluring us forward to everlasting miseries. Such was the state of our understanding, will, and affections. But what were our tempers? Such was our conduct toward God and ourselves; but what was it toward our fellow-creatures? The apostle tells us: living in malice — Instead of exercising benevolence and love toward all men; and envy — Grieving at the good enjoyed by others, instead of rejoicing therein, as it was our duty to have done; hateful — Ourselves, while under the tyranny of such detestable passions, worthy to be abhorred by God and man; and hating one another — On account of little clashings and oppositions in our temporal interests, while we forgot the great ties and bonds which ought to have endeared us to each other. Dr. Whitby, arguing from Act 23:1; 2Ti 1:3; Php 3:6, pleads that the above description could not be applicable to Paul himself, even while he was in his unconverted state; and with him Dr. Macknight agrees; forgetting, it seems, the malicious and vengeful passions which evidently dwelt in him while he was Saul the persecutor, breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the best people upon earth, the disciples of the Lord Jesus; binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, and being exceedingly mad against them, punishing them oft in every synagogue, pursuing them into strange cities, and persecuting them even unto death, Act 9:1; Act 22:4; Act 26:11. On account of which conduct, when the eyes of his understanding were opened by the wonderful miracle of grace which the Lord Jesus wrought for him, he always reckoned himself the chief of sinners. But besides the persecuting spirit which he manifested toward the Christians, when he had a just view of his temper and behaviour in other respects, and became acquainted with the purity of God’s holy law, he was so convinced of the depravity of his nature, and of the imperfection of his best obedience, that, notwithstanding all he says in the passages above quoted by Whitby, he could undoubtedly, as Dr. Doddridge justly observes, “apply what he here wrote to much of his own character while an enemy to Christianity.” The reader will easily see that the duty inculcated in this passage is highly reasonable, and of peculiar importance, namely, that we should be ready to show that mercy to others which God hath shown to us; and that, from a recollection of the errors and sins which we were chargeable with in our unconverted state, we should exercise compassion toward those who are still ignorant and out of the way, but who may hereafter be brought to the saving knowledge of the truth, and be created anew in Christ Jesus, as we have been.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Substance and Manner of the Teaching to be Given. Farewell

1-15. 'Remind the Cretans to be loyal citizens, good neighbours. As, through no merit of ours, God won us to Himself, so we must live good lives. Never argue with stubborn hearted people. Warn a heretic twice; then drop him. Come to me at Nicopolis, when Artemas or Tychicus leaves me, and see that Zenas and Apollos get well started on their missionary journey. We all greet you all.'

1. To principalities and powers] better (as RV), 'to rulers, to authorities.' We should be apt to say, 'to the government.' To obey magistrates] The original meaning of the Gk. word is 'to obey one's superiors': 'to obey' or 'to be obedient' (RV) is, therefore, a better translation.

3. We ourselves] i.e. we Christians. Were sometimes] 'Were' (standing first in the Gk. sentence is emphatic) 'at one time' (RV 'aforetime').

4. Alford translates this v., 'But when the goodness and love-toward-men' (one Gk. word) 'of our Saviour, God, was manifested.'

God our Saviour] the Father. Appeared] 'was manifested'; i.e. in the coming, life, and death of Christ.

5. By the washing of regeneration] For 'washing,' 'laver' (i.e. place where the washing took place) is better. Baptism is referred to here. Renewing of the Holy Ghost] The baptism to be efficient must be both by water and by the Spirit. It is not a mere outward act.

6. Which he shed on us] When? At Pentecost, or, generally, to each individual? Probably both meanings should be included.

7. Heirs according to the hope of eternal life] better (as RM), 'heirs, according to hope, of eternal life.'

8. Faithful saying] i.e. a condensed reflection, an axiom in rhythmical form, a Christian proverb. Scholars disagree whether the 'faithful saying' here includes Tit_3:4-7 or only Tit_3:7. The presence of 'faithful sayings' shows that a religious movement is no longer in its infancy: men have reflected about it for some time: cp. 1Ti_1:15; 1Ti_3:1; 1Ti_4:8; 2Ti_2:11.

Believed in God] better (as RV), 'believed God'; i.e. trusted His word.

9. Every Christian minister learns the futility of arguments to persuade the prejudiced. Living reasonable lives, teaching positively and reasonably, we convince men; not otherwise.

10. Heretick] A heretic, to St. Paul, was never one who held erroneous opinions only, but one whose error sprang from moral crookedness, issuing at last in evil life. There seems always a sensual element in what St. Paul calls heresy; for he classes it with the sins of the flesh (Gal_5:20). The heresies of the Corinthian Church were moral rather than intellectual (1Co_11:19). Eph_4:18. exactly describes heresy, though the word itself is not mentioned. It is not important, but interesting to note that the word 'heretic' occurs only here in the NT. 'Heresy' is common. Reject] This is not excommunication. 'Refuse,' 'avoid,' 'shim,' 'decline to have intercourse with,' have been suggested as better translations.

12. Artemas] Nothing is known of him beyond this mention. Tradition says that he was later bishop of Lystra. Tychicus] cp. Act_20:4; Eph_6:21; Col_4:7; 2Ti_4:12. Nicopolis] Several towns had this name. This may be the one in Epirus.

13. Zenas.. and Apollos] Perhaps the bearers of the Epistle. Zenas was probably a Jewish scribe. For Apollos see Act_18:24; 1Co_1:12; 1Co_16:12. The mingling of old names with new is a strong critical argument for the Pauline authorship; a pupil wishing to imitate would hardly be apt to mention any but well-known names.

14. Our's] 'our people' (RV); i.e. the Christian community in Crete. For necessary uses] i.e. for helping such persons as Zenas and Apollos to give their time to Church extension. We should say, 'See that the people of the different congregations give good missionary offerings.'

15. In the faith] lit. 'in faith.'

The subscription appended to the Epistle in the AV is certainly spurious.

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Miscellaneous Injunctions, Tit_3:1-11.

1. Though the special contrasts between the Christians and the Cretans are ended, as noted at the close of last chapter, yet the admonitions of this chapter were called out by the special turbulence of the Cretans generally. Crete had now been for years subject to the Roman power, which was spreading itself over the known world. That power, despotic and conquering all before it, was, nevertheless, a mighty agency in breaking down national barriers, in bringing races into mutual acquaintance and unity, in establishing universal law and order, and so advancing the progress of civilization. Yet Gentile Crete, insular in position, was inclined to lawlessness and rebellion. The Jews in Crete, as elsewhere, were cherishing that spirit of hostility to Rome which resulted in a few years from this present time in the destruction of Jerusalem and the overthrow of the Jewish state. Huther doubts, indeed, whether there is in this chapter any special reference to Cretan turbulence, since other epistles have similar injunctions. Other epistles, however, treat the subject more doctrinally, whereas this epistle is throughout practical, with direct reference to surrounding circumstances. But Huther adds correctly, that such ethical laying down of the law was needed for Christians, from the fact that governments were heathen.

1. Put them in mind—Give them a reminder of what they know, but are ever inclined to forget. Morality is a simple science, if men were ready to acknowledge and remember its truths.

Be subject… obey—The former term expresses quiet submission, the latter active performance of laws and commands.

Principalities—The living magistrates.

Powers—The laws and authorities.

Obey magistrates—The lesser rulers.

Ready to every good work, as member under authorities of civil and social life.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

Tit_3:1. Principalities and powers.—The two words stand thus together to give fuller expression to the notion of authority. To obey magistrates.—R.V. “to be obedient.”

Tit_3:2. To be no brawlers.—R.V. “not to be contentious.” As in 1Ti_3:3. Gentle.—Such a man recognises that very often the summum jus is summa injuria, and therefore goes back from his legal rights. His opposite is Shylock.

Tit_3:3. Serving divers lusts and pleasures.—As in Tit_2:3 we saw the women needed to guard against the slavery of wine, so here various desires and pleasures are said to have had sway. Living in malice and envy.—Passing the life in the indulgence of what we could get, and envy of what we could not.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Tit_3:1-3

Christianity and the Civil Powers.

I. Christianity is on the side of law and order (Tit_3:1).—The Cretans were easily excited to rebellion, and the Jewish element in the island fostered any disposition to violence against Christianity. Hence Titus is urged to enforce on his people a ready obedience to magistrates, and to render cheerful help in maintaining the public peace. Christianity is ever on the side of law and order, and does more to prevent war and suppress rebellion than thousands of soldiers and policemen. The civil powers find powerful allies in all Christian Churches and institutions.

II. Christianity does not sanction the disparagement of civil officers.—“Speak evil of no man … be no brawlers” (Tit_3:2). Especially not to speak evil of dignitaries and magistrates. The civil officer is the embodiment and representative of law; and whatever his character may be otherwise, the law must be respected in him. The civil powers have often made great mistakes in harassing the Christian Church, and the only retaliation the Church has made has been to defend the rights and privileges of the magistracy. The warning against brawls was not only applicable to the Cretans, who were notoriously quarrelsome, but is directed against all who would disturb the peace of the Church or of the community by giving way to a petulant and fault-finding spirit.

III. Christianity teaches becoming behaviour towards all men.—“But gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men” (Tit_3:2). The Christian spirit is forbearing and kindly, not urging its rights to the uttermost, lest by doing so it should stir up wrath and bitterness. Instead of indulging a passionate severity, it disarms opposition by meekly enduring wrong. “Morning by morning,” writes Maclaren, “God’s great mercy of sunrise steals upon a darkened world in still, slow self-impartation; and the light which has a force that has carried it across gulfs of space that the imagination staggers in trying to conceive, yet falls so gently that it does not move the petals of the sleeping flowers, nor hurts the lids of an infant’s eyes, nor displaces a grain of dust. So should we live and work, clothing all our power in tenderness, doing our work in quietness, disturbing nothing but the darkness, and with silent increase of beneficent power filling and flooding the dark earth with healing beams.” If God is so kind and beneficent to all, we ought to be meek and gentle towards each other.

IV. Christianity enforces obedience to the civil powers by reminding us of our former lawless life (Tit_3:3).—The recollection of our own wild and reckless conduct in the past, and the forbearance often shown to us, should teach us to stand by those whose duty it is to maintain public order and decorum.

Lessons.—

1. Christianity is the guardian and promoter of peace.

2. Civil authority is potent as it is imbued with the Christian spirit.

3. Sin is the cause of rebellion and disorder.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES

Tit_3:1. The Authority of Law.

I. Law is of God.

II. Authority is derived from God.

III. Obedience to law an essential preparation for good works.

Lessons.—

1. Duty once learned may be and often is forgotten.

2. Duties of every-day life are most readily forgotten.

3. Christian ministers are required to remind their hearers of duty, as well as to proclaim privileges.

Tit_3:2-3. The Transforming Power of the Gospel.

I. What even Christians were.—

1. They were distinguished by folly.

2. Disobedience.

3. Liability to deception.

4. Sensuality.

5. Passion.

6. Unloveliness.

7. Unbrotherliness.

II. What Christians become.—

1. Their lives display humility of spirit.

2. Gentleness in action.

3. Truthfulness in word.—F. W.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

V

Further directions, which Titus is to give to believers, which he is to impress by exhibiting the grace shown to them, and firmly to insist on, in opposition to the false teachers

Tit_3:1-11

1Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates [to be subject to magistrates (and1) powers, to obey], to be ready to every good work, 2To speak evil of [slander] no man [one], to be no brawlers [not to be contentious], but gentle [yielding], shewing all meekness unto all men. 3For we ourselves also were sometime [once] foolish, disobedient, deceived [erring], serving divers lusts and pleasures [desires and lusts], living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. 4But after that [when] the kindness [goodness] and love of God our Saviour towards man [friendliness-towards-men 5of God our Saviour] appeared, Not by [on account of] works of righteousness which2 we have done [did], but according to [in virtue of] his mercy he saved us, by the washing [laver] of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6Which he shed on us abundantly [richly] through Jesus Christ our Saviour 7[Lord]; That, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life [heirs, according to hope, of eternal life]. 8This is a faithful saying [Trustworthy is the word], and these things [this] I will that thou affirm constantly [strongly], that [in order that] they which [who] have believed in God might be careful [may take care] to maintain good works. These things3 are good and profitable unto men. 9But avoid foolish questions [of controversy], and genealogies [genealogical registers], and contentions [quarrels], and strivings [controversies] about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. 10A man that is an heretic [an heretical man], after the first and second [one and a second] admonition, reject [shun]; 11Knowing that he that is such [such a one] is subverted [perverted], and sinneth, being [since he is] condemned of [by] himself.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Tit_3:1. Put them in mind. The Apostle, after having reminded (Tit_2:1-10) believers of the duties they owe to their fellow-believers, adds a memento in respect to their relation particularly to those who are not Christians (Tit_3:1-2), which he makes still more emphatic by referring to their own former state (Tit_3:3), and the mercy which had been shown to them (Tit_3:4-7). For the Cretians, characteristically inclined, as a people, to rebellion, such an exhortation was necessary, especially at a time in which those who had Jewish feelings were showing a disposition more and more to resist the authority of the heathen magistrates (see on 1Ti_2:1).—Magistrates [and] powers, especially of Rome, under whose dominion Crete now stood.—To be subject to, to obey; the former indicates the internal disposition, the latter the external act which proceeds from it.—To be ready to every good work; meaning, in the connection, those good works especially which the government demands of subjects; so that the intimation is here given, at least indirectly, that if the demand of the government is in conflict with God’s will, the duty of obedience ceases (Act_5:29).

Tit_3:2. To slander no one, μηδένα βλασφημεῖν (the reading μή in F. G. is too feebly attested to be received), to calumniate no one, to which the lying Cretians (Tit_1:12) must have been prone. There is no ground for the assumption, that the Apostle is now speaking directly of the magistrates (comp. Rom_13:7), for the exhortations which follow are general, and refer to the relation of Christians to non-Christians.—Not to be contentious, [but] yielding; the one a negative, the other a positive description of the peaceable character of those who, neither for the promotion of public or private interests, nor in the sphere of religion or politics, light the torch of discord.—Shewing allmeekness, &c.; a specially needed injunction for these Cretian churches, on account of the mingling of different races and individuals on the island.

Tit_3:3. For we ourselves also were, &c. [Were, ἦμεν, put forward emphatically, in sharp contrast to the better present; Ellicott.—D.] The Apostle urges the performance of the duties just mentioned, by reminding the Cretians of the grace which had glorified itself in them, who by nature were no better than others. The remembrance of this should prompt them not only to the most humble gratitude towards God, but also to gentleness towards those who were at that moment in the most degraded condition.—Foolish, ἀνόητοι (comp. Eph_4:18; Rom_1:21). Here, and in the following verses, Paul places, as he often does, the ποτέ and νῦν of the Christian life in direct contrast, and includes himself with Titus among those who were formerly “foolish,” without making the slightest distinction between those who had become Christians from heathenism or Judaism. Upon Titus especially, who was of heathen descent, must such a reference to the sin-stained past have had an excellent effect.—Disobedient, like those whose opposition it is now not unfrequently extremely difficult for us to bear. [Disobedient to God; Tit_1:16. He is no longer speaking of authorities, but has passed into a new train of thought; Alford.—D.]—Erring [going astray; Ellicott.—D.], πλανώμενοι, not only in respect to the truth, but also with regard to the most sacred obligations.—Serving divers desires and lusts (2Ti_3:6). The Apostle appears, not exclusively, but yet mainly, to refer to fleshly lusts. “They are styled ‘divers,’ I think, because the lusts by which the carnal man is driven to and fro are like adverse waves, which, in dashing against each other, turn him hither and thither, so that almost every moment he shifts and changes. Such, certainly, is the disquietude of all who abandon themselves to the desires of the flesh, because there is no stability but in the fear of God;” Calvin.—In malice and envy. Here, as in 1Ti_2:2, is meant not simply a momentary state, but the steady direction of the life—a life wholly controlled, as respects its ruling disposition, by malice and envy.—Hateful, στυγητοί (only once in N. T.), = μισητοί, odibiles, not exactly in the eyes of God and the holy angels (which undoubtedly is also true, but is not here meant), but generally worthy of abhorrence in the view of all who have reached a higher moral position.—Hating one another (comp. Gal_5:15; Rom_1:29).

Tit_3:4. But when … appeared. In contrast with this sad past, the Apostle points out the blessed present, the fruits of which believers continually enjoy.—But when the goodness (χρηστότης) and friendliness-towards-men (φιλανθρωπία) of God, &c. The distinction between “goodness” and “friendliness-towards-men” is, that the former expresses the Divine benevolence in general, the latter more specifically his compassion for mankind; so that both, taken together, are identical with grace (comp. “the grace that bringeth salvation;” Tit_2:11). Here also, as in 1Ti_1:1, God is styled Saviour, and, as in Tit_2:11, an “appearing” of the Divine love for sinners is spoken of. Although, under the old covenant, believers enjoyed the love and friendship of God (Psa_34:9), they nevertheless saw but the first dawning of the day of salvation which subsequently appeared, and possessed only the promise of that which the Christian enjoys in actual fulfilment. The whole of the passage which now follows has a great similarity with Tit_2:11-14, and yet has a character entirely its own. There the Apostle, in order to stimulate to Christian devoutness, exhibited the holy aim of the redemption which men obtain through Christ: here, on the other hand, in contrast with the entire unworthiness of unbelievers, be dwells upon the grace shown to them, in order to incite them to a gratitude which shall first of all manifest itself in love toward those who have not yet attained the priceless privileges of believers.

Tit_3:5. Not on account of works of righteousness, &c. (τῶν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ) [in righteousness, as the element and condition in which they were wrought; Alford.—D.]; those works which must be wrought in a state of righteousness before God. The Apostle by no means affirms that believers have actually performed such works, but, on the contrary, expressly denies it. Not the least, consequently, could have been found in them to call forth the Divine complacency.—[Which we did (emphatic), not “had done,” as A. V. and Conybeare, which, in fact, obscures the meaning; for God’s act, here spoken of, was a definite act in time—and its application to us, also a definite act in time; and if we take this ἐποιήσαμέν pluperfect, we confine the Apostle’s repudiation of our works as moving causes of those acts of God, to the time previous to those acts. For aught that this pluperfect would assert, our salvation might be prompted on God’s part by future works of righteousness which he foresaw we should do. Whereas, the simple aoristic sense throws the whole into the same time—“His goodness, &c, was manifested … not for works which we did … He saved us,” and renders the repudiation of human merit universal; Alford.—D].—But in virtue of his mercy, κατὰ τὸν αὐτοῦ ἔλον (comp. 1Pe_1:3 ; Luk_1:78). In this way God’s saving grace is described as from every side entirely free and undeserved, quite in the manner of Paul, as in Rom_3:20-24; Eph_2:3-10.—He saved us, ἔσωσεν ἡμᾶς; us, namely, who believe in Christ. Although the enjoyment of salvation is still incomplete so long as we remain in the body of sin and death, yet its possession is assured and sealed from the moment we come into union with Christ by faith. The Apostle distinctly points out what is and what is not the ground of this salvation wrought in them, and also by what means they are made partakers of it.—By the laver of regeneration, &c. a reference to baptism, which might all the more easily be exhibited as a laver, λουτρόν, since it was originally performed by the entire submersion of the person baptized (comp. Eph_5:26). Baptism is styled “laver of regeneration” (παλιγγενεσίας), not because it obligates to regeneration, nor because it is the symbol of regeneration, but because it is really the means of regeneration, if truly desired and received in faith (which is tacitly assumed in respect to those adult Christians who by their own free act were baptized). Whoever, with the desire of salvation, went down into the baptismal water, with the confession of an honest faith, came forth therefrom as one newborn, to live henceforth a new life (comp. Rom_6:4; Col_2:11-12). On this ground Paul could say that God had saved them by (διά) the laver of regeneration; since, as a general rule, the submission to the rite of baptism was necessarily, in the case of those who repeated the question of the Ethiopian eunuch (Act_8:36), the decisive act, the great turning-point in the history of their inner and outer life.—And renewing of the Holy Ghost, ἀνακαινώσεως (Vulgate: per lavacrum regenerations et renovationis). This expression may perhaps differ from the preceding, in indicating the further progress and development of the new life, while the former designates only its commencement. One corresponds with ἁγιασμός, as used by Paul, the other with γεννεθῆναι ἄνωθεν and ἐκ θεοῦ, in John. Both are wrought by the Holy Spirit, which is here placed in the genitive as indicating the efficient cause. “This regeneration and renovation entirely take away the death and old state described in Tit_3:3 (2Co_5:17);” Bengel.

Tit_3:6. Which [viz., the Holy Spirit] he shed on us richly, as was promised under the old covenant (Joe_2:28-32; Zec_12:10; Isa_44:3), and was fulfilled in the new covenant in the most abundant manner (Joh_7:37-39).—Through Jesus Christ, is not to be referred to the remote word “he saved” (Bengel), but to the proximate word “shed.” Here, as often in other places, the glorified Saviour is represented as imparting to His church the communication of the Spirit, without which the conversion of individuals would have ever been an absolute impossibility. Comp. Act_2:33 ; 2Co_1:21-22; Joh_1:33.

Tit_3:7. That, being justified by his grace. A reference to the high end for which God has blessed them in Christ (Tit_3:5), and renewed them by the Holy Spirit (Tit_3:6). Here, where the main design is not so much to point out to them directly their duties (as in Tit_2:12), as their priceless privileges, the Apostle mentions not their sanctification, but simply their eternal blessedness, as the mark towards which everything is to be made to tend. Justified, δικαιωθέντες (comp. Rom_1:17), must be understood in the sense in which the word is usually employed in the Epistles of Paul; so that it does not here signify found righteous, or sanctified, but acquitted from the guilt and punishment of sin, and thus received again into the friendship and favor of God, which had been forfeited by sin. For that justification, in the view of Paul, is more than the mere forgiveness of sin, and, along with this negative idea, includes also the positive one of a restitutio in integrum, is plain from Rom_4:5. By “his,” ἐκείνου, we are to understand not Christ, or the Holy Spirit just mentioned (Tit_3:6), but God the Father, who had been named, in Tit_3:4, as the source of this entire plan of salvation.—Might be made heirs of eternal life. The same Pauline thought is expressed also in Rom_8:17; here the Apostle adds, according to hope, κατʼ ἐλπίδα. This phrase must be connected with κληρονόμοι, “heirs,” and be understood as saying that the inheritance of eternal life here mentioned is not yet in its whole extent an actual possession, but is only expected through hope, of which once we were entirely destitute, as something which is certainly to be ours. So Starke: “The children of God are already indeed justified, and abundantly enjoy the goodness of God; but because the proper distribution of the full inheritance is yet future, they must still expect it, in faith and living hope, as certain. See Rom_8:23-24. No dead and imaginary hope is here meant, since even a man without faith can say: “I hope, certainly—I think, indeed, that I shall be saved.”

Tit_3:8. Trustworthy is the word (see on 1Ti_1:15). This asseveration refers to the whole course of thought (Tit_3:4-7).—And this I will that thou strongly affirm (Vulgate: de his vole te confirmare). The Apostle will have Titus lay a very special emphasis upon the great truth of faith brought out in Tit_3:4-7. Διαβεβαιοῦσθαι, affirm strongly, as in 1Ti_1:7. What is to be aimed at by this, is indicated by the following ἵνα, which shows, once more, that the Apostle desires with such earnestness to have the doctrine of free grace preached, because it is the great means of leading sinners to holiness.—That they who; describing the Cretian Christians in contrast with their previous paganism and idolatry (comp. Act_16:34).—May take care (comp. Tit_2:10), φροντίζειν (ἅπαξ λεγόμ.): “Thus he wishes them to apply their study and care; and when he says φροντίζωσιν, the Apostle seems elegantly to allude to those empty contemplations which philosophize without fruit or life;” Calvin.—These things [sc., these instructions, this practical teaching; De Wette, Ellicott.—D.], in opposition to what follows, in Tit_3:9 (see the critical observations), are good (in themselves) and profitable (comp. on 1Ti_2:3). It is arbitrary to limit this requirement of good works exclusively to works of love. [“Good works,” not merely with reference to works of mercy (Chrysostom), but, as in Tit_2:7, perfectly generally, and comprehensively. It was not to be a hollow, specious, false, ascetic, and sterile Christianity, but one that showed itself in outward actions; Ellicott.—D.]

Tit_3:9. But avoid foolish questions of controversy (comp. 1Ti_6:20; Tit_1:10). The Apostle has in view, as is clear from the subjoined adjective, μοράς, such researches as are utterly inconsistent with the Christian character and temper, and, in general, with all reasonable study—curious inquiries in respect to things which are of no consequence to Christian faith and spiritual life, and are even a hindrance to them. Two specialties which may be brought under this general category he particularly mentions: genealogical registers (see on 1Ti_1:4) and quarrels, ἔρεις, enmities arising in consequence of the various questions of controversy (ζητήσεις), and contentions about the law. It is plain enough from this, that here, too, Paul has his mind directed particularly to the contentions of the Jewish party (comp. 1Ti_1:7; Tit_1:14). This party frequently engaged in the most violent controversy, now upon the relation of the law to the gospel, and now upon the significance of particular Mosaic rites. These Titus was to avoid, to keep clear of (comp. 2Ti_2:16), for these things, in opposition to the καλά (Tit_3:8), are unprofitable and vain (fruitless).

Tit_3:10. An heretical man, αἱρετικὸν ἄνθρωπον, hœreticus; whoever, by his own forwardness, breaks up the unity of the church (comp. 1Co_11:19; Gal_5:20; Rom_16:17), especially by propa gating errors which conflict with the orthodoxy of sound Apostolic doctrine.—After one and a second admonition; after thou hast repeatedly, but fruitlessly, warned him to turn from his error, to profess the pure doctrine. Νουθεσία, from νοῦς and τίθημι, admonitio, occurs elsewhere in the N. T. only in 1Co_10:10; Eph_6:4.—Shun, παραιτοῦ (1Ti_4:7). Cease to exhort and warn him any farther, since it will certainly be fruitless. A formal excommunication (Vitringa) is certainly not here spoken of. The ground for a direction which might seem severe and arbitrary is given in what immediately follows.

Tit_3:11. Knowing that such an one is perverted, ἐξέστραπται (comp. Deu_32:30). An entire corruption of feeling and aim is here indicated, in consequence of which a complete aversion and antagonism has obtained the ascendancy.—And sinneth, since he is condemned by himself, αὐτοκατάκριτος (comp. 1Ti_4:2). This last word defines the peculiar character of the sin of which these persons become guilty. They stumble not at all from precipitancy and weakness, but with the full consciousness of their guilt and condemnation. And this is just the reason why Titus is to let them alone: no exhortation or counsel can assuredly be of any service. They already bear about with them their sentence, and, consequently, can expect nothing in the future but condemnation.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. In this passage the Apostle assumes—what he had more largely declared in Rom_13:1-7, and what is so constantly forgotten by the revolutionary politics of modern times—the doctrine of the Divine right of magistrates. Not that he maintains, by any means, that each and every person in authority is directly ordained of God Himself, and hence, as God’s vicegerent on earth, is entitled to demand a blind obedience, but simply that the office of the magistrate, as such, owes its origin, not to the will of men, nor to a supposed social contract (Rousseau), but to the will of God; that God Himself has originally regulated the relation between rulers and ruled according to His own wise counsel and purpose, and has therefore given to no citizen the right arbitrarily to absolve himself from the great duty of obedience, except in the single case provided for in Act_4:19; Act_5:29. Compare, on this whole subject, Arnold, Theolog. Experimentalis, 2:467–487; “Of Divine Order in Civil Government;” and, further, the Confess. August., art. 16, Formul. Concord., art. 12. Luther, in his larger Catechism, on the Fourth Commandment, maintains the duty of obedience even to unjust princes. Compare his exposition of Psalms 82.

2. Short as is the Epistle to Titus, we yet find, for the second time before it closes, a passage (Tit_3:4-7) containing a compendium of the doctrine of salvation, and at the same time a compressed but rich summing up of what he had more at length expressed in the Epistles to the Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians. A new proof, this, that to the end of his life he remained the same, and continued faithful, even in a Pastoral Epistle, to the great theme of his preaching.

3. The doctrine of the free grace of God, displayed in the gratuitous justification of the sinner, is not only a main point in the Pauline theology, but the foundation and corner-stone of the whole structure of the Reformation, and the great centre in which Paul, Augustine, and Luther are at one with believers in every age.

4. According to the express doctrine of the Apostle in this passage, baptism [in the sense explained in the exegetical notes.—D.] is the means of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. It is evident, however, at a glance, that he is here speaking exclusively of adults, who, in the conscious and voluntary exercise of faith, descend into the baptismal water. To children, who are not in a condition to believe, nor to be converted, this expression can be applicable only cum grano salis; and accordingly we find here not the least authority for attributing to the baptismal water, in itself, a magical and mechanical efficacy, which would lead to the Romish idea of the efficacy of baptism ex opere operato. What the child receives, when brought by his parents to baptism, is, not regeneration itself, but the sign and seal of the grace of God for the remission of sins and renewal. It is not till afterwards, when a personal and vital faith has sprung up and become developed in his heart, that regeneration and renewal can be spoken of, of which the baptism received in infancy was the prophetic symbol, and, in a manner, the ideal beginning. From the reformed point of view, therefore, we may speak in an entirely legitimate sense of baptismal grace received, in so far as the child, by this sacred rite, is brought under the protection and nurture of the Christian Church, in which the Holy Spirit works through the word in the regeneration and sanctification of each individual. Lange, Positiv Dogmatik, p. 1131, says: “Since the child has as yet no will of his own, and no exercise of his rational faculties, and belongs, with all his individual self-direction, to the church, he is committed, in the fulness of his plastic faculties, to the unrestricted influence of the church. His ecclesiastical and social regeneration is thus decided. He is ecclesiastically new-born; for, through baptism, he is born again into church membership. This ecclesiastical regeneration is, however, an individual regeneration, in respect to the idea and potency of the change.” Compare the remark of Huther on this passage.

5. In regard to the question frequently mooted, whether, by the heretics spoken of in the New Testament, we are to understand men who swerve from sound doctrine, and wrest the truth; or rather those who, by ecclesiastical dissensions, destroy the unity of the body of Christ, and thus do violence to love, the answer is simply this: This whole distinction rests upon an arbitrary antithesis between truth and love, faith and life. In swerving from the purity of the Apostolic teaching, the heretics became also schismatics. And the schismatics, so far as they aimed to be such, and to establish a separate church, must inevitably adopt peculiar doctrines, and thereby come more and more into collision with the teaching of the Apostles.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The mission of Christians, to sanctify civil life also.—What the State owes to the Church, and the Church to the State.—The peculiarity of Christian obedience, and what distinguishes it from that of the natural man.—The great contrast between Once and Now in the history of the Christian life.—Nothing is better fitted to lead us to humble gratitude towards God, and to benignity towards men, than the thought of what we once were in ourselves, and of what we have now become through His grace.—“Hateful, and hating one another,” still and ever the character of the natural man (proofs from the ancient and modern history of missions).—The gospel a revelation of grace, in contrast with the law, which worketh death.—The doctrine of the gratuitous justification of the sinner: (1.) The main doctrine of Paul; (2.) the corner-stone of the Reformation; (3.) the inexhaustible fountain of glory to God, consolation, and sanctification.—Baptism, when received in faith, the laver of regeneration.—The difference between works of law and good works from the Christian point of view.—Unprofitable questions, many: the needful inquiry, one.—True preaching must be a full preaching of the gospel; but the full preaching of the gospel must ever have a practical tendency.—The position which becomes the servant of the gospel towards obstinate errorists and opponents.—The various degrees and punishments of sins in the Church of the Lord.

Starke: Not to be wise, expresses more than not to know; for a person may be unacquainted with many things, and yet be a wise man. An unconverted person is so destitute of understanding, that he regards all spiritual and Divine things as folly.—Cramer: As believers are in a peaceful and blessed state, so unbelievers are in one in which they have no peace or blessedness. For the former cordially love each other, while the latter hate one another, or else exercise a wrong love, in which they perish together.—The sole fountain of salvation for the whole human family is the love, mercy, and condescension of God.—If we feel the friendliness of God towards us, we also should be friendly to our neighbors.—Man can do no good works, unless he is already just, and blessed by faith.—Hedinger: Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven! On this depends the inheritance of eternal life. Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and blessedness.—The doctrine of good works must be so exhibited, that the power and perseverance requisite for a holy life shall be shown to flow from the evangelical source of grace and faith: where this is not done, nothing is secured beyond an external and pharisaical righteousness.—What should the true preacher discourse upon in the pulpit? Not subtle, unprofitable, and idle questions, but upon subjects by which his hearers may be made better in faith and life, to their souls’ salvation and blessedness.—No amount of talking and singing will compel men to repent. Let Babel loose, and it will not help matters.—If it is unchristian to persecute heretics, it is much more Unchristian to regard as heresy, reject, and condemn, particular opinions which do not affect, much less subvert the foundation of faith, and may even be most precious truths.—God has two kinds of judgments—public and private: the first, at the last day; the latter, already in our conscience. If this become aroused, it makes the world too narrow (2Co_5:10; Rom_2:15; 1Co_11:31).

For the Pericope. Lisco: To what the grace of God in Christ binds us.—For what the Christian has especially to thank God on Christmas: (1.) For the mercy He shows us; (2.) for the Spirit He gives us; (3.) for the blessedness to which He leads us.—How we are called, by the incarnation of Christ, to a participation in a higher, heavenly life.—Heubner: The mission of the Son of God a proof of the glory to which God will raise us.—Ranke: The aim of the grace of God: (1.) To deliver us from our old life; (2.) to create a new life in us; (3.) to raise us to the life everlasting.—Kapff: The Triune God is revealed to none but the regenerate Christian.—Palmer: What do we receive at our baptism?—Petri: How we hear the doctrine of the manifested condescension and friendliness of God.

W. Hofacker: How difficult problems are clearly solved to faith in the knowledge of the inscrutable God.—Luther: “Let now this Epistle teach us once more two things: faith and love—or to receive blessings from God, and to confer blessings upon our neighbor. For all Scripture urges these two, and one cannot exist without the other. Faith excites love, and love increases faith.—What more charming can be said, than such words to a sinful, distressed conscience? Alas, that the devil, by the Pope’s law, should have so miserably perverted these pure words of God!”

Footnotes:

[1]Tit_3:1.—Καί is omitted by Tischendorf [Lachmann, Alford, Ellicott.—D.] on the authority of A. C. D.1 E.1 F. G., Cod. Sin., but can hardly be dispensed with. [Still, although it is found in many of the versions and fathers, the weight of MS. authority is too decisive allow it to be retained.—D.]

[2]Tit_3:5.—[The Recepta, Griesbach, Tischendorf, Ellicott, accept ων on the authority of C.2 D.3 E. K. L., Ath., Chrysostom, Theodoret, &c.; while Lachmann and Alford adopt a found in A. C.1 D.1 F. G., and now strengthened by Cod. Sin.—D.]

[3]Tit_3:8.—Τὰ after ταῦτά ἐστι, the fuller text of the Recepta, is wanting in A. C. D. E. G., and other witnesses [also Cod. Sin.—D.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

III. IN RELATION TO THE WORLD AND FALSE TEACHERS

CHAPTER 3

1. Instructions (Tit 3:1-8)

2. Warnings (Tit 3:9-11)

3. Directions (Tit 3:12-15)

Tit 3:1-8

He asks Titus to remind all believers to be subject to rulers, principalities and powers (Greek: Magistracies and authorities, Rom 13:1), to yield obedience and to be ready for every good work. An ancient historian, Diodones Siculus, speaks of the riotous insubordination of the Cretans. They were to speak evil of no man, nor were they to be contentious, but show all gentleness and all meekness towards all men. Our own rights must be yielded, but never the rights of God. If authorities demand what is against sound doctrine then God must be obeyed more than man. This is indicated by the exhortation “to be ready for every good work.” Meekness towards all men is to characterize those who are no longer of the world, but who are still in it. Such meekness towards all, not only towards fellow-believers, but towards all men, adorns the doctrine of our Saviour-God, and is a commendation of the grace of God which offers salvation to all men.

Then follows an additional reason why Christians should be gentle and meek towards all men. “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” It is a look backward, what they were in their unregenerate condition. These are the true characteristics of man in the flesh. Here is an answer to the question, What is sin? Sin is foolishness, disobedience, deception, slavery to lusts and unsatisfying pleasures, a life of malice, envy and hatred. It is lawlessness. And such is the natural man in all ages. What was true of these Cretans nineteen hundred years ago is true today of every unregenerated person.

And then follows a “but.” (See Eph 2:13.) “But when the kindness and love to man [“Love to man” in the Greek is “Philanthropy.” Our Lord Jesus Christ is the great Lover of men, Philanthropist, as no human being could ever be.] of our Saviour-God appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He has shed upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that having been justified by His grace, we might be heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

For such as the Cretans were, and we all are, the kindness and love of our Saviour-God appeared; and this Saviour-God is Christ Himself, He by whom and for whom all things were created. All who have believed and trusted in the kindness and love of God as manifested in Christ can testify in fullest assurance, “according to His mercy He saved us,” and own it likewise that it is “not by works of righteousness which we have done.”

And this is accomplished by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. The washing (or bath) of regeneration is the new birth. Of this our Lord spoke to Nicodemus (Joh 3:1-36) and also to His disciples when He washed their feet. “He that is washed (bathed) needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit; and ye are clean, but not all” (Joh 13:10). He spoke in these words of the fact that His disciples, except Judas, were born again, and therefore they were clean every whit. The washing has nothing whatever to do with water-baptism; water-baptism cannot save nor help in the salvation of a sinner, nor produce regeneration. What is the renewing of the Holy Spirit? It is distinct from regeneration. The Holy Spirit is the active agent in the new birth; imparts the new nature and then indwells the believer, and as such He does His blessed work by renewing the inward man day by day (2Co 4:16). He is shed upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, and gives power to all who walk in the Spirit. On the fact that the word “regeneration” is found only once more in the New Testament (Mat 19:28) the late F.W. Grant made the following interesting comment in connection with this passage.

“The Lord promises to the twelve that ‘in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of His kingdom,’ they also shall ‘sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel .’ ‘The regeneration’ is in this passage the millennial state; but thus we may see already the difference between it and the idea of new birth, whatever the connection may be between these. The millennial regeneration is not a new life infused into the world, but it is a new state of things brought about by the new government over it. Thus, the Lord speaks of the throne of the Son of man and of thrones for His disciples. The throne of the world in the hands of the Perfect Ruler is, in fact, what brings about the regeneration. Righteousness now reigns. In the new earth it will dwell; but in the millennium there is yet neither the full reality; nor, therefore, the full permanence of deliverance from evil. Righteousness reigns, and evil is not suffered any more, but the full blessing waits to be manifested in that which is eternal and not millennial. The subjugation of evil, Christ’s foes put under His feet, goes on through the millennium, in different stages, towards completeness. It is the preparation for eternity, but not the eternal state itself.

“it is plain, therefore, that there is a parallel between the stages of God’s preparation of the earth for blessing and that of the individual man. The present stage of the earth is that out of which the Christian has been delivered, the state of bondage to corruption, the dominion of sin. The present state of the Christian is that which the earth itself waits for, the time when the power of sin will be broken and righteousness will reign. For us righteousness reigns now, but the conflict with sin is not over. This, in the millennium, will be fully seen at the end, when there is once more the outbreak of evil, Satan being let loose. What follows this is the dissolution of the present heavens and earth and the coming of the new earth, in which dwelleth righteousness, just as the dissolution or the change of the body makes way for the perfect eternal state with us. Thus there is a complete parallel, which we cannot be wrong in accepting as that which will help us with the expression here. ‘The washing of regeneration’ is the deliverance from the power of sin, which is no more tolerated, but which is not, by any means, wholly removed. ‘The renewing of the Holy Spirit’ is that which is constantly needed to supplement this, although the word used does not speak of a mere reviving or refreshing constantly, but rather of a change into that which is new--thus, of ways, habits-as the light more and more penetrates, and the word of God manifests more and more its perfection and its power for the soul.”

Being then saved according to His mercy by the washing of regeneration and receiving the Holy Spirit and having been justified by His grace, we become also heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

The practical side, godliness in life and walk, is once more connected with these preceding statements of sound doctrine. “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.”

Tit 3:9-11

Foolish questions and genealogies, contentions and striving about the law must be avoided, for they are unprofitable and vain. How many of these things are about us! Some are more occupied with the ten lost tribes and their supposed recovery, according to the Anglo-Israel hallucination, than with the grace and glory of God; and others are given to questions of law, like Seventh-day Adventism--that evil system. All these things are indeed unprofitable and vain. The heretic is one who sets up his own opinions and then causes division in the body of Christ. If such a one after a second admonition continues in his ways, he is to be rejected, for he proves that he is self-willed and not subject to the Word of God--”Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.”

Tit 3:12-15

In the closing directions and greetings Artemas is mentioned first; his name does not occur elsewhere. Tychicus is mentioned in 2Ti 4:12. He was sent by Paul to Ephesus ; he probably was sent later to Crete to take the place of Titus. Zenas the lawyer and Apollos (Act 18:24) were travelling companions, and the apostle expresses his loving care and interest in them.

“Observe also that we have the two kinds of laborers: those who were in personal connection with the apostle as fellow-laborers, who accompanied him, and whom he sent elsewhere to continue the work he had begun, when he could no longer carry it on himself, and those who labored freely and independently of him. But there was no jealousy of this double activity. He did not neglect the flock that were dear to him. He was glad that any who were sound in the faith should water the plants which he himself had planted. He encourages Titus to show them all affection, and to provide whatever they needed in their journey. This thought suggests to him the counsel that follows: namely, that it would be well for Christians to learn how to do useful work in order to supply the wants of others as well as their own” (Synopsis of the Bible).

Then the final exhortations, once more “to maintain good works” and his final greeting. “All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.”

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Titus Chapter 3

With respect to the conduct of Christians towards the world, grace has banished violence, and the spirit of rebellion and resistance which agitates the heart of those who believe hot, and which has its source in the self-will that strives to maintain its own rights relatively to others.

The Christian has his portion, his inheritance, elsewhere; he is tranquil and submissive here and ready to do good. Even when others are violent and unjust towards him, he bears it in remembrance that once it was no otherwise with himself: a difficult lesson, for violence and injustice stir up the heart; but the thought that it is sin, and that we also were formerly its slaves, produces patience and piety. Grace alone has made the difference, and according to that grace are we to act towards others.

The apostle gives a grievous summary of the characteristics of man after the flesh-that which we once were. Sin was foolishness-was disobedience; the sinner was deceived-was the slave of lusts, filled with malice and envy, hateful, and hating others. Such is man characterized by sin. But the kindness of God, of a Saviour-God, His good-will and charity towards men (sweet and precious character of God!) [2] has appeared. The character that He assumed is that of Saviour, a name especially given Him in these three epistles, in order that we should bear its stamp in our walk, that it should pervade our spirit. Our walk in the world and our conduct towards others depend on the principles of our relationships with God. That which has made us different from others is not some merit in ourselves, some personal superiority: we were sometime even as they. It is the tender love and grace of the God of mercy. He has been kind and merciful to us: we have known what it is, and are so to others. It si true that in cleansing and renewing us this mercy has wrought by a principle, and in a sphere of a life, that are entirely new,, so that we cannot walk with the world as we did before; but we act towards others who are still in the mire of this world, as God has acted towards us to bring us out of it, that we might enjoy those things which, according to the same principle of grace, we desire that others also should enjoy. The sense of what we once were, and of the way in which God has acted towards us, combine to govern our conduct towards others.

Now when the kindness of a Saviour-God appeared, it was not something vague and uncertain; He has saved us, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy by washing and renewing us. This is the double character of the work in us, the same two points which we find in Joh 3:1-36 in the Lords’ discourse with Nicodemus; except that here is added that which has now its place because of the work of Christ, namely, that the Holy Ghost is also shed on us abundantly to be the strength of that new life of which He is the source. The man is washed, cleansed. He is washed from his former habits, thoughts, desires, in the practical sense. We wash a thing that exists. The man was morally bad and defiled in his inward and outward life. God has saved us by purifying us; He could not do it otherwise. To be in relationship with Himself there must be practical purity.

But this purification was thorough. It was not the outside of the vessel. It was purification by means of regeneration; identified with the communication of a new life no doubt, which is the source of new thoughts, in connection with God’s new creation, and capable of enjoying His presence and in the light of His countenance, but which in itself is a passage from the state we were in into a wholly new one, from flesh by death into the status of a risen Christ.

But there was a power which acted in this new life and accompanies it in the Christian. It is not merely a subjective change, as they say. There is an active divine Agent who imparts something new, of which He is Himself the source-the Holy Ghost Himself. It is God acting in the creature (for it is by the Spirit that God always acts immediately on the creature); and it is in the character of the Holy Ghost that He acts in this work of renewal. It is a new source of thoughts in relationship with God; not only a vital capacity, but an energy which produces that which is new in us.

It has been a question, When does this renewal by the Holy Ghost take place? Is it at the commencement, or is it after the regeneration [3] of which the apostle speaks? I think that the apostle speaks of it according to the character of the work; and adds “shed on us” (that which characterizes the grace of this present period) to shew that there is an additional truth, namely, that the Holy Ghost, as “shed on us,” continues in order to maintain by His power the enjoyment of the relationship into which He has brought us. The man is cleansed in connection with the new order of things; but the Holy Ghost is a source of an entirely new life, entirely new thoughts; not only of a new moral being, but of the communication of all that in which this new being develops itself. We cannot separate the nature from the objects with regard to which the nature develops itself, and which form the sphere of its existence and characterize it.

It is the Holy Ghost who gives the thoughts, who creates and forms the whole moral being of the new man. The thought and that which thinks, cannot be separated, morally, when the heart is occupied with it. The Holy Ghost is the source of all in the saved man: he is ultimately saved, because this is the case with him.

The Holy Ghost does not only give a new nature; He gives it us in connection with an entirely new order of things (“a new creation”), and fills us as to our thoughts with the things that are in this new creation. This is the reason, that, although we are placed in it once for all, this work-as to the operation of the Holy Ghost-continues; because He ever communicates to us more and more of the things of this new world into which He has brought us. He takes of the things of Christ and shews them to us; and all that the Father has is Christ’s. I think that the “renewing of the Holy Ghost” embraces all this; because he says, “which shed on us abundantly.” So that it is not only that we are born of Him, but that He works in us, communicating to us all that is ours in Christ.

The Holy Ghost is shed on us abundantly by means of Jesus Christ our Saviour, in order that, having been justified by the grace of this Saviour, we should be heirs according to the hope of eternal life. I think that the antecedent of “in order that” is “the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost;” and that the sentence, “which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour,” is an accessory parenthesis introduced to shew us that we have the fullness of the enjoyment of these things by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Thus he has saved us by this renewing that we may be heirs according to the hope of eternal life, It is nothing outward, earthly, or corporeal. Grace has given us eternal life, In order to this, we have been justified by the grace of Christ. [4] Thus there is energy, power, hope, through the rich gift of the Holy Ghost. In order to our participating in it we have been justified by His grace, and our inheritance is in the incorruptible joy of eternal life.

God has saved us, not by works-nor by means of [5] anything that we are, but by His mercy. But the He has acted towards us according to the riches of His own grace, according to the thoughts of His own heart.

With these things the apostle desires that Titus would be occupied-with that which brings us with thanksgiving into practical connection with God Himself and makes us feel what our portion is, our eternal portion, before Him. This acts upon the conscience, fills us with love and good works, makes us respect all the relationships of which God Himself is the center. We are in relationship with God according to His rights; we are before God, who causes everything that He has Himself established to be respected by the conscience.

Idle questions and disputes on the law Titus was to avoid, together with everything that would destroy the simplicity of our relationship with God according to the immediate revelation of Himself and of His will in Jesus Christ. It is still the Gnostic Judaism setting itself up against the simplicity of the gospel; it is the law and human righteousness, and that which, by means of intermediate beings, destroys the simplicity and the immediate character of our relationship with the God of grace.

When a man tried to set up his own opinions, and by that means to form parties in the assembly, after having admonished him once and a second time, he was to be rejected; his faith was subverted. He sins, he is judged of himself. He is not satisfied with the assembly of God, with the truth of God: he wants to make a truth of his won. Why is he a Christian, if Christianity, as God has given it, does no suffice him? By making a party for his own opinions he condemns himself.

We have, at the end of the epistle, a little glimpse of the Christian activity which the love of God produces, the pains taken that the flock should enjoy all the help with which God supplies the assembly. Paul wished that Titus should come to him: but the Cretans needed his services; and the apostle makes the arrival of Artemas or Tychicus (the latter well known by the services he had rendered to Paul) the condition of the departure of Titus from the field in which he was laboring. We find too that Zena, a lawyer, and Apollos, who had also displayed his active zeal at Ephesus and Corinth , were disposed to occupy themselves in Crete with the work of the Lord.

Observe also that we have the two kinds of labourers: those who were in personal connection with the apostle as fellow-laborers, who accompanied him, and whom he sent elsewhere to continue the work he had begun, when he could no longer carry it on himself; and those who labored freely and independently of him. But there was no jealousy of this double activity. He did not neglect the flock that were dear to him. He was glad that any who were sound in the faith should water the plants which he had planted. He encourages Titus to show them all affection, and to provide whatever they needed in their journey. thought suggest to him the counsel that follows; namely, that it would be well for Christians to learn how to do useful work in order to supply the wants of others as well as their own.

The apostle ends his epistle with the salutations that Christian love always produces; but, as we saw at the beginning, there is not here the same expansion of heart that we find in Paul’s communications to Timothy. Grace is the same everywhere; but there are special affections and relationships in the assembly of God.

Footnotes for Titus Chapter 3

2: In Greek it is the word ‘philanthropy’, which in scripture is only used in speaking of God; and which moreover has much greater force than the English word, because ‘phil’ is an especial affection for anything, a friendship.

3: “palinggenisia” the word here used, is not being born again (“anagennao”). It is used, besides this passage, only in the end of Mat 19:1-30 for the millennium. The renewing of the Holy Ghost is a distinctthing from the regeneration. This last is a change of one state of things to another.

4: It is because “Christ” is in the parenthesis, and not in the principal sentence, that we read “ekeinos”.

5: Here, as everywhere, the responsibility of man and God’s saving grace, by which purpose also is accomplished, are clearly distinguished.

John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 24

THE DUTY OF OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY, WITH ITS LIMITS; THE DUTY OF COURTESY WITHOUT LIMITS. - Tit_3:1-3

ST. PAUL, having in the previous chapter sketched the special duties which Titus is to inculcate upon different classes of Christians, - aged men and aged women, young women, young men, and slaves, - now passes on to point out what must be impressed on all Christians alike, especially as regards their conduct towards those who are in authority and who are not Christians.

Here he is on delicate ground. The Cretans are said to have been a turbulent race, or rather a group of turbulent races; neither peaceable among themselves, nor very patient of foreign dominion: and the Roman rule had been established there for less than a century and a half. Previous to their conquest by Metellus in B.C. 67, they had been accustomed to democratic forms of government, and therefore would be likely to feel the change to the Roman yoke all the more acutely. As our own experiences in a neighboring island have taught us, people who have been allowed to misgovern themselves, and to fight among themselves, for many generations, do not readily give a welcome to a power which deprives them of these liberties, even when it offers in exchange for them the solid but prosaic advantages of peace and security. Besides this, there was in Crete a strong mixture of Jews, whose rebellious propensities seemed to be unquenchable. Nor was this all. Within the Church itself the spirit of anarchy had displayed itself: partly because, as in the Churches of Corinth and Galatia, the characteristic faults of the people still continued to show themselves after the acceptance of Christianity; partly because, as everywhere in the Churches of that age the contests between Jewish and Gentile converts were always producing disorder. This appears in the first chapter of our Epistle, in which the Apostle states that "there are many unruly men specially they of the circumcision," and in which he finds it necessary to make it a qualification for the office of bishop or overseer, that the persons appointed should be such as "are not accused of riot or are unruly." Besides which, as we learn from numerous sources in the New Testament, there was in various quarters a tendency to gross misconceptions respecting Christian liberty. Through Gnostic and other anti-nomian influences there was a disposition in many minds to translate liberty into license, and to suppose that the Christian was above the distinctions of the moral law, which for him had no meaning. Lastly, there were probably some earnest Christians, who, without going to any of these disastrous extremes, or sympathizing with the factious and seditious spirit of their fellow-countrymen, nevertheless had serious doubts as to whether Christians were under any obligation to obey a pagan magistrate, and perhaps were inclined to believe that it was their duty to disobey him.

For all these reasons St. Paul must have known that he was charging Titus to give instructions which would be very unwelcome to a large number of Cretan converts, when he told him to "put them in mind to be in subjection to rulers and authorities, and to be obedient." But it was the very fact that the instructions would be unwelcome to many that made it so necessary that they should be given. Both for the internal well-being of the Church, and for the maintenance of right relations with the State, it was imperative that the principle of obedience to authority, whether ecclesiastical or civil, should be upheld. There must be peace, and there must be liberty: but there could be neither the one nor the other without a respect for law and for those who have to administer it.

The Apostle does not here argue the case. He lays down certain positions as indisputable. The loyal Christian must submit himself to those who are placed over him; he must render obedience to existing authorities. There is one obvious limit to this which he indicates by a single word to be noticed hereafter, but with that one qualification the duty of obedience is imperative and absolute. Jew and Gentile Christian alike must obey the laws, not only of the Church, as administered by its overseers, but also of the State, as administered by the magistrates, even though the State be a heathen power and the magistrate an idolater. The reason why St. Paul does not argue the matter is obvious. He is not writing to those who are likely to dispute or disobey these injunctions, but to one who has to see that they are obeyed. His object is not to prove the excellence of the rules which he lays down, but to advise Titus as to what rules are to be most insisted upon. Titus was well aware of the principles upon which these rules were based and of the arguments by which the Apostle was accustomed to defend them. He does not need information on that point. What the Apostle thinks may be necessary for his guidance is a clear intimation of those practical lessons of which the Cretans needed most to be reminded. It was quite possible that Titus might have taken the view that the question about obedience to existing authorities was a burning one, and that it would be better for the present to say as little about it as possible. To object, therefore, that these directions in the second and third chapters of this Epistle are unworthy of St. Paul, and consequently not written by him, because they contain nothing which might serve as a sufficient refutation of the adversaries, is to beat the air without effect. They contain nothing calculated to serve as a refutation of the adversaries, because the apostle writes with no intention of refuting opponents, but in order to give practical instructions to his delegate.

But although the Apostle does not here argue the case, we are not left in ignorance as to the principles upon which he based the rules here laid down so emphatically. The thirteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans is quite clear on that point. "There is no power but of God; and the powers that be are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, withstandeth the ordinance of God." That is the kernel of the whole matter. The fact that a few rule over the many is not to be traced to a world-wide usurpation of the rights of the simple and the weak by the selfishness of the crafty and the strong. That theory may explain the terrorism of a bully, or of a band of brigands, or of a secret society; it is no explanation of the universal relations between governors and the governed. Nor is it the result of a primeval "social compact," in which the weak voluntarily surrendered some of their rights in order to have the advantage of the protection of the strong: that theory is pure fiction, and finds no support either in the fact of mans nature, or in the relics of primitive society, or in the records of the past. The one explanation which is at once both adequate and true, is, that all authority is of Divine origin. This was the declaration of the Forerunner, when his disciples complained to him of the influence which Jesus exercised over those who came in contact with His teaching: "A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven." {Joh_3:27} This was the declaration of the Christ, when the Roman Procurator pointed out to Him that He had power of life and death over Him: "Thou wouldest have no power against Me, except it were given thee from above". {Joh_19:11} The power of the Redeemer over the minds of men and the power of a heathen governor over the bodies of men have one and the same source, - Almighty God. Christ declared His innocence and asserted His claims; but He made no protest against being tried by a pagan official, who represented the power that had deprived the Jewish nation of its liberties, because he also represented the principle of law and order, and as such was the representative of God Himself.

St. Paul, therefore, is doing more than restating what the Lord had already taught both by word and example. Christians must show submission to rulers and constituted authorities, and must yield ready obedience to magistrates, even when they are heathen. As heathen they were no doubt rebels against God, however little they might be aware of the fact. But as magistrates they were His delegates, however little they were aware of the fact. The Christian is aware of both facts; and he must not suppose that the one cancels the other. The magistrate still remains Gods delegate, however inconsistent his own life may be with such a position. Therefore it is not only allowable for Christians to obey him; but they must make it a matter of conscience to do so: and the history of the Church throughout the eras of persecution shows how greatly such teaching was needed. Whatever may have been the case when St. Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans, we may safely maintain that persecution had already taken place when he wrote these instructions to Titus. Not that he seems to have a persecuting power in his mind, when he enjoins simple obedience to existing authority; but he writes with full knowledge of the extreme cases that might occur. A moralist who could insist upon the duty of submission to rulers, when a Nero had been on the throne for twelve or fourteen years, was certainly not one who could be ignorant of what his principles involved. Nor could it be said that the evils of Neros insolent despotism were counteracted by the excellence of his subordinates. The infamous Tigellinus was Praetorian Prefect and the Emperors chief adviser. Helius, who acted as governor of Italy during the Emperors absence in Greece, was in character a second Nero. And Gessius Florus, one of Pilates successors as Procurator of Judea, was so shameless in his enormities that the Jews regretted the departure of his predecessor Albinus, although he had mercilessly oppressed them. But all these facts, together with many more of the same kind, and some also of an opposite character, were beside the question. Christians were not to concern themselves with discussing whether rulers governed well or ill, or whether their private lives were good or bad. The one fact which concerned them was that the rulers were there to administer the law, and as such must be respected and obeyed. The conscience of Christians and the experiences of politicians, whether rulers or ruled, throughout all the subsequent ages have ratified the wisdom of St. Pauls injunctions; and not only their wisdom, but their profound morality. Renan says with truth, but with a great deal less than the whole truth, that "Paul had too much tact to be a preacher of sedition: he wished that the name of Christian should stand well, and that a Christian should be a man of order, on good terms with the police, and of good repute in the eyes of the pagans" ("St. Paul," p. 477). The criticism which resolves a profound moral principle into a mere question of tact is worthy of the critic who makes it. Certainly St. Paul was far-sighted enough to see that frequent collisions between Christians and the recognized administrators of the law would be no good thing for Christianity: but it was not because he believed obedience to be the best policy that he charged Titus to insist upon it.

It is of the very essence of a ruler that he is "not a terror to the good work, but to the evil: for he is a minister of God to thee for good an avenger for wrath to him that doeth evil." It is quite possible that the law which he administers is unjust, or that he administers it in such a way as to make it work injustice, so that good deeds are punished and evil deeds are rewarded. But nowhere is good punished as good, or evil rewarded as evil. When Naboth was judicially murdered to gratify Jezebel, it was on the assumption that he was a blasphemer and a rebel; and when Jesus of Nazareth was condemned to death by the Sanhedrin and by the Procurator, it was on the assumption that he was guilty of similar crimes. So also with all the monstrous and iniquitous laws which have been made against Christianity and Christians. The persecuting edict "cast out their name as evil."

It was because men believed, or professed to believe, that Christians were grievous offenders or dangerous citizens, that they brought them before the magistrates. And the same holds good of the religious persecutions of which Christians have been guilty against other Christians. Nowhere can we point to a case in which a person has been condemned for having been virtuous, or for having failed to commit a crime. Many have been condemned for what was really meritorious, or for refusing to do what was really wicked; but in all such cases the meritorious conduct and the wicked conduct were held to be of exactly the opposite character by the representatives of the law. Legally constituted authority, therefore, is always by profession, and generally in fact also, a terror to the evil and a supporter of the good. It is charged with the all-important duty of upholding right and punishing wrong in human conduct, a duty which it never disowns. For even when through blindness or perversity it upholds what is wrong or punishes what is right, it professes to be doing the opposite. Therefore to rebel against it is to rebel against the principle of moral government; it is a revolt against that principle which reflects and represents, and that by his ordinance, the moral government of Almighty God.

St. Paul assumes that rulers aim at what is just and right. The Christian is "to be ready unto every good work": and, although the words are no doubt intended to have a general meaning as well, yet the context suggests that their primary meaning in this place is that Christians are always, not only to be obedient to rulers and magistrates, but to be ready to support and assist them in any good work: the presumption being that what the authorities direct is good. But, without perhaps having this object in view, the Apostle here indirectly intimates the limits to Christians obedience and support. They are to be given to further "every good work": they cannot of course be given to further what is evil. What then must a Christian do when lawful authority requires him to do what he knows to be wrong? Is he to rebel? to stir up a revolt against those who make this demand? No, he is still "to be in subjection to rulers": that is, he must disobey and quietly take the consequences. He owes it to his conscience to refuse to do what it condemns: but he also owes it to the representative of Divine law and order to abstain from shaking its authority. It has the power to give commands and the right to punish disobedience, and he has no right to refuse both obedience and punishment. To disobey and submissively take the consequences of disobedience is his plain duty in so painful a case. In this way, and in this way only, will loyalty to conscience and loyalty to authority both alike be preserved. In this way, and in this way best (as history has again and again shown), is the reformation of unjust laws effected. The moral sense of society is far more impressed by the man who disobeys for conscience sake and unresistingly goes to prison or mounts the scaffold for his disobedience, than by him who violently resists all attempts to punish him and stirs up rebellion against the authority which he cannot conscientiously obey. Rebellion may succeed in redressing injustice, but at a cost which is likely to be more grievous than the injustice which it redresses. Conscientious disobedience, accompanied by loyal submission to the penalty of disobedience, is sure to succeed in reforming unjust laws, and that without any cost to counterbalance the good thus gained.

Having thus trenchantly determined the duty of believers towards rulers and magistrates, St. Paul passes on to sketch their proper attitude towards other members of society. And just as in speaking of conduct towards authorities he evidently has in his mind the fact that most authorities are unbelievers, so in speaking of conduct in society he evidently is thinking of a state of society in which many of its members are unbelievers. What kind of conduct will Titus have to insist upon as befitting a Christian? "To speak evil of no man, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all meekness towards all men."

It would he difficult to point to a precept which is more habitually violated by Christians at the present day, and therefore more worthy of constantly being brought to the front and urged upon their consideration. There are plenty of precepts both of the Old and of the New Testaments, which are habitually violated by the godless and the irreligious, by those who, while bearing the name of Christian, scarcely make even a pretence of endeavoring to live Christian lives. But here we have a group of precepts, which a large number, not only of those who profess to live soberly and righteously, but of those who do indeed in other respects live as Christians should, consent to forget or ignore. "To speak evil of no man; not to be contentious; to be gentle, showing all meekness towards all men." Let us consider calmly what such words as these really mean; and then let us consider what we constantly meet with in the controversial writing, and still more in the controversial speaking, of the present day. Consider the tone of our party newspapers, and especially our religious newspapers, on the burning questions of the hour and on the men who take a leading part in them. Read what a High Church paper says of a Low Church Bishop, or what a Low Church paper says of a High Church Bishop, and measure it by the injunction "to speak evil of no man." Or, again, read what some of the organs of Dissent allow themselves to say respecting the clergy of the Established Church, or what some Church Defense orators have allowed themselves to say respecting Liberationists, and measure it by the injunctions "not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all meekness towards all men." It is sometimes necessary to speak out and call attention to real or suspected evils; although not nearly so frequently as we like to think. But it is never necessary to throw mud and deal in personal abuse.

Moreover, it is very unbecoming to do so. It is doubly unbecoming, as St. Paul reminds us. First, such conduct is utterly unchristian. Secondly, it is very much out of place in those who before now have been guilty of quite as grave faults as those for which we now abuse others. We are just the persons who ought to remember, because we know from personal experience how much the grace of God can effect. If we have by His mercy been brought out of the sins which we now condemn in other people, what may we not hope for in their case, provided we do not disgust them with virtue by our acrimonious and uncharitable fault-finding? Abuse is the wrong weapon to use against unrighteous conduct, just as rebellion is the wrong weapon to use against unrighteous laws.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

3:1-11 The emphasis on wholesome teaching (1:9; 2:1) continues; Paul turns now to the relationship of the Christian community with society at large (cp. 1 Tim 2:2-4). As in Titus 2:1-15, God’s instructions for his people (3:1-2) are based on his dealings with them (3:3-7; cp. study note on 2:11-15). Paul then instructs Titus to avoid fruitless disputes and to insist on beneficial teaching (3:8-11).

3:1 Paul might be telling the believers to make a clear distinction between themselves and the unruly common masses. Alternatively, the troublemakers (1:10-15; 3:10) might have adopted unruly behaviors that stemmed from their erroneous teachings (as is likely the case in 1 Tim 2:1-7). • On relations to government . . . officers, see 1 Tim 2:2; Rom 13:1-7.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Tit 3:1. Ἀρχαῖς καὶ ἐξουσίαις, to principalities and powers) Crete was a Roman province.—ὑποτάσσεσθαι, πειθαρχεῖν, to be subject, to obey) The words, ἀνόητοι, foolish (comp. Psa 32:9), ἀπειθεῖς, disobedient, Tit 3:3, are opposed to them.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tit_3:1-2. Instructions to give exhortations regarding conduct towards the authorities and towards all men.

ὑπομίμνησκε αὐτούς] (see 2Ti_2:14) presupposes that they are aware of the duties regarding which the exhortation is given. It is not so certain that Paul is alluding to definite precepts already expressed by him.

αὐτούς] viz. the members of the church.

ἀρχαῖς (καὶ) ἐξουσίαις ὑποτάσσεσθαι] ἀρχαὶ κ. ἐξουσίαι as a name for human authorities is used also in Luk_12:11 (comp. too, Luk_20:20; ἐξουσίαι, alone in Rom_13:1). The two words are joined together in order to give fuller expression to the notion of authority. It cannot, however, be shown that the one denotes the higher, the other the lower authorities (Heydenreich). It is at least doubtful whether this inculcation of obedience to the authorities had its justification in the rebellious character of the Cretans nationally (Matthies and others). Similar precepts also occur in other epistles of the N. T.; and here the exhortation harmonizes with the injunctions given in chap. 2. The Christians needed the exhortation all the more that the authorities were heathen.

πειθαρχεῖν] here in its original signification: obey the superior. Its meaning in Act_27:21 is more general. The πειθαρχεῖν is the result and actual proof of the ὑποτάσσεσθαι. The want of καί does not prove, as de Wette thinks, that it does not belong to the datives ἀρχαῖς (κ.) ἐξ. Καί would have been out of place here, since the following words also are to be construed with that dative.

πρὸς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ἑτοίμους εἶναι] not to be taken generally, but in very close connection with ἀρχαῖς: for the authorities prepared to every good work (so, too, Wiesinger and van Oosterzee). The ἀγαθόν is not without significance, as it points to the limits within which they are to be ready to obey the will of the authorities. Theodoret: οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰς ἅπαντα δεῖ τοῖς ἄρχουσι πειθαρχεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὸν μὲν δασμὸν καὶ τὸν φόρον εἰσφέρειν, καὶ τὴν προσήκουσαν ἀπονέμειν τιμήν· εἰ δὲ δυσσεβεῖν κελεύσειεν, ἀντικρὺς ἀντιλέγειν; comp. Act_4:19.

Tit_3:2. μηδένα βλασφημεῖν] The new object μηδένα shows that from this point he is no longer speaking of special duties towards superiors, but of general duties towards ones neighbour. Βλασφημεῖν is used specially in reference to what is higher, but it occurs also in the more general sense of revile. Theodoret: μηδένα ἀγορεύειν κακῶς.

ἀμάχους εἶναι, ἐπιεικεῖς] see 1Ti_3:3; the first expresses negatively what the second expresses positively.

πᾶσαν ἐνδεικνυμένους (see Tit_2:10) πραΰτητα πρὸς πάντας ἀνθρώπους] Chrysostom: καὶ Ἰουδαίους καὶ Ἕλληνας, μοχθήρους κ. πονηρούς.

It is impossible not to see that the apostle is thinking specially of conduct towards those who are not Christian.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tit 3:1-2 . As your Cretan folk are naturally intractable, be careful to insist on obedience to the constituted authorities, and on the maintenance of friendly relations with non-Christians.

Tit 3:1 . With these instructions as to duty towards civil authority, compare Rom 13:1 sqq. , 1Pe 2:13 sqq . It is perhaps significant of the difference between Crete and the province of Asia, as regards respect for law, that in 1Ti 2:1-3 , reasons are given why we should pray for rulers, while here the more elementary duty of obedience is enjoined. Polybius (6:46. 9) remarks on the seditious character of the Cretans.

ὑπομίμνησκε : See note on 2Ti 2:14 .

ἀρχαῖς : ἀρχαί and ἐξουσίαι are coupled in this sense in Luk 12:11 ; ἀρχή and ἐξουσία in the abstract, Luk 20:20 . The two words are coupled together as names for ranks of angels in Eph 3:10 ; Eph 6:12 , Col 1:16 ; Col 2:10 ; Col 2:15 ; with δύναμις , 1Co 15:24 , Eph 1:21 ; ἀρχαί , alone, Rom 8:38 .

πειθαρχεῖν : ( dicto obedire ) is best taken absolutely, and with a wider reference than the preceding clause: i.e. , as R.V., to be obedient , rather than merely to obey magistrates (A.V.).

πρὸς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθόν . See reff.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:1,

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:1-8. The duty of Christians to the outer world: obedience to government, activity in good works, gentleness and meekness in private life, 1, 2. And the motive for such conduct: the duty of imitating God’s love to us who has saved us from our sins, 3-8.

3:1-3. Duty to the heathen world: (a) obedience to government, cf. 1Ti 2:1, 1Ti 2:2 notes, and (more closely) Rom 13:1-7, Rom 13:1 P 3:8-17. Such a command would be necessary at any time and place to Christians, who might regard their allegiance to Christ as exempting them from allegiance to the Pagan Emperor (cf. Act 17:6, Act 24:5), and it is specially enforced in St. Paul’s letter to Rome and St. Peter’s letter from Rome; but it has a peculiar appropriateness in writing to Crete, partly because of the large number of Jews (1:10) in the Christian body who doubtless there, as at Rome, would be “assidue tumultuantes” (Suet. Claud. c. 25); partly because of the turbulent character of the Cretans themselves (στάσεσι καὶ φόνοις καὶ πολέμοις ἐμφυλίοις ἀναστρεφομένους, Polyb. vi. 46. 9), who long fretted against their subjugation by Rome (cf. Dio Cassius, xxxvi. I, quoted in Wetstein).

1. ὑπομίμνησκε] perhaps suggests that St. Paul had himself laid stress on this at the time of his visit to Crete; but they need a reminder.

ἀρχαῖς ἐξουσίαις] The omission of καί is very unnatural; cf. Luk 12:11 τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας: Martyr. Polycarpi, 10, δεδιδάγμεθα γὰρ ἀρχαῖς καὶ ἐξουσίαις τιμὴν ἀπονέμειν, is apparently a reminiscence of this place, and suggests that καί has accidentally dropped out; cf. Introd., p. xxxviii.

ὑποτάσσεσθαι] of the general attitude, “quod superioribus debent subditi reverentiam subjectionis” (Thom. Aq.).

πειθαρχεῖν] of obedience to particular commands, e.g. the payment of tribute and dues, Rom 13:6; cf. Xen. Cyr. viii. 1, 3, μέγιστον ἀγαθὸν τὸ πειθαρχεῖν φαίνεται εἰς τὸ καταπράττειν τὰ ἀγαθά(Alford).

(b) Activity in good works.

πρὸς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθόν] The connexion suggests every good work started by the government, and would include civic and municipal duties; but it need not be limited to these: cf. Clem. Rom. i. c. 33, possibly a reminiscence of, certainly an interesting comment on, this phrase.

ἀγαθόν] perhaps limiting; provided that it is good; cf. Thom. Aq. “alioquin non esset obediendum,” cf. 3 note and 2:8 note.

(c) Gentleness in private life.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He declareth particularly and severally, that which he said before generally, noting out certain chief and principal duties, which men owe to men, and especially subjects to their magistrates.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Here is the fourth thing in the matter of the epistle. The apostle had directed Titus in reference to the particular and special duties of several sorts of persons; now he bids him exhort to what concerned them more in common, namely, to quietness and submission to rulers, and readiness to do good, and to equitable and gentle behaviour towards all men - things comely and ornamental of religion; he must therefore put them in mind of such things. Ministers are people's remembrancers of their duty. As they are remembrancers for the people to God in prayers (Isa 62:6), so are they from God to them in preaching: I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance, Pe2 1:12. Forgetfulness of duty is a common frailty; there is need therefore of reminding and quickening them thereto. Here are the duties themselves, and the reasons of them.

I. The duties themselves, which they were to be reminded of. 1. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates. Magistracy is God's ordinance for the good of all, and therefore must be regarded and submitted to by all; not for wrath and by force only, but willingly and for conscience' sake. Principalities, and powers, and magistrates, that is, all civil rulers, whether supreme and chief or subordinate, in the government under which they live, of whatever form it be; that they be subject to them and obey them in things lawful and honest, and which it belongs to their office to require. The Christian religion was misrepresented by its adversaries as prejudicial to the rights of princes and civil powers, and tending to faction and sedition, and to rebellion against lawful authority; therefore to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, and stop the mouths of malicious enemies, Christians must be reminded to show themselves examples rather of all due subjection and obedience to the government that is over them. Natural desire of liberty must be guided and bounded by reason and scripture. Spiritual privileges do not make void or weaken, but confirm and strengthen, their obligations to civil duties: "Remind them therefore to be subject to principalities and powers and to obey magistrates." And, 2. To be ready to every good work. Some refer this to such good works as are required by magistrates and within their sphere: "Whatever tends to good order, and to promote and secure public tranquility and peace, be not backward, but ready, to promote such things." But, though this be included, if not first intended, yet is it not to be hereto restrained. The precept regards doing good in all kinds, and on every occasion that may offer, whether resecting God, ourselves, or our neighbour - what may bring credit to religion in the world. Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report: if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things (Phi 4:8), to do and follow and further them. Mere harmlessness, or good words and good meanings only, are not enough without good works. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless, and the widow in their affliction, and keep unspotted from the world. "Not only take, but seek, occasion for doing good, keep fitness and readiness that way; put it not off to others, but embrace and lay hold on it thyself, delight and rejoice therein, put all in mind of this." And, 3. To speak evil of no man: mēdena blasphēmein, to revile, or curse, or blaspheme none: or (as our translation more generally) to speak evil of none, unjustly and falsely, or unnecessarily, without call, and when it may do hurt but no good to the person himself or any other. If no good can be spoken, rather than speak evil unnecessarily, say nothing. We must never take pleasure in speaking ill of others, nor make the worst of any thing, but the best we can. We must not go up and down as tale-bearers, carrying ill-natured stories, to the prejudice of our neighbour's good name and the destruction of brotherly love. Misrepresentations, or insinuations of bad intentions, or of hypocrisy in what is done, things out of our reach or cognizance, these come within the reach of this prohibition. As this evil is too common, so it is of great malignity. If any man seemeth to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, that man's religion is vain, Jam 1:26. Such loose uncharitable talk is displeasing to God, and hurtful among men. Pro 17:9, He that covereth a transgression seeketh love (that is, to himself by this tenderness and charity, or rather to the transgressor); but he that repeateth a matter (that blazes and tells the faults of another abroad) separateth very friends; he raises dissensions and alienates his friend from himself, and perhaps from others. This is among the sins to be put off (Eph 4:31); for, if indulged, it unfits for Christians communion here and the society of the blessed in heaven, Co1 6:10. Remind them therefore to avoid this. And, 4. To be no brawlers; amachous einai - no fighters, either with hand or tongue, no quarrelsome contentious persons, apt to give or return ill and provoking language. A holy contending there is for matters good and important, and in a manner suitable and becoming, not with wrath nor injurious violence. Christian must follow the things that are conducive to peace, and that in a peaceful, not a rough and boisterous and hurtful way, but as becomes the servants of the God of peace and love (Rom 12:19), Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; this is the Christian's wisdom and duty. The glory of a man is to pass over a transgression; it is the duty of a reasonable, and therefore certainly of a Christian man, whose reason is improved and advanced by religion; such may not, and will not, presently fall foul on one who has offended him, but, like God, will be slow to anger, and ready to forgive. Contention and strife arise from men's lusts, and exorbitant unruly passions, which must be curbed and moderated, not indulged; and Christians need to be reminded of these things, that they do not by a wrathful contentious spirit and behaviour displease and dishonour God and discredit religion, promoting feuds in the places where they live. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. Wherefore it follows, 5. But gentle; epieikeis, equitable and just, or candid and fair in constructions of things, not taking words or actions in the worst sense; and for peace sometimes yielding somewhat of strict right. And, 6. Showing all meekness to all men. We must be of a mild disposition, and not only have meekness in our hearts, but show it in our speech and conduct. All meekness - meekness in all instances and occasions, not towards friends only, but to all men, though still with wisdom, as James admonishes, Jam 3:13. "Distinguish the person and the sin; pity the one and hate the other. Distinguish between sin and sin; look not on all alike, there are motes and beams. Distinguish also between sinner and sinner: of some have compassion, others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, thus making a difference, Jde 1:22, Jde 1:23. Mind these things; the wisdom that is from above is pure and peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated." Meekness of spirit and demeanour renders religion amiable; it is a commanded imitation of Christ the grand exemplar, and what brings it own reward with it, in the ease and comfort of the disposition itself and the blessings accompanying it. These shall be glad and rejoice, shall be taught and guided in their way, and satisfied with bread, and beautified with salvation. Thus of the duties themselves, which Titus was to put people in mind of: for which,

II. He adds the reasons, which are derived

1. From their own past condition. Consideration of men's natural condition is a great means and ground of equity and gentleness, and all meekness, towards those who are yet in such a state. This has a tendency to abate pride and work pity and hope in reference to those who are yet unconverted: "We ourselves also were so and so, corrupt and sinful, therefore we should not be impatient and bitter, hard and severe, towards those who are but as ourselves once were. Should we then have been willing to be contemned, and proudly and rigorously dealt with? No, but treated with gentleness and humanity; and therefore we should now so treat those who are unconverted, according to that rule of equity: Quod tibi non vis fieri, alteri ne feceris - What you would not have done to you that do not you to another." Their past natural condition is set forth in divers particulars. We ourselves also were sometimes, (1.) Foolish; without true spiritual understanding and knowledge, ignorant of heavenly things. Observe, Those should be most disposed to bear with others' follies who may remember many of their own; those should be meek and gentle, and patient towards others, who once needed and doubtless then expected the same. We ourselves also were sometimes foolish. And, (2.) Disobedient; heady and unpersuadable, resisting the word, and rebellious even against the natural laws of God, and those which human society requires. Well are these set together, foolish and obedient. For what folly like this, to disobey God and his laws, natural or revealed? This is contrary to right reason, and men's true and greatest interests; and what so foolish as to violate and go counter to these? (3.) Deceived, or wandering; namely, out of the ways of truth and holiness. Man in this his degenerate state is of a straying nature, thence compared to a lost sheep; this must be sought and brought back, and guided in the right way, Psa 119:176. He is weak, and ready to be imposed upon by the wiles and subtleties of Satan, and of men lying in wait to seduce and mislead. (4.) Serving divers lusts and pleasures; namely, as vassals and slaves under them. Observe, Men deceived are easily entangled and ensnared; they would not serve divers lusts and pleasures as they do, were they not blinded and beguiled into them. See here too what a different notion the word gives of a sensual and fleshly life from what the world generally has of it. Carnal people think they enjoy their pleasures; the word calls it servitude and vassalage: they are very drudges and bond slaves under them; so far are they from freedom and felicity in them that they are captivated by them, and serve them as taskmasters and tyrants. Observe further, It is the misery of the servants of sin that they have many masters, one lust hurrying them one way, and another; pride commands one thing, covetousness another, and often a contrary. What vile slaves are sinners, while they conceit themselves free! the lusts that tempt them promise them liberty, but in yielding they become the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought into bondage. (5.) Living in malice, one of those lusts that bear rule in them. Malice desires hurt to another and rejoices in it. (6.) And envy, which grudges and repines at another's good, frets at his prosperity and success in any thing: both are roots of bitterness, whence many evils spring: evil thoughts and speeches, tongues set on fire of hell, detracting from and impairing the just and due praises of others. Their words are swords, wherewith they slay the good name and honour of their neighbour. This was the sin of Satan, and of Cain who was of that evil one, and slew his brother; for wherefore slew he him, but of this envy and malice, because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous? These were some of the sins in which we lived in our natural state. And, (7.), Hateful, or odious - deserving to be hated. (8.) And hating one another. Observe, Those that are sinful, living and allowing themselves in sin, are hateful to God and all good men. Their temper and ways are so, though not simply their persons. It is the misery of sinners that thy hate one another, as it is the duty and happiness of saints to love one another. What contentions and quarrels flow from men's corruptions, such as were in the nature of those who by conversion are now good, but in their unconverted state made them ready to run like furious wild beasts one upon another! The consideration of its having been thus with us should moderate our spirits, and dispose us to be more equal and gentle, meek and tenderhearted, towards those who are such. This is the argument from their own past condition here described. And he reasons,

2. From their present state. "We are delivered out of that our miserable condition by no merit nor strength of our own; but only by the mercy and free grace of God, and merit of Christ, and operation of his Spirit. Therefore we have no ground, in respect of ourselves, to condemn those who are yet unconverted, but rather to pity them, and cherish hope concerning them, that they, though in themselves as unworthy and unmeet as we were, yet may obtain mercy, as we have:" and so upon this occasion the apostle again opens the causes of our salvation, Tit 3:4-7.

(1.) We have here the prime author of our salvation - God the Father, therefore termed here God our Saviour. All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, Co2 5:18. All things belonging to the new creation, and recovery of fallen man to life and happiness, of which the apostle is there speaking, all these things are of God the Father, as contriver and beginner of this work. There is an order in acting, as in subsisting. The Father begins, the Son manages, and the Holy Spirit works and perfects all. God (namely, the Father) is a Saviour by Christ, through the Spirit. Joh 3:16, God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him might not perish, but have everlasting life. He is the Father of Christ, and through him the Father of mercies; all spiritual blessings are by Christ from him, Eph 1:3. We joy in God through Jesus Christ, Rom 5:11. And with one mind, and one mouth, glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Rom 15:5.

(2.) The spring and rise of it - the divine philanthropy, or kindness and love of God to man. By grace we are saved from First to last. This is the ground and motive. God's pity and mercy to man in misery were the first wheel, or rather the Spirit in the wheels, that sets and keeps them all in motion. God is not, cannot be, moved by any thing out of himself. The occasion is in man, namely, his misery and wretchedness. Sin bringing that misery, wrath might have issued out rather than compassion; but God, knowing how to adjust all with his own honour and perfections, would pity and save rather than destroy. He delights in mercy. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. We read of riches of goodness and mercy, Rom 2:4; Eph 2:7. Let us acknowledge this, and give him the glory of it, not turning it to wantonness, but to thankfulness and obedience.

(3.) Here is the means, or instrumental cause - the shining out of this love and grace of God in the gospel, after it appeared, that is, in the word. The appearing of love and grace has, through the Spirit, great virtue to soften and change and turn to God, and so is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth. Thus having asserted God to be the author, his free grace the spring, and the manifestation of this in the gospel the means of salvation, that the honour of all still may be the better secured to him,

(4.) False grounds and motives are here removed: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us; not for foreseen works of ours, but his own free grace and mercy alone. Works must be in the saved (where there is room for it), but not among the causes of his salvation; they are the way to the kingdom, not the meriting price of it; all is upon the principle of undeserved favour and mercy from first to last. Election is of grace: we are chosen to be holy, not because it was antecedently seen that we should be so, Eph 1:4. It is the fruit, not the cause, of election: God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, Th2 2:13. So effectual calling, in which election breaks out, and is first seen: He hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling; not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, Ti2 1:9. We are justified freely by grace (Rom 3:24), and sanctified and saved by grace: By grace you are saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, Eph 2:8. Faith and all saving graces are God's free gift and his work; the beginning, increase, and perfection of them in glory, all are from him. In building men up to be a holy temple unto God, from the foundation to the top-stone, we must cry nothing but Grace, grace unto it. It is not of works, lest any man should boast; but of grace, that he who glorieth should glory only in the Lord. Thus the true cause is shown, and the false removed.

(5.) Here is the formal cause of salvation, or that wherein it lies, the beginnings of it at least - in regeneration or spiritual renewing, as it is here called. Old things pass away, and all things become new, in a moral and spiritual, not in a physical and natural, sense. It is the same man, but with other dispositions and habits; evil ones are done away, as to the prevalency of them at present; and all remains of them in due time will be so, when the work shall be perfected in heaven. A new prevailing principle of grace and holiness is wrought, which inclines, and sways, and governs, and makes the man a new man, a new creature, having new thoughts, desires, and affections, a new and holy turn of life and actions; the life of God in man, not only from God in a special manner, but conformed and tending to him. Here is salvation begun, and which will be growing and increasing to perfection; therefore it is said, He saved us. What is so begun, as sure to be perfected in time, is expressed as if it already were so. Let us look to this therefore without delay; we must be initially saved now, by regeneration, if on good ground we would expect complete salvation in heaven. The change then will be but in degree, not in kind. Grace is glory begun, as glory is but grace in its perfection. How few mind this! Most act as if they were afraid to be happy before the time; they would have heaven, they pretend, at last, yet care not for holiness now; that is, they would have the end without the beginning; so absurd are sinners. But without regeneration, that is, the first resurrection, there is no attaining the second glorious one, the resurrection of the just. Here then is formal salvation, in the new divine life wrought by the gospel.

(6.) Here is the outward sign and seal thereof in baptism, called therefore the washing of regeneration. The work itself is inward and spiritual; but it is outwardly signified and sealed in this ordinance. Water is of a cleansing and purifying nature, does away the filth of the flesh, and so was apt to signify the doing away of the guilt and defilement of sin by the blood and Spirit of Christ, though that aptness alone, without Christ's institution, would not have been sufficient. This it is that makes it of this signification on God's part, a seal of righteousness by faith, as circumcision was, in the place of which it succeeds; and on ours an engagement to be the Lord's. Thus baptism saves figuratively and sacramentally, where it is rightly used. Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord, Act 22:16. So Eph 5:26, That he might sanctify and cleanse us by the washing of water by the word. Slight not this outward sign and seal, where it may be had according to Christ's appointment; yet rest not in the outward washing, but look to the answer of a good conscience, without which the external washing will avail nothing. The covenant sealed in baptism binds to duties, as well as exhibits and conveys benefits and privileges; if the former be not minded, in vain are the latter expected. Sever not what God has joined; in both the outer and inner part is baptism complete; as he that was circumcised became debtor to the whole law (Gal 5:3), so is he that is baptized to the gospel, to observe all the commands and ordinances thereof, as Christ appointed. Disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, Mat 28:19, Mat 28:20. This is the outward sign and seal of salvation, baptism, called here the washing of regeneration.

(7.) Here is the principal efficient, namely, the Spirit of God; it is the renewing of the Holy Ghost; not excluding the Father and the Son, who in all works without themselves are concurring; nor the use of means, the word and sacraments, by which the Spirit works; through his operation it is that they have their saving effect. In the economy of our salvation, the applying and effecting part is especially attributed to the Holy Spirit. We are said to be born of the Spirit, to be quickened and sanctified by the Spirit, to be led and guided, strengthened and helped, by the Spirit. Through him we mortify sin, perform duty, walk in God's ways; all the acts and operations of the divine life in us, the works and fruits of righteousness without us, all are through this blessed and Holy Spirit, who is therefore called the Spirit of life, and of grace and holiness; all grace is from him. Earnestly therefore is he to be sought, and greatly to be heeded by us, that we quench not his holy motions, nor resist and oppose him in his workings. Res delicatula est Spiritus - The Spirit is a tender thing. As we act towards him, so may we expect he will to us; if we slight, and resist, and oppose his workings, he will slacken them; if we continue to vex him, he will retire. Grieve not therefore the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed to the day of redemption, Eph 4:30. The Spirit seals by his renewing and sanctifying, his witnessing and assuring work; he distinguishes and marks out for salvation, and fits for it; it is his work: we could not turn to God by any strength of our own, any more than we can be justified by any righteousness of our own.

(8.) Here is the manner of God's communicating this Spirit in the gifts and graces of it; not with a scanty and niggardly hand, but most freely and plentifully: Which he shed on us abundantly. More of the Spirit in its gifts and graces is poured out under the gospel than was under the law, whence it is eminently styled the ministration of the Spirit, Co2 3:8. A measure of the Spirit the church has had in all ages, but more in gospel times, since the coming of Christ, than before. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus Christ; that is, a more plentiful effusion of grace, fulfilling the promises and prophecies of old. Isa 44:3, I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy offspring: this greatest and best of blessings, an effusion of grace, and of the sanctifying gifts of the Spirit. Joe 2:28, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; not on Jews only, but Gentiles also. This was to be in gospel times; and accordingly (Act 2:17, Act 2:18, Act 2:33), speaking of Christ risen and ascended, having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth (says Peter) this that you now see and hear: and Act 10:44, Act 10:45, The Holy Ghost fell on all those that heart the word, Gentiles as well as Jews. This indeed was, in a great measure, in the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, but not without his sanctifying graces also accompanying many if not all of them. There was then great abundance of common gifts of illumination, outward calling and profession, and general faith, and of more special gifts of sanctification too, such as faith, and hope, and love, and other graces of the Spirit. Let us get a share in these. What will it signify if much be shed forth and we remain dry? Our condemnation will but be aggravated the more if under such a dispensation of grace we remain void of grace. Be filled with the Spirit, says the apostle; it is duty as well as privilege, because of the means which God in the gospel is ready to bless and make effectual; this is the manner of God's communicating grace and all spiritual blessings under the gospel - plentifully; he is not straitened towards us, but we towards him and in ourselves.

(9.) Here is the procuring cause of all, namely, Christ: Through Jesus Christ our Saviour. He it is who purchased the Spirit and his saving gifts and graces. All come through him, and through him as a Saviour, whose undertaking and work it is to bring to grace and glory; he is our righteousness and peace, and our head, from whom we have all spiritual life and influences. He is made of God to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Let us praise God for him above all; let us go to the Father by him, and improve him to all sanctifying and saving purposes. Have we grace? Let us thank him with the Father and Spirit for it: account all things but loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of him, and grow and increase therein more and more.

(10.) Here are the ends why we are brought into this new spiritual condition, namely, justification, and heirship, and hope of eternal life: That, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Justification in the gospel sense is the free remission of a sinner, and accepting him as righteous through the righteousness of Christ received by faith. In it there is the removing of guilt that bound to punishment, and the accepting and dealing with the person as one that now is righteous in God's sight. This God does freely as to us, yet through the intervention of Christ's sacrifice and righteousness, laid hold on by faith (Rom 3:20, etc.): By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified; but through the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all those that believe, whence (Rom 3:24) we are said to be justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. God, in justifying a sinner in the way of the gospel, is gracious to him, and yet just to himself and his law, forgiveness being through a perfect righteousness, and satisfaction made to justice by Christ, who is the propitiation for sin, and not merited by the sinner himself. So it is here: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. It is by grace, as the spring and rise (as was said), though through the redemption that is in Christ as making the way, God's law and justice being thereby satisfied, and by faith applying that redemption. By him (by Christ) all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses, Act 13:39. Hence the apostle desires to be found in him, not having his own righteousness, which was of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Let us not trust therefore in our own righteousness or merit of good works, but in Christ's righteousness alone, received by faith for justification and acceptance with God. Inherent righteousness we must have, and the fruits of it in works of obedience; not however as our justifying righteousness before God, but as fruits of our justification, and evidences of our interest in Christ and qualification for life and happiness, and the very beginning and part of it; but the procuring of all this is by Christ, that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs. Observe, Our justification is by the grace of God, and our justification by that grace is necessary in order to our being made heirs of eternal life; without such justification there can be no adoption and sonship, and so no right of inheritance. Joh 1:12, Whoever received him (namely, Christ), to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to those that believed on his name. Eternal life is set before us in the promise, the Spirit works faith in us and hope of that life, and so are we made heirs of it and have a kind of possession of it even now; faith and hope bring it near, and fill with joy in the well-grounded expectation of it. The meanest believer is a great heir. Though he has not his portion in hand, he has good hope through grace, and may bear up under all difficulties. There is a better state in view. He is waiting for an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for him. How well may such comfort themselves with these words! And now all this gives good reason why we should show all meekness to all men, because we have experienced so much benefit by the kindness and love of God to us, and may hope that they, in God's time, may be partakers of the like grace as we are. And thus of the reasons of equal and gentle, meek and tender behaviour to wards others, from their own bad condition in time past, and the present more happy state into which they are brought, without any merit or deservings of their own, and whereinto by the same grace others may be brought also.

III. The apostle, having opened the duties of Christians in common, with the reasons respecting themselves, adds another from their goodness and usefulness to men. Observe, When he has opened the grace of God towards us, he immediately presses the necessity of good works; for we must not expect the benefit of God's mercy, unless we make conscience of our duty (Tit 3:8): This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly (this is a true Christian doctrine of highest importance, and which ministers must most earnestly and constantly press and inculcate), that those who have believed in God do not think that a bare naked faith will save them; but it must be an operative working faith, bringing forth the fruit of righteousness; they must make it their care to maintain good works, not to do them occasionally only, and when opportunities come in their way, but to seek opportunities for doing them. These things are good and profitable unto men: these good works, say some, or the teaching of these things, rather than idle questions, as follows. These things are good in themselves and the teaching of them useful to mankind, making persons a common good in their places. Note, Ministers, in teaching, must see that they deliver what is sound and good in itself, and profitable to those that hear: all must be to the use of edifying both of persons and societies.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

CHAPTER III.

The necessity of obedience to the civil powers, and of meek and

gentle deportment towards all men, is to be diligently

enforced, 1, 2.

The wretched state of man, previously to the advent of Christ,

3.

The wonderful change which the grace of God makes, and the means

which it uses to bring men to glory, 4-7.

The necessity of a holy life, and of avoiding things which

produce strifes and contentions, and are unprofitable and vain,

8, 9.

How to deal with those who are heretics, 10, 11.

St. Paul directs Titus to meet him at Nicopolis, and to bring

Zenas and Apollos with him, 12; 13.

Concluding directions and salutations, 14, 15.

NOTES ON CHAP. III.

Verse 1. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities, c.] By principalities, αρχαις, we are to understand the Roman emperors, or the supreme civil powers in any place.

By powers, εξουσιαις, we are to understand the deputies of the emperors, such as proconsuls, c., and all such as are in authority-under the supreme powers wherever we dwell. See the doctrine of obedience to the civil powers discussed at large in the notes on Ro 13:1-7.

This doctrine of obedience to the civil powers was highly necessary for the Cretans, who were reputed a people exceedingly jealous of their civil privileges, and ready to run into a state of insurrection when they suspected any attempt on the part of their rulers to infringe their liberties. Suidas, under the word ανεσειον, they stirred up, gives the following fragment: Οἱ δε Κρητες, φοβουμενοι μη τι τιμωριας τυχωσιν, ανεσειον τα πληθη, παρακαλουντες την εξ αιωνος παραδεδομενην ελευθεριαν διαφυλαττειν. "But the Cretans, fearing lest they should be punished, stirred up the populace, exhorting them that they should carefully preserve that liberty which they had received from their ancestors." What part of the history of Crete this refers to I cannot tell the words stand thus insulated in Suidas, without introduction or connection. To be jealous of our civil rights and privileges, and most strenuously to preserve them, is highly praiseworthy but to raise a public tumult to avoid merited chastisement, under pretence that our civil privileges are in danger, is not the part of patriots but insurgents. For such advice as that given here the known character of the Cretans is a sufficient reason: "They were ever liars, ferocious wild beasts, and sluggish gluttons." Such persons would feel little disposition to submit to the wholesome restraints of law.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

1 Remind them to be subject to principalities and powers From many passages it is evident that the Apostles had great difficulty in keeping the common people subject to the authority of magistrates and princes. We are all by nature desirous of power; and the consequence is, that no one willingly is subject to another. Besides, perceiving that nearly all the principalities and powers of the world were at that time opposed to Christ they thought them unworthy of receiving any honor. The Jews especially, being an untamable race, did not cease to mutiny and rage. Thus, after having spoken of particular duties, Paul now wishes to give a general admonition to all, to observe peaceably the order of civil government, to submit to the laws, to obey magistrates. That subjection to princes, and that obedience to magistrates, which he demands, is extended to edicts, and laws, and other parts of civil government.

What he immediately adds, To be ready for every good work, may be applied to the same subject, as if he had said, “All who do not refuse to lead a good and virtuous life, will cheerfully yield obedience to magistrates.” For, since they have been appointed for the preservation of mankind, he who desires to have them removed, or shakes off their yoke, is an enemy of equity and justice, and is therefore devoid of all humanity. Yet if any prefer to interpret it without any immediate relation to the context, I have no objection; and indeed there can be no doubt that, in this sentence, he recommends to them kind offices towards their neighbors throughout their whole life.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

III.

(1) Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers.—Very careful and searching have been the Apostle’s charges to Titus respecting the teachers of the Church, their doctrine and their life; very particular have been his directions, his warnings, and exhortations to men and women of different ages on the subject of their home life. But, with the exception of a slight digression in the case of a slave to a Pagan master, his words had been written with a reference generally to Christian life among Christians. But there was then a great life outside the little Christian world; how were the people of Christ to regulate their behaviour in their dealings with the vast Pagan world outside? St. Paul goes to the root of the matter at once when he says, “Put them in mind,” &c. Very needful in Crete was such a reminder respecting obedience. The island had, when St. Paul wrote to Titus, been some century and a quarter under Roman rule. Their previous government had been democratic; and historians, like Polybius, who have written of Crete, have dwelt particularly on the turbulent and factious spirit which animated their people; added to which, the many Jews who we know formed a very large part of the Christian Church there, always impatient of a foreign yoke, would in such an atmosphere of excitement be especially eager to assert their right to be free from the hated rule of Rome.

The Greek words translated “principalities and powers” are better rendered here by “rulers and authorities,” as the word “principalities” is used occasionally in the English version for an “order of angels.” The terms include all constituted governors and officials, Roman and otherwise, in the island.

To obey magistrates.—Taken absolutely, to obey the temporal power. Our Lord’s words were the model for all teaching in this division of Christian ethics One great teacher after the other, in the same spirit, in varied language, urges upon the people of Christ a reverence and submission to all legally constituted authority in the state. This devoted Christian loyalty, no bitter opposition in after years to their tenets could chill, no cruel persecution of individuals lessen. Augustine, writes Professor Reynolds, could boast that when Julian asked Christians to sacrifice and offer incense to the gods they, at all hazards, sternly refused; but when he summoned them to fight for the empire they rushed to the front. “They distinguished between their Eternal Lord and their earthly ruler, and yet they yielded obedience to their earthly ruler for the sake of their Eternal Lord.” Least of any should we expect St. Paul to write such words, so loyal and faithful to Rome. He had found, indeed, little cause in his chequered, troubled life to be grateful personally to the Empire; with ears too ready had Rome ever listened to the cruel “informations” laid against him by his implacable Jewish enemies; she had imprisoned him, fettered him, hindered his work, and threatened his life; and when he was writing these deathless words of his, urging upon his devoted flock a loyalty changeless and true, for him the supreme vengeance of Rome was close at hand.

To be ready to every good work.—Ready cheerfully to aid all lawful authority, municipal and otherwise, in their public works undertaken for city or state. The flock of Titus must remember that the true Christian ought to be known as a good citizen and a devoted patriot.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1–7. The duty of living in peace from a sense of God’s love and through the Spirit’s power

1. Put them in mind] ‘Them’ must be ‘the Cretan Christians’ generally: St Paul is gathering all up in his mind for his final counsel. The verb for ‘put in mind,’ and its substantive, occur twice in St John, once in St Luke, but in St Paul only in the Pastoral Epistles three times; in St Peter’s Epistles three times; and once in St Jude’s. Joh_14:26 shews the full construction, accus. of person and of thing, ‘He shall bring all things to your remembrance.’ The A.V. in 3Jn_1:10, ‘I will remember his deeds,’ is surely in the old sense of ‘remember,’ which survives in our valedictory request ‘remember me to all your circle;’ R.V. ‘bring to remembrance,’ cf. note on the similar compound 2Ti_1:6.

to be subject to principalities and powers] Rather, more fully as R.V. to be in subjection. Elsewhere in St Paul’s Epistles the phrase ‘principalities and powers’ refers to spiritual and angelic powers, good or evil, cf. 1Co_15:24; Eph_3:10; Col_1:16. But the word in its old sense (see Bible Word-Book, p. 477) was used of any ‘chief place,’ as in 2Ma_4:27 of the office of high priest. And the meaning here is the same as in the two places where it occurs in the Gospels, Luk_12:11, where our Lord prophesies that His disciples shall be brought before ‘the rulers and the authorities,’ and Luk_20:20, ‘so as to deliver him up to the rule and to the authority of the governor.’ There is not sufficient warrant for the connecting ‘and’ here; render to rulers to authorities. Both words illustrate the idiom ‘res pro persona.’ Vulg. ‘potestates’ from whence the Italian podestà a magistrate. The difference between the two words is that the former expresses a governing de facto, whether also de jure or not, the latter a governing de jure, a duly constituted authority. ‘They who rule’ occurs with ‘the authorities’ in the locus classicus, Rom_13:1, where, however, R.V. has retained ‘power,’ apparently because from that passage the phrase ‘the powers that be’ has become an English household word in the sense of ‘lawful authority.’ The other household use of ‘powers’ in the phrase ‘The Great Powers,’ seems to belong rather to the synonym dynamis as expressing material force. In Mat_28:18 the change from ‘power’ to ‘authority’ in R.V. enhances the kingly office and prerogative.

to obey magistrates] The word only occurs Act_5:29; Act_5:32; Act_27:21, where a dative follows; and so it may be here, if we join it with the preceding; but it seems more Pauline to add the verb absolutely. From note on Tit_2:5 we should expect it to differ from the preceding clause, in being more specific in its reference to the official system of government; render perhaps to obey their rules, ‘to obey state laws.’ Fairbairn refers to the earlier history of the island and a ‘known tendency on the part of the Cretans to insubordination and turmoil,’ quoting from Polybius vi. 46, ‘constantly upset by seditions and murders and tribal wars.’

to be ready to every good work] This takes us on a step still further; first a general submission, then a loyal acceptance and execution of public orders, then the learning and labouring truly to get one’s own living and to do one’s duty, domestic, social and civil. That ‘the good work’ has such a reference is implied in Rom_13:3. The ‘ready’ is exactly ‘whatsover ye do, do it heartily unto the Lord,’ cf. Col_3:23. ‘The true workman never shirks when the overseer is not by; he has not one rule for work done for himself, and another for work done for his master. There is a work that is mean and pitiful; all grudging unwilling toil, all ‘scamped’ work, fair to the eye but second rate in reality, is mean and pitiful; it is like work done by the slave at the whip’s end, or like the labour of the convict in gaol; it is forced and unwelcome and as badly done as possible.’ M. A. Lewis, Faithful Soldiers and Servants, p. 58.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers,.... Not angels, good or bad, which are sometimes so called, but men in high places; the higher powers ordained of God, as the apostle elsewhere calls them; and which the Apostle Peter distinguishes into the king as supreme, and into governors under him: the Roman emperor and senate, the consuls, and proconsuls, deputies and governors of provinces and islands, are here meant; particularly such who were appointed over the island of Crete. Now the reasons why the apostle exhorts Titus to put in remembrance those that were under his care, to yield a cheerful subjection to their superiors, were, because the Jews, from whom the Christians were not distinguished by the Romans, were reckoned a turbulent and seditious people; which character they obtained, partly through the principles of the Scribes and Pharisees, which they at least privately entertained, as not to give tribute to Caesar, or be under any Heathen yoke; and partly through the insurrections that had been made by Judas of Galilee, and Theudas, and others; and besides, there were many Jews in the island of Crete, and the Cretians themselves were prone to mutiny and rebellion: to which may be added, that the false teachers, and judaizing preachers, that had got among them, despised dominion, and were not afraid to speak evil of dignities, according to the characters which both Peter and Jude give of them, and taught the saints to abuse their Christian liberty, and use it for a cloak of maliciousness, to the great scandal of the Christian religion.

To obey magistrates; inferior ones; in all things that are according to the laws of God, and right reason, that do not contradict what God has commanded, or break in upon the rights and dictates of conscience; in all things of a civil nature, and which are for the good of society, and do not affect religion, and the worship of God: hence it follows,

to be ready to every good work; which may be taken in a limited and restrained sense, and design every good work enjoined by the civil magistrate; and all right and lawful obedience that belongs to him, as giving to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, tribute, custom, fear, and honour to whom they are due; and which should be done readily and cheerfully: or it may be understood more comprehensively of good works in general, which wicked men are reprobate to, and unfit for; and which they that are sanctified are meet for, and ready to; though this may not only intend their capacity, fitness, and qualifications, for the performance of good works, but their alacrity, promptitude, and forwardness unto them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,

Ver. 1. To be ready to every] As the bee, as soon as ever the sun breaks forth, flies abroad to gather honey and wax. A ready heart maketh riddance of religious duties.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Put them in mind to be subject ... - See the duty here enjoined, explained in the notes at Rom 13:1, following.

Principalities and powers - See these words explained in the notes at Rom 8:38. The word here rendered “powers” (ἐξουσίαις exousiais), is not, indeed, the same as that which is found there (δυνάμεις dunameis), but the same idea is conveyed; compare the notes at Eph 1:21.

To obey magistrates - That is, to obey them in all that was not contrary to the word of God; Rom 13:1 note, following; Act 4:19-20 notes.

To be ready to every good work - “To be prepared for” (ἑτοίμους hetoimous); prompt to perform all that is good; Notes, Phi 4:8. A Christian should be always ready to do good as far as he is able. He should not need to be urged, or coaxed, or persuaded, but should be so ready always to do good that he will count it a privilege to have the opportunity to do it.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Princes and powers. At the time St. Paul wrote this epistle to Titus, there were many Jews, particularly the disciples of Judas of Gaulan, who maintained that the Hebrews were under no obligation of obeying any other than God, or at most the rulers of their own nation. St. Paul here admonishes them, that in conformity with the example and instruction of our divine Saviour, they ought likewise to obey every other temporal prince set over them by the Almighty, provided they commanded nothing contrary to the law of God. (St. Jerome, Estius, Menochius) --- Piety teaches, and pastors should enforce three duties towards princes: submission to their authority, obedience to their laws, and a disposition of heart to meet all their just desires.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers: all the supreme secular powers at this time were pagans, and no friends to the Christians in their dominions, which might be a temptation to the Christians to rebel against them, or at least not to yield them so free, universal, and cheerful an obedience as they ought; therefore the apostle presseth this duty upon them, and that not here only, but Rom 13:1; see 1Pe 2:13.

To obey magistrates: by the former term he might understand the supreme magistrates, by the latter, those inferior ranks; as the apostle Peter expresseth himself more particularly, 1Pe 2:13,14.

To be ready to every good work; to be free, and prepared to every work which is acceptable to God and honourable in itself.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In subjection for subject, A.V; rulers for principalities. A.V; to authorities for and powers, A.V and T.R.; to be obedient for to obey magistrates, A.V; unto for to, A.V Put them in mind (upomimnhske); 2Ti_2:14. To rulers, to authorities. Many uncials, which the R.T. follows, omit the kai , but it seems necessary to the sense. The change from "principalities and powers" to" rulers" and "authorities" does not seem desirable. Arcai and exousiai is a favorite juxtaposition el" St. Paul"s. (1Co_15:24 Eph_1:21 Eph_3:10 Eph_6:12Co Eph_1:16 Eph_2:10, Eph_2:15) It occurs also in 1Pe_3:22. In all the above examples the words, it is true, apply to the angelic hosts, but the words are elsewhere applied separately to human government, and in Luk_20:20, they are applied together to the authority of the Roman governor. To be obedient (peiyarcein); only here and in Act_5:29, 32 27:21. It follows here its classical use, "to obey a superior," well expressed in the Authorized Version "to obey magistrates." The simple to be obedient" of the Revised Version does not express the sense. To be ready unto every good work. St. Paul is still speaking with especial reference to magistrates and the civil power. Christians were to show themselves good citizens, always ready for any duty to which they were called. Christianity was not to be an excuse for shirking duties, or refusing obedience where it was due. The only limit is expressed by the word "good." They were to give tribute to whom tribute was due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor; but, if ordered to do evil, then they must resist, and obey God rather than man. (Act_4:19) (See the similar limitation in Tit_2:10, note, and compare, for the whole verse, the very similar passage, Rom_13:1-7)

Vers. 1-7. Mercy begetting mercy.

The practical lessons of the gospel were not exhausted in the preceding chapter, nor the motives which urge believers to godliness. The call to holiness in the last chapter was based upon the holy character of God"s saving grace and the purpose of Christ"s redeeming love. In these verses the grace and love of God are still the basis of the exhortation, but it takes its peculiar coloring from the thought of what we were ourselves. Tenderness, indulgence, and meekness toward our fellow-men are the duties to which these verses call us; and it is supposed that those fellowmen may be rough and evil-minded toward us, and provoking in their ways, and perhaps obstinate in evil-doing. The natural heart might be ready to speak evil of them, to contend fiercely with them, utterly to reject them as reprobates, to thrust them beyond the pale of hope and kindness. But stay! What were you yourselves when the kindness and love of God first appeared unto you? Were you walking in righteousness? Were your works the things which attracted God"s love toward you? Nay! you were living in that folly which you now condemn in others; you were children of disobedience then as truly as they are now; you were deceived by sin then as they are now; you were the slaves of your own lusts then even as they are now; you lived in malice and envy then, both hateful and hating one another. But God"s mercy found you out; God"s love threw a veil over your sins; he provided a fountain to wash away your guilt; he sent his Holy Spirit to create in you a clean heart, and to renew a right spirit within you; he justified you by his grace; he made you his heirs, and gave you the hope of eternal life. And will not you have mercy upon your fellow-men? Will not you, for whom the Divine gentleness and patience has done so much, be gentle and patient too? Will not you, humble in the remembrance of your own sins, and abashed at the thought of your own unworthiness, deal meekly and kindly even with unruly and sinful men, and cherish the hope that God"s boundless grace may at last reach them, even as it reached you? Thus the doctrine of God"s mercy toward men begets mercy from man to man, and the doctrine of grace is the strongest conceivable motive to charity.

HOMILIES BY T. CROSKERY. Ver. 1. Political duties.

The apostle now turns to the duties which Christians owe to the pagan world around them.

I THE NECESSITY OF THE INJUNCTION TO POLITICAL SUBMISSION. "Put them in mind." The words imply that the duty was already known, but needed to be recalled to Cretan memory. It is but too certain that the injunction was needed. Once a democratic state, now for over a century under Roman law, and always remarkable for a factious and turbulent spirit, the Cretan impatience of authority was reinforced by the spirit of insubordination which was such a characteristic of the Jewish part of the community.

II THE DUTY OF SUBMISSION TO CONSTITUTED AUTHORITY. "Put them in mind to be subject to authorities, to powers, to obey the magistrate, to be ready towards every good work." The very redundancy of words used here is significant, as if to exclude the possibility of an evasion of the command.

1. Government is of God. "The powers that be are ordained of God". (Rom_13:1 1Pe_2:13)

2. The form of government does not affect the duty of obedience. Monarchies, republics, oligarchies, have in them alike the ordination and power of God for the welfare of society.

3. There are limits to this obedience, but the apostle does not fix them. The exceptional cases are not mentioned, because they are summed up either in the primary law of self-preservation, which is antecedent to all government, or in the supremacy of conscience, which must always obey God rather than men. A king may become insane and murder his subjects, but the first principles of nature justify their resort to force in self-protection. (Act_5:29 Act_4:9, Act_4:20) The king may command his subjects to practice idolatry. In that case, if the Christian cannot resist, he must die.

III POLITICAL DUTY IN THE CASE OF CHRISTIANS INCLUDES MORE THAN SUBMISSION. They must be "ready toward every good work." As the magistrate is appointed to be a terror to evil-doers and the praise of them that do well, (Rom_13:3) the disposition of Christian subjects to every good work has a tendency to make government easy and light. T.C.

HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Vers. 1-3. Duty.

"Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers," etc. "Very careful," says Dean Spence, "and searching have been the apostle"s charges to Titus respecting the teachers of the Church, their doctrine and their life; very particular have been his directions, his warnings and exhortations, to men and women of different ages, on the subject of their home life. But with the exception of a slight digression, in the case of a slave to a pagan master, his words had been written with a reference generally to Christian life among Christians. But there was then a great life outside the little Christian world: how were the people of Christ to regulate their behavior in their dealings with the vast pagan world outside? Patti goes to the root of the matter at once when he says, "Put them in mind," etc." We have here duty in a threefold relation in relation to civil government, in relation to general society, and in relation to moral self. Here is duty

I IN RELATION TO CIVIL GOVERNMENT. "Put them in mind to be subject in subjection to principalities rulers and powers authorities, to obey magistrates to be obedient." It is here implied, and fully taught elsewhere, (Rom_13:1-7) that civil government is of Divine appointment. "There is no power but of God," says Paul. That the principle of civil government is Divine is not only revealed but implied in the very constitution of society.

1. Man"s social tendencies indicate it. Some men are royal in their instincts and powers, and are evidently made to rule. Others are servile, cringing in tendency, feeble in faculty, and made to obey. There is a vast gradation of instinct and power in human society, and it is an eternal principle in God"s government that the lesser shall serve the greater.

2. Man"s social exigencies indicate it. Every community, to be kept in order, must have a recognized head one who shall be allowed to rule, either by his own will or the organized will of the whole. Hence man, in his most savage state, has some recognized chief. The principle of civil government is, therefore, manifestly of Divine appointment. We may rest assured that, civil government being of Divine appointment, it is for good and good only. Indeed, we learn that Paul"s idea of a civil ruler is that he is a "minister of God to thee for good." But what is good? The answer in which all will agree is thisobedience to the Divine will. What is the standard of virtue? Not the decree of an autocrat, not public sentiment, even when organized into constitutional law; but the will of God. "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye." The civil government, therefore, that does not harmonize with his will, as revealed by Christ the infallible Logos, is not the government of which Paul speaks. Taking Christ as the Revealer of God"s will, we may infer that the infringement of human rights is not in accordance with the will of God, and therefore not good. Also that the promotion of injustice, impurity, and error is not according to the will of God, and therefore not good. The Bible never teaches, nor does moral philosophy, that we are bound to obey laws that are not righteous, to honor persons that are not honor-worthy. If we are commanded to honor the king, the precept implies that the kings character is worthy of his office; Some kings it is religious to despise and loathe. If we are commanded to honor our parents, the language implies that our parents are honor-worthy. Some parents display attributes of character suited to awaken the utmost hatred and contempt. In like manner we are commanded to be subject to the higher powers, and the injunction implies that what these higher powers enact is right. The obligation of obedience is ever dependent upon the righteousness of the command.

II IN RELATION TO GENERAL SOCIETY. There are three duties here indicated which every man owes to his fellows.

1. Usefulness. "Be ready to every good work." The law of universal benevolence which we see in nature, our own instincts and faculties, as well as the written Word, teach us that man was made to serve his brother; the grand end of each is to promote the happiness of others. No man fulfills his mission or realizes his destiny who is not an altruist, who is not ever actuated by regard for the happiness of others. Altruism is God"s social law and is binding on every one; disregard to it is the source of all social disorders and miseries. "The soul of the truly benevolent man does not seem to reside much in its own body. Its life, to a great extent, is a mere reflex of the lives of others. It migrates into their bodies, and, identifying its existence with their existence, finds its own happiness in increasing and prolonging their pleasures, in extinguishing or solacing their pains.

2. Charitableness. "To speak evil of no man." "This," says a modern author, "imports more than to speak evil in the ordinary sense: it is to act the part of a reviler or slanderer; and when used of conduct from one man towards another, always betokens the exercise of a very bitter and malignant spirit. Titus was to charge the Christians of Crete to give no exhibition towards any one of such a spirit, nor to show a quarrelsome disposition, but, on the contrary, to cultivate a mild, placable, and gentle temper." There are evils of some sort or other attaching to all men, and in some men they are of the most hideous and heinous character. To ignore them, if possible, would be wrong; to feel them is natural to the pure, and to denounce them is right. But to speak of them before others, to parade them before the eyes of others, argues a base and malignant nature. Should occasion require us to speak of them, it should be in the saddest tones of tenderness, and even with compassionate indignation.

3. Courteousness. "To be no brawlers not to be contentious, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men." How much there is in society, how much in every department of life mercantile, mechanical, and mental one meets with to annoy and irritate, especially those fated with an irascible nature. Still, amidst the strongest provocations, courtesy is our duty, yes, and our dignity too.

III IN RELATION TO OUR MORAL SELF. The apostle urges the duty of forbearance to what was wrong in government and society, by reminding them of the wrong in their own past lives. "We ourselves also were sometimes foolish we had no proper understanding of the true. "Disobedient indisposed to do what is right. "Deceived swerving from the true mode of life. "Serving divers lusts and pleasures slaves of impure passions, reveling in the sensual and the gross. "Living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one anotherwe once spent our days in the atmosphere of hate and malign passions. It is a duty which every man owes to himself to remember all the wrong of his past life remember it:

1. That he may be charitable towards others.

2. That he may be stimulated to efforts of self-improvement.

3. That he may adore the forbearance of God in his past dealings.

4. That he may devoutly appreciate the morally redemptive agency of Christ.

5. That he may realize the necessity of seeking the moral restoration of others. Two things may be inferred from Paul"s language concerning the past moral condition of himself and others.

(1) The possibility of the moral improvement of souls. The rough stone can be polished, the unfertile soil can be made fertile, the wilderness can blossom as the rose.

(2) The obligation of the moral improvement of souls.

CONCLUSION. Let us find out our duty and follow it, through storm as well as sunshine, even unto death. "After all," says Canon Kingsley, "what is speculation to practice? What does God require of us but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with him? The longer I live this seems to me more important, and all other questions less so. If we can but live the simple, right life, do the work that"s nearest, though it"s dull at whiles, helping, when we meet them, lame dogs over stiles." In the realization of our duty is our strength, our nobleness, our heaven. "Yet do thy work: it shall succeed. In thine or in another"s day; And if denied the victor"s raced, Thou shalt not lack the toilet"s pay. "Then faint not, falter not, nor plead Thy weakness: truth itself is strong; The lion"s strength, the eagle"s speed, Are not alone vouchsafed to wrong." (Whittier.) D.T.

HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM Vers. 1, 2. Subjection to the state.

Society has reached no ideal perfection in government, nor has God himself laid down any outward form as an ideal. All nations are justified in variety of choice. There has been government by judges, and governments monarchical, republican, autocratic, and constitutional. All that we need to notice is that society needs to be governed. Lawlessness always ends in anarchy, misery, and desolation.

I LEARN SUBJECTION TO THE STATE. This is beautiful. Restraint is better than the liberty of licentiousness. Compare a river that keeps its bounds to one that overflows its banks. Men are justified in resisting tyrannies, whether of autocrats or mobs; but they must not forget that all well-ordered societies exist only by subjection.

II LEARN SELF-CONQUEST IN YOURSELVES. Controlling the tongue, avoiding all bitterness and "brawling," and showing that there is a magistracy of the heart as well as a magistracy of the state. W.M.S.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Remind them - All the Cretan Christians. To be subject - Passively, not resisting. To principalities - Supreme. And powers - Subordinate governors. And to obey - Them actively, so far as conscience permits.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Chapter III

Ver. 1. Passing from the more direct and spiritual obligations of the gospel, the apostle proceeds now to indicate the proper bearing of Christians toward the constituted authorities. It is not improbable, though it cannot be held certain, that he may have been led to give such prominence to this, from a known tendency on the part of the Cretans to insubordination and turmoil. Before their subjugation to Rome, which was accomplished by Metellus, B.C. 67, they had the reputation of being somewhat quarrelsome and seditious (Polybius, vi. 46: στάσεσι καὶ φόνοις καὶ πολέμος ἐμφυλίοις ἀναστρεφομένους); the different tribes and free cities displaying a good deal of jealousy in regard to their respective rights, and a readiness to take up arms in vindication of them. The Jews also, who are known to have existed in considerable numbers throughout Crete, were everywhere beginning to show signs of insubordination towards the Roman yoke about the closing period of St. Paul’s labours, and the storm was already gathering among them, which, in a few years more, was to burst forth with terrible fury. In such circumstances, it can readily be supposed that there might have been special, as well as general, reasons for the apostle here pressing the duties of civil obedience: Put them in mind to submit themselves to magistrates, to authorities, (The καὶ of the received text between ἀρχαῖς and ἐξουσίαις is wanting in א, A, C, D, F, G, and should therefore be omitted.) to obey rulers, to be ready to every good work. There is a striking redundancy in the terms indicative of the kind of obedience required, as if to exclude all possibility of evasion: the civic rulers are designated ἀρχαῖς and ἐξουσίαι, as in Luk 12:11, intended, doubtless, to include all classes of governing powers, but without meaning, apparently, to denote by the one a lower, and by the other a higher grade. And, besides being required to submit themselves to these, the people were also to be enjoined πειθαρχεῖν, a term which of itself comprehends the entire circle of obedience: it may be taken either generally, to be obedient, or more specifically, to obey rulers; in the former it occurs at Act 5:29, Act 5:32; but here, considering the connection, the kind of obedience as to persons in authority may perhaps be indicated. That the being ready to every good work should follow on such precepts respecting civil subjection, was probably suggested by the thought of the magistrate’s office having for its professed object the repression of evil, and the encouragement of well-doing (Rom 13:3); so that the possession of a mind ready for every good work would in ordinary circumstances render civic obedience comparatively easy, would make the yoke in a manner unfelt. Of course, the requirement had then, as it has still, its limitations: the duties of rulers and ruled are reciprocal; and absolute unrestricted authority on the one side is no more to be contemplated than unqualified submission on the other, for neither is in accordance with the essential principles of truth and rectitude. Obedience to external authority can be due only in so far as that authority has a right to command; when it oversteps this, and issues injunctions which reach beyond its proper line of things, the higher principles of obligation come in: “We must obey God rather than men;” “Be not partaker in other men’s sins.”

Patrick Fairbairn — An Exposition of Ezekiel (1851), Jonah (1849), and The Pastoral Epistles (1874) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

An Admonition to Obedience and Meekness.

v. 1. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,

v. 2. to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men.

v. 3. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

In addition to the admonitions which Titus, according to the directions of Paul, was to address to the persons in various stations in the congregations, the apostle here inserts some general exhortations for all Christians: Remind them to be subject to their rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work. Not only the members of the congregations of Crete, but all Christians should keep in memory and recall the fact continually, that they owe allegiance and obedience to the government given them by God. In all matters which are not covered by an actual prohibition of God they are to submit themselves willingly, even if their personal feelings are not in agreement with the policies of the rulers. It makes no difference whether the national polity is republican or monarchical, whether the rulers profess Christianity or not, whether their policies are beneficial or not, the Christians in every country must submit, be obedient to them by the will of God, Rom 13:1. There is only one exception, namely, when the ordinances of the state oppose the plain will of God, Act 4:19; Act 5:29. Even in a republic the feeling of obedience, of reverence, and the corresponding willingness to give concrete evidence of this feeling at all times must be self-evident with Christians. If, in this case, they do not believe that the men representing the government are working for the best interests of the entire country, they may voice their disapproval through the medium of speech or the press or the ballot-box; but as long as a government is in power, it must be supported by the Christians of the land. Their external acts thus agreeing with the disposition of their minds, they will be ready, as a matter of course, to every good work, in every relation which they sustain in life, not only to magistrates, but in general. As one commentator puts it: "A Christian should always be ready to do good as far as he is able. He should not need to be urged, or coaxed, or persuaded, but should be so ready always to do good that he will count it a privilege to have the opportunity to do it. " (Barnes.) Incidentally, the Christians will thereby escape the accusation as though they were an association opposed to all culture and characterized by hatred of all men.

The apostle wants the Christians to be active in all good works, to be an example to all men: To slander no one, not to be quarrelsome, (to be) humbly yielding, showing all meekness toward all men. It is not only a matter of Christian prudence, but of the express will of God that Christians speak blasphemously of no man nor of his convictions. One may well respect the convictions of other men without denying his own faith with so much as one word, one gesture. Deliberately to seek out unbelievers for the purpose of ridiculing many of the false opinions which they hold instead of attempting to gain them by patient persuasion, is the height of folly. In a case of deliberate and malicious perversion of the truth, of course, or of evident hypocrisy, one will adopt a tone that will fully express one’s righteous indignation at the blasphemous attitude of the opponent. But to be contentious, to seek quarrels, that is not the spirit that agrees with the example of Him who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not, 1Pe 2:23. Altogether, it is expected of Christians that they prefer to be humbly yielding in their attitude rather than aggressively challenging, that they show meekness toward all men. This is a virtue which is not shown so much toward those that are kind toward us as toward those from whom we may receive the greatest provocation. This meekness and humility may be learned only in the school of the Holy Ghost, with the example of Christ before one’s eyes without ceasing.

In urging this virtue, the apostle names seven points which characterize the unregenerate, from whom the believers have been separated through the grace of God: For also we once were foolish, disobedient, going astray, serving various desires and lusts, spending our days in malice and envy, abominable, hating one another. The picture which the apostle draws is not a pleasant one, but it is purposely presented in glaring colors, in order to show the grace of God all the more gloriously by contrast. Of us, before the mercy of the Lord wrought faith in our hearts, of all men by nature, it is true that they are foolish, that they do not use their senses properly in accordance with God’s will. There is not only a lack of spiritual knowledge in their hearts, no understanding of the things which serve for their salvation, but they have no idea, no comprehension of that which is good and true; they use their minds only for the purpose of enriching human wisdom, without the basis of the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore they are also bound up in disobedience, they are in a condition of rebellion against God. See Rom 1:32; Rom 2:12-15. The natural knowledge of God and the promptings of their conscience they did not heed, or they deliberately disregarded them. It follows that the unbelievers are going astray at all times, they cannot find the right way; no matter which way they turn, their errors encompass them. Thus they are enslaved by various desires and lusts. See 2Ti 3:6; Jas 4:1. Of the Spirit of God and His gentle leading, of the way of sanctification, they have no idea. The warning voice of their conscience they stifle. The lusts and desires of their flesh, the incitement toward unchastity, covetousness, false ambition, and other godless thoughts govern their hearts and minds altogether. They are always restless, never satisfied, their whole life is spent in malice and envy. They are full of eagerness to do harm to others, because they cannot bear to see others have any advantage over them. The entire aim and object of their life, in the final analysis, is selfishness and greed. Thus they are an abomination to the Lord and an object of contempt to those that have a better knowledge of the will of God. Not even among themselves, in their own class, are they able to keep peace, for they are filled with hatred toward one another. It is a terrible, a deplorable condition in which the unregenerate find themselves. And since that was the original condition of the Christians also, they will not thrust back the unbelievers by a malevolent attitude, but will, in every possible way, attempt to bring them the message of salvation in Christ Jesus.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tit 3:3, Tit 3:6

I. Up to a certain point, men of all schools of religious and philosophical thought are agreed, both as to the facts of the moral state of the world, and as to the nature of the improvements required for it. They differ widely in their theories of the essence of morality, or the foundation of moral obligation; they differ in the ideals that they hold up to men as embodying the supremest moral excellence; they differ in the attractive power of their ideal, and in the strength of the motives they offer for pursuing it, and for resisting temptation; but they all agree as to their elementary moral precepts. And it is not too much to say that all serious moralists are agreed, further, that according to the simple rule for knowing good from bad, the actual state of the moral world is bad and not good. The world is wicked; that we start with as a fact—not as a part of the Christian or any other theory of the way that the world ought to be conducted, but as to the state in which the world is; a fact which any complete theory of the world must account for, and which any competent guide of the world, if such there be, will have to remedy. To convince the individual of sin is a harder task. The one witness who is competent to adduce all the facts has an interest in keeping silence; the one judge whose verdict is on earth final has an interest in acquittal; and this being so, it is small wonder that an acquittal is often pronounced unhesitatingly, is oftener still pronounced after a decent hesitation and with some moderate reserves. But the world is condemned, whenever it is really judged, and the condemnation of the world must, in the eyes of any thoughtful person, throw grave suspicion on the acquittal of the individual. II. The only way to treat sin like this is to make a clean sweep of it altogether. Here there can be no question of adjusting a machine that is just out of gear, of harmonising elements salutary in themselves, though at present imperfectly combined. It may be that the evil mass is composed of things originally good, but that does not alter the fact that it is now evil, incurably evil. Let a flood sweep over it, and blot out all its features, for so, and so only, we may hope to see it washed clean. A little washing and rubbing here and there will not be enough; the washing of a foul world like ours must do no less than wash us out of ourselves—must rub off our whole self; in fact, we want a washing of regeneration, a washing which shall be, first of all, a death unto sin, and so make a possibility for a new birth unto righteousness. When this washing is effected, when the sinner has died again to his old life and started again in the new, then, and then only, is he capable of receiving the "renewing of the Holy Spirit," then only is it possible for that power to enter his heart, from which "all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed." There is no doubt that those men were right who, a hundred years ago or less, declared to a self-satisfied world that this was the Gospel, that the true cure for all moral evil was, not sound moral advice, too good to be followed, not earnest moral effort which the sinful soul was unable to make, or at least to sustain, but the reception of a cleansing power from without, that the soul must be supernaturally, miraculously, divinely, undeservedly, delivered from its evil past, if it were ever to start on a new and better life, if it were ever to be made natural to it to do good, or possible for it to deserve well. Nothing short of a miracle can put a sinner in the way of repentance, and that the blood of Christ has, as history proves, exercised that miraculous power, that when a man has believed in that blood, he has been saved from his sins, even as experience proves the reality of sin, so it proves, not less divinely though unhappily less universally, the reality of repentance and salvation through faith in Christ.

W. H. Simcox, Oxford Undergraduates’ Journal, March 17th, 1881.

References: Tit 3:4-7.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 564; Outline Sermons to Children, p. 264.

Tit 3:8

I. The Gospel is degraded unless it is asserted strongly. "These things I will that thou affirm constantly," or as the words might be rendered, "asseverate pertinaciously, persistently, positively, affirm and assert constantly and confidently." That is the way in which Paul thinks it ought to be spoken. If it is a message, the messenger’s business is to deliver it as received and its sender’s business, not his, is to look after it when delivered. And if it is a faithful message, then it ought to be asserted on lips that are eloquent, because they are believing; and to come, not as a word of the speaker’s own, or the result of his thinking, or with a "peradventure," but as with the force of the "verily, verily, I say unto you," of the incarnate and personal Truth Himself.

II. Again, there is another thought here worth considering, viz., that this positive assertion of the truths of revelation is the best foundation to lay for practical godliness "in order that they which have believed might be careful to maintain good works." Now, we are often told that our evangelical teaching is far away from daily life, and some people go the length of saying that the central doctrine of the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ is an immoral doctrine. I am not going to discuss the latter statement now. If the former one is ever true, it is the fault of the preacher, not of the message. Rightly understood and presented, the great body of truth which we call the Gospel, and which is summarised in the preceding context, grips daily life very tightly, while on the other hand, of all the impotent things in this world, none are more impotent than exhortations to be good, which are cut away from the great truths of Christ’s mission. If it be true that the best foundation for all practical godliness is in the proclamation and the possession of the great message of Christ’s love, two things follow, the one is that Christian people ought to familiarise themselves with the practical side of their faith, just as Christian ministers ought to be in the habit of insisting, not merely upon the great revelation of God’s love in Jesus Christ, but upon that revelation considered as the motive and the pattern for holy living. (2) Another consequence is that here is a rough but a pretty effective test of so-called religious truth. Does it help to make a man better? It is worth something if it does: if not, then it may be ruled out as of small consequence.

III. The true test and outcome of professing faith is conduct.

IV. No one will keep up these good works who does not give his mind to it. "That they... might be careful to maintain." My text suggests one chief means of securing that result—the habit of meditation upon the facts of the Gospel revelation looked at in their practical bearing on our daily life and character.

A. Maclaren, The God of the Amen, p. 148.

References: Tit 3:8-14.—H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 5th series, p. 341. Tit 3:9.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 324. Tit 3:12.—W. Morison, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 24.

The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, that in those early days of Christianity, great scandal was brought upon religion by the undutiful carriage of servants and subjects towards their masters and magistrates; and this upon a false notion of Christian liberty, advanced and propagated by the false apostles, judaizing teachers, and gnostic libertines; whereupon he requires Titus to put Christians in mind of their duty in that particular, and to inculcate it earnestly upon them, that the Christian religion might not be slandered upon this account. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers.

Learn hence, that the duty of subjection to governors and governments, and of obedience to magistrates and rulers, is of very great importance, and ought to be enforced and frequently inculcated upon the people by the ministers of God; because by nature all men desire liberty, and to cast off the yoke of God. Every one would rule and govern, although the duty of subjection be much the easier duty.

2. From St. Paul’s pressing Titus to preach up the doctrine of obedience and subjection to governors and government, learn, That there is no such way and method to bring the world to live regularly under government, like planting the gospel among them, and making them subject to our Lord Jesus Christ.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1, 2. Be subject to principalities and powers. To the authorities over them. The Cretans were subjected to Roman sway b.c. 67, but had always been turbulent and impatient. Christians should keep aloof from seditions which could only work evil.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Paul continues giving Titus instructions on how to teach the elders and people under his care in Crete.

Remind them to submit

"Tell our people again what they already know, to submit" or "Keep reminding them to submit"

submit to rulers and authorities, to obey them

"do as the political rulers and government authorities say by obeying them"

rulers and authorities

These words have similar meanings and are used together to include everyone who holds authority in the government.

be ready for every good work

"be ready to do good whenever there is opportunity"

to revile

"to speak evil of"

translationWords

rule

authority

obey

humble

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

1, 2. THE ATTITUDE OF CHRISTIANS TO THEIR HEATHEN NEIGHBOURS AND RULERS

1. The rec. text inserts καὶ between ἀρχαῖς and ἐξουσίαις, on the authority of D2cE**KLP, most other MSS., and a general consensus of versions and Fathers. It is omitted by modern editors, chiefly because of the lack of uncial evidence, it not being found in אACD2* EG 17 or g.

1. ὑπομίμνησκε αὐτούς. Put them in mind (cp. 2Ti 2:14) &c. The injunctions which follow would not be novel to the Cretan Christians; but, though familiar, they will bear repetition.

ἀρχαῖς ἐξουσίαις ὑποτάσσεσθαι, to be subject to rulers, to authorities, a very necessary injunction to men who might be apt to presume on their possession of the true faith, so as to offend the pagan government under which their lot was cast. It is said by Polybius (VI. 46.9) that the Cretans were notorious for their seditious character, and it has been supposed that St Paul had this revolutionary spirit of theirs in his mind; but the qualities which he proceeds to mention in the next verse do not seem to have any such special reference, and, as a matter of fact, he addressed like counsel to the Romans (Rom 13:1); cp. also 1Ti 2:1-3, where the Ephesian Christians are directed to pray for ‘all in authority.’

πειθαρχεῖν, to be obedient, sc. to the civil law and to the magistrates; St Paul never underrates the duties of citizenship.

πειθαρχεῖν is not found anywhere else in St Paul’s writings, but it occurs in a speech of his (Act 27:21).

πρὸς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ἑτοίμους εἷναι, to be ready unto every good work; for, as he explains in the parallel passage Rom 13:3, ‘rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil.’ see on 2Ti 2:21.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Put them in mind [υπομιμνησκε εξουσιαις] . See on 2Ti 2:14, and on uJpomnhsin reminding, 2Ti 1:5.

Principalities and powers [αρχαις εξουσιαις] . Omit and. Principalities which are authorities. Arch beginning = that which begins : the leader, principality. See on Col 1:16; Jude 1:6; Act 10:11. Only here in Pastorals. Exousia right, authority. See on Mr 2:10; Joh 1:12; Col 1:16. Only here in Pastorals. For the combination principalities and powers, see on Luke 20. 20.

To obey magistrates [πειθαρχειν] . Comp. Act 5:29, 32; Act 27:21. See on Act 5:29. The idea of magistrates is contained in the word itself; but it is quite proper to render as Rev. to be obedient. Rare in LXX

Ready to every good work [προς παν εργον αγαθον ετοιμους ειναι] . The phrase N. T. o. Etoimov ready, only here in Pastorals. Comp. eJtoimasia readiness or preparation, Eph 6:15 (note).

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.