Titus 1:1-4 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect… Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, etc. These words direct our attention to certain phases of redemptive truth. The substratum of the gospel is not merely truth, but redemptive truth. Truth, not merely to enlighten the intellect and to discipline the mental faculties, but to raise the human soul from spiritual ignorance to intelligence, from spiritual bondage to liberty, from selfishness to benevolence, from materialism to spirituality, from the "prince of darkness" to the true and living God. Here it appears - I. AS A GRAND ENTERPRISE. 1. An enterprise devoted to the highest purpose. What is the purpose? It is here described: (1) As the promotion of the faith of God's elect. "According to the faith of God's elect." The idea is, perhaps, the furtherance of true faith amongst those to whom God had, in the exercise of his sovereignty, sent the gospel. As a fact, all men have not had the opportunity of receiving the gospel; indeed, only an insignificant fraction of the race have had it brought to them. This fraction is a class so highly privileged that they may be designated the "elect." Why should they have the gospel sent to them, and not others? Ask why some should inherit health, others disease; some wealth, others poverty; some intellectual powers of a high order, others minds but little removed from brute intelligence. "All these worketh the selfsame Spirit, devising to every man severally as he will." Now, to further and promote faith among those to whom the gospel goes is one of its grand purposes. (2) As the promotion of the knowledge "of the truth which is after [according to] godliness." More accurately rendered, "The knowledge of the truth which is beside, or which leadeth to godliness" (Ellicott). The grand purpose here indicated seems to be that all who are divinely favored with the gospel should so believe it, and practice it, that they may become godly in their lives. What a sublime design is this, to make men God-like! Or, as it is expressed in the next chapter, "The grace of God hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." 2. An enterprise employing the highest human agency. "Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ." "Paul's mode of designating himself here," says Dr. Fairbairn, "does not exactly coincide with his form of expression in any other Epistle. Elsewhere he calls himself a servant, a bondman of Christ (Romans 1:1; Galatians 1:10; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 4:12), but here only of God. A noteworthy variation, not on its own account, but as a mark of genuineness; for it is impossible to conceive what motive could have induced any imitator to depart in such a manner from the apostle's usual phraseology. The δέ coupling his calling as an apostle of Christ with his relation to God as a servant, cannot be taken in an adversative sense, for there is really no opposition; but it is used, as not infrequently, to subjoin something new, different and distinct from what precedes, though not strictly opposed to it." Paul was one of the greatest of men. In natural endowments, penetrating insight, vigor of thought, logical force, and rhetorical aptitude, he had in his age but few equals. His acquirements, too, were great. Brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, acquainted with Grecian culture, and master of rabbinic law, he could stand side by side with the greatest reasoners, sages, and orators of his time. But, beyond all this, he was specially called and qualified by God for propagating the gospel of his Son. There is no enterprise on this earth demanding a higher kind of human agency than the gospel, nor (notwithstanding the mental feebleness and the moral meanness cf the thousands in every age who have worked, and are working, in connection with it) can there be found a higher class of men, both intellectual and moral, than some who have been, and still are, employed in indoctrinating men with the truths of the gospel. II. AS A TRANSCENDENT PROMISE. "In hope of eternal life, which God, that [who] cannot lie, promised before the world began [times eternal]." This promise is: 1. Transcendent in value. "Eternal life." This means something more than an endless existence. An interminable existence might be an interminable curse. It means not only an existence without end, but an existence without evil, without sin, error, sorrow, misery. Ay, and more than this, an endless existence in connection with good, and with good only, with knowledge, holiness, liberty, and companionship with the best created spirits, and with the great God himself. Eternal life is eternal goodness. 2. Transcendent in certitude. It is made by God, "that cannot lie. Are not all things possible with him? Yes, in what may be called a physical sense. It is possible for him to destroy, in the twinkling of an eye, the present creation, and to produce a new one. But, in a moral sense, there is an impotency. His cannot" here is his will not, and his "will not" is his glory. A higher eulogy you cannot pronounce on any man than to say he cannot be ungenerous, he cannot be false, he cannot be unjust, he cannot be dishonorable. Inability to do wrong is the glory of the Infinite. This promise, then, cannot fail; it must be realized. "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass away." 3. Transcendent in age. "Promised before the world began [times eternal]." When was that? Before the foundation of the earth was laid, or the wheels of time began their revolutions. When he occupied the boundlessness of immensity alone. The gospel is an old promise: the Lamb was slain "before the foundation of the world. The gospel is not a threat, but a promise. III. As A GRADUAL REVELATION. But hath in due times [in his own seasons] manifested his Word through preaching, [in the message] which is committed unto me [wherewith I was entrusted] according to the commandment of God our Savior." There are three thoughts here suggested concerning the revelation of this promise of eternal life. 1. It was manifested at a proper time. "In due times [in his own seasons] manifested his Word." God has a season for everything, everything in the material and the moral. Nothing but sin appears in his universe that does not come "according to his time." Oceans ebb and flow, planets perform their revolutions, kingdoms rise and fall, generations come and go "according to his time." He had a time for the revelation of his redemptive truth, and when the time dawned it beamed on the world. 2. It was manifested by apostolic preaching. "Through preaching.' Redemptive truth came into the world through man, and it is Heaven's design that it should be propagated through the world by man. It is to be preached, not only with the lips, but by the life. The true preacher must incarnate it. His life must illustrate and confirm the doctrine that his lips declare. It was before the gospel came to men in written documents that it won its greatest victories. Some think that too much importance is attached to the Bible in this work, and that it is vain to expect that the circulation of the Scriptures will answer the end. History shows it has not done so, and the philosophy of the work explains the reason; hence it must be revealed in the voice and the life. 3. It was manifested by the Divine command. "Which was committed unto me [wherewith I was entrusted] according to the commandment of God our Savior." The Divine command came to the apostle to preach the gospel at various times - came to him on the road to Damascus, came to him in the temple at Jerusalem, came to him in the ship on the Adriatic. Yes; the Divine command comes to all: "Go into all the world, and preach the gospel." Not only was it by command that Paul preached to mankind, but now to Titus. IV. As A LOVE-BEGETTING rower. "To Titus, mine own son [my true child] after the common faith." "Mine own son." What an endearing expression! The gospel converter becomes the father in the highest and divinest sense of the converted. No relation so close, vital, and tender as the spiritual relation of souls. Paul's desire is, for Titus, "Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior." Here is the wish of heavenly philanthropy, a philanthropy that embraces the complete and everlasting well-being of its object. Having the "grace, peace, and mercy" of God, we have everything we require; we have "all and abound." CONCLUSION. Prize this redemptive truth, practice this redemptive truth, preach this redemptive truth. It is the "power of God unto salvation." - D.T. Parallel Verses KJV: Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; |
    |