Homilies on Titus

Titus 1:1-4

“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; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But has in due times manifested His word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour; To Titus, my own son after the common faith; Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.”

Titus was an approved one of the companions of Paul; otherwise, he would not have committed to him the charge of that whole island, nor would he have commanded him to supply what was deficient, as he says, “That you should set in order the things that are wanting.” He would not have given him jurisdiction over so many Bishops, if he had not placed great confidence in him. They say that he also was a young man, because he calls him his son, though this does not prove it. I think that there is mention made of him in the Acts. Perhaps he was a Corinthian, unless there was some other of the same name. And he summons Zenas, and orders Apollos to be sent to him, never Titus. For he also attests their superior virtue and courage in the presence of the Emperor.

Some time seems to have since elapsed, and Paul, when he wrote this Epistle, appears to have been at liberty. For he says nothing about his trials, but dwells continually upon the grace of God, as being a sufficient encouragement to believers to persevere in virtue. For to learn what they had deserved, and to what state they had been transferred, and that by grace, and what had been vouchsafed them, was no little encouragement. He takes aim also against the Jews, and if he censures the whole nation, we need not wonder, for he does the same in the case of the Galatians, saying, “O foolish Galatians.” And this does not proceed from a censorious temper, but from affection. For if it were done for his own sake, one might fairly blame him; but if from the fervor of his zeal for the Gospel, it was not done reproachfully. Christ too, on many occasions, reproached the Scribes and Pharisees, not on his own account, but because they were the ruin of all the rest.

And he writes a short Epistle, with good reason, and this is a proof of the virtue of Titus, that he did not require many words, but a short remembrance. But this Epistle seems to have been written before that to Timothy, for that he wrote as near his end and in prison, but here, as free and at liberty. For his saying, “I have determined to winter at Nicopolis”, is a proof that he was not yet in bonds, as when he wrote to Timothy.

Ver. 1. “Paul, a servant of God, and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect.”

You observe how he uses these expressions indifferently, sometimes calling himself the “servant of God,” and sometimes the “servant of Christ,” thus making no difference between the Father and the Son.

“According to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. In hope of eternal life.”

“According to the faith of God's elect.” It is because you have believed, or rather because you were entrusted? I think he meant, that he was entrusted with God's elect, that is, not for any achievements of mine, nor from my toils and labors, did I receive this dignity. It was wholly the effect of His goodness who entrusted me. Yet that the grace may not seem without reason, (for still the whole was not of Him, for why did He not entrust it to others?) he therefore adds, “And the acknowledging of the truth that is after godliness.” For it was for this acknowledgment that I was entrusted, or rather it was of His grace that this too was entrusted to me, for He was the author of this also. Whence Christ Himself said, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.” And elsewhere this same blessed one writes, “I shall know, even as also I am known.” And again, “If I may apprehend that, for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.” First we are apprehended, and afterwards we know: first we are known, and then we apprehend: first we were called, and then we obeyed. But in saying, “according to the faith of the elect,” all is reckoned to them, because on their account I am an Apostle, not for my worthiness, but “for the elect's sake.” As he elsewhere says, “All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos.”

“And the acknowledging the truth that is after godliness.” For there is a truth in other things, that is not according to godliness; for knowledge in matters of agriculture, knowledge of the arts, is true knowledge; but this truth is after godliness. Or this, “according to faith,” means that they believed, as the other elect believed, and acknowledged the truth. This acknowledging then is from faith, and not from reasonings.

“In hope of eternal life.” He spoke of the present life, which is in the grace of God, and he also speaks of the future, and sets before us the rewards that follow the mercies which God has bestowed upon us. For He is willing to crown us because we have believed, and have been delivered from error. Observe how the introduction is full of the mercies of God, and this whole Epistle is especially of the same character, thus exciting the holy man himself, and his disciples also, to greater exertions. For nothing profits us so much as constantly to remember the mercies of God, whether public or private. And if our hearts are warmed when we receive the favors of our friends, or hear some kind word or deed of theirs, much more shall we be zealous in His service when we see into what dangers we had fallen, and that God has delivered us from them all.

“And the acknowledging of the truth.” This he says with reference to the type. For that was an “acknowledging” and a “godliness,” yet not of the Truth, yet neither was it falsehood, it was godliness, but it was in type and figure. And he has well said, “In hope of eternal life.” For the former was in hope of the present life. For it is said, “he that does these things shall live in them.” You see how at the beginning he sets forth the difference of grace. They are not the elect, but we. For if they were once called the elect, yet are they no longer called so.

Ver. 2. “Which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.”

That is, not now upon a change of mind, but from the beginning it was so foreordained. This he often asserts, as when he says, “Separated unto the Gospel of God.” And again, “Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate.” Thus showing our high origin, in that He did not love us now first, but from the beginning: and it is no little matter to be loved of old, and from the beginning.

“Which God, that cannot lie, promised.” If He “cannot lie,” what He has promised will assuredly be fulfilled. If He “cannot lie,” we ought not to doubt it, though it be after death. “Which God, that cannot lie,” he says, “promised before the world began”; by this also, “before the world began,” he shows that it is worthy of our belief. It is not because the Jews have not come in, that these things are promised. It had been so planned from the first. Hear therefore what he says,

“But has in His own times manifested.”

Wherefore then was the delay? From His concern for men, and that it might be done at a seasonable time. “It is time for You, Lord, to work”, says the Prophet. For by “His own times” is meant the suitable times, the due, the fitting.

Ver. 3. “But has in due times manifested His word through preaching, which is committed unto me.”