Titus, verse-by-verse

Session 1 | Titus 1:1-5

Titus 1:1-4 | The Promise of Life Manifested in Paul

• Verse 1 -- Black Letter

  • Paul, as is typical, introduces himself as a servant and an apostle. This is standard and does not bring much doctrinal content beyond the most basic.

    
    However, he claims that these are according to the faith of God's elect. Since God's elect“an apostle...according to the Jewish faith." I would contend that Saul's original instruction was to carry the Jewish message of the Kingdom to the ends of the earth. It was only later that the mystery was revealed and Saul, the convert carrying the Kingdom message, became Paul, the pattern of our salvation (1 Tim. 1:16).

  • Our notes from Acts 9:15:

    • The Lord was blunt with Ananias, saying Go thy way. Saul was declared to be a chosen vessel and it was revealed that he would bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. While some strongly teach that this is the beginning of the Dispensation of the Church, there is no such revelation given in this passage. At this point, Saul has not received revelation. Furthermore, the Kingdom Gospel was also going to go to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8), which would clearly involve the Gentiles. As far as one can see here, it is only that Saul was going to take the Kingdom Gospel to the Gentiles. A final piece of evidence that no mystery had been revealed is found in his baptism of v. 18.

    • It is important not to draw a clear line where the Scripture does not do so. Those who dogmatically state that the Age of Grace began in Acts 2 are saying what the Scripture does not say. Those trying to fix the error should take care not to make an equally incorrect mistake.

      
      Paul continues, noting that his servanthood and apostleship is also according to the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. Since Paul defined the mystery of godliness in 1 Timothy 3:16 as God being made flesh and proclaimed and believed on in the world prior to being received up into glory we can recognize this part of the verse also as having to do with the Jewish people, since all this took place in the Gospels, prior to the mystery.
      Verse 2 -- Blue Letter
      

  • In verse 1 his service and apostleship were according to, and now it is in or, more literally, *upon* (as in Young's Literal Translation) the hope of eternal life.

    
    While eternal life is a promise of the Pauline gospel, it also is a promise of the Kingdom Gospel (see Dan. 12:2), and here Paul specifies that this promised life was promised before the world began. The interpretive question then becomes which eternal life was promised before the world began? Is Paul's reference to the Pauline or Kingdom gospel?

  • At first glance we would likely believe that this is the Kingdom gospel. However, that gospel seems to be rooted in Genesis 3:15, which is after the world began. Furthermore, Paul speaks of the mystery, of which he says from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God (Eph. 3:9). That which was hid from the beginning would have existed before the world began, it seems. The fact that we find no indication through the Old Testament, nor the four Gospels of this promised life is not surprising, since Paul insists that it was hidden until revealed to him.

    
    If our interpretation is correct, then Paul is claiming to be an apostle whose work started in the realm of God's elect and then came into the later phase of the mystery.
    

• Verse 3 -- Blue Letter

  • The hidden gospel was in due times manifested. In my interpretation this is a reference to the mystery revealed to Paul. To understand the sentence, it is best to consider a simple diagram.

  • Note that through preaching would be well understood without the comma, through preaching which is committed unto me. The proclamation of the hidden promise was given to Paul according to the commandment of God our Saviour. This last phrase all but demands that the subject matter is the mystery since the apostleship was of Jesus Christ (v. 1).

  • In three verses Paul has given his post-Damascus experience of being a servant and apostle who proclaimed the Kingdom Gospel to receiving the mystery that had been hidden since the beginning of the world and is now committed unto him.

    
    

• Verse 4 --Green Letter

  • Paul speaks of Titus as mine own son after the common faith. The Greek does not contain a definite article with common faith“a common faith" (Young's Literal) or “our“according to common faith." The definite article should not cause one to think there is a comparison between the Kingdom gospel and the grace gospel (common -vs- uncommon).

  • Paul then gives his customary greeting of Grace, mercy, and peace.

    
    

    Titus 1:5-9 | Paul's Instruction to Titus Concerning the Stewardship of the Gospel

    
    

• Verse 5 -- Green Letter

  • “incidentally applicable" to believers today, though the specifics of Titus' ministry would vary.

  • Titus is on the island of Crete and his first task was to set in order the things that are wanting. The Greek word translated set in orderἐπιδιορθόω [epidiorthoo“to bring into orthodoxy." He had a doctrinal assignment. The things that are wanting“falling short of the standard" or simply “left undone."

  • His second task is to ordain elders in every city as he had previously been appointed by Paul. It would be hard to argue that this is anything other than the selection of pastors. These elders are to be ordained in every city, or κατα πολιν [kata polin“according to city." That is, Titus is done when every city has an elder.

  
  “pastor in every city" would go a long way toward a healthy society. While there are plenty of pastors in cities, there are few right dividing pastors who understand the difference between mystery and prophecy.