Bible Commentaries
Titus 3

Verses 1-15

III Titus 1-3 Christian Citizenship— The Apostle calls upon them to fulfil their duties as members of society, civic and municipal. Far from weakening loyalty to the State, faith in Christ is rather a guarantee of its strength, because the nation as such is derived from God, cf.Ephesians 3:15, and in consequence must be loyally served by the Christian as a matter of duty; cf. CR 22 ( Aug. 1942) 337 ff., art. Patriotism, by Rev. L. L. McReavy.

2. In relation to his fellow citizens the Christian must show himself to be understanding, tolerant, forbearing, careful to avoid injuring his neighbour’s character by evil talk.

3. ’For we ourselves’—As an added incentive to considerate treatment of those not enlightened by the Christian faith, St Paul reminds, them of their own past, cf.Ephesians 4:17ff.; Romans 1:18ff. The lesson he wishes them to draw is patience with the failings of others. He then reminds them that their own calling was not due to themselves, but solely to God’s goodness.

4-7 Baptism and Justification— The Epistle of the Second Mass on Christmas day. ’Not by the works of justice’—not because of any works of ours done before justification whether according to the natural or Mosaic Law: those works did not constitute the motive for God’s bestowing the grace of justification —the motive was solely God’s mercy. ’By the layer of regeneration’—This laver or bath of regeneration is Baptism, by which we are delivered from that slavery of sin into which we were born (our first birth) and become sons of God (our regeneration or second birth), cf.John 3:3ff.’Renovation of the Holy Ghost’ —expresses another aspect of our regeneration; it is a renewal effected by the Holy Spirit, the production of a new ’being’ by which we are restore to divine sonship, it is the ’new creation’ spoken of in 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Ephesians 4:24. Sin, actual and original is remitted by the infusion of a new life which takes the place of spiritual death. Bandas, 181, notes here the reference to the Holy Trinity: ’Again, the Apostle says that our baptismal regeneration is due to the Father who, without any regard to merits which we neither possessed nor were capable of acquiring, had mercy on us; it is due also to Jesus Christ who is our Saviour and Mediator; and finally it is due to the Holy Spirit, the Common Envoy of the Father and the Son, our Sanctifier, who is liberally poured out upon us’.

7. The life of grace ’justifies’ or renders a man ’just’ in the sight of God; hence springs up hope of eternal life seeing that he is now a son of God and co-heir with Christ. In a word, baptism is the beginning of a life which is eternal.

4-7 gives us a summary of the process of justification (cf. Prat I, 331n-332; II, 259-60) and point to the effects of Christ’s coming h as we celebrate his nativity.

9. ’Foolish questions and genealogies’—cf.1 Timothy 1:4.

10. ’Heretic’—whence our word heretic. Here it rather refers to a person who is a centre of dissension and strife, a ’factious person’. Such an individual is to be admonished and if still obdurate is to be regarded as excluded from the Church.

11. Condemned by his own judgement’—self condemned; by his stubborn refusal to submit to the Church’s authority he puts himself outside the Church, i.e. is excommunicated; cf.1 Corinthians 5:5.12-15 Final Instructions —Artemas— not otherwise known in NT, but acc. to tradition one of the Seventy and Bp of Lystra. Tychicus-cf.2 Timothy 4:12. Nicopolis—in Epirus. It has been suggested that Paul intended to make it a centre for the evangelization of Epirus and may have been arrested there. Zenas the Lawyer—not mentioned elsewhere in NT, but by tradition Bp of Diospolis and author of apocryphal Acts of Titus. He was probably a ’lawyer’ in the Jewish sense. ’Necessar uses’—such as the needs of Zenas and Apollos. Christians should earn an honest living and so be able to meet all the expenses demanded of the congregation, such as those mentioned in the preceding verse.