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God our Saviour
A series of most suggestive statements link the opening of this epistle
together:
The faith in view is the faith of God's Elect.
The truth is that which is after Godliness.
The hope is of Eternal Life.
The God Who made this promise Cannot Lie.
This hope was promised before Age Times.
It is manifested in its own Season.
The preaching of this hope was Committed.
According to a Commandment.
Of God in His capacity as Saviour.
It is usual to associate a commandment with law, here it is associated
with Gospel and Salvation. Let us consider these features. Several Greek
words are translated `commandment'; two in particular are employed by the
apostle in connection with the Gospel. The word used in Titus 1:3 is
epitage, and it is this word that recurs in Titus 2:15 where it is translated
authority. We find the same word in 1 Timothy 1:1,
`Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our
Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope'.
In these passages there is something of the authority that delegated
service carries with it, an authority resident also in the title `apostle',
namely one that is sent from another, an envoy or ambassador. Epitage is
derived from tasso which is found in Titus 1:5 in the word diatasso and
translated `ordain'. The other Greek word translated `commandment' is
entole, which most lexicographers derive from the root tel `to end, finish
and perfect'. How this basic idea underlies the word entole or appears in
the concept of `commandment' is beyond our ability to explain. The A.V.
translates the word `commandment' 69 times, and the remaining two occurrences
`precepts'. In the form entellomai, the word is occasionally rendered `to
charge' or `to give charge' (Matt. 4:6). This word entole `keep this
commandment' (1 Tim. 6:14) refers back to the `charge' of verse 13, which is
in the Greek paraggello. What the `commandment' of Titus 1:3 therefore
amounts to is the charge and the authority that accompanies a commission,
possessed in the highest degree by an apostle or in a somewhat lesser degree
by such men as Timothy and Titus. Preachers and teachers today do not appear
to have either the same commission or the same authority, but perform their
humbler tasks nevertheless at the behest of the same God and Saviour.
God our Saviour. If we except, as of questionable application the
reference in Ephesians 5:23 `He is the saviour of the body', then the title
`Saviour' is found but once in Paul's epistles, apart from the many
occurrences in the epistles to Timothy and Titus, namely in Philippians 3 :20
`We look for the Saviour'. The title `Saviour' occurs ten times in these
pastoral epistles, as follows: 1 Timothy 1:1; 2:3; 4:10; 2 Timothy 1:10; and
six references in Titus. The six references in Titus we must set out before
the reader:
A
1:3.
The commandment of God our Saviour.
B
1:4.
Grace from Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
A
2:10.
Adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour.
B
2:13.
The appearing of the great God and