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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
These verses contain the apostle's salutation, and the first part of this chapter;
in which observe, 1. The person saluting, described by his name, Paul; by his general office, a servant of God; by his special office, an apostle of Jesus Christ; by the end of his office, to preach the faith, and thereby to promote the faith of God's elect, and to bring persons to the acknowledgment of the doctrine of the gospel, which is truth according to godliness.
Learn hence, That the great design and end of preaching the gospel, is, to produce faith in the heart, and holiness or godliness in the life, of those that sit under it; not that common, notional, and intellectual faith, which is ofttimes found in unholy persons: but that lively faith, which is elsewhere called the faith of the operation of God, and here, the faith of God's elect; even such a faith as is the parent and principle of obedience.
Observe, 2. The apostle declares a farther end of his office, namely, to raise Christians up to a lively hope and expectation of that eternal life, which that God, who cannot lie, hath promised before the world began.
But how could God then promise, when there was none to promise to?
Ans. The promise was made to Christ, and in him to all his members: for there was a federal transaction betwixt the Father and the Son from all eternity; the Son promised to give his soul an offering for sin, and the Father engaged that he should see his seed, and the travail of his soul.
Observe, 3. How God, who promised us in Christ eternal life before all time, did accompolish and make good that word in the fulness of time.
Tit_1:3. He hath in due time manifested his word through preaching; that is, What God so long ago purposed in himself, and promised to his Son, he hath in the fittest appointed season made manifest by the preaching of the gospel, which is committed to me by the appointment of God and Christ.
Learn hence, That the doctrine of salvation is much more clearly revealed to us that live under the gospel, than it was to the fathers of the Old Testament. Life and immortality, that is, the clearer knowledge and more full assurance of eternal life, is now brought about by the preaching of the gospel.
Observe, 4. The person saluted, Titus, described by his relation. St. Paul's son in the faith; he begat him by his ministry unto God, was the instrument of his conversion unto Christianity; his son after the common faith.
Where note, That the church has but one faith common to all Christians, it has one common object of faith, Christ crucified; it has one common end of faith, eternal salvation; this is the end of every believer's faith and hope.
Observe lastly, The salutation itself: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour; that is, all spiritual, temporal, and eternal blessings, I most heartily wish unto you, from God the Father, and Jesus Christ our worthy Mediator.
Learn hence, That whatever spiritual grace or temporal blessings we now receive from God, is from him not barely as a Creator, but as a Father, a gracious Father in Christ, in whom he pours forth the immensity of his love upon us, and through whom he conveys all kind of blessings unto us.