The conclusion now follows. “When I shall send Artemas unto thee or Tychicus, give diligence to come unto me at Nicopolis, for there I have determined to winter. Set forward Zenas the lawyer and Apollos, on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting to them. And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful. All that are with me salute thee. Salute them that love us in faith. Grace be with you all” (ver. 12-15).
It is a common mistake to suppose that words, so simple and common-place as these seem, have little value. We learn what the goodness of the Lord is through such an one as Paul, not merely in circumstances of great strain and difficulty, but in the most ordinary matters of daily spiritual life. Grace molds the conduct and the words alike, in the least things as in the greatest; as there is no affectation, there is no levity. The consciousness of God's presence, the habit of having to do with Him, impresses the simplest affairs with a tone that is holy and loving without an effort.
But the fact is that in these closing words we have that which ought to have cleared up many a controversy and been corrective of spurious tradition. Titus was in no way the fixed ecclesiastical ruler of
Crete; be had served the Lord there in most important ways, and his work was come to a close as far as that island was concerned. The apostle was not indifferent; he desired spiritual help for the saints and assemblies still, and therefore he proposes to send Artemas or Tychicus before Titus leaves. The fact that one of these we know rather fully in the Acts of the Apostles, the other not at all elsewhere, is full of interest. We learn that there were men whom the Lord honored in a high degree who only appear incidentally like Artemas; and yet he is even put before Tychicus. It would be wrong to infer that he had a higher standing. The Holy Spirit does not regulate the affairs of God after the manner of a Lord Chamberlain. We may be assured that the apostle would not speak of sending Artemas or Tychicus, had he not believed that the one was no less spiritually qualified than the other. Comparisons however are not sanctioned in scripture. But we can also see that the apostle did not think of sending both—it is “Artemas or Tychicus,” not Artemas and Tychicus. Laborers suitable to help the church in a large way are not numerous. Other places had claims no less than Crete; but it is plain that both these laborers held a personal relation to the apostle. He proposed to send the one or the other to Titus in Crete: when either one or the other should have arrived, the apostle calls on Titus to be diligent in joining him at Nicopolis, “for there I have determined to winter.”
From this we learn some facts of interest to all Christians. The apostle was certainly not a prisoner at this time. It appears to have been after his first imprisonment at Rome, and before the second, which closed in his death. Had he not been free, how could he speak of his decision to spend a winter there? But this also convincingly shows us that the traditional appendix to the Epistle is unfounded. The Epistle was not written from Nicopolis, any more than Titus was ordained bishop of Crete. Again, there is no sufficient reason to assume that it was Nicopolis in Macedonia, even if that city then existed. For it is certain that various cities of that name were built after the days of Paul—one or more by the emperor Trajan. Long before there was a Nicopolis in Alexandria, there was another Nicopolis in Cilicia. But the most important town of the name then existing, beyond a doubt, was in Epirus, looking down on a promontory of Actium in Acarnania, built by Augustus Caesar in honor of the great victory over Antony, which had such a momentous bearing on the future of the Roman empire. It seems therefore reasonable, as there is no particular description given pointing to another quarter, that the apostle means the city that was most notorious.
Further, we may be sure that the zeal which consumed the apostle did not now summon Titus there for rest to himself any more than to the younger workman. In the last Epistle the apostle ever wrote, it is said that Titus went to Dalmatia, which was in the neighborhood of Epirus. This again affords some confirmation that the Nicopolis in question lay in that neighborhood. The work of the Lord was to be pushed into the West as well as in the East.
Quite a distinct fact appears in the next verse, 13. “Set forward Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them.” How beautifully unjealous love, and zeal for the Lord's glory and care for the comfort of His laborers, are shown here. And how confidently too Paul looks for this blessed feeling in Titus, the reflex of his own. Often and long he had proved him to be a faithful and gracious brother. He is sure that an elevated authority in Crete has in no way impaired the old spirit of fellowship and value for others.
It is the more to be noticed, because neither of these two commended to his care were at all so associated with the apostle personally as many others. We never hear of them (as τοὺς περὶ τὸν Παῦλον) in the group which accompanied the apostle on his journey. What is or is not said appears to indicate the co-ordinate class of laborers, of whom we read in the Acts of the Apostles as well as in the Epistles, Apollos notably being their type. Yet the heart of the apostle goes out and urges Titus in love no less for such than for his well-known usual associates.
Here again Zenas the lawyer is named before Apollos: this is the order not of the world, but of grace. Ιt is not quite certain what sort of lawyer he was. Calvin dryly considers that he could not have been a forensic one: else he could not have wanted means. A graver but simple if not conclusive reason points in the same direction. Everywhere else in the N. T. “lawyer” is connected with Jewish learning rather than Roman or Greek law. Certain it is that Paul assumes that there might be need of the help enjoined. He had accepted help of the kind himself, as appears from his Epistles, and before this he asked for it on behalf of others. We find the same thing in the still later Third Epistle of John. But it is a fine trait of Christ to see this gracious consideration laid so confidently on the shoulders of Titus, though the apostle does not stop there. “And let ours also learn to maintain good works for the necessities, that they be not unfruitful.” If Titus was not to forget fellow-laborers, how incumbent it was on the saints generally? This is the force of “ours also.” Only here of course “ours” means the saints in Crete. They are exhorted to learn, what Titus had long learned, to be forward in good works, and, among all other calls, for the encouragement of devoted ministers of the Lord in His work. It is not merely the poor we should think of but the work of faith and labor of love. Thus should believers be not “unfruitful.” Nor is God unrighteous to forget that work or the love shown toward His name; and if it be so in ministering to the saints, in special honor of those who serve them at all cost.
Lastly, we have the salutation “All that are with me salute thee;” it is not merely “with me” as in Gal. 1:22And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: (Galatians 1:2). It is special connection and simple companionship. This gives the salutation increase of force. Again Paul directs Titus to salute “those that love us in faith.” Faith is the connecting link with all that is eternal and of the Spirit of God, yea with God Himself. His last word is not to Titus only, but “grace be with you all.” His heart breaks forth in the desire of divine blessing towards all the saints in Crete, as we know it did in a general yet practical way to all on earth. But the faithful stand in a special, divine, and everlasting relationship, which no saint ought ever to forget.