Authenticity of the Epistle
Titus 1:1 — Paula servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ... to Titus, mine own son after the common faith.
DR. JOHN SAUL HOWSON.—The direct external evidence in favor of the authenticity and genuineness of this epistle is as firm and complete as that of the other pastoral epistles, if not more so. Nothing can well be more, explicit than the quotations from it in Irenmus, in Clemens Alexandrinus, in Tertullian, to say nothing of earlier allusions in Justin Martyr and Theophilus. 'Internally also the Epistle to Titus has all the characteristics of the other pastoral epistles. All this tends to show that this letter was written about the same time and under similar circumstances with the other two. While, on the other hand, this epistle has marks in its phraseology and style which assimilate it to the general body of the epistles of St. Paul.—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 3268.
God Cannot Lie
Titus 1:2.—God, that cannot lie.
PLATO.—What then does the god mean? for he does not speak falsely; that it is impossible for him to do.—Apol. Socr., c. 6.
Titus 1:5.—For this cause left I thee in Crete, etc.
See Acts 27:7.
Character of the Cretians
Titus 1:12. —One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
DR. ADAM CLARKE. —This was Epimenides, who was reckoned by many the seventh wise man of Greece. By the Cretans he was reputed a prophet; Diogenes Laertius mentions some of his prophecies. The words quoted here by the apostle, according to St. Jerome and others, are taken from a work of Epimenides, now no longer extant, and form this hexameter verse:
The Cretans are always liars; destructive wild beasts; sluggish gluttons.
OVID.—I sing of things well known. Crete, with the hundred cities, how-ever fond of lying, cannot deny this.—De art. amand., I., 297.
CALLIMACHUS.—The Cretans, always liars, vaunt in vain, And impious built thy tomb on Dicte's plain. —Hymn Joy., v. 8.
CICERO.—And what a bench will it be, O ye good gods! A Cretan judge, and he the most worthless of men. Whom can a defendant employ to propitiate him? He comes of a hard nation.—Phil., V., 5.
Titus 2:9.—Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, etc.
See Eph. 6:5.
That Blessed Hope
Titus 2:13.—Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
PLATO.—Excellent the contest; great the hope!—Phœdo, c. 63.
CICERO.—These opinions do indeed bring us hope, if it is any pleasure to you to think that souls, after they leave the body, may go to heaven as to a permanent home. I have great pleasure in that thought, and it is what I most desire.—Disp. Tusc., I., I I.
Titus 3:9.—But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, etc.
See 1 Tim. 1:4.
Nicopolis
Titus 3:12.—Be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis, for I have determined there to winter.
DR. JOHN SAUL HOWSON.—There were several cities of the naive of Nicopolis; but that here intended doubtless was the celebrated Nicopolis of Epirus, built by Augustus in memory of the battle of Actium, and on the ground occupied by his army before the engagement. This was on a peninsula to the west of the bay of Actium, what is now a low and unhealthy situation, and a very desolate place. The remains have been often described.—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 2147.