Titus 1:1

"Bondman of God" is unusual. In the letter to the Romans Paul calls himself "bondman of Jesus Christ." He does the same in the letter to the Philippians, where he joins Timothy with himself. Only here is it "bondman of God and apostle of Jesus Christ." No Christian should doubt that this relationship to God fits this letter in a special way.

To be an overseer is a good work. But Titus was called, among other things, to appoint overseers: clearly a far more delicate and responsible service. Self-importance can slip in here, as it often has even with excellent men. Paul had authorised and directed Titus in that high service. So he begins with that firm statement: "Paul, bondman of God." All was worthless if the will of God was not done.

Two of the ablest recent commentators have dropped "according to" and adopted "for." But that loses the special force of the scripture before us... People tend to treat Christianity as a continuation of Judaism, and more or less an improvement on it. But the whole system of legal rules and ceremonies has come to its end; Christ had wiped it out and taken it away, nailing it to the cross... It is now a question of what God has done and given, as revealed in the person of Christ, and so of faith on the part of God's elect. The elect nation is no longer the platform of His ways.

So faith was found, not in the confession of the Jews, but in the elect brought by grace to the knowledge of the truth. It was the faith of the elect: this is an important truth, and it is what marks out faith in the world. Others may indeed adopt it as a system; but faith is in itself the faith of the elect.

The sovereignty of God comes before us here. Long before God created Adam, or the corrupt sons of Japheth disgraced the island of Crete, God had chosen His own. He has chosen certain people for life, and He did it in His own absolute and unsearchable counsel.

The knowledge of the truth which is "after godliness" goes with this faith. The word should not be translated "acknowledging," but "full knowledge." It makes the previous phrase clearer, for this truth puts everything in its place and brings the soul into contact with God. When someone knows God like this, true piety follows. That is very different from making a show of being good.

We must not hide the faith of God's elect away. We must own it before men and before the enemy, as well as learn it from God. We must confess it without compromise, no matter what the difficulty. We must never give up the acknowledgment of the truth — not just the belief of it.

Notice too that godliness marks the truth. Here is a very good test, and you can use it in either direction. People press certain things on us as the very truth of God. We may not be up to the task of analysing them, comparing them with Scripture and proving them false. Yet we can see without difficulty that accepting them as truth leads to throwing off godliness. That is enough. These things are not the truth of God.

These two, truth and godliness, belong together. If someone gives up the truth or fails to hold it, godliness goes too. The truth must show itself in godliness.