f

αἰωνίου.

signified by that name (Wall, Infant Baptism, Part i. xcv. pp. 22. 25. 28-30; Defence, pp. 12. 34. 41. 277. 318. 323. 327. 329. 333. 343; Append. pp. 4. 6. Comp. Archbishop Sharpe, Vol. iii. Serm. xiii. p. 280, &c. Suicer, Thesaur. tom. i. pp. 243. 396. 639. 1352; tom. ii. pp. 278. 549. 554. Cangius, Glossar. Græc. p. 1084. Bingham, xi. 1. 3, p. 462); so that, according to the ancients, Regeneration, or new birth, was either Baptism itself (including both sign and thing), or a change of man's spiritual state, considered as wrought by the Spirit in or through Baptism.

This new birth, this Regeneration, could be but once in a Christian's whole life, as Baptism could be but once; and as there could be no second Baptism, so there could be no second newbirth.

Regeneration, with respect to the regenerating agent, means the first admission; and with respect to the recipient, it means the first entrance into the Spiritual or Christian life. And there cannot be two first entrances or two admissions, any more than two spiritual lives, or two Baptisms.

The analogy which this new spiritual life bears to the natural, demonstrates the same thing. "Cùm ergo sint duæ nativitates-una est de terrâ, alia de coelo; una est de carne, alia de spiritu; una est de mortalitate, alia de æternitate; una est de masculo et foemina, alia de Deo et Ecclesiâ. Sed ipsæ duæ singulæ sunt; nec illa potest repeti, nec illa. Jam natus sum de Adam, non me potest iterum generare Adam; jam natus sum de Christo, non me potest iterum generare Christus. Quomodo uterus non potest repeti, sic nec Baptismus." Augustin. in Johan. Tract. xi. p. 378, tom. iii. part 2, edit. Bened. Conf. Prosper. Sentent. 331, p. 246, apud Augustin. tom. x. in Append. Aquinas, Summ. part 3, qu. 66, art. 9, p. 150.

There are in all, three several lives belonging to every good Christian, and three Births, of course, thereto corresponding. Once he is born into the natural life, born of Adam; once he is born into the spiritual life, born of water and the Spirit; and once also into a life of glory, born of the Resurrection at the last day. Dr. Waterland (Regeneration stated and explained, Vol. vi. p. 346, on Titus iii. 5).

καὶ ἀνακαινώσεως Πνεύματος ἁγίου] and by the Renovation of the Holy Spirit.

The Taxiyyeveola, or new Birth, just mentioned by the Apostle, takes place once in the laver of Baptism; but the subsequent work of avakalvwσis, i. e. renovation, or renewal, is habitually needed by us, and is performed daily by the Holy Spirit. As the Apostle says (2 Cor. iv. 16), “The inner man is being renewed (avakaivoûtai, present tense) day by day."

Observe the word étéxeev, He poured forth from a spring; and observe the word λourpòv, a laver, into which what is poured forth flows.

These words, combined with the context here, and with our Lord's own declaration (in John iii. 5), on the necessity of being born again of Water (vdaros) and of the Spirit, display the true doctrine of Regeneration;

All the spiritual Blessings of the New birth, and of the New life, are therein represented as flowing down to us from and out of the one fountain and well-spring of the Love of God the Father; and are all derived to us through God the Son, God and Man, Who is the sole Channel of all grace to men; and are applied to us personally by the agency of God the Holy Ghost. See note above on 2 Cor. xiii. 13.

All these Blessings come to us through the Incarnation of God the Son, Who took our nature and died for us, and washed us from our sins by His blood. And the Incarnation is, as it were, the point of contact, at which the channel of Filial Grace joins on to the Well-spring of Paternal Love, which opens out the way for the effusion of Grace to all the family of Man, whose nature God took in Christ. And the point of contact, at which the living Water of Grace, which flows from the Well-spring of Paternal Love through the Filial Channel of Grace, is poured forth into our souls, is in the laver of our New Birth in Baptism.

Thus, then, the Baptismal Font is the receptacle, into which the Grace flowing from the spring of God's love, and streaming down to us through Christ, God and Man, dying for us on the Cross, is poured forth as water conveyed by an aqueduct from a secret source in the distant hills, and gushing out into a pool; and is applied to the cleansing of our souls from original sin, and

Joel 2. 28.
Acts 2. 33.
Rom. 5. 5.
g Rom. 8. 23, 24.

to the quickening of them in the spiritual Siloam of the laver of Regeneration.

Christ was born once by the operation of the Holy Ghost, and He lives for evermore.

He was born once in us by the operation of the Holy Ghost. And if we are truly His, He is daily renewed in us by the working of the same Spirit, and will dwell for ever in us.

Hence we see the wisdom of the Church in choosing the present passage of St. Paul for a proper Lesson on the Festival of Christ's Nativity, and in teaching us to pray, in her Collect for that Day, to God, Who has given His only-begotten Son to take our nature upon Him, that we, who have been born again and made God's Children by adoption and grace in Christ, may daily be renewed by the Holy Spirit, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

The reader will not have failed to observe the evidence afforded by this passage on the Doctrine of the distinct personality and several operations of the Three Persons of the Ever Blessed Trinity. Cp. 2 Cor. xiii. 13.

7. Yevnowμev] So A, C, D, F, G, Lach., Tisch., Ellicott, Αlf.-Elz. γενώμεθα.

8. Πιστὸς ὁ λόγος-διαβεβαιοῦσθαι] Faithful is the saying; a formula introducing a solemn asseveration. 1 Tim. i. 15; iii. 1; iv. 9. 2 Tim. ii. 11.

The saying thus prefaced is that which declares the practical character of the doctrine of Regeneration by Baptism.

This doctrine, therefore, of Baptismal Regeneration, is not (as it has been vainly misrepresented by some) a mere empty formality, a barren and unfruitful speculation, but it is the very root of virtuous practice.

The Apostle teaches, and commands Titus to teach, that they who have been engrafted into Christ by Baptism, must be careful to promote good works. They who have been born anew in Baptism have entered into a solemn covenant with God, by which they obliged themselves to a new and holy life; and therefore all who are baptized, are bound to keep their hearts with diligence. (Prov. iv. 23.) See Greg. Nazian. Orat. xl.

We who are baptized were baptized into Christ's death (says St. Paul, Rom. vi. 3); that is, into a conformity to it, as well as into a participation of its benefits, that we should be dead to sin; and as He was raised up from the dead, we should not continue in sin, but walk in newness of life. (Rom. vi. 2-5.)

We were baptized into His body. (1 Cor. xii. 13.) Our bodies were made members of Christ (1 Cor. vi. 15), and were united in Him to God, and became Temples of God the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. iii. 16; vi. 19. 2 Cor. vi. 16); and we are therefore pledged thereby to be holy as He is holy (1 Pet. i. 15), to walk worthy of our holy vocation (Eph. i. 5, 6; iv. 1), and to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit in our lives. (Gal. v. 22.) See above on Eph. v. 5, and 1 Tim. iii. 16.

The teaching of St. Paul in this passage, and in many others of the Pastoral Epistles, where he dwells specially on the necessity of good works (1 Tim. ii. 10; v. 10; vi. 18. 2 Tim. ii. 21. Tit. i. 16; ii. 7. 14; iii. 14), is a protest and safeguard against that form of religion, and particularly of Judaism, which contented itself with a specious profession of Knowledge which it dignified with the name of Faith, but which was not productive of good fruits.

These passages are very important, as showing St. Paul's concurrence in the teaching of St. James, who wrote his General Epistle with a special view to this hypocritical form of nominal Religion.

See above the Introduction to the Epistle to the Romans,

p. 200.

καλῶν ἔργων προΐστασθαι] to promote good works; more than to do them; to be, as it were, "præfecti operum bonorum," to be foremost in them, and to lead others to them. The verb potoтaσ0α, with a genitive of persons, signifies to stand before them as their chief, ruler, protector, and patron, πроστáτηs. (1 Thess. v. 12. 1 Tim. iii. 4. 12.) And it is coupled with things, as here: προΐστασθαι τέχνης, Athen. p. 612; ἐργασίας, Plut. Pericl. p. 151 (Wetstein), where it means to drive on, and zealously to promote, aid, and urge on a work or trade, and not to allow the trade or work to stand still, but to drive on the workman. The overseer of the workmen who built a house or temple was called

& 4. 7. & 6. 20.
2 Tim. 2. 23.
ch. 1. 14.

i Matt. 18. 15-17.

Rom. 16. 17.

2 Cor. 13. 2.

2 Thess. 3. 6.

2 Tim. 3. 5.

2 John 10.

k Acts 20. 4. Eph. 6. 21.

Col. 4. 6.

2 Tim. 4. 12.

1 Acts 18. 24. 1 Cor. 1. 12.

TрOσTÁTNS čрYWV, ¿épyodiúктns, “ Præfectus operum," "Clerk of the works."

Such is a Christian's duty in this life, to be a poσтάτηs каλῶν ἔργων, or, as he calls it, ii. 14, to be a ζηλωτὴς καλῶν ἔργων. The meaning is well illustrated by the opposite declaration of Scripture concerning false teachers, who have an active tongue and lazy hand; who bind heavy burdens upon other men's shoulders, but will not come forward and reach out so much as one of their fingers to move them. (Matt. xxiii. 4.) Koray.

· οἱ πεπιστευκότες Θεῷ] They who have made public profession of faith in God; they who have been baptized and engrafted into the company of the faithful, or visible Church. On this sense of TIOTEúw, see Acts viii. 13; xiii. 48, where see note. Rom. xiii. 11. Elz. has 7 before Oe, and has rà before кaλà, but it is not found in the best authorities.

9. yeveaλoyías] of the Judaizers. See 1 Tim. i. 4, and Koray here, p. 323.

TepitoTaoo] avoid, by going round about, purposely out of the way, to shun. 2 Tim. ii. 16, repitotaoo= àvápevye (Hesych.), περιΐστασθαι = èkkλíveiv, peúyei (Suid.). Cp. Wetstein, p. 358, and Koray, Atakta, ii. p. 323.

10. AipeTIkóv] one who makes aipéσeis or parties; a sectary, whether in doctrine or discipline. (See on 1 Cor. xi. 19.) The essence of Heresy lies in the exercise of the will or choice. "Hæresis (alpeois) Græcè ab electione dicitur, quòd scilicet unusquisque id sibi eligat, quod ei melius esse videatur." Jerome.

It has pleased God, in the exercise of His own Sovereign Counsel and Will (Eph. i. 5), to make certain Revelations to man. He has consigned those Revelations to the Holy Scriptures, which are inspired by Him, and may be proved so to be, and which may also be shown to be a full and perfect exposition of His Will as to all supernatural Truth necessary for everlasting salvation. He has committed those Scriptures to the keeping of His Church, the Pillar and Ground of Truth (1 Tim. iii. 15), the Body of Christ, to which He has promised His presence and His Spirit to guide her into all truth. (John xiv. 16; xvi. 12. Matt. xxviii. 20.) Whosoever, then, after this act of God's sovereign Counsel and Will, does not set himself carefully to ascertain the Will of God, and dutifully to conform himself to it in matters of Doctrine and Discipline, but voluntarily chooses for himself some opinion, or adopts some practice in contravention of the Divine Will, as expressed in Holy Scripture, and as interpreted by the consent, and embodied in the practice, of the Universal Church; whosoever introduces some new Article of Faith not found in Scripture, and unknown to the primitive Catholic Church, and much more, whosoever introduces some Article of Faith contradictory to Scripture and to the Sense of the primitive Universal Church,-that man is an aiρETIKòs, a Heretic, and is to be avoided as such.

See Irenæus, i. 16, who says, Quotquot absistunt ab Ecclesiâ, verè à semet ipsis sunt damnati, quos Paulus jubet devitare. And the clear statement of Tertullian (de Præscr. c. 7), "Paulus hæreses inter carnalia crimina numerat, scribens ad Galatas (Gal. v. 20), et Tito suggerit, hominem hæreticum post primam correptionem recusandum, quòd perversus sit ejusmodi, et delinquat ut à semet ipso damnatus. Sed et in omni penè Epistolâ de adulterinis doctrinis fugiendis inculcans, hæreses taxat, quarum opera sunt adulteræ doctrinæ, hæreses dictæ Græcâ voce ex interpretatione electionis, quâ quis sive ad instituendas sive ad suscipiendas eas utitur. Ideo et sibi damnatum dixit hæreticum, quia et in quo damnatur, sibi elegit. Nobis verò nihil ex nostro arbitrio indulgere licet, sed nec eligere quod aliquis de arbitrio suo induxerit. Apostolos Domini habemus auctores, qui nec ipsi quicquam ex suo arbitrio, quod inducerent, elegerunt, sed acceptam à Christo disciplinam fideliter nationibus adsignaverunt. Itaque etiam si angelus de cœlis aliter evangelizaret, anathema diceretur à nobis." (Gal. i. 8.)

Tараiтоû] See 1 Tim. iv. 7.

11. éσтраятai] is perverted; properly, has been turned inside out, like a garment, ἐκστρέψαι ἱμάτιον, τὸ ἀλλάξαι τὸ πрòя TÒ Eσw μépos etw. Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 88. Wetstein, p. 378.

A very expressive description of an alpeтikós. Man's duty is

to ascertain the will of God (see on v. 10); to clothe himself with it, to wear it, and exhibit it publicly in his life. But the aipeTIKOS, or sectary, turns the garment inside out. He walks with the lining of his coat turned outside; he hides God's will, as if it were not fit to show, and perversely parades, and egotistically protrudes, his own will, in the eyes of men, as if it alone were beautiful and worth seeing. Thus he makes himself ridiculous in the sight of thoughtful men. St. Paul therefore calls him selfcondemned; he stands forth in public view as convicted by his own self-love and self-adulation, and by his contempt of God's Will and Word. Cp. 1 Tim. v. 24.

ἁμαρτάνει] sinneth. On the moral guilt of αἵρεσις see 1 Tim. v. 20.

12. "Oтаν Téμw] When I shall have sent Artemas to thee, or Tychicus. Titus was not to quit his post in Crete, till the Apostle had sent some one, Artemas or Tychicus, to watch over the Church there.

It was very fitting (says S. Jerome) that the Apostle, who had preached the Gospel from Jerusalem round about unto Illyricum (Rom. xv. 19), should not suffer the Cretans to be left desolate, both by his own absence and of that of Titus at once, but should send to them in his own stead and that of Titus, Artemas, or Tychicus, to comfort them by teaching and consolation.

In like manner, when St. Paul sent for Timothy to come to him at Rome, he took care to inform him, that he had sent Tychicus to Ephesus to take charge of affairs there. 2 Tim. iv.

12.

It is probable, therefore, that Artemas was the person sent to Crete by St. Paul; and that Tychicus remained with the Apostle till he was sent to Ephesus; or, if Tychicus was the person sent, he afterwards returned to St. Paul.

σπούδασον ἐλθεῖν πρός με εἰς Νικόπολιν] do thy diligence to come to me to Nicopolis; probably the Nicopolis in Epirus, built by Augustus after the battle at Actium, and thence deriving its name, the City of Victory.' Sueton. Aug. 18. Strabo, xii. 325. Howson, ii. p. 481. So Jerome, who says (in Prolog, ad Epistolam): "Scribit Apostolus de Nicopoli, quæ in Actiaco litore sita est, præscribitque Tito, ut, cùm è duobus Artemas seu Tychicus Cretam fuerit appulsus, ipse (Titus) Nocopolim veniat."

It is probable that St. Paul passed over from Macedonia into Epirus after his promised visit to Philippi. See Introduction, p. 42. Nearly ten years before this Epistle was written, when St. Paul left Ephesus for Macedonia (A.D. 57, Acts xx. 1), he found Titus there (2 Cor. vii. 5, 6), and in all probability Titus then went with St. Paul on his missionary tour into Illyricum. (See on Acts xx. 1, 2. Rom. xv. 19.)

We find also, that after the date of this Epistle, and soon before St. Paul's death, Titus had gone, probably by St. Paul's command, into the neighbouring country of Dalmatia. (2 Tim. iv. 10.)

If this Epistle was written, as is most likely, a little before St. Paul's second Imprisonment and Martyrdom, then the intention of sending Titus into Dalmatia, as a person already acquainted with the Churches there planted by St. Paul, would harmonize very well with this command to come to the Apostle to Nicopolis, in Epirus, which would be on the route of Titus from Crete to Dalmatia.

A description of Nicopolis may be seen in the Editor's Work on Greece, p. 313-5, ed. 1858. 13. Znvav] Zenodorus.

Tov voμikóv] the lawyer acquainted with the Levitical Law, and who will be of use to thee in dealing with the Judaizing teachers, and in refuting their errors. See v. 9. Do not there

fore imagine that I disparage the Law; no, I revere the Law, which is from God; and therefore I would have thee to confute those who pervert the Law, by arguments from the Law, -as St. Paul himself has done in his Epistles to the Galatians and Romans.

The same observation applies to Apollos. (Acts xviii. 24

-26.)

e

e

Rom. 1. 16.

& 4. 1. Col. 4. 18.

& 4. 14. 1 Tim. 2. 6. ch. 2. 3.

i

h

15 m

f Rom. 8. 29. & 9. 11.

& 3. 11.

6 Rom. 16 25 εἰς τ. 839. Eph. 1. 9. &

g Isa. 25. 8.

1 Cor. 15. 54, 55.

Col. 1. 26.

Tit. 1. 2.
Heb. 2. 14.
1 Pet. 1. 20.

πίστει και
Πνεύ

& 13. 2. & 22. 21.

Gal. 1. 15. & 2. 8. 1 Tim. 2. 7.

8. Tòv déσμov avтoû] his prisoner, now a second time, at Rome. See iv. 16. As to the phrase itself, see Eph. iii. 1. Philem. 1. 9.

In his former Epistle he had expressed his design of coming to see Timothy. He was then at liberty. (1 Tim. iii. 14.) But now he is again in chains, and therefore desires him to come to him. (2 Tim. iv. 21.) Cp. Euseb. ii. 22, and the Introduction above, pp. 417. 423.

σvукакопάONσоV] suffer afflictions with the Gospel. Some Expositors render this, 'be a sharer of suffering with me in the Gospel.' But the construction is more natural, and the image is much more striking, if the Gospel is regarded as a living sentient thing, and the words are rendered as above, Be thou a partner with the Gospel in its sufferings, and so thou shalt be a sharer of its glory. Cp. 1 Tim. vi. 1. Tit. ii. 5, where the Word of God is said to suffer blasphemy.

Kaтà dúvaμiv eoû] according to the power of God. Since God's power to support, save, and reward us who suffer for Him, is infinite, our willingness to suffer ought to be in proportion to (KaTà) His power.

9. τοῦ σώσαντος ἡμᾶς οὐ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα] See on Tit. iii. 5. πρὸ χρόνων αἰωνίων] before times which extend back till there was no Time. See on Tit. i. 2.

10. καταργήσαντος-θάνατον] See on 1 Cor. xv. 26.

12. тhν паρаłýкην μov] that treasure which I have laid up in heaven, by spending, and being spent, for His sake. Matt. vi. 20. Mark x. 21. Luke xii. 33. This is my comfort and joy in all my sufferings for His sake, that whatever I spend, even it be my life itself, will be restored to me with abundant interest at the Great Day; for whosoever loseth his life for Christ's sake shall find it, and keep it unto life eternal. Matt. x. 39; xvi. 25. Luke ix. 24; xvii. 33. John xii. 25.

The sense is well expressed by A Lapide: Depositum vocat thesaurum laborum et passionum pro Evangelio à se obitorum, quem Paulus patiens et moriens quasi apud Deum deposuit, ut in illo die magno illum recipiat, et coram toto mundo declaretur falsò fuisse traductus, incarceratus, verberibus et contumeliis affectus, tanquam impostor, publicèque proclametur verus fuisse veri Dei et Evangelii Apostolus et Doctor." See the appropriate Lesson appointed for St. Paul's Day, Book of Wisdom, chap. v.

13. TTоTÚпWow exe] Hold fast the pattern (1 Tim. i. 16),— the archetype and exemplar of sound words which thou art bound to copy out in thy preaching and in thy life, so that all may learn the truth from thy precept and practice.

14. παραθήκην] So the best authorities.-Elz. παρακαταθήκην. See above on v. 6, and Tertullian (Præscr. Hæret. cap. 25, 26), who hence well argues, that a definite 'depositum fidei,' from which nothing is to be detracted, and to which no addition can be made, was well known to exist in the Apostolic age. (See ii. 2.) The repetition of this word wapаðîî in v. 12, seems designed to remind Timothy that we can have no reasonable hope of our finding our own Tapahη kept for us in God's hands, unless we keep His παραθήκη carefully in our hands.

διὰ Πνεύματος ἁγίου] not by means of thine own strength, but seeking for, and relying on, the aid of the Holy Ghost to enable thee to guard it.

15. аπеσтрápnoάv μe] they turned away from me at some particular time, when I needed, and expected, their help.

i Eph. 3. 1. k ch. 3. 14. 11 Tim. 6. m Acts 19. 10. ch. 4. 10, 16.

15-17. πάντες οἱ ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ κ.τ.λ.] all in Asia turned away from me. This cannot mean all in Asia who were at Rome. Such an interpretation is a very forced one. The words can only mean that all in Asia turned away' from him, not indeed all the Christians there; for Onesiphorus did not desert him, nor Timothy, nor Aquila and Priscilla (iv. 19); but all of that party to which Phygelus (so the best MSS.) and Hermogenes belonged, turned away from me.

He adds that Onesiphorus often refreshed him, and was not ashamed of his chain.

Nor was this all. Onesiphorus also afterward when he came to Rome, still more diligently sought for him, and found him out.

These words imply, that St. Paul had been exposed to some special peril when in Asia, and that thus the stedfastness of his friends there was then put to the test.

Then it was, that Phygelus and Hermogenes deserted him; then, probably, it was, that Alexander the Coppersmith, an ancient enemy (Acts xix. 33), in revenge for St. Paul's disciplinarian severity towards him (1 Tim. i. 20), did him much evil (2 Tim. iv. 14). Then it was, that Onesiphorus, who dwelt at Ephesus (2 Tim. iv. 19), stood firmly by him, and was not ashamed of his chain (v. 16), i. e. of the chain by which he was bound in Asia. Nor was this all; but when, subsequently, Onesiphorus came from Asia to Rome, he carefully sought for, and found out, the Apostle, and ministered to him. Onesiphorus is thus put in striking contrast to that other party in Asia which betrayed St. Paul in his need.

If this interpretation of this passage is correct, we are led to the following inference, viz. that St. Paul was in Asia a short time before he wrote this his final Epistle; and that he was then made a victim of the malice of the Asiatic Jews, who had formerly united with Demetrius the Silversmith at Ephesus against him (Acts xix. 23. 33), and had put forth Alexander against him, but had been disappointed of executing their designs against him, at that time, by the interference of St. Paul's friends (Acts xix. 31), and had afterwards pursued him with their rancour even to Jerusalem, and had stirred the multitude against him there, and had arrested him in the Temple. (Acts xxi. 27-29.)

Such persons as these would have been greatly exasperated against him after his release from his first Roman imprisonment, which they doubtless had hoped would end in his death; and they would probably be cognizant of his severe language against the Judaizers, in his recent Epistles to the Philippians and to Titus, and in the first Epistle to Timothy.

These Asiatic Jews, his unrelenting and inveterate foes and persecutors, would gladly seize any opportunity for wreaking their vengeance upon him. Such an opportunity would have presented itself to them on the occasion of a visit of the Apostle to Asia; a short time before the date of this Epistle.

Then the persecution of the Christians had been set on foot by the Emperor Nero; and then, it is probable, the Jews resorted to their ancient stratagem of enlisting the passions and the power of the Heathen Magistrates (see on Acts xvii. 5, 6) against the Apostle; and then, perhaps, it was, that St. Paul was arrested a second time, and sent a second time a prisoner to Rome.

In confirmation of this statement, it will be remembered that at the Martyrdom of S. Polycarp in another great Asiatic