Counsels to young men.
"Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded," so that—
I. THEY MAY TAKE SUCH A VIEW OF LIFE AS TO INCLUDE ITS DIFFICULTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES.
II. THEY MAY BE KEPT FREE FROM THE UNDUE DISAPPOINTMENT OF TOO ENTHUSIASTIC MINDS.
III. THEY MAY BE KEPT FROM THE WINE-CUP AND ALL HARMFUL STIMULANTS.
IV. THEY MAY REMEMBER THAT LIFE IS A SOLEMN THING, FULL OF ACCOUNTABILITY.
V. THEY MAY KEEP THEIR MINDS OPEN TO COUNSEL FROM AGE AND EXPERIENCE.—W.M.S.
A teacher's influence.
Titus is to remember that personal character is the most eloquent counsel and the most convincing argument of the gospel.
I. PATTERS. Not a slavish example of mere deeds. For this is not the gospel ideal. We are not to copy mere actions, but to catch the spirit of the teacher. This makes true art, and it makes also true religion. We admire the pattern, but we do not copy it by "the rule of thumb," but by the adoption of the same spirit. Christ in us. The mind of Christ.
II. DOCTRINE. Not mere dogma, which is an artificial thing, and may or may not be true, according as the authority which gives it may be wise and enlightened, or ignorant and superstitious. Doctrine is different. It is a revealed truth which has its response in the heart and conscience, and its attestation in life. This the gospel has. And he is to show "uncorruptness;" that is, he is not to defile it with worldly compromises. And "gravity;" for it is not meant to be the light theme of intellectual discussion, but the gravest matter of obedience. And "sincerity." It is not to be preached for expedient reasons, as, for instance, the security of life, or the safety of the state, or the ways in which even Socrates would have men honor the gods, although inwardly he disbelieved in them; but with sincerity of conviction as to their reality and truth.
III. SOUND SPEECH. No hollow rhetoric. No statements in excess of fact for the sake of impression; but sound all through in argument, illustration, and attestation. Such conduct and speech will shame those who "see the fruits," and can say no "evil" of us.—W.M.S.
Counsels to slaves.
This Epistle was circulated in Asia Minor, where there were some eighty thousand slaves. "Exhort slaves, or bond-servants," etc. The gospel cured slavery, as it cured polygamy, by a slow and steady development of the doctrine and spirit of the cross—that we are all one in Christ Jesus, that we are not our own, and that we ought to love others even as ourselves. And no man would like to be a slave himself.
I. OBEDIENCE. They were slaves, and they had masters. While that relationship remained, let them show the conquests of the gospel in their endeavors to please, and in their not "gainsaying," or answering again. Masters would see in such conduct the divinity of the gospel; and slaves would not suffer in vain—it would give the dignity of "ministry" even to their lives.
II. BEAUTY. Not "purloining," which slaves are tempted to do. Having been purloined or "stolen" themselves, it would not seem very harmful to them to steal things from their masters. But they were to "adorn the gospel"—to show how "beautiful" it could make their rude life, and the rough, hard lot of a slave.
So we all have here the gospel in its beauty. "Adorn," and in its breadth, "all things."—W.M.S.