Titus 1 1 Commentary: So, we’ve heard Paul tell us that he’s a servant of God and apostle of Jesus. He serves God as one sent with the message of the Gospel.

And he does this according to the faith of God’s elect – so that those who are chosen by God would hear and believe the truth that we find in Titus 2:13-14 – that we’re sinners, that Christ died for our sin, and that he rose from the dead.

But as awesome and important as that is – that God’s elect should come to initially believe the Gospel message – that’s not where Paul leaves them.

Because in the next statement Paul indicates another purpose for which he slaves for God and goes around giving Christ’s message – and it seems to be focused more on the progressive aspect of faith.

and [i.e., according to…] the [acknowledging/knowledge] of the truth

Now, it might not be so obvious in English, but in Greek, the “and” here ties the “acknowledging of the truth” to “the faith of God’s elect” that we saw earlier in this verse.

So, Paul is saying that he’s a slave of God and messenger of Christ for the purpose of seeing God’s elect come to faith in Christ.

And then beyond that, Paul does these things for the purpose of these individuals acknowledging the truth.

So, what does that mean?

Well, there’s a sense in which God’s elect acknowledge the truth initially – but then they also grow in this knowledge.

It’s like a seed that germinates and sprouts – and then grows into a full plant. There’s a point at which that seed goes from being a living seed to then dying and becoming something that looks totally different. And that different thing itself then starts to grow.

And yet, at the same time, we all know that you can put a seed in the ground and have it just die and produce nothing – no new life.

And we can apply that seed metaphor to what Paul is talking about here concerning people coming to faith initially and then progressively acknowledging the truth. That’s the way it ought to work.

And yet according to other passages in the New Testament, most people, in fact – never come to this knowledge at all. And not only do people not come to grow in their knowledge of Christ – they actually never even come to faith in him to begin with.

Paul in Romans 1:28 tells us that there are those who “did not like to retain God in their knowledge.” They didn’t and don’t want to know God – either initially or progressively.

In Romans 10:2 Paul admits with sorrow that his unbelieving Jewish compatriots “have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.” They are zealous for God – but it’s not the kind of zeal that’s accurately informed by God’s truth.

And in fact, the only knowledge that a person can have of spiritual things before receiving Christ is “the knowledge of sin” – which Paul says in Romans 3:20 is the purpose of the Law.

And yet, some get so close to this knowledge – but they ultimately never attain it. That’s what Paul means when he speaks in 2 Timothy 3:7 of those who are “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

And actually, the apostle Peter tells us that there are false teachers who “have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” But these people end up entangling themselves in those old pollutions of the world and being overcome. And Peter says of those people that their last state is worse than the first.

So, the Scripture testifies that most people in this world never come to this knowledge that Paul speaks of in Titus 1:1 – the knowledge for which he serves God and for which Christ sends h