Knowledge for acknowledging, A.V.; according to for after, A.V. A servant of God ( δοῦλος θεοῦ); so in the superscriptions: Romans 1:1; Philippians 1:1, ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ; James 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1; Jud 2 Peter 1:1; Revelation 1:1.
St. Paul also calls himself "the servant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10); and the phrase, δοῦλον κυρίου, occurs in 2 Timothy 2:24. But neither "servant of God" nor any equivalent is in the superscription of either 1 or 2 Timothy.
"Servant" is a better rendering than "slave," as Farrar renders it. An apostle, etc.; as in both 1 and 2 Timothy, and also in Romans 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:1, 2 Corinthians 1:1, etc.; showing that this is not a private letter, but a public and official document, conveying official authority to Titus over the Church in Crete.
According to the faith of God's elect. The phrase is peculiar to this passage, and the exact force of κατὰ is not easy to determine (see Bishop Ellicott's notes, who renders κατὰ "for," and explains that "the faith of God's elect is the destination of the apostleship," with the further explanation that this meaning of κατά is about equivalent to "with special reference to," or "destination for," as its object).
It is nearly the same thing to say that the true faith, and the perfect knowledge of the truth, and the hope of eternal life promised by God, are the sphere in which the apostolic office moves and acts.
"The faith of God's elect," etc., seems to imply that there was in some who were not elect (1 John 2:19, 1 John 2:20) a corruption of the faith, a departure from it—a faith that was no faith, and something calling itself truth which was not "according to godliness," and so to point to rising heresies.
£ The authors of these heresies were chiefly Jews (verse 10), of whom there was a considerable colony in Crete. According to godliness (for the use of εὐσεβεία in the pastoral Epistles, see 1 Timothy 2:2; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 Timothy 4:7, 1 Timothy 4:8; 1 Timothy 6:3, 1 Timothy 6:5, 1 Timothy 6:6, 1 Timothy 6:11; 2 Timothy 3:5, and notes).