Salutation and conclusion.
"All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen."
I. MARK HOW THE EPISTLE, WHICH BEGAN WITH THE FAITH OF GOD'S ELECT, ENDS WITH GRACE AND LOVE.
II. MARK THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS ESTABLISHED BY GRACE BETWEEN THE WIDELY SCATTERED MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH. They are one holy, happy family, united by love. The threefold repetition of the word "all" suggests the deep unity of the body of Christ, in spite of its inward distractions and errors and sins.
III. THE SALUTATION IMPLIES THAT, THOUGH ADDRESSED TO TITUS, THE EPISTLE WAS TO RE COMMUNICATED TO THE WHOLE CHURCH IN CRETE.—T.C.
HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM
Subjection to the state.
Society has reached no ideal perfection in government, nor has God himself laid down any outward form as an ideal. All nations are justified in variety of choice. There has been government by judges, and governments monarchical, republican, autocratic, and constitutional. All that we need to notice is that society needs to be governed. Lawlessness always ends in anarchy, misery, and desolation.
I. LEARN SUBJECTION TO THE STATE. This is beautiful. Restraint is better than the liberty of licentiousness. Compare a river that keeps its bounds to one that overflows its banks. Men are justified in resisting tyrannies, whether of autocrats or mobs; but they must not forget that all well-ordered societies exist only by subjection.
II. LEARN SELF-CONQUEST IN YOURSELVES. Controlling the tongue, avoiding all bitterness and "brawling," and showing that there is a magistracy of the heart as well as a magistracy of the state.—W.M.S.