Titus 1:4

4 To Titus, my own son in the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

Titus 1:4 Meaning and Commentary

Titus 1:4

To Titus, mine own son after the common faith
Not in a natural, but in a spiritual sense; the apostle being the instrument of his conversion, as he was of the conversion of Onesimus, and of many of the Corinthians, and therefore is said to beget them, ( Philemon 1:10 ) ( 1 Corinthians 4:15 ) and so was their spiritual father, and they his children: Titus was, in this sense, his "own son", or a true son, a legitimate one; a true convert; one really born again; a sincere believer, an Israelite indeed: and this he was "after the common faith"; either the doctrine of faith, which is but one, and is common to all the saints; or the grace of faith, which though different in degrees, yet is alike precious faith in all; the same for nature, kind, object, operation, and effects: and this phrase is used to show in what sense Titus was son to the apostle; as he was a believer, and no otherwise.

Grace, mercy, and peace
which is the apostle's usual salutation; see ( 1 Timothy 1:2 ) . The word "mercy" is left out in the Claromontane copy, and in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions.

Titus 1:4 In-Context

2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began,

3 but hath in due times manifested His Word through preaching which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior,

4 To Titus, my own son in the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

5 For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:

6 if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly.