Titus 3:12

When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me.—But Titus is here reminded—perhaps with some reference to the question of the treatment of the factious or heretic persons just alluded to—that he is only the temporary ruler of the Cretan Church, on a special commission of the great missionary Apostle. Not improbably one of these two was intended to supply the place of Titus when this favourite and trusted assistant of St. Paul was recalled to his master’s side. Of Artemas nothing certainly is known. Tradition, however, makes him subsequently Bishop of Lystra. Tychicus is mentioned in five of the New Testament writings—in Acts 20:4; Colossians 4:7; 2Timothy 4:12; and here. He seems to have been one of the most esteemed of St. Paul’s friends. He speaks of him as a beloved brother, a faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord; and the importance of the missions with which he was entrusted by his master to distant churches shows us how high this disciple stood in the opinion of St. Paul.

To Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.—There are several cities bearing this name—in Cilicia, in Thrace, and in Epirus; and considerable doubt prevails as to which the Apostle has been referring. On the whole, the Nicopolis in Epirus seems the most likely spot for the Apostle to have fixed on. This city was built by Augustus after the battle of Actium, whence it derived its name, “the City of Victory.”

Benson Commentary

Titus 3:12. When I shall send Artemas to thee, or Tychicus — To succeed thee in thy office; be diligent to come unto me — Tychicus is often mentioned in St. Paul’s epistles, but of Artemas we know nothing: only from this passage it appears that he was a faithful and able teacher, and fit to supply Titus’s place in Crete. At Nicopolis — There was a city of this name in Macedonia, on the confines of Thrace; also one in Epirus, and another in Pontus. The one in Epirus was built opposite to Actium, and named Nicopolis, or the city of victory, in memory of the victory which Augustus obtained over Antony and Cleopatra. It is probable that this was the Nicopolis here referred to: many think the Nicopolis in Macedonia was intended. For I have determined to winter there — This manner of speaking shows that the apostle was at liberty when he wrote this epistle, and consequently that it was written in the interval between his first and second imprisonment, and not from Nicopolis; for he was not there when he wrote it, but only expected to be there by and by. See the preface.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:12-15 Christianity is not a fruitless profession; and its professors must be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. They must be doing good, as well as keeping away from evil. Let ours follow some honest labour and employment, to provide for themselves and their families. Christianity obliges all to seek some honest work and calling, and therein to abide with God. The apostle concludes with expressions of kind regard and fervent prayer. Grace be with you all; the love and favour of God, with the fruits and effects thereof, according to need; and the increase and feeling of them more and more in your souls. This is the apostle's wish and prayer, showing his affection to them, and desire for their good, and would be a means of obtaining for them, and bringing down on them, the thing requested. Grace is the chief thing to be wished and prayed for, with respect to ourselves or others; it is all good.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

When I shall send Artemas unto thee - This person is not elsewhere mentioned in the New Testament, and nothing more is known of him.

Or Tychicus - Notes, Acts 20:4.

Be diligent - Notes, 2 Timothy 4:9. "To come unto me to Nicopolis." It was at this place, probably, that this epistle was written. In regard to its situation, see Introduction, Section 4.

For I have determined there to winter - Why Paul designed to spend the winter there, or what he purposed to do there, are questions on which no light can now be thrown. There is no evidence that he organized a church there, though it may be presumed that he preached the gospel, and that he did not do it without success. His requesting Titus to leave his important post and to come to him, looks as if his aid were needed in the work of the ministry there, and as if Paul supposed there was a promising field of labor there.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. When I shall send—have sent.

Artemas or Tychicus—to supply thy place in Crete. Artemas is said to have been subsequently bishop of Lystra. Tychicus was sent twice by Paul from Rome to Lesser Asia in his first imprisonment (which shows how well qualified he was to become Titus' successor in Crete); Eph 6:21; and in his second, 2Ti 4:12. Tradition makes him subsequently bishop of Chalcedon, in Bithynia.

Nicopolis—"the city of victory," called so from the battle of Actium, in Epirus. This Epistle was probably written from Corinth in the autumn. Paul purposed a journey through Ætolia and Acarnania, into Epirus, and there "to winter." See my [2541]Introduction to the Pastoral Epistles.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Of Artemas we read in no other place, but of

Tychicus often; they were both ministers, one of which Paul intended to send to take care of the church in Crete, in the absence of Titus, whom he would have come to him to Nicopolis, where he designed to take up his winter quarters; but being very loth that the flock at Crete should for a little time be without a shepherd, he limits the time of Titus’s setting out towards him, till one of them should come into Crete.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus,.... These were both of them ministers of the Gospel; there is no mention of Artemas anywhere else; some say he was one of the seventy disciples, and that he was afterwards bishop of Lystra; but these are uncertain things; See Gill on Luke 10:1; the name is a contraction of Artemidorus. Tychicus is often spoken of; and a very great character is given of him by the apostle, in Ephesians 6:21,

be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis; which was a city, not in Epirus, but in Thrace, situated by the river Nessus, and had its name from a victory obtained there: hither the apostle would have Titus come to him, after one or other of the above ministers were come to Crete; for as the apostle had the care of all the churches upon him, he would not remove a minister from one place to another, without making a provision in their room: his reasons for having Titus come to him, might be either to know the state of the churches in Crete; or because he stood in need of his assistance; or to send him elsewhere:

for I have determined there to winter; that is, to continue there all the winter; not without labour, but to preach the Gospel, and administer the ordinances to the saints there: and whereas he says "there"; this shows that this epistle was not written from thence, as the subscription asserts; for then he would have said "here", and not "there".

Geneva Study Bible

{5} When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.

(5) Last of all, he writes a word or two regarding personal matters, and commends certain men.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Titus 3:12. Invitation from the apostle to Titus to come to him at Nicopolis so soon as he had sent Artemas or Tychicus. Artemas is not mentioned elsewhere; regarding Tychicus, see 2 Timothy 4:12. The object in sending them is not told. Had the apostle’s purpose been that Artemas or Tychicus should continue the work begun by Titus, he would surely have given some hint of it, and not contented himself with the simple πρὸς σέ. It is more probable that the apostle wished to have Titus brought by one of them, as he could not yet determine the exact time when he was to come (Hofmann). Nicopolis is a name borne by several cities, one in Epirus, built by Augustus as a memorial of his victory at Actium; another built by Trajan in Thrace; and another in Cilicia. In the subscription of the epistle there stands: ἀπὸ Νικοπόλεως τῆς Μακεδονίας, which may mean either the city in Thrace or that in Epirus. It does not appear from his words that Paul wrote the epistle there; on the contrary, the ἐκεῖ rather shows that Paul himself was not there when he wrote the epistle. His purpose was to pass the winter there; comp. Introd. § 3.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Titus 3:12-14. Come to me, as soon as you can be spared. Forward Zenas and Apollos. Let our friends in Crete remember that fruitfulness in good works is the one thing needful for them.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. When I shall send] Lit. ‘when I shall have sent,’ aor. subj.: Vulg. ‘cum misero.’ Titus would of course wait for his deputy’s arrival.

to Nicopolis] The town of that name in Epirus most probably, since ‘there was a large population, a good harbour, and numerous opportunities of coming into contact with old friends from the churches of Achaia.’ The Nicopolis in Cilicia has nothing to recommend it; that in Thrace is preferred by the Greek commentators; compare too the subscription at the end of the Epistle ‘Nicopolis in Macedonia.’ But this has no authority; and the supposed better fitting in of this Nicopolis with the last journey west (cf. 2 Timothy 4:10) is too uncertain to have weight against the evident fitness of a well-known post as the rendezvous for the winter, and a base of further operations.

for I have determined there to winter] Shewing that St Paul was at liberty; that is, between (as may be safely assumed) the first and second imprisonment. Cf. Introduction, p. 44.

12–14. Personal directions. As to the conjectural chapter of biography of which we have traces here, see introduction, pp. 40–44. We may suppose that the object of the sending Tychicus or Artemas was to take the place of Titus during his stay with St Paul. From 2 Timothy 4:12, Tychicus would seem to have been sent to Ephesus, so that Artemas may have been finally chosen for Crete. Of him nothing is known. Tychicus is one of the most valued of the ‘fellow helpers,’ ‘the beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord,’ entrusted with the Ephesian and Colossian letters, and the ‘comfortable words,’ five years before, in the enforced absence of the first imprisonment at Rome, Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7.

Bengel's Gnomen

Titus 3:12. Ἀρτεμᾶν ἢ Τυχιχὸν, Artemas or Tychicus) into whose hands Titus might deliver the lamp of the Gospel.—ἐλθεῖν πρός με, to come to me) when affairs in Crete shall have been more fully set in order.—ἐκεῖ, there) He does not say here. Paul was not yet at Nicopolis.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - Give diligence for be diligent, A.V.; there I have determined for I have determined there, A.V. When I shall send Artemas, etc. The action of St. Paul in sending Artemas or Tychicus to take the place of Titus in Crete is exactly the same as he pursued with regard to Ephesus, whither he sent Tychicus to take Timothy's place (2 Timothy 4:11, 12). He would not leave the presbyters in either place without the direction and superintendence of one having his delegated apostolic authority. This led to the final placing of a resident bishop in the Churches, such as we find in the second century. We may conclude that Artemas (otherwise unknown) was the person eventually sent to Crete, as Tychicus (Colossians 4:7) we know went to Ephesus (2 Timothy 4:12). We have also an important note of time in this expression, showing clearly that this Epistle was written before the Second Epistle to Timothy (as it probably also was before 1 Timothy) - an inference abundantly corroborated by 2 Timothy 4:10, by which it appears that Titus had then actually joined St. Paul, either at Nicopolis or elsewhere, and had started off again to Dalmatia. Give diligence (σπούδασον); 2 Timothy 2:15, note; 2 Timothy 4:9, 21. Nicopolis, in Epirus. The most obvious reason for St. Paul's wintering at Nicopolis is that it was near Apollonia, the harbor opposite Brindisium, which would be his way to Rome, and also well situated for the missionary work in Dalmatia, which we learn from 2 Timothy 4:10 was in hand. Nicopolis (the city of victory) was built by Augustus Caesar to commemorate the great naval victory at Actium over Antony. It is now a complete ruin, uninhabited except by a few shepherds, but with vast remains of broken columns, baths, theatres, etc. (Lewin, vol. 2. p. 253). To winter (παραχειμάσαι); Acts 27:12; Acts 28:11; 1 Corinthians 16:6. (On the question whether the winter here referred to is the same winter as that mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:21, see Introduction.) Titus 3:12

Vincent's Word Studies

Nicopolis

There were several cities of this name, one in Cilicia, one in Thrace, and one in Epirus. It is uncertain which one is meant here.

To winter (παραχειμάσαι)

Comp. Acts 27:12; Acts 28:11; 1 Corinthians 16:6. The noun παραχειμασία wintering, Acts 27:12.