Titus 2:2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. Sobriety in all things is the peculiar character befitting age. Hasty, impulsive, intemperate speech, frivolous gaiety, thoughtless indulgence, are hateful in the old. The Christian elders should at least aim to possess the virtue without which hoary hair would be a disgrace rather than a crown of glory. They are not only to be "sober," but "grave and discreet," terms which nobly pourtray and illustrate the highest characteristics and the truest consecration of age, Age should fly concourse, cover in retreat Defects of judgment, and the will subdue; Walk thoughtful on the silent, solemn shore Of the vast ocean it must sail so soon.Healthy, or sound, must they be "in respect to their faith, love, and patient endurance." The apostle, in his earliest Epistle (1 Thessalonians 1:3), congratulated that Church on "work" of theirs which originated in "faith," on "labour unto weariness" which was dictated by "love," and on "patient endurance" which was born of Christian "hope." In writing to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 13:13), he says, "Now abideth faith, hope, love." The Lord, from His throne of glory, addressed the Ephesian Church (Revelation 2:2) thus: "I know thy works, thy labour unto weariness, and thy patient endurance." The passages throw light upon each other. Occasionally "hope," the child of faith, the source of patience, the secret of peace, and the wellspring of joy, is substituted by the apostle for one or other of the emotions with which it is so closely associated, either as antecedent or consequent. But, making allowance for this characteristic touch, it is profoundly interesting to trace in this — one of the latest of the Pauline Epistles — the vibration of a note struck by him in his earliest; an argument of no small weight in determining the authenticity of the Pastoral Epistles. Paul would have Titus cultivate among the aged men of Crete the root principles out of which all holy living proceeds. The peculiarity of the Pastoral Epistles — reference, i.e., to the being "sound" or "healthy" in these respects — suggests the possibility that "faith" may be under mined or perverted; that "love" may become irregular, sentimental, partisan, or hysterical; and that "patience" may degenerate into listlessness, obstinacy, or stoicism, if it be not fed at the fountains of Christian "hope." Does not the reference here to the causes and sources of holy living, rather than to those effects of them on which he had enlarged when writing to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 1:3), suggest to us that the longer St. Paul lived, he more and more acquired the habit of putting confidence in Christian principles and "sound" motives? (H. R. Reynolds, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. |
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