(13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing.--The Greek should here be rendered, looking for the blessed hope and manifestation of the glory. And that holy life, just urged on the believer, of quiet self-restraint, of love to others, of piety towards God, must be lit up by a blessed hope, by a hope which is far more than a hope; that holy life of the faithful must be a continued waiting for a blessed hope--"the hope laid up for us in heaven" (Colossians 1:5). It may be asked, What is this hope? We answer, it is "the hope of glory" which we shall share with the Son of God, when we behold Him as He is. So for us the hope of glory is intimately bound up with the second coming of the Lord. Then the life of the lover of the Lord must be one continued looking for, waiting for, the coming of the Lord in glory--must be a looking for that hour when we shall see in all His divine majesty, Him who redeemed us. In that life and light, in that majesty and glory, His own will share.

Of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.--The translation here should run, of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. From the English version, it would seem that Paul's idea was that the Christian should live waiting for the glorious appearing of the great God, accompanied with our Lord Jesus Christ. The rendering we have adopted, on what seems conclusive grounds, speaks of a Christian life, as a life ever looking for the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

In this sublime passage the glory of the only begotten Son alone finds mention. Taken thus, it is a studied declaration of the divinity of the Eternal Son, who is here styled "our great God and Saviour." Reasoning merely on grammatical principles, either translation would be possible, only even then there is a presumption in favour of the translation we have adopted. (See Ellicott's Note on this verse.) But other considerations are by no means so nearly equally balanced. The word "manifestation" (epiphany), the central thought of the sentence, is employed by St. Paul in his Epistles five times, and in every one of them to describe the manifestation of Christ, and in four of them to designate the future manifestation of His coming in glory, as here. The term epiphany is never applied to the Father.

Again, the whole of the context of the passage specially relates to the "Son of God." The introduction of the epiphany "of the Father" would be a thought not merely strange to the whole New Testament, but would bring quite a new idea into this statement, which sets forth so sublimely the epiphany of Christ as the ground of the Christian's hope--an idea, too, no sooner suggested than dropped, for the passage goes on to speak only of the Son. Perhaps, however, the weightiest argument that can be adduced is the consensus of the Greek orthodox fathers, who, with scarcely an exception, concur in the interpretation which understands the expression "of our great God" as used of Jesus Christ. To select two examples out of the long chain of fathers reaching from the apostolic age who have thus understood this text: "St. Paul here calls Christ the great God, and thus rebukes the heretical blasphemy which denies His Godhead" (Theodoret). "What can those persons say," asks Chrysostom, referring to this passage, "who allege that the Son is inferior to the Father?" (See Wordsworth's Note here.)

Verse 13. - The for that, A.V.; appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior for the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Savior, A.V. Looking for (προσδεχόμενοι); the word commonly applied to waiting for the kingdom of God (Mark 15:43; Luke 2:25, 38; Luke 12:36; Luke 23:51; Jude 1:21). The blessed hope. The hope here means the thing hoped for, as in Acts 24:14 (where both the subjective hope and the thing hoped for are included); Galatians 5:5; Colossians 1:5 (comp. too Romans 8:24, 25). Here the hope is called emphatically "the blessed hope," the hope of Christ's second coming in glory, that hope which is the joy and life, the strength and comfort, of every Christian soul. This is the only place in the New Testament where μακάριος is applied to an object which does not itself enjoy the blessing, but is a source of blessing to others. Of the fifty passages where it occurs it is applied in forty-three to persons, twice to God, three times to parts of the body (the Virgin's womb, and the eyes and ears of those who saw and heard Christ), once impersonally ("It is more blessed to give," etc., Acts 20:35), and once, in this passage, to the hope. And appearing of the glory. In construing this clause, as well as the following, the same difficulty occurs. There is only one article to the two subjects. The question arises - Can two different subjects stand under one article? Huther affirms that they can, and refers for proof to Buttman and Wince; and, indeed, it is impossible to treat "the hope" and the "appearing" as one subject. Accepting this, the clause before us should be rendered, Looking for the blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory of the great God. This is a description of the second coming of the Lord, of whom it is expressly said that he will "come in the glory of his Father" (Matthew 16:27; Mark 8:38). The appearing of Christ will be the appearing of the glory of the great God, not the appearing of God the Father, to whom the term ἐπιφανεία is never applied, but of the Son, who is the Brightness of his Father's glory. Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. No doubt the Greek words can be so rendered, and perhaps (grammatically) most naturally, as e.g. in 2 Peter 1:11, where we read, "The kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ;" and so 2 Peter 3:18. But, on the other hand, according to what is said above, they need not be so rendered. "The great God" and "our Savior Jesus Christ" may be two separate subjects, as "the blessed hope" and "appearing of the glory" are. Anti we have to inquire, from the usual language of Scripture, which of the two is most probable. Alford, in a long note, shows that σωτὴρ is often used without the article (1 Timothy 1:1; 1 Timothy 4:10; Philippians 3:20); that in analogous sentences: where Κύριος is used as our Lord's title, an exactly similar construction to that in the text is employed, as 2 Thessalonians 1:12; 2 Peter 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:2; Galatians 1:3; Ephesians 1:2; Ephesians 6:23, etc. He also observes, after Wince, that the insertion of ἡμῶν after Σωτῆρος is an additional reason for the omission of the article before Σωτῆρος, as in Luke 1:78; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3, and elsewhere; and that the epithet μεγάλου prefixed to Θεοῦ makes it still more difficult to connect Θεοῦ with Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Ξριστοῦ; and lastly, he compares this passage with 1 Timothy 2:3, 5, 6, and thinks the conclusion inevitable that the apostle, writing two sentences so closely corresponding - written, it may be added, so near to one another in time - would have had in view, in both passages, the same distinction of persons which is so strongly marked in 1 Timothy 3:3, 5. On these grounds he pronounces against the rendering which is adopted by the Revised Version. Huther's conclusion is the same: partly from the grammatical possibility of two subjects (here Θεοῦ and Ἰησοῦ Ξριστοῦ) having only one article, which leaves the question of whether there are here one or two subjects to be decided on other grounds than simple grammar; and partly and chiefly from the double consideration that

(1) nowhere in Scripture is Θεός connected directly with Ἰησοῦς Ξριστός, as Κύριος and Σωτήρ so often are; and

(2) that the collocation of God (Θεός) and Christ as two subjects is of constant occurrence, as e.g. 1 Timothy 1:1, 2; 1 Timothy 5:21; 1 Timothy 6:13; 2 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 4:1; Titus 1:4; to which may probably be added 2 Peter 1:1; Jude 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 1:12; he decides, surely rightly, that the clause should be rendered, the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Another question arises whether the glory belongs to both subjects. Probably, though not necessarily, it does, since we are told in Matthew 17:27 that "the Son of man shall come in the glory of the Father;" and in Matthew 25:31, "the Son of man shall come in his glory" (comp. Matthew 19:28). The whole sentence will then stand thus: Looking for the blessed hope, and for the appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Savior Jesus Christ, etc. The great God (τοῦ μεγάλου); not elsewhere in the New Testament (except in the T.R. of Revelation 19:17), but familiar to us from Psalm 95:3, "The Lord is a great God," and elsewhere, KS Deuteronomy 10:17; Deuteronomy 7:21; Psalm 77:14, etc. In Matthew 5:35' we read "the great King" of God. This grand description of τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, "the world to come," is in contrast with τῷ νῦν οἰῶνι, "this present world," in which our present life is passed, but which is so deeply influenced by "the blessed hope" of that future and glorious world.

Parallel Commentaries ...

as we await
προσδεχόμενοι (prosdechomenoi)
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 4327: From pros and dechomai; to admit (figuratively) endurance); by implication, to await.

the
τὴν (tēn)
Article - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

blessed
μακαρίαν (makarian)
Adjective - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3107: Happy, blessed, to be envied. A prolonged form of the poetical makar; supremely blest; by extension, fortunate, well off.

hope
ἐλπίδα (elpida)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1680: Hope, expectation, trust, confidence. From a primary elpo; expectation or confidence.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

glorious
δόξης (doxēs)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 1391: From the base of dokeo; glory, in a wide application.

appearance
ἐπιφάνειαν (epiphaneian)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 2015: Appearing, manifestation, glorious display. From epiphanes; a manifestation, i.e. the advent of Christ.

of
τοῦ (tou)
Article - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

our
ἡμῶν (hēmōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 1st Person Plural
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

great
μεγάλου (megalou)
Adjective - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3173: Large, great, in the widest sense.

God
Θεοῦ (Theou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316: A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

Savior,
Σωτῆρος (Sōtēros)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 4990: A savior, deliverer, preserver. From sozo; a deliverer, i.e. God or Christ.

Jesus
Ἰησοῦ (Iēsou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2424: Of Hebrew origin; Jesus, the name of our Lord and two other Israelites.

Christ.
Χριστοῦ (Christou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 5547: Anointed One; the Messiah, the Christ. From chrio; Anointed One, i.e. The Messiah, an epithet of Jesus.


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NT Letters: Titus 2:13 Looking for the blessed hope and appearing (Ti. Tt.)