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All that are with me - He means his companions in the ministry.
Salute thee - Wish thee well, and desire to be affectionately remembered to thee.
Greet them that love us in the faith, - All that love us for Christ's sake, and all that are genuine Christians.
Grace be with you - May the Divine favor be your portion for ever.
Some MSS. read, The grace of the Lord be with you all; others, The grace of God be with you all; and one, Grace be with Thy spirit, as if the greeting was sent to Titus only, whereas the others send it to the whole Church at Crete.
Amen - This is wanting in ACD, and some others.
The subscriptions are, as usual, various. Those of the Versions are the following: -
The Epistle to Titus was written from Nicopolis; and sent by the hands of Zena and Apollo. - Syriac.
To the man Titus. - Aethiopic.
The end of the epistle: it was written from Nicopolis. Incessant and eternal praise be to the God of glory. Amen. - Arabic.
Written in Nicopolis, and sent by Artemas, his disciple. - Coptic.
The Epistle to Titus is ended, who was the first bishop of the Church of the Cretans: and it was written from Nicopolis of Macedonia. - Philoxenian Syriac.
There is no subscription in the Vulgate.
The Manuscripts are also various.
To Titus. - C, and Clarom.
That to Titus is completed: that to Philemon begins. - DEFG.
To Titus, written from Nicopolis. - A.
To Titus, written from Nicopolis of Macedonia. - of the Macedonians. - From Nicopolis, which is a province of Macedonia.
Paul the apostle's Epistle to Titus.
To Titus, ordained the first bishop of the Church of the Cretans: written from Nicopolis of Macedonia. - Common Greek Text.
To Titus, archbishop of Crete. - One of the Vienna MSS., written a.d. 1331.
There is not one of these subscriptions of any authority, and some of them are plainly ridiculous. We do not know that Titus was what we term bishop, much less that he was ordained bishop of Crete, as appointed to a particular see; and still less that he was the first bishop there. As to his being archbishop, that is the fiction of a time of deep darkness. That the epistle was written from some place near to Nicopolis, of Epirus, is very probable. That it was not written at Nicopolis is evident; and that this was not Nicopolis of Macedonia is also very probable. See the preface to this epistle for farther information on this point. And see a treatise by old Mr. Prynne entitled, The unbishoping of Timothy and Titus, 4to. Lond. 1636 and 1660, where, among many crooked things, there are some just observations.
All that are with me salute thee - Notes, Romans 16:3. Paul, at the close of his epistles, usually mentions the names of those who sent affectionate salutations. Here it would seem to be implied that Titus knew who were with Paul, and also that he himself had been traveling with him. He evidently refers not to those who were residing in the place where he was, but to those who had gone with him from Crete as his companions.
Greet them that love us in the faith - In the faith of the gospel, or as Christians. No names are here mentioned; compare 1 Thessalonians 5:26; Colossians 4:15.
Grace be with you all - Notes, Romans 1:7; Romans 16:20.
The subscription, “It was written to Titus,” etc., is, like the other subscriptions at the close of the epistles, of no authority whatever; see the close of the notes at 1Cor. In this subscription there are probably two errors:
(1) In the statement that Titus was “ordained the first bishop of the church of the Cretians;” because:
(a)there is no evidence that there was a church there called “the church of the Cretians,” as there were doubtless many churches on the island;
(b)there is no evidence that Titus was the first Bishop of the church there, or that he was the first one there to whom might be properly applied the term “bishop” in the Scriptural sense. Indeed, there is positive evidence that he was not the first, for Paul was there with him, and Titus was “left” there to complete what he had begun.
(c)There is no evidence that Titus was “bishop” there at all in the prelatical sense of the term, or even that he was a settled pastor; see the notes at Titus 3:1, Titus 3:5.
(2) that the epistle was written “from Nicopolis of Macedonia;” for
(a)there is no certain evidence that it was written at Nicopolis at all, though this is probable;
(b)there is no reason to believe that the Nicopolis referred to was in Macedonia; see Introduction 4.
These subscriptions are so utterly destitute of authority, and are so full of mistakes, that it is high time they were omitted in the editions of the Bible. They are no part of the inspired writings, but are of the nature of “notes and comments,” and are constantly doing something, perhaps much, to perpetuate-error. “The opinion that Timothy and Titus were prelatical bishops, the one of Ephesus and the other of Crete, depends far more on these worthless subscriptions than on anything in the epistles themselves.” Indeed, there is no evidence of it in the epistles; and, if these subscriptions were removed, no man from the New Testament would ever suppose that they sustained this office at all.