TITUS.

ITUS, like Timothy, was one of St. Paul's chief helpers, though not so close and

constant a companion. Yet, strange to say, his name does not occur in the Acts of the Apostles. This is so strange that some have imagined that he must be mentioned there under another name: but this is mere supposition. We cannot account for his not being mentioned.

All we know of him is gathered from several of the Epistles of Paul - the Epistle to the Galatians, the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, the Second Epistle to Timothy, and that to Titus himself. The first mention of him is to the Galatians.

He was a Greek by birth, but of what place a native we do not know. Nor are we told anything of the time or manner of his conversion. All that we know for certain is that he was a convert from heathenism; and we gather besides that he had been converted by Paul's means, from his calling him "mine own son in the faith -the very same title by which he called Timothy.

1 Titus i. 4.

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He is introduced to us suddenly as going with Paul and Barnabas from Antioch to Jerusalem, to attend the Council on the subject of the Gentile converts in the Acts it is said only that "they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them should go;"2 but we know from the Epistle to the Galatians that Silas was one of these.3 It is not difficult to understand why he was taken. His case was a case in point. For he was a Gentile convert, and he had not been circumcised, and Paul would not have him circumcised.

But there must have been many other such at Antioch, as well as elsewhere. It speaks well for Titus, that he was singled out to go. We can but conclude that he was a good specimen of his class. It was important that Paul should establish his point of the freedom of the Gentile Christians from Jewish rites; and to produce before the Council a true and consistent Christian man, lately converted from heathenism, but uncircumcised-a Christian, but without having passed through Judaism in the way to Christianity—would form a powerful argument. So Titus was taken: and, as Paul went on this mission "by revelation," by the direct guidance of God, so we may believe that all done with regard to it, including the taking of Titus, was done by the same guidance.

Titus had not been circumcised before, nor would Paul have him circumcised now. When he took Timothy, he had him circumcised, in order to do Gal. ii. 1-3.

2 Acts xv. 2.

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away with any prejudice in Jewish minds; but now, though going among Jews, and to their very headquarters, he would not have Titus circumcised, and all the less because some Jews desired it. How are we to account for this difference? Is Paul here departing from his own principle of becoming all things to all men? Is he forgetting his own words, "unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews"? By no means. The cases differed as widely as Paul's behaviour differed. Timothy, as the son of a Jewess, was half a Jew: even if there were no obligation, there was nothing wrong in his undergoing circumcision, and his doing so would conciliate the Jews at no sacrifice of principle. Titus, on the other hand, had no Jewish blood in him, and was by birth outside the law of circumcision. Still, at any other time, circumcision or uncircumcision might in his case have been a matter of secondary importance: but now, through these "false brethren unawares brought in, who," says St. Paul, "came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage"-now it had become a question of the very first moment, a critical point in the history and doctrine of the Church of Christ. What Paul thought of its importance may be judged from his words to the Galatians, some of the Judaizing Christians among whom were for forcing circumcision on the Gentiles- "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free; and

41 Cor. ix. 20.

be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised [if ye receive circumcision now; not, if ye have been circumcised], Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified [seeking to be] by the law; ye are fallen from grace."5 Paul therefore stood firm: Titus must not be circumcised. In his case, as in that of the Galatians, a great principle was concerned. No other ground of justification than Christ Jesus must be suffered to be taught; there must be no going back to the law. In matters of indifference, or secondary importance, Paul would yield; but there must be no yielding here, for this was a vital mattter.

As in the case of Timothy, so here, Titus must have had a voice in the decision. But his views were as clear as his leader's. He would not be circumcised. He was a Gentile Christian, and free from Jewish ordinances; and he stood upon his liberty. It is a great thing to know when to yield and when to stand firm; and this knowledge both Paul and Titus had received. It was no knowledge or wisdom of their own, but a true "wisdom from above." Can any one suppose that this firm stand was made without prayer? A right judgment had been asked for, and a right judgment was given. So Titus went to the Council at Jerusalem uncir5 Gal. v. 1-4. • James i. 5.

cumcised, a living instance of the work of grace among the Gentiles. His name does not occur in the account of what took place there; for he was not at that time a leading man; Paul and Barnabas were the leaders. But when next we meet with him, we find him employed in important service. He, with two others, was sent by Paul from Ephesus to Corinth to set forward a collection for the poor Christians at Jerusalem. And this was not all: he had besides more delicate work to do. Paul had written his First Epistle to the Corinthians, in which there was much reproof; and Titus was to find out what effect the letter had produced, and to bring word to the Apostle. Now work of that kind requires care and discrimination. A rash or inexperienced person is apt to form too hasty a judgment, a prejudiced person will take a one-sided view. Paul wished for a true and impartial account, and he trusted Titus to bring him one. This was five or six years after the Council. The interval Titus had probably passed with Paul, and thus had been well proved.

Titus was a good while gone; longer, it seems, than Paul had expected. He was to have joined Paul at Troas, bringing him the news from Corinth; but Paul on his arrival did not find him there, nor did he come while Paul waited. In his great anxiety, finding no rest in his spirit, Paul crossed over into Macedonia to meet Titus on his way, and there, it seems, to his great comfort and joy, he did 7 2 Cor. viii. 6; xii. 18,