“In hope of eternal life.” He spoke of the present life, which is in the grace of God, and he also speaks of the future, and sets before us the rewards that follow the mercies which God has bestowed upon us. For He is willing to crown us because we have believed, and have been delivered from error. Observe how the introduction is full of the mercies of God, and this whole Epistle is especially of the same character, thus exciting the holy man himself, and his disciples also, to greater exertions. For nothing profits us so much as constantly to remember the mercies of God, whether public or private. And if our hearts are warmed when we receive the favors of our friends, or hear some kind word or deed of theirs, much more shall we be zealous in His service when we see into what dangers we had fallen, and that God has delivered us from them all. “And the acknowledging of the truth.” This he says with reference to the type. For that was an “acknowledging” and a “godliness,” yet not of the Truth,1446 yet neither was it falsehood, it was godliness, but it was in type and figure. And he has well said, “In hope of eternal life.” For the former was in hope of the present life. For it is said, “he that doeth these things shall live in them.” (Rom. x. 5.) You see how at the beginning he sets forth the differ- ence of grace. They are not the elect, but we. For if they were once called the elect, yet are they no longer called so. Ver. 2. “Which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” That is, not now upon a change of mind, but from the beginning it was so foreordained. This he often asserts, as when he says, “Separated unto the Gospel of God.” (Rom. i. 1.) And again, “Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate.” (Rom. viii. 29.) Thus showing our high origin, in that He did not love us now first, but from the beginning: and it is no little matter to be loved of old, and from the beginning. “Which God, that cannot lie, promised.” If He “cannot lie,” what He has promised will assuredly be fulfilled. If He “cannot lie,” we ought not to doubt it, though it be after death. “Which God, that cannot lie,” he says, “promised before the world began”; by this also, “before the world began,” he shows that it is worthy of our belief. It is not because the Jews have not come in, that these things are promised. It had been so planned from the first. Hear therefore what he says, “But hath in His own1447 times manifested.” 521 Wherefore then was the delay? From His concern for men, and that it might be done at a seasonable time. “It is time for Thee, Lord, to work” (Ps. cxix. 125.), says the Prophet. For by “His own1448 times” is meant the suitable times, the due, the fitting. 1446 Thus our Lord, speaking as a Jew, said (John iv. 22), “We know what we worship”; and yet v. 23, “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” 1447 Or, “its own,” ἰδίοις, E.V. “due.” 1448 Or, “its own,” ἰδίοις, E.V. “due.” 900 Titus 1:1-4