Titus 3 — Greek text and reception
Each card preserves the Greek reading and its textual and reception notes. This source provides a Greek study edition; Hebrew counterparts and Hebrew–Greek classifications are not supplied.
Chapter 3
Mercy, renewal, and fruitful good works
Verse 3:1
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, and to be ready for every good work,
Textual & Reception Notes
Text: Remind governs infinitives of submission, obedience, and readiness. Rulers and authorities renders two adjacent Greek nouns; every good work links civic conduct to the letter’s recurring ethical language. [G] Reception: Chrysostom, Homily 5 on Titus, on 3:1–2, quotes civic submission within instruction against abusive speech. [P5]
Verse 3:2
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
to slander no one, to be peaceable, considerate, showing complete gentleness toward all people.
Verse 3:3
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
For we too were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, enslaved to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
Textual & Reception Notes
Text: We too includes the writer and his community in the negative recollection. Enslavement remains a metaphor for desires; reciprocal hatred is separately stated. [G] Reception: Chrysostom, Homily 5 on Titus, on 3:3, uses remembered wrongdoing to restrain anger and boasting. [P5]
Verse 3:4
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
But when the kindness and love for humanity of God our Savior appeared,
Textual & Reception Notes
Text: Kindness and love for humanity (φιλανθρωπία) are the grammatical subjects of appeared. God our Savior is their source and the saving agent of 3:5; the when-clause awaits that main verb. [G] Reception: Chrysostom, Homily 5 on Titus, on 3:4–5, reads divine kindness as the initiative of renewal. [P5]
Verse 3:5
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
He saved us, not on the basis of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
Textual & Reception Notes
Text: Not from works contrasts with according to His mercy. Through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit retains the washing and renewal terms; the Spirit’s agency is explicit without replacing washing with an explanatory sacramental label. [G] Reception: Chrysostom, Homily 5 on Titus, on 3:4–5, illustrates regeneration by rebuilding a ruined house. [P5] Augustine, Tractates on John 86.1, explicitly reuses 3:5 beside Romans 8:24–25 to distinguish salvation already received in pledge from its future fullness. [A]
Biblical connection — Thematic connection: John 3:5. Compare renewal by the Holy Spirit and the washing of regeneration with Jesus' teaching about birth of water and Spirit; interpretation of the precise relationship should remain explicit.
Verse 3:6
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
whom He poured out richly upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior,
Textual & Reception Notes
Text: The relative οὗ refers back to the Holy Spirit. God is the one who pours out, richly expresses abundance, and through Jesus Christ names the mediator. The sentence continues the saving action of 3:5. [G] Reception: Chrysostom, Homily 5 on Titus, on 3:6, emphasizes abundant need for the Spirit. [P5]
Verse 3:7
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
so that, justified by His grace, we might become heirs in accordance with the hope of eternal life.
Textual & Reception Notes
Text: The purpose clause completes 3:4–7. Justified is passive; grace grounds becoming heirs, and hope of eternal life recalls 1:2. His is divine, though identifying its antecedent more narrowly remains interpretive. [G] Reception: Chrysostom, Homily 5 on Titus, on 3:7, joins unearned grace with humility and future hope. [P5]
Verse 3:8
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed God may take care to devote themselves to good works. These things are good and beneficial to people.
Textual & Reception Notes
Text: Πιστὸς ὁ λόγος is the trustworthy-saying formula. Devote themselves to renders προΐστασθαι as taking responsibility for good works; the same expression returns at 3:14, with practical needs in view. [G] Reception: Chrysostom, Homily 6 on Titus, on 3:8, applies good works to material aid and protection of widows, orphans, and the injured. [P6]
Verse 3:9
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
But avoid foolish investigations, genealogies, disputes, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and futile.
Textual & Reception Notes
Text: ζητήσεις, genealogies, disputes, and legal quarrels form four coordinated objects of avoid. Unprofitable deliberately contrasts with beneficial in 3:8; the Greek names no particular genealogical document. [G] Reception: Chrysostom, Homily 6 on Titus, on 3:9–11, opposes futile controversy while distinguishing correction that still offers hope. [P6]
Verse 3:10
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
After a first and a second warning, have nothing further to do with a divisive person,
Textual & Reception Notes
Text: αἱρετικός is rendered divisive in this context of quarrels; a complete later definition of doctrinal heresy is not inserted. The two warnings are preserved. [G] Reception: Chrysostom, Homily 6 on Titus, on 3:10–11, limits repeated dispute after admonition; he distinguishes 2 Timothy 2:25. [P6]
Verse 3:11
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
knowing that such a person has become perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.
Textual & Reception Notes
Text: ἐξέστραπται is perfect, describing an established distortion; ἁμαρτάνει is present, describing sinning. Self-condemned closes the explanation for the response to repeated warning in 3:10. [G] Reception: Chrysostom, Homily 6 on Titus, on 3:10–11, connects self-condemnation with persistence after repeated warning. [P6]
Verse 3:12
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.
Verse 3:13
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
Make every effort to send Zenas the legal expert and Apollos on their way, so that they lack nothing.
Textual & Reception Notes
Text: νομικός is rendered legal expert; the Greek here does not identify the legal system or specify his professional position further. Sending them on includes provision, as the purpose clause indicates. [G] Reception: Chrysostom, Homily 6 on Titus, on 3:13, interprets Zenas as versed in Jewish law; the Greek itself leaves this unspecified. [P6] In the accessed English page this Zenas paragraph is incorrectly labeled Ver. 14; its quoted text identifies 3:13.
Verse 3:14
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
Let our people also learn to devote themselves to good works to meet necessary needs, so that they may not be unfruitful.
Textual & Reception Notes
Text: Our people is a collective expression. The same devote themselves to good works as in 3:8 now meets necessary needs; unfruitful retains the agricultural image and the explicit negative purpose. [G] Reception: Chrysostom, Homily 6 on Titus, on 3:14, emphasizes the givers’ fruitfulness through meeting others’ needs. [P6]
Verse 3:15
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
All those with me greet you. Greet those who love us in faith. Grace be with all of you.
Textual & Reception Notes
Text: The first two addresses are singular to Titus; the final you is plural, extending the blessing. SBLGNT has no concluding Amen, although P6’s English quotation includes it. [G] Reception: Chrysostom, Homily 6 on Titus, on 3:14–15, explains love in faith as affection for Paul or the faithful. [P6]