A Little Letter Does It

Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,  in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,  Titus 1:1-2 NASB

For – Paul’s letter to Titus about qualifications for leadership.  Easy to read, often skipped until we need to justify the choice of an elder.  We’d rather dive into the great theological texts like Galatians or Romans.  What can we learn from a letter about leaders?  Well, for starters we can pay attention to the preposition Paul uses to describe his relationship to Israel.  That preposition is κατά (kata).  It has a lot of duties.  Consider all the ways it is translated:

kat-ah´; a prim. particle; (prep.) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case [gen., dat. or acc.] with which it is joined):—about, according as (to), after, against, (when they were) × alone, among, and, × apart, (even, like) as (concerning, pertaining to, touching), × aside, at, before, beyond, by, to the charge of, [charita-] bly, concerning, + covered, [dai-] ly, down, every, (+ far more) exceeding, × more excellent, for, from … to, godly, in (-asmuch, divers, every, -to, respect of), … by, after the manner of, + by any means, beyond (out of) measure, × mightily, more, × natural, of (up-) on (× part), out (of every), over against, (+ your) × own, + particularly, so, through (-oughout, -ougbout every), thus, (un-) to (-gether, -ward), × uttermost, where (-by), with. In composition it retains many of these applications, and frequently denotes opposition, distribution or intensity.^[1]

The NASB translation offers a footnote explaining that the verse can also be read “according to the faith,” but as you can see, that’s only one option.  Let’s ask the question, “What’s the difference between ‘for’ and ‘according to’?  English readers might conclude that Paul is explaining his purpose, that is, he is an apostle for the purpose of the faith.  That’s one of the ways ‘for’ is used in English.  But if we translate the verse ‘according to,’ then we realize that Paul is not describing his purpose but rather telling the reader the source of this apostleship.  That’s a very different idea.  “According to” connects Paul directly with Israel’s unique relationship with God.  It suggests that Paul sees himself not as a convert to Christianity but as a member of the chosen people, Israel.  Within that group, he is a messenger of the Messiah.  And that, of course, implies that the Messiah is also part of this chosen, Jewish community.

If we read kata in this way, we discover something else.  The verse clearly states that eternal life is the promise of God, a promise which extends into the distant past.  We know, of course, that the idea of life after death isn’t a clear theme of the Tanakh, but sometime after the Babylonian captivity, the afterlife, the ‘olam  ha’ba, the next world, became an important fixture of rabbinic thought.  We discover that Paul thinks rabbinically.  The next world is important to him, and he projects that idea into the past, as if the Tanakh had always contained this promise.

Finally, we should note that Paul speaks of eternal life as a present hope.  The root word is elpís, a LXX translation of the Hebrew bāṭaḥ, the Hebrew idea of “trust.”

Hope is expectation of good. It is linked with trust and yearning, and differentiated from fear. So long as there is life there is hope (Eccl. 9:4). It is not a dream that offers comfort but may also be illusory. The life of the righteous is grounded in a hope that implies a future because its point of reference is God. To hope is to trust.^[2]

As Bultmann notes, hope is grounded in God.  Too often our Western idea of hope removes this Hebraic certainty.  For us hope is like wishing, that is, something that might not be real but is nevertheless comforting.  That is not the Hebrew idea.  Because God is, hope is.  And as Paul makes clear, hope stands on the faithfulness of God’s promise.  It cannot be moved.

Perhaps there’s more to this little letter than we thought.  At least it starts with a bang.

Topical Index: for, kata, according to, hope, elpis, afterlife, Titus 1:1-2

^[1] Strong, J. (2009). A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Vol. 1, p. 39). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

^[2] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 230). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.