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Title: The Theology of the Epistle to Titus
Author(s): COLLINS, Raymond F.
Journal: Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses
Volume: 76    Issue: 1   Date: April 2000   
Pages: 56-72
DOI: 10.2143/ETL.76.1.532

Abstract :
Of the three epistles in the Pauline corpus collectively designated as the Pastoral Epistles, that to Titus is most blatantly a theological composition. Its epistolary salutation mentions God (θεὀς) five times, three times with a descriptive epithet, “who never lies” (ἀψευδής), “our Savior” (ὁ σωτηρ ἡμῶν), and “Father” (πατήρ). In addition there is the description of Paul as “a servant of God” (δοῦλος θεοῦ) and a mention of “the faith of God’s elect” (πίστις ἐκλεκτῶν θεοῦ). In some respects it is not so much the quantity and quality of this explicitly theological language that is significant as it is the fact that these five references to God appear in an epistolary salutation.

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