Толкование К Титу послание ап. Павла 2 глава 15 стих - Экзегет

He has recorded three things: “speak, exhort, rebuke.” Now his word, “speak,” apparently refers to doctrine. But what he added, “exhort,” that is, παρα­κάλει, signifies in Greek something different than in Latin; for papaklpdic expresses more the idea of “consolation” than “exhor­tation.” This word is used above about the younger men, “Likewise console the young men to be chaste in all things.” We have com­mented on this just as it reads in Latin, as if “exhort” were written. Therefore, he consoles the hearer who says: “We plead on Christ’s be­half, be reconciled to God,” and who humbles and subjects himself, in order to “gain” the one he is consoling.

However, the third term, “rebuke,” seems to me to be the opposite of consolation. Thus whoever despises the consolation becomes worthy of a rebuke and deserves to hear, “You have forgotten the consolation which speaks to you as sons.” To Timothy too we read of another “consolation” and another “rebuke” when the apostle says, “Be ready in season and out of season, convict, rebuke, console.” And indeed there the rebuke is employed first, and afterward the severity is tem­pered by consolation. But here he wants to console the disciples first, and if they do not make progress by means of the consolation, then he wants them to be corrected, and corrected “with all authority.” For this is how I understand what is said: “Rebuke with all authority,” that the added phrase refers particularly to the rebuke; it does not apply gen­erally to the two previous terms. For it is not right to say: console “with all authority,” and speak “with all authority,” but only, “rebuke with all authority.”

 Let no one look down on you. Someone may think that the same thing is now being written to Titus that was said to Timothy: “Let no one look down on your youth.” But we think, in accordance with the difference of the Greek words, that περιφρονείτω, which is written here, means one thing, and κατα­φρονείτω, which is said to Timothy, means something else, and that the prepositions περι- or κατα- make the sense different. Now that it is not by chance and as it pleases him that the apostle Paul uses not only terms and words but even diverse prepositions, in view of the variety of causes, can be clarified from what he says, “For the woman is from the man, but the man is through the woman.” And elsewhere, “For from him and through him and in him are all things.” And moreover, there is the following, “Paul an apostle not from men, nor through a man.” And so, we think that κατα­φρονείτω pertains to contempt proper, as when someone stretched out between the torture rack and the plates shows con­tempt for the pain and fears neither the threats of the judge nor the loud buzz of approval from the people standing around. On the con­trary, for the sake of confession of martyrdom, he shows contempt for and despises all punishments.

Now on the other hand, there is also a bad kind of contempt, of which Habakkuk testifies with the Holy Spirit speaking in him, “Look, you despisers, and see marvelous things and vanish.” In accordance with what we said was written to Timothy too, “Let no one show con­tempt for your youth,” that is to say: I do not want you to show your­self to be such a person who could deservedly be shown contempt by anyone. Now pepifponpaic expresses this. Nevertheless, as the Stoics claim, who make subtle distinctions between words, one who is confi­dent in himself that he is better than someone else, “despises” the one whom he regards as inferior; and the “super-,” that is, wiser, man, thinks that the lowlier man is worthy of contempt.

One of the Greeks is mocked for being puffed up like this by the vanity of pride, and for despising heaven itself and the sun, as having said,  Ἀεροβατῶ καὶ περιφρονῶ τὸν ἥλιον, which we can say in Latin as, “I tread on air and I know that I am greater than the sun.” There­fore, περιφρόνησις, which is not written to Titus, has this sense: Let none of those who are in the churches, by your negligent behavior, live in such a way that he thinks that he is better. For what sort of edifica­tion of a disciple will there be if he understands himself to be superior to his teacher? This is why not only bishops, priests, and deacons espe­cially ought to take care to preside over all their people, to excel in their manner of life and speech, but also the lesser ranks, exorcists, lectors, sacristans, and absolutely everyone who serve the household of God. For it severely undermines the church of Christ that the laity are better than the clerics.