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

Previously he instructed Titus in a general way in what he ought to speak to everyone, in that he says, “But you, speak what befits sound doctrine.” Now, he explains what befits each age by specific cases. First he deals with the things that befit the older men, then what befits older women, third what things are suitable for the young, both males and females. Although in the instruction of the older women he has laid down commands concerning young women, it is not so much that he himself was teaching the young women as explaining what they should be taught by the older ones. The final precepts he has befittingly laid down concern slaves and specific ages and conditions, so that his words are a rule of life and character.
So then, older men are to be “sober” or vigilant, since νηφαλίοι among the Greeks expresses both. They are to be “honest,” so that the dignity of their character may adorn the dignity of their age; “chaste,” lest they should practice the excess that belongs to another period of life, lest they whose blood is already cold in respect to lust should be a ruinous example to the young men. They should be “sound in faith,” of which “soundness of faith” we have spoken above. They are to be “sound,” however, not only “in faith” but also “in love” and “in pa-tience,” so that when they have the first soundness of faith, they may hear from the Savior, “Your faith has made you whole.” And elsewhere, “I have not found such great faith in Israel.”
And on account of the same “soundness of faith” they may become sons of Abraham, of whom it is written, “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him for justice.” And Habakkuk mentions this soundness of faith when he says, “But the just lives from my faith.” Reread the apostle Paul’s letter to the Hebrews (or whosever you think it is, since it is now received among the ecclesiastical writings), and list off that entire catalogue of faith in which it is written, “By faith Abel offered to God a greater sacrifice than Cain”; and, “Enoch was translated so that he would not see death”; and Noah, believing God concerning those things which he could not yet see, built the ark; and Abraham went forth into a land which he did not know. And lest it seem that Scripture gives no example of faith to women, in the same letter it is written that Sarah received the power to conceive seed at a time of life when this was already out of place, since she considered him faithful who had made the promise. Isaac’s faith is praised there, and Jacob’s, Joseph’s, Moses’ too, and Ra- hab’s, and that of the rest whom the one who reads that letter can know better.
   Well then, just as there is “soundness in faith,” so there is also the same soundness “in love.” But who possesses the soundness of love if not he who loves God first with his entire soul and with his whole heart and with all his strength? Then, upon hearing Christ’s command re-specting the neighbor, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” he divides his love, since in these two commandments the entire law and prophets depend. The one who has soundness of love “is not jealous, he is not puffed up, he does not do wrong or act dishonorably, he is not incited to wrath, he does not think evil, he does not rejoice over injustice, but he rejoices together in the truth; he endures all things, believes all things, hopes all things, expects all things.” And because love never falls away, the one who is in soundness of love also himself never falls. For indeed, “neither tribulation, nor anguish, nor hunger, nor persecution, nor nakedness, nor danger, nor sword will be able to separate him” from the soundness of love, which he has in Christ Jesus.Why should I speak about the sword and other lesser things that are not able to divide him who possesses the soundness of love, when neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things coming nor strength nor height nor depth nor any other created thing can separate him who has the soundness of love in Christ Jesus?

If we have understood the soundness of love, let us take an example from the Scriptures of those who are in the weakness of love. The Savior says concerning the last times, “For when iniquity is multiplied, the love of many will grow cold.” Now love is hot among those who are fervent in spirit; but it is cold and icy and chilly in those who have endured the very severe winds of the North. “For from the North evils will flare up against all the inhabitants of the earth.” And it was from this coldness of love that Ammon grew cold in respect to his sister Tamar. Therefore, one should be afraid lest perhaps even we should one day be overcome by the weakness of love. For sometimes it comes to pass that at first our love toward a virgin or toward some woman is holy; and when the mind softens in affection, gradually out of weakness the soundness of love fades and begins to grow weak, and it carries off the one in love to final death.
This is also why the apostle cautiously and prudently instructs Timothy that he should exhort young women in “all chastity.” Now “all chastity” is in flesh, spirit, and soul. Let not the eye stumble; let us not be ensnared by the beauty of a woman’s face; let it not entice us to hear flattering words; let not our previously hardened mind begin to wither at single words. Let them beware, then, as we have said, both young men and old, both young women and old, and let them guard their hearts with all diligence, lest through the soundness of love, the illness of love may sneak in and through holy love it may become unholy love that drags them down to Gehenna.
Let the one who is sound in faith, who is sound in love, be sound in patience too. And patience, which is especially tested in temptations, because it is of no benefit to have possessed what we listed above unless all the wealth and merchandise with which the ship is loaded down is preserved through the storm, and with the winds blowing here and there, the things that have been well distributed should be delivered without a shipwreck. “For he who perseveres to the end will be saved.”