In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the ages began;
All Commentaries on Titus 1:2 Go To Titus 1
John Chrysostom
AD 407
That is, not now upon a change of mind, but from the beginning it was so foreordained. This he often asserts, as when he says, Separated unto the Gospel of God. Romans 1:1 And again, Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate. Romans 8:29 Thus showing our high origin, in that He did not love us now first, but from the beginning: and it is no little matter to be loved of old, and from the beginning.
Which God, that cannot lie, promised. If He cannot lie, what He has promised will assuredly be fulfilled. If He cannot lie, we ought not to doubt it, though it be after death. Which God, that cannot lie, he says, promised before the world began; by this also, before the world began, he shows that it is worthy of our belief. It is not because the Jews have not come in, that these things are promised. It had been so planned from the first. Hear therefore what he says,
But has in His own times manifested.
Wherefore then was the delay? From His concern for men, and that it might be done at a seasonable time. It is time for You, Lord, to work Psalm 119:125, says the Prophet. For by His own times is meant the suitable times, the due, the fitting.
