Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;
Looking.
1 Corinthians 1:7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Philippians 3:20,21 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: …
2 Timothy 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
blessed.
Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Titus 3:7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Acts 24:15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
the glorious.
Job 19:25-27 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: …
Isaiah 25:9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Matthew 16:27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
our.
Titus 3:4,6 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, …
2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
1 John 4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
and glorious appearance
The "glorious appearance" signifies the visible and triumphant return of Christ. This event is described in various New Testament passages, such as Matthew 24:30 and Revelation 1:7, where Christ's return is depicted as a powerful and unmistakable event. The term "glorious" underscores the majesty and divine nature of this appearance, contrasting with Christ's first coming in humility. In the Greco-Roman world, appearances of deities were often associated with glory and splendor, which would resonate with the original audience's understanding of divine manifestations.
of our great God and Savior
This phrase affirms the deity of Jesus Christ, identifying Him as both God and Savior. The use of "great God" aligns with Old Testament descriptions of God's unparalleled power and majesty (e.g., Deuteronomy 10:17). The dual role of Jesus as God and Savior is central to Christian doctrine, emphasizing His divine authority and His role in salvation. This identification also serves as a polemic against any teachings that might diminish Christ's divinity or His unique role in redemption.
Jesus Christ
The name "Jesus" means "Yahweh saves," and "Christ" is the Greek equivalent of "Messiah," meaning "anointed one." This title encapsulates His mission and identity as the promised deliverer. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus is portrayed as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah (e.g., Isaiah 9:6-7, Micah 5:2). His life, death, and resurrection are seen as the culmination of God's redemptive plan, and His anticipated return is the final act in this divine narrative. The early church's confession of Jesus as Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36) was both a declaration of faith and a counter-cultural statement in a polytheistic society.
Waiting in Scripture is never passive. Paul has just urged believers “to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age” (Titus 2:12).
• “Await” pictures active expectancy—hearts set on Christ while hands stay busy in obedience (cf. Luke 12:35-37; 1 Corinthians 15:58).
• Our citizenship is in heaven, and “we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20-21).
• Peter puts it this way: “looking forward to the day of God and hastening its coming” (2 Peter 3:11-12).
The Spirit keeps us alert, resisting worldly distraction, so we can say with Paul, “I have fought the good fight… and now there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
Hope in the Bible is not wishful thinking; it is a settled certainty secured by God’s promise.
• “Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts” (Romans 5:5).
• It is “blessed” because it brings indescribable joy (1 Peter 1:8-9) and because it rests on God’s unbreakable oath (Hebrews 6:17-19).
• This hope includes the resurrection and transformation of our bodies (Romans 8:23-25) and the catching away of living believers: “the dead in Christ will rise first… and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
• Christ in you is already “the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27); His visible return will bring that glory into full view.
“Appearance” points to a sudden, unmistakable unveiling of majesty.
• Jesus Himself promised, “They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).
• The angels echoed it: “This same Jesus… will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).
• John was given a preview: “I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse… His name is the Word of God” (Revelation 19:11-16).
• For believers, this glory means reward and vindication (1 Peter 5:4); for the unbelieving world, it means judgment (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).
The certainty of a visible, triumphant return motivates holy living now (1 John 3:2-3).
Paul leaves no doubt about who is coming. The One we await is both “God” and “Savior,” a single Person—Jesus Christ.
• John opens his Gospel the same way: “In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was God… The Word became flesh” (John 1:1, 14).
• Isaiah foretold a Child called “Mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6); Thomas later confessed, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).
• Peter employs identical wording: “our God and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1).
• Hebrews celebrates Him as “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3).
Acknowledging Jesus’ full deity means His promises are as sure as God Himself, and His saving work is perfectly sufficient. The One who paid for our sins will personally return to complete our salvation (Hebrews 9:28).
Titus 2:13 strings together four priceless truths: believers live in active expectation, anchored by a hope guaranteed to bless, fixed on a soon-to-be-revealed glory, and centered on the divine Person of Jesus Christ. Knowing He will appear spurs us to purity, perseverance, and joyful anticipation until the day faith becomes sight.
(13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing.--The Greek should here be rendered, looking for the blessed hope and manifestation of the glory. And that holy life, just urged on the believer, of quiet self-restraint, of love to others, of piety towards God, must be lit up by a blessed hope, by a hope which is far more than a hope; that holy life of the faithful must be a continued waiting for a blessed hope--"the hope laid up for us in heaven" (Colossians 1:5). It may be asked, What is this hope? We answer, it is "the hope of glory" which we shall share with the Son of God, when we behold Him as He is. So for us the hope of glory is intimately bound up with the second coming of the Lord. Then the life of the lover of the Lord must be one continued looking for, waiting for, the coming of the Lord in glory--must be a looking for that hour when we shall see in all His divine majesty, Him who redeemed us. In that life and light, in that majesty and glory, His own will share.Of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.--The translation here should run, of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. From the English version, it would seem that Paul's idea was that the Christian should live waiting for the glorious appearing of the great God, accompanied with our Lord Jesus Christ. The rendering we have adopted, on what seems conclusive grounds, speaks of a Christian life, as a life ever looking for the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
In this sublime passage the glory of the only begotten Son alone finds mention. Taken thus, it is a studied declaration of the divinity of the Eternal Son, who is here styled "our great God and Saviour." Reasoning merely on grammatical principles, either translation would be possible, only even then there is a presumption in favour of the translation we have adopted. (See Ellicott's Note on this verse.) But other considerations are by no means so nearly equally balanced. The word "manifestation" (epiphany), the central thought of the sentence, is employed by St. Paul in his Epistles five times, and in every one of them to describe the manifestation of Christ, and in four of them to designate the future manifestation of His coming in glory, as here. The term epiphany is never applied to the Father.
Again, the whole of the context of the passage specially relates to the "Son of God." The introduction of the epiphany "of the Father" would be a thought not merely strange to the whole New Testament, but would bring quite a new idea into this statement, which sets forth so sublimely the epiphany of Christ as the ground of the Christian's hope--an idea, too, no sooner suggested than dropped, for the passage goes on to speak only of the Son. Perhaps, however, the weightiest argument that can be adduced is the consensus of the Greek orthodox fathers, who, with scarcely an exception, concur in the interpretation which understands the expression "of our great God" as used of Jesus Christ. To select two examples out of the long chain of fathers reaching from the apostolic age who have thus understood this text: "St. Paul here calls Christ the great God, and thus rebukes the heretical blasphemy which denies His Godhead" (Theodoret). "What can those persons say," asks Chrysostom, referring to this passage, "who allege that the Son is inferior to the Father?" (See Wordsworth's Note here.)
Verse 13. - The for that, A.V.; appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior for the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Savior, A.V. Looking for (προσδεχόμενοι); the word commonly applied to waiting for the kingdom of God (Mark 15:43; Luke 2:25, 38; Luke 12:36; Luke 23:51; Jude 1:21). The blessed hope. The hope here means the thing hoped for, as in Acts 24:14 (where both the subjective hope and the thing hoped for are included); Galatians 5:5; Colossians 1:5 (comp. too Romans 8:24, 25). Here the hope is called emphatically "the blessed hope," the hope of Christ's second coming in glory, that hope which is the joy and life, the strength and comfort, of every Christian soul. This is the only place in the New Testament where μακάριος is applied to an object which does not itself enjoy the blessing, but is a source of blessing to others. Of the fifty passages where it occurs it is applied in forty-three to persons, twice to God, three times to parts of the body (the Virgin's womb, and the eyes and ears of those who saw and heard Christ), once impersonally ("It is more blessed to give," etc., Acts 20:35), and once, in this passage, to the hope. And appearing of the glory. In construing this clause, as well as the following, the same difficulty occurs. There is only one article to the two subjects. The question arises - Can two different subjects stand under one article? Huther affirms that they can, and refers for proof to Buttman and Wince; and, indeed, it is impossible to treat "the hope" and the "appearing" as one subject. Accepting this, the clause before us should be rendered, Looking for the blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory of the great God. This is a description of the second coming of the Lord, of whom it is expressly said that he will "come in the glory of his Father" (Matthew 16:27; Mark 8:38). The appearing of Christ will be the appearing of the glory of the great God, not the appearing of God the Father, to whom the term ἐπιφανεία is never applied, but of the Son, who is the Brightness of his Father's glory. Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. No doubt the Greek words can be so rendered, and perhaps (grammatically) most naturally, as e.g. in 2 Peter 1:11, where we read, "The kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ;" and so 2 Peter 3:18. But, on the other hand, according to what is said above, they need not be so rendered. "The great God" and "our Savior Jesus Christ" may be two separate subjects, as "the blessed hope" and "appearing of the glory" are. Anti we have to inquire, from the usual language of Scripture, which of the two is most probable. Alford, in a long note, shows that σωτὴρ is often used without the article (1 Timothy 1:1; 1 Timothy 4:10; Philippians 3:20); that in analogous sentences: where Κύριος is used as our Lord's title, an exactly similar construction to that in the text is employed, as 2 Thessalonians 1:12; 2 Peter 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:2; Galatians 1:3; Ephesians 1:2; Ephesians 6:23, etc. He also observes, after Wince, that the insertion of ἡμῶν after Σωτῆρος is an additional reason for the omission of the article before Σωτῆρος, as in Luke 1:78; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3, and elsewhere; and that the epithet μεγάλου prefixed to Θεοῦ makes it still more difficult to connect Θεοῦ with Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Ξριστοῦ; and lastly, he compares this passage with 1 Timothy 2:3, 5, 6, and thinks the conclusion inevitable that the apostle, writing two sentences so closely corresponding - written, it may be added, so near to one another in time - would have had in view, in both passages, the same distinction of persons which is so strongly marked in 1 Timothy 3:3, 5. On these grounds he pronounces against the rendering which is adopted by the Revised Version. Huther's conclusion is the same: partly from the grammatical possibility of two subjects (here Θεοῦ and Ἰησοῦ Ξριστοῦ) having only one article, which leaves the question of whether there are here one or two subjects to be decided on other grounds than simple grammar; and partly and chiefly from the double consideration that(1) nowhere in Scripture is Θεός connected directly with Ἰησοῦς Ξριστός, as Κύριος and Σωτήρ so often are; and
(2) that the collocation of God (Θεός) and Christ as two subjects is of constant occurrence, as e.g. 1 Timothy 1:1, 2; 1 Timothy 5:21; 1 Timothy 6:13; 2 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 4:1; Titus 1:4; to which may probably be added 2 Peter 1:1; Jude 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 1:12; he decides, surely rightly, that the clause should be rendered, the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Another question arises whether the glory belongs to both subjects. Probably, though not necessarily, it does, since we are told in Matthew 17:27 that "the Son of man shall come in the glory of the Father;" and in Matthew 25:31, "the Son of man shall come in his glory" (comp. Matthew 19:28). The whole sentence will then stand thus: Looking for the blessed hope, and for the appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Savior Jesus Christ, etc. The great God (τοῦ μεγάλου); not elsewhere in the New Testament (except in the T.R. of Revelation 19:17), but familiar to us from Psalm 95:3, "The Lord is a great God," and elsewhere, KS Deuteronomy 10:17; Deuteronomy 7:21; Psalm 77:14, etc. In Matthew 5:35' we read "the great King" of God. This grand description of τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, "the world to come," is in contrast with τῷ νῦν οἰῶνι, "this present world," in which our present life is passed, but which is so deeply influenced by "the blessed hope" of that future and glorious world.
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