Charles Ellicott Commentary Titus 2:15

"These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no man despise thee." — Titus 2:15 (ASV)

These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority (Titus 2:15). These words are the conclusion of this part of the Letter of Saint Paul to Titus. A new division of the Epistle begins immediately after this verse with the third chapter. He is to speak the words—many of them sharp and bitter—told him by Saint Paul. He is to remember to now exhort, now rebuke, and to do all this “with authority,” as chief pastor of the flock of Crete, formally commissioned and appointed.

Let no man despise you (Titus 2:15). “Speak,” wrote the brave-hearted old man Paul, “speak with decision, and rebuke and punish if need be with vigor, remembering the dark character of the people with whom you have to do.” And perhaps, in the background of this stirring admonition from the aged master to his disciple—placed as he was in such a difficult and responsible position—there is another anxious warning. This warning is: Yes, you must also show all diligence in your own words and doings. This is so that every word of yours may have its full weight, and so that no one may despise you on account of your own life.