TITUS 3:14 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.”
And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of genuine need, and not be unfruitful — the final charge generalizes: hoi hēmetroi (our people) should practice good works (erga kala) not as individual virtue but as community provision for genuine necessity. The negation — mē einai akarpi — emphasizes productivity: a Christian community that doesn't generate good works is sterile, failing its fruitful calling. This echoes John 15 and Matthew 12:33.
Church Fathers on Titus 3:14
These were not of the number to whom Churches had been entrusted, but of the number of his companions. But Apollos was the more vehement, being “an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures.” Acts 18:24 But if Zenas was a lawyer, you say, he ought not to have been supported by others. But by a lawyer here is meant one versed in the laws of the Jews. And he seems to say, supply their wants abundantly, that nothing may be lacking to them.
Read all 2 entries in the readerNicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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