Titus 3:2
To speak evil of no man, not to be litigious, but gentle: shewing all mildness towards all men.
Open Titus 3:2 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- neminem blasphemare, non litigiosos esse, sed modestos, omnem ostendentes mansuetudinem ad omnes homines.
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- μηδένα βλασφημεῖν, ἀμάχους εἶναι, ἐπιεικεῖς, πᾶσαν ἐνδεικνυμένους πραΰτητα πρὸς πάντας ἀνθρώπους.
The Fathers on this verse
St Cyprian Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews, Testimony CVII
In Solomon, in the Proverbs: “Love not to detract, lest thou be taken away.” Also in the forty-ninth Psalm: “Thou sattest, and spakest against thy brother; and against the son of thy mother thou placedst a stumbling-block.” Also in the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians: “To speak ill of no man, nor to be litigious.”
St Augustine Letter CXXXIII
2. Fulfil, Christian judge, the duty of an affectionate father; let your indignation against their crimes be tempered by considerations of humanity; be not provoked by the atrocity of their sinful deeds to gratify the passion of revenge, but rather be moved by the wounds which these deeds have inflicted on their own souls to exercise a desire to heal them. Do not lose now that fatherly care which you maintained when prosecuting the examination, in doing which you extracted the confession of such horrid crimes, not by stretching them on the rack, not by furrowing their flesh with iron claws, not by scorching them with flames, but by beating them with rods, a mode of correction used by schoolmasters, and by parents themselves in chastising children, and often also by bishops in the sentences awarded by them. …
St Basil The Letters, Without address. On the Perfection of the Life of Solitaries
1. Many things are set forth by inspired Scripture as binding upon all who are anxious to please God. But, for the present, I have only deemed it necessary to speak by way of brief reminder concerning the questions which have recently been stirred among you, so far as I have learnt from the study of inspired Scripture itself. I shall thus leave behind me detailed evidence, easy of apprehension, for the information of industrious students, who in their turn will be able to inform others. The Christian ought to be so minded as becomes his heavenly calling, and his life and conversation ought to be worthy of the Gospel of Christ. The Christian ought not to be of doubtful mind, nor by anything drawn away from the recollection of God and of His purposes and judgments. The Christian ought in all things to become superior to the righteousness existing under the law, and neither swear nor lie. …