Titus 3:3

ἧμεν γάρ ποτε καὶ ἡμεῖς κ.τ.λ. For we ourselves were once &c. Before we became Christians we were even as these very heathen.

ἀνόητοι, foolish, senseless; cp. Galatians 3:1.

ἀπειθεῖς, disobedient, sc. to God. There is a general parallelism between the evil qualities enumerated in this verse, and those against which the Cretans are warned in Titus 3:2; thus ἀπειθεῖς corresponds to πειθαρχεῖν, but the disobedience which the Apostle has now in his mind is not disobedience to earthly rulers. Cp. all through the mournful catalogue in Romans 1:30 f.

πλανώμενοι may mean either deceived (as the English versions have), or ‘going astray,’ errantes (Vg.). The former seems preferable (cp. πλανώμενοι at 2 Timothy 3:13, where it is certainly passive), but the intransitive meaning might be supported by such passages as Matthew 18:12; Hebrews 5:2.

δουλεύοντες ἐπιθυμίαις καὶ ἡδοναῖς ποικίλαις, slaves to divers lusts and pleasures. It is curious that the common Greek word ἡδονή occurs nowhere else in St Paul’s writings. For ποικίλος see on 2 Timothy 3:6.

ἐν κακίᾳ καὶ φθόνῳ διάγοντες, living in malice and envy. κακία, no less than φθόνος, expresses an internal malignity, which is admirably expressed by the word malice. We have the full phrase βίον διάγειν at 1 Timothy 2:2.

στυγητοί, μισοῦντες�, hateful, hating one another.

The word στυγητός does not occur again in the Greek Bible; we have it in Philo (de Dec. Orac. 24).