Titus 3:4

ὅτε δὲ ἡ χρηστότης καὶ ἡ φιλανθρωπία ἐπεφάνη τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν θεοῦ. But when the kindness of our Saviour God and His love toward man appeared, sc. at the Advent of Christ (cp. John 3:16). Thus Titus 3:4-8 are appointed as the Evening Second Lesson for Christmas Day.

The combination of χρηστότης καὶ φιλανθρωπία, benignitas et humanitas (Vulg.) is very common in Greek, as Field has shewn by many examples.

χρηστότης is a specially Pauline word, not occurring in the N.T. outside St Paul’s writings; he applies it to man at 2 Corinthians 6:6; Galatians 5:22; Colossians 3:12, and uses it, as here, of an attribute of God at Romans 2:4; Romans 11:22; Ephesians 2:7. It signifies the graciousness of the Divine love for man; the yoke of Christ is called χρηστός (Matthew 11:30).

φιλανθρωπία in Greek generally means simply kindness to individuals in distress (e.g. 2Ma 6:22), and does not involve the thought of mankind at large, as the English word philanthropy does. However, when φιλανθρωπία is used of superior beings (e.g. 2Ma 14:9) and especially when it is used of God it has this widest range. The two attributes χρηστότης καὶ φιλανθρωπία are here in striking contrast to the στυγητοί, μισοῦντες� of the last verse; love of man for man is best engendered by the thought of God’s all-embracing love.

For the epithet σωτήρ, here applied to God the Father, see on 1 Timothy 1:1.