Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
Ver. 1. The faith of God's elect] Not the election of God's faithful ones, as the Arminians make it.
And the knowledge of the truth] It is usual with St Paul in the beginning of his Epistles, to utter much in few, and to set down the sum of the whole gospel, as here he doth justification, sanctification, and the hope of salvation, and all by the acknowledging of the truth. This Epistle is called the abridgment of all St Paul's Epistles; but especially of those two to Timothy, whom he more largely instructeth in point of Church government, because a younger man than Titus, and not so well exercised in ecclesiastical affairs. (Estius.)