To Be One in Christ: We Have Treasure in the Jars of Clay -- the Series of Explanation and Analysis of Scripture (13)
The Explanation and Analysis of Some of the Verses in TITUS
“ For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. ” (TITUS 2:11-14)
The grace of God is actually that God in Christ is everything for us and brings us to His heavenly kingdom. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time; but it was hidden in the times of the Old Testament; it has been revealed in the times of the New Testament, through the first appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus. Since the grace of God is to save “all men” and this will to save all men has appeared, therefore, all the believers should fulfill their duties, and show their testimonies of receiving the grace in front of others, in order to make all men in every social stratum know the salvation of God. This is to obey the will of God and be worthy of the grace of God.
The salvation of God has appeared in this age; it is to let us who received the grace get rid of the ungodliness and set apart from those who do not believe and are not righteous. The “worldly passions” include (Gal 5:19-21): “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. ”
The believers should “live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age”. Before the Second Coming of Christ, as to the believers in this world, they should be “self-controlled” to themselves; that is, they should live a wise and self-restrained life including keeping the spiritual life, having the complete and pure faith, being sanctified in life, keeping the position of oneself, without falling into the temptation and so on. They should be “upright” to treat others; that is, they should not have improper judgment and wrong act out of personal consideration, should not accuse falsely and put the upright one in the wrong, should stand at the side of the truth, should not fear the power and influence of the darkness, and should treat others fairly without biasing. They should be “godly” to God; that is, they have the proper attitude toward God and also the proper way of living.
Comparing this part with the previous part, it is obvious what the proper change in their way of life should be for those who are redeemed. This grace is not to let people sin at wills; but to let people live a godly life. This godly life, is a life that the believers from all social strata should have. The godly life is what must be emphasized in the life of the believers. Nowadays, the church is in the tendency to become more and more secular. Many people do not know and do not pay attention to the godly life. Our responsibility is to live the true meaning of a godly life and lead those who already believe in God to live a life with reverence to God. As to the Christians, the present world is temporary, and also is dominated by the evil force. Therefore, the Christians must show the appearance of new men in Christ.
Christ is one in God and Christ IS God. Whether we will be joyful or not when LORD appears, it depends on how our lives as Christians are nowadays. The believers wait for the Second Coming of LORD; “the blessed hope” is the grace and blessings brought by LORD in His Second Coming. As to the blessings of that the sins are forgiven, and one’s life is taken care of by LORD, these blessings are what we have received in this life, or will continue to enjoy in the future; As to the blessings of the transformation of our body, the glorious reward and the happiness of being with LORD forever, these blessings are what we have not received yet in this life. We must “say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age to “wait” and “hope” to obtain all those blessings.
The purpose that LORD Jesus Christ “gave himself ” is to redeem us from all the sins and evils. Here, it emphasizes that the purpose of the redemption of God is to rescue us from all the sins. Therefore, the believers should purify themselves, live a sanctified life, be “eager to do what is good”, do what is righteous and just, and lead others to the LORD. In Titus, it mentioned about doing good for several times(Tit 2:7; 2:14; 3:1; 3:8; 3:14). Doing good is the will of God for us; God redeem us so that to rescue us from the wickedness, and do what is good and righteous:
“For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. ” (1Pe 2:15)
“For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:10)
“If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. ” (2Ti 2:21)
“so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. ” (2Ti 3:17)
Those who know God and Savior Christ, can make the change in their life; and the will of God and the hope of men are that they will have such a change in their life.
“Purify for himself a people that are his very own”. We used to wallow in the mire with the worldly people and mix with them together. Now God with His work of purifying set us apart from the filth of the worldly people so that we can be separated from the sinful nature, the corruptions, the evils, the selfish desires, and all the filth. It is for the purpose that we will be different from the worldly people, become the sanctified saints, and become the holy and pure people of God alone in this dirty world.
“Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ” (TITUS 3:1-3)
We should be subject to rulers and authorities. “Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. ” (1Pe 2:13-14). Note that “for the Lord's sake” is the key of this whole teaching; in another word, as long as it can let the name of LORD convince others and be glorified, and benefit the testimonies of the Gospel of LORD, the believers should try their best to be obedient to all the systems of men and be a law-abiding citizen in the nation and the society. To give helps in the peace and progress of the society, it is the duty of the believers.
“Be subject to rulers and authorities”. This is under the condition that what those rulers and authorities do is good and just, and are not against God. If the command of the government is to ask us to give up our faith, we should follow the examples of the apostles and many saints of the ancient time: “We must obey God rather than men! ”
“Be ready to do whatever is good”; in the Bible, it refers to the good that God let us do, that is, being obedient to the will of God to do good. See also, (Eph 2:10; Tit 2:7, 2:14, 3:1, 3:8, 3:14; 1Pe 2:15).
The Christians must not speak ill of anyone at wills, but only say what are helpful for building others up according to their needs. They should avoid being contentious and should have the Spirit’s fruit of peace and gentleness.
These verses compare the situations of the believers before “the rebirth” and after “the rebirth”. It is to illustrate that the believers should not live a sinful life as they did before the rebirth; but should show good testimonies of the children of God. No matter to the government or the average people, they should do as mentioned above -- do whatever is good and avoid being contentious. Thus, we will be worthy of the grace of the rebirth through the Holy Spirit of God; and it will be enough to show that we are the heirs belong to God and have the hope of eternal life.
By recounting the situations before believing LORD, here, it mentioned totally 9 sins: “we were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another”. That is, we used to: do not know God and be disobedient to God; be deceived by the sins and evils, all kinds of vain vanity in this world, and false religions; be very busy and work hard, exhaust all the ability and wisdom only to gratify all the selfish desires such as the appetite and stomach, the sexual desires of men and women, and seeking fame and fortune and so on; live the entire life of being enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures; live in malice, hatred and envy; and produce all kinds of sins due to the envy. We are originally deserved to be hated. Not only we ourselves are detestable, but also we hate each other when we are with each other. The essential reason lies in our life is corrupt already.
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. ” (TITUS 3:4-8)
The gracious deeds of God are from the love of God. Therefore, grace is the appearing of the love of God. The love of God appears and comes to us; that is the grace. The love of God is originally in the mind of God; when it appeared, it became our salvation. This verse shows that the kindness and grace of God our Savior to save us is hidden in Him from the beginning of the time; but it appeared gradually according to His time. As to the whole plan of the redemption of the mankind, God has His time. When the time had fully come, “he saved us”.
According to our real situation, not only we do not have the righteous deeds, but also we are full of sins and evils and are not worthy of the grace of God. However, His mercy let His grace come to us who are not worthy of the grace.
Two important points of the salvation of God are mentioned in this verse:
A. Why He saved us?
It is not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. It is the same as what is mentioned in (Eph 2:8-9) “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. ”
B. How He saved us?
He saved us “through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit”.
“The washing of rebirth ” is because God created this world through His Spirit and water. The rebirth is also through the water and the Spirit of Christ (Gen 1:1-2; 2Pe 3:5).
“In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. " ” (Joh 3:3)
“Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ” (Joh 3:5)
Through “the washing of rebirth ”, we are able to be in Christ (1Jo 5).
“Renewal by the Holy Spirit”; the believers are reborn through the Holy Spirit of Christ, so that their lives are renewed and they become new men -- men who have the Holy Spirit of Christ in them (2Co 5:17; Gal 6:15; Eph 2:15; Eph 4:24; Col 3:10); the Holy Spirit of Christ live in the believers so that to make them transformed by the renewing of their mind (Rom 12:2), and can understand and obey the will of God.
“for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ” (Gal 3:27)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ” (2Co 5:17)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ” (Eph 2:15)
“by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ” (Eph 4:24)
“and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. ” (Col 3:10)
“The washing of rebirth ” is not to cleanse our corrupt nature, for the rebirth is not to improve our corrupt nature. The rebirth is to let us receive the life of God, and the nature of God -- which is the life and nature of Christ. As long as we are willing to deny ourselves and carry our own cross, let the life of Christ be in charge in us, the life and nature of Christ will let us be separated for our originally sinful life and nature, and will show from us. All of these can not be achieved by the life of our old self, but only by the renewal of the Holy Spirit of Christ.
Holy Sprit is the Spirit of Christ; whom is given to us because we believe in the name of LORD Jesus Christ and were baptized into His new life. Each Christian with rebirth has the life of Christ inward, by whom we can give up our old self, live the life of Christ to be one in Christ.
God give us the rebirth through the Holy Spirit according to His mercy, so that having been justified by His grace and having the life of Christ, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Note that, the word of “might” shows its probability, but not inevitability. God give us freely the salvation so that we “might” become heirs having the hope of eternal life; however, we must repent completely, be willing to press on to pursue the renewal by Holy Spirit, be holy and be one in Christ, so that to truly be the children of God, the children of light and take hold of the eternal life.
The result of stressing these things is “that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good”. If the Christians misinterpret the grace of God as ignoring one’s proper occupation, not working hard, and not doing what is good and righteous, they misunderstand the truth in the Bible completely. If they understand the truth, they must work hard, do what is good and righteous, and lead others to LORD.
Stress the truths of the salvation by God:
(1) The cross is the kindness and grace of God our Savior and reveals His kindness and love; (2) The reason that He saved us is not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy; (3) The way to be saved is through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit; we are justified by his grace; (4) The hope to be saved: might become heirs having the hope of eternal life; (5) The effects to be saved are: to “be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good”, be careful to do the good work of LORD, do what is good and righteous, lead others to LORD, and have the good characters that are away from the wickedness.
It is edited and compiled under the guidance of Holy Spirit. All thanks, praises and glories be to God!
(TITUS 2:11-15; 3:1-8)
TITUS 2:11 “ For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. ”
(NOTES)
“For”:
It continues the preceding text to explain regarding the believers, no matter the older men, the young men, housewives or the servants, why “in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. ”? It is because “the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.”
The grace of God is actually that God in Christ is everything for us and brings us to His heavenly kingdom(2Ti 4:18). This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time (2Ti 1:9); but it was hidden in the times of the Old Testament; it has been revealed in the times of the New Testament, through the first appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus (2Ti 1:10).
Since the grace of God is to save “all men” and this will to save all men has appeared, therefore, all the believers should fulfill their duties, and show their testimonies of receiving the grace in front of others, in order to make all men in every social stratum know the salvation of God. This is to obey the will of God and be worthy of the grace of God.
TITUS 2:12 “ It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, ”
(NOTES)
“It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness ”:
Godliness is shown in one’s life. Godliness is that God show from us.
“teaches”: indicates to teach, instruct, correct and discipline. The responsibility of the church to the believers is like a school -- a school of grace.
“say "No" to ”: means to reject, get rid of, and throw away.
“ungodliness ”: indicates to show nothing of God, but live a life of the typically secular people.
“worldly passions”: refer to the passions and desires to be satisfied in this world; therefore, they show the sinful nature. “worldly”, that is, secular. “passions” are greedy affections from the hearts of the sinners, are what the worldly people seek, and are the “worldly passions”. The believers should not only live a godly life, but also reject all the worldly passions in their motives inward.
“say "No" to ungodliness ”:
In the Bible, “ungodliness ” refers to unbelieving and unrighteousness. For examples, in chapter 2 of 2 Peter, it mentioned about the days of Noah, and the days of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah ; they are both called the days of “ungodliness” (2Pe 2:5-6). And the only “righteous man” -- Lot who was saved is called the “godly men” (2Pe 2:7-9). Nowadays are like the days of Noah(Mat 24:37-39), and are the days of ungodliness. The salvation of God has appeared in this age; it is to let us who received the grace get rid of the ungodliness and set apart from those who do not believe and are not righteous.
“worldly passions”:
In the book of 1 John, it also talks about the desires and the world together: “The world and its desires ” (1Jo 2:17). The selfish desires and sinful passions belong to this world; therefore, here, it is called the “worldly passions”. In the Bible, “worldly passions” and “worldly desires” refer to the sinful nature and the corrupt inclination of the old self; it is also called “the sinful nature” (Gal 5:16-24), such as in (Gal 5:17) “the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit”; sometimes, it refers to the desires belong to the world as mentioned above in (1Jo 2:17). From one aspect, it refers to the corruption of the old self of men. From another aspect, since the worldly people belong to the sinful nature, and all the sinful desires of men together form the habit and custom of the worldly people and become a common practice, it becomes an environment to entice people so that to make the corrupt inclination inside men more easy to accept the temptation from the outward. Therefore, “the sinful nature” is also called “worldly passions”.
What do the “worldly passions” include? The verses in (Gal 5:19-21) tell us that: “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. ”
The above is addressed from the negative aspect and teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions; the following is from the positive aspect to tell us what kind of a life we should live.
“live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age”:
“this present age”: refers to the current period of time before the Second Coming of Christ.
“self-controlled”: that is, self-disciplined. A self-controlled life is to live prudently with self-discipline. That is, being wise and self-restrained. A “self-controlled” life includes the spiritual life, the complete and pure faith, the sanctification in life, keeping the position of oneself, without falling into the temptation and so on.
“upright”: that is just. Being “self-controlled” is to oneself; being “upright” is to others; and being “godly” is to God. Being “upright” is about the attitude to treat others. It does not mean that we treat others with the stern attitude as a judge; but that we should not have improper judgment and wrong act out of personal consideration, should not accuse falsely and put the upright one in the wrong, should stand at the side of the truth, should not fear the power and influence of the darkness, should treat others fairly without biasing.
“godly” is the proper attitude of men toward God and also the proper way of living.
Comparing this part with the previous part, it is obvious what the proper change in their way of life should be for those who are redeemed. This grace is not to let people sin at wills; but to let people live a godly life. This godly life, is a life that the believers from all social strata should have.
In this verse, it mentions about “say “No” to ungodliness” and “live godly lives”. The godly life is what must be emphasized in the life of the believers. Nowadays, the church is in the tendency to become more and more secular. Many people do not know and do not pay attention to the godly life. Our responsibility is to live the true meaning of a godly life and lead those who already believe in God to live a life with reverence to God.
As to the Christians, the present world is temporary, and also is dominated by the evil force. Therefore, the Christians must show the appearance of new men in Christ.
TITUS 2:13 “ while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ”
(NOTES)
“the blessed hope”:
indicates that Christ will appear in His glories.
“the glorious appearing of our great God”:
That is, the Father’s glory (Mat 16:27), has been given to the Son (Joh 17:24).
“the glorious appearing ”:
“For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, ” (Mat 16:27). It is used to show that the Word became flesh in Christ. In (2Ti 1:10), it uses this word to show the Second Coming of LORD.
“our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”:
indicates that Jesus Christ is great God became flesh. Therefore, He was born with two names: Jesus -- the LORD saved, and Immanuel -- God with us (Mat 1:21-23), which reveals that He is the great God. Note that Savior Christ is called God. Here, for many times, it directly calls God and Savior together (Tit 1:3;2:10;3:4; 1Ti 1:1;2:3). It is obvious that Christ is one in God and it is proved that Christ IS God.
Whether we will be joyful or not when LORD appears, it depends on how our lives as Christians are nowadays.
The main teaching in this verse is to ask the believers to wait for the Second Coming of LORD. “the blessed hope” is the grace and blessings brought by LORD in His Second Coming (1Pe 1:13). As to the blessings of that the sins are forgiven, and one’s life is taken care of by LORD, these blessings are what we have received in this life, or will continue to enjoy in the future; As to the blessings of the transformation of our body, the glorious reward and the happiness of being with LORD forever, these blessings are what we have not received yet in this life. We must “say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age to “wait” and “hope” to obtain all those blessings.
TITUS 2:14 “ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. ”
(NOTES)
This verse continues what is addressed in verse 13 to encourage the believers to wait for the appearing of LORD. The previous verse is about to wait for the blessings of LORD’s appearing; this verse is to explain: what LORD Christ whom we are waiting for had achieved for us? What is the requirement for us?
“redeem” indicates to pay a price to buy (1Co 6:20; 1Pe 1:18-19; 1Ti 2:6). “redeem” is to rescue, release and set free.
“wickedness”: refers to lawlessness, crime, sin and evil.
“redeem us from wickedness” indicates that we are set free from the bindings and controls of the wickedness by the redemption of LORD Christ.
“for himself a people that are his very own”:
It is also translated as “unto himself a people for his own possession”. “his people” is a word used in the Old Testament (Deu 7:6; 14:2; 26:18). It shows that the people are owned by God Himself to be His people(Exo 19:5), and His own possession (1Pe 2:9).
Here, “to redeem ” does not mean that it is not done in terms of time, for the redemption had accomplished already; but it shows the purpose of “gave himself ” is to redeem us from all the sins and evils. Here, it emphasizes that the purpose of the redemption of God is to rescue us from all the sins. Therefore, the believers should purify themselves, live a sanctified life, be “eager to do what is good”, do what is righteous and just, and lead others to the LORD. In Titus, doing good has been mentioned for several times(Tit 2:7; 2:14; 3:1; 3:8; 3:14). Doing good is the will of God for us; God redeem us so that to rescue us from the wickedness, and do what is good and righteous:
“For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. ” (1Pe 2:15)
“For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:10)
“If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. ” (2Ti 2:21)
“so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. ” (2Ti 3:17)
Those who know God and Savior Christ, can make the change in their life; and the will of God and the hope of men are that they will have such a change in their life.
“purify for himself a people that are his very own”:
We used to wallow in the mire with the worldly people and mix with them together. Now God with His work of purifying set us apart from the filth of the worldly people so that we can be separated from the sinful nature, the corruptions, the evils, the selfish desires, and all the filth. It is for the purpose that we will be different from the worldly people, become the sanctified saints, and become the holy and pure people of God alone in this dirty world.
TITUS 2:15 “ These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you. ”
(NOTES)
“These”:
refer to what mentioned in verse 1 ~ 14.
“teach”: indicates to teach the Gospel; “encourage ” indicates to instruct the truth of Christ; “rebuke” indicates to forbid the heterodoxy and heretical ideas. “Encourage and rebuke with all authority”, that is, from every aspect, use the words with authority to encourage and rebuke others, as if giving the command. Not only use the authority when rebuke others; but also use the authority to explain all the teachings of the truth and admonish others. “with all authority” is to make best use of all his authority. What the servants of God have is not the authority in this world, but the spiritual authority and the authority of truth. One who is filled with the Holy Spirit and is obedient to the will of God always, has the spiritual authority (Act 13:9-12); one who understands the truth well and often gets the message of truth from God, has the authority of truth. If one has a good testimony in his life, his authority as the pastor will be respected by the believers.
“Do not let anyone despise you”:
it is similar to the words in (1Ti 4:12): “Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young,” When you are preaching, do not let others think your words worthless and pay no attention to what you said.
TITUS 3:1 “ Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, ”
(NOTES)
“to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient”:
As to be subject to authorities, please see also (Eph 6:5-9; Col 3:22-25; 1Pe 2:13-14). “Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. ” (1Pe 2:13-14). Note that “for the Lord's sake” is the key of this whole teaching; in another word, as long as it can let the name of LORD convince others and be glorified, and benefit the testimonies of the Gospel of LORD, the believers should try their best to be obedient to all the systems of men and be a law-abiding citizen in the nation and the society. To give helps in the peace and progress of the society, it is the duty of the believers.
“be subject to rulers and authorities”:
This is under the condition that what those rulers and authorities do is good and just, and are not against God. If the command of the government is to ask us to give up our faith, we should follow the examples of the apostles and many saints of the ancient time: “We must obey God rather than men! ” (Act 5:29).
“be ready to do whatever is good”:
in the Bible, it refers to the good that God let us do, that is, being obedient to the will of God to do good. See also, (Eph 2:10; Tit 2:7, 2:14, 3:1, 3:8, 3:14; 1Pe 2:15).
TITUS 3:2 “ to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. ”
(NOTES)
“slander ”:
indicates to speak ill of others, and damage the reputation of others. The Christians must not speak ill of anyone at wills, no matter those they like or dislike. They should only say what are helpful for building others up according to their needs (Eph 4:29).
“to be peaceable ”:
It is also translated as “to avoid being contentious”; “not quarrelsome”; or “to be no brawlers”. Slander is related to contention. In order to show that they are better than others, not only they try to show off themselves, but also they belittle others. Therefore, slander is always connected with contention. “To avoid being contentious” is “to be peaceable”. Peace is one of the Spirit’s fruit(Gal 5:22). The Gospel that we preach is called the “Gospel of peace” (Eph 2:17; Eph 6:15). Everyone who is reconciled to God has the responsibility to persuade others to reconcile with God (2Co 5:18-19). Therefore, no matter how others scramble for power and profit, the children of God should be peaceable.
“(to be) considerate”:
It is also translated as “to be forbearing”; or “to be gentle”. Gentleness is one of the Spirit’s fruit. LORD Jesus said that “for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Mat 11:29); therefore, the believers who are gentle are like LORD.
“to show true humility toward all men”:
The true humility is not to be humble toward only one or two men, but toward “all men”. It is the same as “in humility consider others better than yourselves. ” (Php 2:3). And again, “for I(LORD Jesus) am gentle and humble in heart” (Mat 11:29); the believers who follow LORD Jesus must be humble.
(LIGHT OF WORDS)
These verses compare the situations of the believers before “the rebirth” and after “the rebirth”. It is to illustrate that the believers should not live a sinful life as they did before the rebirth; but should show good testimonies of the children of God. No matter to the government or the average people, they should do as mentioned above -- do whatever is good and avoid being contentious. Thus, we will be worthy of the grace of the rebirth through the Holy Spirit of God; and it will be enough to show that we are the heirs belong to God and have the hope of eternal life.
TITUS 3:3 “ At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.”
(NOTES)
By recounting the situations before believing LORD, here, it mentioned totally 9 sins:
(1) “foolish”: indicates that one is ignorant of the things of God and the words of God, and has no any idea of the agony of the eternal death and the happiness of the eternal life.
(2) “disobedient”: refers to those who are disobedient to the truth and are against God; those who do not believe are called “who are disobedient”, in whom the evil spirits are at work (Eph 2:2).
(3) “deceived”: that is, being deceived by the sins and evils, all kinds of vain vanity in this world, and false religions.
(4) “enslaved by all kinds of passions ”: Before believing the LORD, one is the slave to all kinds of selfish desires. One is very busy and works hard, exhausts all the ability and wisdom only to gratify all the selfish desires such as the appetite and stomach, the sexual desires of men and women, and seeking fame and fortune and so on.
(5) “pleasures”: in the text, it is “enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures”.
(6) “malice”: that is, vicious and insidious; indicates to hurt others in secret with hidden and treacherous scheme.
(7) “envy”: that is, does not want to see others better than oneself. The envy can produce all kinds of sins.
(8) “being hated”: refers to being hateful and detestable, for we are originally deserved to be hated.
(9) “hating one another”: Not only they themselves are detestable, but also they hate each other when they are with each other. The essential reason lies in our life is corrupt already.
TITUS 3:4-5 “ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ”
(LIGHT OF WORDS)
(1) Love is the love from God to us; the grace is the deeds of God to us. The gracious deeds of God are from the love of God. Therefore, grace is the appearing of the love of God. The love of God appears and comes to us; that is the grace.
(2) The love of God is originally in the mind of God; when it appeared, it became our salvation. This verse shows that the kindness and grace of God our Savior to save us is hidden in Him from the beginning of the time; but it appeared gradually according to His time. As to the whole plan of the redemption of the mankind, God has His time (Gal 3:23-24; 4:4-6). When the time had fully come, “he saved us” (Tit 3:5).
(3) According to our real situation, not only we do not have the righteous deeds, but also we are full of sins and evils and are not worthy of the grace of God. However, His mercy let His grace come to us who are not worthy of the grace.
Two important points of the salvation of God are mentioned in this verse:
A. Why He saved us?
It is not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. It is the same as what is mentioned in (Eph 2:8-9) “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. ”
B. How He saved us?
He saved us “through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit”
“the washing of rebirth ”:
It is because God created this world through His Spirit and water. The rebirth is also through the water and the Spirit of Christ (Gen 1:1-2; 2Pe 3:5).
“In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. " ” (Joh 3:3)
“Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ” (Joh 3:5)
Through “the washing of rebirth ”, we are able to be in Christ (1Jo 5).
“renewal by the Holy Spirit”; the believers are reborn through the Holy Spirit of Christ, so that their lives are renewed and they become new men -- men who have the Holy Spirit of Christ in them (2Co 5:17; Gal 6:15; Eph 2:15; Eph 4:24; Col 3:10); the Holy Spirit of Christ live in the believers so that to make them transformed by the renewing of their mind (Rom 12:2), and can understand and obey the will of God.
“for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ” (Gal 3:27)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ” (2Co 5:17)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ” (Eph 2:15)
“by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ” (Eph 4:24)
“and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. ” (Col 3:10)
“The washing of rebirth ” is not to cleanse our corrupt nature, for the rebirth is not to improve our corrupt nature. The rebirth is to let us receive the life of God, and the nature of God -- which is the life and nature of Christ. As long as we are willing to deny ourselves and carry our own cross, let the life of Christ be in charge in us, the life and nature of Christ will let us be separated for our originally sinful life and nature, and will show from us. All of these can not be achieved by the life of our old self, but only by the renewal of the Holy Spirit of Christ.
TITUS 3:6 “ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ”
(NOTES)
“whom he … through Jesus Christ our Savior”:
“whom” refers to the Holy Spirit of Christ; whom is given to us because we believe in the name of LORD Jesus Christ and were baptized into His new life. Each Christian with rebirth has the life of Christ inward, by whom we can give up our old self, live the life of Christ to be one in Christ.
“poured out on us generously ”:
that is, given to us richly. It is to describe the richness of the anointing given by God, just as the oil and ointment are poured out. However, there is no reason to interpret it as another special experience from the aspect of the believers’ receiving the Holy Spirit. “on us” indicates to come to us.
TITUS 3:7 “ so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”
(NOTES)
This verse continues what’s mentioned in verse 5. God give us the rebirth through the Holy Spirit according to His mercy, so that having been justified by His grace and having the life of Christ, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Note that, the word of “might” shows its probability, but not inevitability. God give us freely the salvation so that we “might” become heirs having the hope of eternal life; however, we must repent completely, be willing to press on to pursue the renewal by Holy Spirit, be holy and be one in Christ, so that to truly be the children of God, the children of light and take hold of the eternal life.
TITUS 3:8 “ This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.”
(NOTES)
In the pastoral letters, the words of “This is a trustworthy saying” are used for several times (1Ti 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2Ti 2:13). It is to emphasize that the truths of Gospel and salvation are trustworthy, reliable and undoubted. It is a reminder and exhortation to the believers like Thomas who is skeptical (Joh 20:24-29).
“And I want you to stress these things”:
“these things” should refer to the teachings from verse 1 to 7 in this chapter. The result of stressing these things is “that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good”. If the Christians misinterpret the grace of God as ignoring one’s proper occupation, not working hard, and not doing what is good and righteous, they misunderstand the truth in the Bible completely. If they understand the truth, they must work hard (2Th 3:7-12), do what is good and righteous, and lead others to LORD.
“be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good”:
It is also translated as “might be careful to maintain good works.”. That is to be careful to do the good work of LORD, do what is good and just, and lead others to LORD. These are all good works, are profitable to others, and please God.
Stress the truths of the salvation by God (Tit 3:8):
(1) The cross is the kindness and grace of God our Savior and reveals His kindness and love (3:4); (2) The reason that He saved us is not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy (3:5); (3) The way to be saved is through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit (3:5); we are justified by his grace (3:7); (4) The hope to be saved: might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. (3:7); (5) The effects to be saved are: to “be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good”(3:8), be careful to do the good work of LORD, do what is good and righteous, lead others to LORD, and have the good characters that are away from the wickedness (3:1-3).
References:
1. Zhongdao Chen: “The Lectures on the Bible Studying of the Letters in New Testament”.
2. Quoted notes from Shuguang Niu.
