The teaching in the epistle to Titus is primarily of a practical and pastoral character, with recurring exhortations from the apostle Paul to Titus, and to all believers who read the epistle, to live godly lives that will please God, honour our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that will display the fruit of the Spirit of God.
In each chapter of the epistle, there is interwoven with the predominantly practical content a short doctrinal section in which there is general truth about God’s salvation (1:1-3; 2:11-14; 3:4-7). In each of the three doctrinal sections there are specific references to ways in which God has manifested His various attributes and has made Himself known as “God our Saviour” (1:3; 2:10; 3:4). These various divine “appearings” are the doctrinal basis for all the practical exhortations and provide the power for their expression in the lives of believers.
God “hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour” (1:3).1 There is the present appearing of the Word of God; the visible manifestation of God’s Word began with the apostolic preaching and teaching, securing the eternal promise of eternal life and providing the scriptural basis for the whole Church Age.
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men” (2:11). The past appearing of the grace of God was fully displayed in all its riches in the incarnate Lord Jesus when He came into the world as the sinless Man in order to provide salvation for sinful humanity.
Believers in Christ are “awaiting the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2:13 JND). At this future appearing of the glory of God, the Lord Jesus will be manifested in this world and displayed globally in all His exceeding glory.
“Who gave himself for us” (2:14) points to the past appearing of the sacrificial Lamb of God at Calvary, where He gave Himself as the fully accepted sacrifice for sin. “But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb 9:26).
“But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared” (3:4) – here is the eternal appearing of the kindness and love of God. God’s great love has been made known to all humanity in the provision of His Son for salvation. All members of the Church appreciate God’s loving divine intervention – “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us” (Eph 2:4). The display of His kindness and love will be enjoyed eternally by the Church – “that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (v7).
Divine Persons Provide the Power for Godly Living
The practical character of life of believers in the Lord Jesus is to be manifestly different to that of the world of sinful humanity generally; believers’ lives must display that reality of God’s salvation. The behaviour of unbelievers on the island of Crete where Titus was located was evidently particularly degenerate and “unto every good work reprobate” (1:16). In contrast, Paul instructs Titus, “In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works” (2:7), and believers are to be “zealous of good works” (v14).
This general exhortation to good works in the believer’s life is given repeatedly in chapter 3. We are “to be ready to every good work” (v1) in our general behaviour relative to society. We are “to maintain good works” (vv8,14), as a testimony that we have believed in God, and display this by meeting the necessities of others. The Lord Jesus taught that such character of living will glorify the Father in heaven: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Mat 5:16).
The fundamental reason for the different character of life and conduct of believers compared with unbelievers is the divine work of God in salvation. In this epistle to Titus, we learn that each Person of the Godhead has a particular part to play in bringing about moral and spiritual transformation in the believer, and the power behind that transformation is based upon the manifestation of God’s living Word, His rich grace, His exceeding glory and His great kindness and love toward us in salvation.
In 1:1-3, there is the divine power of the living Word of God in the elect of God who have exercised faith. With the present manifestation of God’s Word through the apostolic preaching, there can be “the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness” (v1). The believer’s continual occupation with God’s holy Word effects a moral cleansing, “the washing of water by the word” (Eph 5:26), producing a life characterised by godliness in contrast to the ungodly and defiled living of unbelievers.
In 2:11-12, because of the past appearing of God’s rich grace in the Person of the incarnate Son of God, there is presently the moral power of the grace of God in the believer: “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (v12).
In 2:13, the prospect of the future glorious appearing of our Saviour provides the motivating power of the glory of God. “But we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1Jn 3:2-3).
Further, in 2:14, because of the past appearing of the sacrificial Lamb of God at Calvary, there is presently the delivering power of the death of Christ. On the cross He “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity [lawlessness, JND], and purify unto himself a peculiar people [a people for His own possession], zealous of good works.” Christ’s sacrificial act in giving Himself in death is motivation for our present practical sanctification and deliverance from all forms of lawless behaviour.
In 3:4-7, the Holy Spirit has a fundamental part to play in the believer’s moral transformation. There is the saving power of the kindness and love of God and the spiritual power of the Holy Spirit of God: “by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour” (vv5-6). The indwelling of a divine Person, the Holy Spirit of God, bodily within a believer must make a practical difference in our character of living and will bring the blessing of an eternal inheritance as “heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (v7).
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV unless otherwise noted.
