The Present Appearing of the Word of God (1:1-3)
The divine promise of eternal life given in past eternal times “before the world began” (1:2) and the expected future “hope of eternal life” (1:2) is made good to believers “in due times” (1:3), i.e., at God’s appointed season by the present manifestation of the living Word of God. God uses His manifested Word throughout this day of grace to bring individual believers to this blessing of eternal life; “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1Pe 1:23).1
The reality of “the faith of God’s elect” in every believer is “the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness” (1:1); divine sovereignty and human responsibility are equally displayed. God sovereignly set His purpose upon individuals for salvation, not based on anything good in any of us, but He had in view obedience to the truth of the gospel being further displayed in godly, sanctified lives. Godliness in a believer is practically expressed by being like the “God that cannot lie” (v2); such honest integrity would clearly set apart the Christians in Crete from the native Cretians who were “always liars” (v12).
God desires that the power of His living and veritable Word for salvation be “in due times manifested” (Greek phaneroo, to make visible) and then made effective “through preaching” (v3), i.e., the public heralding forth of His Word. God’s assured promise of eternal life is embodied in the Word of God, and it is made known to humanity by its public proclamation. This has always been God’s primary method of evangelism, and the apostle considered his ministry of proclaiming the message of Christ an entrusted stewardship divinely “committed unto [him],” and a matter for his dutiful obedience “to the commandment of God our Saviour” (v3).
Paul was a special chosen vessel for this ministry specifically to the Gentiles: “The gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me” (Gal 2:7). He appreciated the solemn responsibility laid upon him: “according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust” (1Ti 1:11). This stewardship of manifesting God’s Word was not an optional matter for Paul, and though he felt unworthy, it was also a cause for personal wonderment: “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph 3:8).
This stewardship and commandment to make known God’s Word is not to be regarded as unique to those early apostles. Throughout this present Church Age, God has entrusted to believers the stewardship of preaching Christ and thus manifesting God’s precious Word. Our present dutiful responsibility is to continue to “preach the word” (2Ti 4:2) and maintain its manifested power in salvation. Paul passed on and committed the stewardship of teaching God’s Word to younger men like Timothy: “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2:2). Many of us have benefited greatly from the faithful handing down of divine truth from generation to generation by gifted teachers of the Word. It is now our solemn responsibility to faithfully pass on “the same” to the next generation of believers, thus preserving divine truth right up until the soon coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Past Appearing of the Grace of God (2:11)
There has been the historical manifestation of the grace of God, personified in the Person of our Lord Jesus when He first came as a Man into this world: “For the grace of God hath appeared [Greek epiphaino, become visible], bringing salvation to all men” (RV). God’s unmerited favour towards sinful humanity was embodied in His Son, the One who was uniquely “full of grace and truth” (Joh 1:14). That divine grace became unmistakably visible and shone forth in its fullness on the historic occasion of Christ’s death at Calvary. The salvation that Christ brought is based upon all that He suffered in that death, taking the place of sinners, voluntarily going into death, and upon the truth of His subsequent bodily resurrection on the third day.
This was the extent to which the grace of God was demonstrated by our blessed Saviour: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2Co 8:9). The grace of God appeared when God’s Son left the splendour of heaven to be a Man in this sinful world. That grace was further displayed every day He lived here as the unrecognised and unappreciated Saviour, despised and rejected by men. Divine grace was manifested when He allowed men to arrest Him in Gethsemane, telling Peter to put away his sword and not requesting immediate angelic deliverance, for “how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (Mat 26:54). The fullness of divine grace shone forth when He opened not His mouth in defence before the manifest injustice of the Jewish council (as well as Pilate and Herod), submitting wholly to the death He must accomplish in obedience to His Father’s will.
This tremendously fundamental verse about God’s salvation would also emphasize the unlimited scope of the sovereign grace of God, “bringing salvation to all men” in terms of provision and availability. In His incarnation, the Saviour was made lower than the angels, “that he by the grace of God should taste death for [Greek huper, on behalf of] every man” (Heb 2:9). Universally, no sinner deserves or merits God’s salvation, but because of the unmerited favour of God, salvation has been provided and made universally available for all sinners. God’s grace not only recognised our need as bankrupt sinners before God by sending His Son, but it also fully provides for the need of all humanity.
The coming of the Lord Jesus opened up this present age of God’s rich grace, when “grace reign[s] through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 5:21). The coming down of our Lord Jesus Christ has brought that salvation within the reach of all, and in the gospel we can genuinely invite all sinners, the “whosoever,” to come to Christ for this eternal salvation. Truly a gracious God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2Pe 3:9).
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV unless otherwise noted.
