Titus, part 5
"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. 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." (Titus 3:3-7, NIV)
In our previous look at
Paul's letter to Titus, Paul instructed Titus to tell the churches in
There are three common
reactions that Christians can have toward those outside the body of believers;
two of them are wrong, and the third is correct. One of the wrong ways to
react toward those outside the fellowship is in a condescending and legalistic
way. In other words, unbelievers are viewed as antagonistic toward the
fellowship of believers (which many are), and are therefore the enemy.
This is a common attitude of those who want to "take back the
culture" for Christianity (as mentioned last time). Those who oppose
the Christian world view and ethic are vilified by Christians in this
group. There is a sense in which people in this group want to remove
themselves from the influence of the unbelieving world lest they be defiled.
Now there is nothing
wrong with being careful what we expose ourselves to in this world. We
are certainly to be discerning about what we see and hear, and we are not to be
conformed to this world. But this is vastly different than withdrawing
from the world. Paul says as much in his first letter to Corinth: "I have written you
in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people--not at all meaning
the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or
idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am
writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother
but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a
swindler. With such a man do not even eat" (1 Corinthians 5:9-11).
The only people we are to shun are those who say they are Christians, yet act
immorally; they are to be removed from the fellowship like a cancer before it
spreads.
The second wrong way
believers act toward the unbelieving world is by being too accepting.
This is the method used by many "seeker-friendly" churches.
They are so concerned about reaching as many people for Christ as they can that
they water down the true essence of the gospel in order to not offend
anyone. They do not preach too heavily about personal sin; they do not
preach too heavily about eternal damnation; they do not preach to heavily about
repentance and personal holiness. What they do preach about is God loves
you; God is desperately seeking to have a relationship with you; God wants to
transform you; God unconditionally forgives you; God accepts you as you are;
you are special in God's eyes.
Again, there is nothing
inherently wrong with the message being preached in "seeker-friendly"
churches. Those things I listed above are Biblical. However, that is
only half the message. Yes, God loves you; yes, God wants to have a
relationship with you; yes, God accepts you as you are. But, you can only
be a true child of God if you accept God's terms of reconciliation which
requires acknowledgment of your sins; that your sins offend a holy God; that
your sin debt, if left unpaid, warrants eternal damnation in hell; that you
must repent of your sins, embrace Jesus in faith and live a life of humble
obedience to God's word. Anything less is not a complete gospel and,
according to Paul, is worthy of God's curse (cf. Galatians 1:8).
The third way of
reacting to the world of unbelievers, and the correct way, is to passionately
strive for their conversion by remembering our past way of life. In other
words, the unbelieving world is not the enemy, nor are they to be
unconditionally accepted into the fellowship of believers. They are to be
regarded as the mission
field for evangelism. They are the lost that God weeps over
with pity and compassion: "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on
them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a
shepherd" (Matthew
"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." Paul reminds Titus (and us as well) that at one time we too were
foolish, disobedient, deceived, etc. Why is it necessary to be reminded
of our former state? Because this remembrance causes us to have a
sympathy for those who are lost. Paul says much the same thing in his
letter to the Ephesians: "As for you, you were dead in your
transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways
of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now
at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one
time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires
and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath"
(Ephesians 2:1-3). What were we like before we were
saved? Dead! Spiritually dead in our sins, enslaved to our lusts,
disobedient, completely unmoved by the things of God.
We need to remember that
former way of life because that is exactly the same state as the rest
of the unbelieving world. They are where we were. If we forget
that, then we will have a tendency to treat unbelievers as the enemy.
This is precisely the point of Jesus' parable of the unforgiving servant
(cf. Matthew
"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." The first word of this
verse is one of the most important words in all of Scripture, "But."
We were
once sinners, but
now we are saved! We are where we are because of the grace of
God. By His mercy, we are saved. We did not earn it, and we cannot
maintain it. He freely bestowed it to us out of His love and
kindness. This is one of the cardinal truths of the Christian
faith. This is a non-negotiable article. There are those who
want to turn Christianity into a works righteousness religion.
These are the hard core legalists who insist on following strict rules of
conduct for daily living. God does not want us to follow rules; not in
the sense of earning
our salvation. Christ's death on the cross freed us from all of that
nonsense.
"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." How did God save us? Through the
"washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit
is the instrument of salvation. It is the Holy Spirit who renews the
heart of sinful man. A beautiful passage from the Old Testament
illustrates this:
"I will sprinkle
clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your
impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a
new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a
heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my
decrees and be careful to keep my laws" (Ezekiel 36:25-27).
What Paul is talking
about when he refers to the "washing of rebirth and renewal by the
Holy Spirit" is the mystery of the new birth. Jesus, in John's
gospel, tells Nicodemus, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the
This saving work of the
Holy Spirit was made possible by the atoning work of Jesus Christ. The
atoning work of Christ made is possible for God to pour His mercy on us.
The atoning work of Christ made it possible for the ministry of the Holy Spirit
(cf. John 16:7). Salvation is a "team" effort of all the
members of the Trinity: According to the plan of God the Father;
accomplished through the work of God the Son; and applied to the elect by the
work of God the Holy Spirit.
Paul closes this section
by saying that the purpose of this Trinitarian work was to justify us--i.e.,
make us right with God--so that we could be joint heirs with Christ of the
eternal hope of glory.
In closing, Paul wanted
to remind Titus and his fellow believers of the immense mercy of God that was
poured out on us, even though we were sinners, so that they (and us, by
extension) would look on the unbelieving world in a similar way. We are
to look upon the lost as no different than us save for the grace of God.