Posts: Titus

Titus

Paul left Titus on the island of Crete to fix some problems in the congregations there. His letter opens with the fundamental principles those congregations, even today, should use in deciding to whom to listen (Titus 1:1 – 4). Paul reminded all parties that godliness was a foundation benchmark. They had a common faith, meaning both that it was shared by many but also contained the implication that it was understood by ordinary people, not based on personal revelations or complexity. The Word came through a few special people, not local loudmouths.

Nearly every letter in the New Testament has as its stated objectives the development of a gracious nature, the desire to fix what ails others, and to have peace in this life, all of which should result from a connection with God and His physical expression, the earthly Jesus (e.g., Titus 1:4). Christianity is not about ritual or theory or self-centered gain, but about being part of a functional eternal family.

Even in the days of the apostles, congregations went seriously wrong (e.g., Titus 1:10 – 16). In every era have been those who promote unprovable tales, are basically lazy, whose talk is all fluff, who promote rules rather than faith as a pathway to good behavior, who demand compensation for their teaching, who excuse the failings of modern culture, and who fill in the details for generalization in the Scriptures. Harping on the failings of this world is easy; if you can’t find good to talk about, the problem may be you.

Paul gave Titus a list of sermon topics that they and we may consider too simple, that we need to move on to more exciting subjects (Titus 2:1 – 10). Lazy cultures foster a flippant attitude about important things, which were and are the basic principles of good character and the importance of family. If Paul thought it necessary to tell Titus to remind young women to love their husbands and children, there must have been a problem in that area. He also wanted Titus to remind servants not to steal from their masters. The gospel is simple, and countercultural.

Christianity is counter-cultural (Titus 2:11 – 14). The faithful have an accurate physical picture of how graciousness works (demonstrated in the life of Jesus), whereas outsiders have to guess. They demonstrate the success of long-term goals over short-term gratification. They have provable hope in a world that has neither hope nor proof. They demonstrate that God has given us room to change, so our pasts cannot hold us back. God’s purpose is not a group of well-behaved followers, rather believable ambassadors. The message has not changed.

The government in Paul’s day was unjust, ruthless, and dictatorial. Yet, the New Testament clearly enjoins obedience (Titus 3:1 – 2, Romans 13:1 – 7, 1 Peter 2:13 – 17). Many have side-stepped the point, saying that one may ignore this if, in the mind of the believer, the government is acting contrary to the desires of God. Obviously, every world government acts contrary to the desires of God. Wisdom is required to determine how to be obedient to the government and faithful to God at the same time.

The world (in particular, the government) has always contained a majority of those about whom evil could be spoken truthfully. Those in whom a gracious and merciful nature is being built by the Spirit look instead to how to fix them. Rather than recounting the manifold evils they have done and probably will continue to do, the faithful remember that they themselves came from the same sad place. Therefore, gentleness and humility are the only reasonable approach (Titus 3:2 – 3).

Kindness and love were the appeals of the gospel, not power and prosperity (Titus 3:4). In Paul’s day, the major competition came from the temples of various idols, which appealed to the self-interests of the masses. The same contrast may be seen today, the faithful being attracted to kindness and love, the rest being motivated by attaining personal satisfaction. The faithful serve others, the others serve themselves.

The faithful do not achieve some level of acceptance with God through ritual and good behavior. Instead, God sets out to repair the brokenness of those who trust Him (Titus 3:5 – 6) God’s mercy (which is one step beyond compassion, including an intense desire to fix the problem) is demonstrated by the Holy Spirit, whose task it is to renew the character of those who have that trust.

God’s nature is the collection of all the positive character traits. The way those traits are integrated and consistent is termed “grace.” God’s reaction to the bad choices of people could be to demand payment from them to justice. But, the other traits of God worked together with His justice to prompt the reaction of coming to earth Himself to pay those debts for all. We have been justified through that grace so that God could achieve His objective: a big family composed of the faithful that will last. (Titus 3:7)

The faithful do good things just because those things are good and because they are profitable to people in general. Unfortunately, people in general have a perverse desire for the complex, the authoritarian, and the mysterious, resulting in division over the useless. (Titus 3:8 – 11) But, Paul’s attitude was that if it sounds complicated, it is probably wrong. Those who trust God just do the right thing and let the chips fall where they may.

Paul instructed Titus to teach the Christians on Crete to “meet urgent needs.” The example at the moment was financial support for two traveling teachers (Titus 3:12 – 15). In every era, the people have had trouble meeting “urgent needs” because they have already committed future assets. The faithful need to learn that unexpected urgent needs will continue until Judgment, so they should not be surprised, but rather be prepared for the inevitable but as-yet-unknown needs.

Titus 3:3, “We ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” The longer the faithful are faithful, remembering how their former lives seemed to make sense becomes harder and harder. The faithful do not need to feel guilty or worthless because of their pasts (rather, rejoice over being rescued), but the irrational thought patterns of the past need to be remembered to the extent that they help in making the gospel appealing to how the deceived think.

Titus 3:4 – 6, “When the kindness and the brotherly love of God our Savior appeared, not out of works of righteousness which we were doing, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior…” God has a compelling desire to fix us (the definition of mercy), so He not only paid off the justice system, but also gave the faithful the indwelling Spirit whose job is to transform those faithful into the character of Jesus.

Titus 3:8, “Those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to mankind.” Biblical faith includes action. The two are inseparable. The theory is nothing without the deeds. Faith in action shows the outside world that faith has substance which applies to life.

Titus 3:10 – 11, “Reject a factious man after the first and second warning, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.” Only three types of people are to be rejected by the church: the divisive (here and Jude 19), those who say Jesus did not come in the flesh (1 John 4:3, 2 John 7), and those who call bad behaviors good (1 Corinthians 5). God promised that all other differences can be straightened out to the satisfaction of all parties (Philippians 3:15).