The writer of this article addresses you assuming that you have opened your Bible at the verses indicated above and are going to follow him with your eye upon the passage. Consequently all long quotations of Scripture are avoided and mere references cut down to a minimum, If you do not read with the Scripture open before you it is hardly likely that you will derive much help from your reading.
Read carefully. Read prayerfully. Read thoughtfully.
THE marginal reading of verse 11, “The grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men, hath appeared,” is to be preferred to the text. The point is that now there is salvation for all, and that the grace of God which has brought that worldwide salvation teaches us how to live, while we await the appearing of the glory. The passage is not as clear as it might be in our Authorized Version inasmuch as in verse 13 the words “of the glory” are turned into an adjective, “glorious.” There is this striking connection and contrast between the grace which has appeared and the glory which is yet to appear.
The grace of God has shone forth in al] its splendor in Christ and His redeeming work. In its scope and bearing it is not confined to Israel, as was the law, but it embraces all; though in its application it is of course limited to all that believe. Hence verse 12 begins, “Teaching us.” Not teaching all but as, who believe. Those who receive this salvation that grace has brought are thereby introduced into the school that grace has instituted.
How often is this great fact overlooked to much harm and loss. Why, there are those who refuse and denounce the fact of the eternal security of the true believer because they think it opens the door to all kinds of loose living! They imagine that if once we were assured of an eternal salvation restraint would be gone; as though the only effective restraint is fear of the whip—the whip of eternal damnation. Grace is far more powerful in its effects than fear, even that fear that was engendered by the law of Moses.
The law, we read, was “weak through the flesh” (Rom. 8:33For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (Romans 8:3)) and it failed altogether to restrain its workings. Every true believer is however a subject of the new birth and possesses therefore a new nature. The flesh, the old nature, still remains within him, yet it is a judged and condemned thing and upon it grace lays a restraining hand whilst fostering all that is of the new nature. “Ungodliness and worldly lusts” are the natural expression of the old nature, and grace teaches us to deny all these. The new nature expresses itself in sobriety, righteousness and godliness, and the teaching of grace is that these things should characterize us.
There was of course teaching of a sort under the law, for the Jew had “the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law” (Rom. 2:2020An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. (Romans 2:20)). It consisted in the clear laying down of what was right and what was wrong. The law was like a schoolmaster who impartially hands round a code of rules, very peremptory, very clear and well printed, yet without offering to his scholars the least assistance in putting those rules into effect. Grace teaches in a far more effectual way. There is of course the same clearness about all that it enjoins and the standard set is even higher than that which the law demanded, but there is this in addition, it works IN us. When Paul preached the grace of God to the Thessalonians and they received his message in its true character as the Word of God he was able to say that it “effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thess. 3:1313To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. (1 Thessalonians 3:13)).
That is the way of grace. It works in us, it subdues us. It not only sets a lesson-book before our eyes but bit by bit produces within us the very things that the lesson-book indicates. This is the case of course where the grace of God is really received. Where it is not really received men may do all kinds of things under cover of it, “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness” as Jude puts it in his fourth verse. But this is because they are ungodly men and not true Christians.
Grace teaches us to live soberly, that is, “with self-restraint and consideration.” It thus puts us each right in regard to ourselves. It teaches us to live righteously, that is, in a way that is right in regard to our fellows. It teaches us to live godly, that is, to give God His right place in our lives. It puts us right in regard to God and man and self, and it sets us in expectation of the appearing of the glory.
Here is a converted Cretian. This wild beast of a man is thoroughly tamed and now plods on serving his master in a sober, righteous and godly way. But suppose he had no prospect! Life to him might then wear a very drab aspect. But grace teaches him to lift up his eyes and look for the approaching glory; the glory being that of “our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.” The glory will be the fruition of all the hopes that grace has awakened. It may well be that by, “the blessed hope” the Apostle indicated the coming of the Lord for His saints, of which he writes to the Thessalonians in His first epistle (4:15-17), and if so we have both His coming for and His coming with His saints bet before us as our hope in verse 13.
The One who is soon to appear is the One who gave Himself for us upon the cross, and verse 14 very strikingly states one of the great objects He had before Him in giving Himself. It was in order to redeem us from the “iniquity” or “lawlessness” under which we had fallen, so that being thoroughly cleansed we might be a people for His own special possession and filled with zeal for good works. It is not enough that we should be delivered from the practice of evil; we are to be keen in the pursuit of what is good, and that not only in a theoretical but also a practical way. We are not only to do good works but also to do them with zeal. How strikingly will all this “adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour.” Once a liar, an evil wild beast, a lazy glutton: now, redeemed from lawlessness, purified before God, a zealot for good works. What a transformation!
The first and second verses of chapter 3 follow up the same theme, giving further details of the godly behavior that the Gospel inculcates. Obedience and subjection to authorities, and gentleness and meekness unto all men are features very much the opposite of all that the Cretans were by nature. They are also very much the opposite of what we all are, and this the Apostle puts on record in verse 3. “We ourselves “he says in contrast with the “them” of verse 1. What a picture he gives us in this verse of himself and Titus and all the rest of us, if viewed in our natural characteristics: a fearful indictment but true! That, being such, we should hate one another is hardly surprising, but then we were hateful ourselves. Coming after this how wonderful is verse 4!
Hateful were we, every one of us. Though we were each blind to the hateful features in ourselves we were quite alive to what was hateful in other people, hence the world is full of hatred. Now God looks down upon this scene and there breaks upon the world of hatred the light of His kindness and love. That God should love the unlovable is wonderful: that He should love the positively hateful is more wonderful still! Yet such is the case. The words, “love... toward man” are the translation of the one Greek word, philanthropy. The kindness and philanthropy of our Saviour God have appeared. The word indicates not merely that God loves man as He loves all His creatures but that He has a special affection for man—a specially warm corner in His heart for man, if we may so speak. His philanthropy expressed itself in kindness and mercy, and by His mercy we have been saved.
In Scripture salvation is generally connected with a work accomplished for us. This is true whether we consider Old Testament types or New Testament doctrine. We have to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which is achieved outside of us. The passage before us is however an exception to this general rule, inasmuch as we are said to be saved by a work wrought upon us and in us. The work in us is quite as necessary as the work for us. This is very plain if we consider the type of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. By the mighty work of God wrought for them they were saved out of the land of bondage, yet in spite of all the wonders accomplished on their behalf the vast majority of them fell in the wilderness and never reached the land of promise. Why? The answer of Scripture is, “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (Heb. 3:1919So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:19)); that is, they had no faith, no work of God took place within them.
Salvation then, according to verse 5, is not according to our works of righteousness but according to God’s mercy, and the means of it are “the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” In John 3 where the new birth is in question we have the Spirit of God as the Agent or Operator and the “water” as the instrument producing it. Here too we have the Spirit and the water, only the latter is alluded to under the term “washing.” But we must note that the word, “regeneration” in our verse is not exactly the equivalent of the new birth. The only other place in the New Testament where the word is used is in Matthew 19:28,28And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:28) and it indicates the new order of things which is to be established in the day of Christ’s glory. We have not got that new order of things yet but we have come under the washing, the cleansing, the moral and spiritual renovation which is in keeping with that day.
This washing is by the Word. It is so stated in Ephesians 5:26,26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, (Ephesians 5:26) only there it is the repeated and continuous action of the Word which is in question, here it is the once-for-all, never-to-be-repeated action of the Word in our new birth. The Word however is not operative upon us apart from the action of the Holy Spirit who works in renewing power.
This Scripture speaks not only of the Spirit’s initial work in us in new birth, and of the renewing which is consequent upon that, but also of the gift of the Spirit. He has been “poured out” on us abundantly. Thus bestowed He energizes the new life that we now have and works a day-by-day renewing within us, which works out a continuous and increasing salvation from the old life in which once we lived. The Spirit has been poured on us through Jesus Christ our Saviour, and as the fruit of His work. He has been poured on us abundantly, and hence it is that we may enjoy that which really is life in, abundant measure. We not only have life but have it abundantly, as the Lord Himself tells us in John 10:1010The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10).
The work in us, then, is quite as necessary as the work for us. It is equally true that the work for us is quite as necessary as the work in us, and this is indicated in verse 7. We could not become heirs of God merely by the work of the Spirit in us, for we needed to be justified before God and this is accomplished by the grace that wrought for us in Christ. Washed, renewed and justified it was possible for grace to go further and make us heirs, but all these three things were equally necessary.
We are made heirs, you will notice, according to the hope of eternal life; that is, we share equally with Paul in this wonderful hope, as may be seen by comparing this verse with the second verse of chapter 1; though we are none of us apostles as he was.
God saves us in order to make us His heirs and it is striking how He is presented as Saviour in this epistle. It is even more striking how the term Saviour is applied to both God and the Lord Jesus in such a way as to assure us that Jesus is God. In chapter 1, it is “God our Saviour” in verse 3, and “Christ our Saviour” in verse 4. In chapter 3, it is “God our Saviour” in verse 4, and “Christ our Saviour” in verse 6. In chapter 2, it is “our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ” in verse 13.
When at the beginning of verse 8 the Apostle says, “This is a faithful saying” it is not easy to determine whether he refers to what he has just written or whether to what immediately follows, but it would appear to be the former. It seems that Titus was to constantly bring before these converted Cretians the way in which they had been washed and renewed and justified and made heirs, in order that they might be stirred up to the maintenance of those good works which were in keeping with such grace, and not only in keeping with grace but also good and profitable to men. How clearly this illustrates what is often said, namely that all suitable conduct flows from an understanding of the place in which we are set. Here again we meet with the fact that the knowledge of grace promotes practical holiness and does not lead to carelessness.
By constantly maintaining and affirming the truth Titus would be enabled to avoid all those foolish questions and contentions about the law which were so common in those days. There is nothing like diligence in what is good to shut out evil. There might of course be a man who carried these questions and strivings to such a point that he became a leader of a faction in the church, a maker of a sect―for this is what the word, “heretic” means. Such an one was to be admonished once and twice, but if then he still remained obdurate he was to be rejected. To make oneself into a leader of a party is a serious sin.
The epistle closes with a few words as to other laborers in the service of the Lord. They were to be supplied with all necessary things, and this leads the Apostle to lay it as an obligation upon all saints to apply themselves to labor of a good kind that they might not only have themselves the necessities of life but have the wherewithal to give and thus be fruitful. The once lazy Cretan is now to be a diligent worker and a helper of others.
F. B. HOLE.