v 11 – “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,”

  • For – This comes at the end of 10 verses in Chapter two which commands Titus in the way he should speak:
    • v 1: in all things pertaining to sound doctrine – the scriptures of old, and the scriptures of the new testament which are, even in the writing of this letter, still being written.
    • Then Paul gives an extended plea for self control among those in the Church of God:
      • v 2: Older men must be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance.
      • v 3-5: Older women are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor bound to much wine, SO THAT they may be good examples to the younger women, and lead them in the way that they should serve Christ in serving their families well so that the word of God is not dishonored among the community at large:
        • Sensibly
        • Pure
        • Workers at home
        • Kind
        • Subjecting themselves to the headship of their husbands
      • v 6-8: Young men must also be sensible, and in all things show themselves to be an example to others (both in and out of the Body of Christ) in good deeds (living out their faith with action, not good deeds to provide their salvation) which will lead the opponent (Satan and the demons who seek to destroy this fledgling church of God) to be put to shame, and not have an occasion to bring a charge against the elect.
      • v 9-10: Slaves also, must serve well. Not in self-worship, nor in trickery, nor with a mind to attack their masters through poor work or outright theft. They must, despite their servitude, serve as if they were serving God Himself, as this reveals their faith in God to others, and allows His work on their behalf to be that which shines through their actions.
  • Given that information, we now see how it has transformed society. The grace of God – his outpouring of mercy on mankind through Jesus sacrifice on the behalf of his creation – has now appeared in time. It has entered into our temporal reality, in our understanding and in our lives.
    • Salvation – literally the divine act and the end result – saves us:
      • From the wrath of God – God’s righteous indignation against us for our lives of continual self-worship and self-gratification when we were created for the purpose of his worship and glorifying God.
      • To God – We have been saved to God so that we now can forsake the sin-habits and self-glorification which have so marked our lives, and we can now seek to serve him with pure motives and pure desires. We still struggle against our old habits and our old ways, and will continue to do so until we are brought to glory, but given God’s work in our lives, we are now able, through lives bound in Christ, to seek to serve him.
      • By the grace of God – We do not DO anything, nor do we possess any special property which commands God to provide salvation to us. We are all, likewise, condemned before God (Jn 3:18-19) and there is nothing which we can do – not giving to the church, not spending time helping little old ladies across the road, not giving to the poor on the street, not baptism, nor church attendance which will force God’s hand in choosing to save us. We are chosen by God by his mercy, according to his grace, and his sovereign will alone for salvation. Nothing that we do, or say, or feel has any control over the power of God revealed in his act on our behalf.
      • To the glory of God alone – Why are we removed from the equation? So that God alone is the one who receives the glory for the work. Through scripture we see time and time and time again that God has redeemed man from his enemies: Abram and the the 5 kings in Gen 14, Joseph and his brothers, then Israel and the famine which led them to live in Egypt. Then Moses and the Israelite slaves and their countless saving through his meeting all of their needs in the wilderness. The conquest of Canaan, providing judge after judge to redeem the people from their conquerors. Each time God has saved his people, they have immediately turned away to their own self-worship, yet God provides an escape for them, if they will humble themselves – repent – and see him alone. God does all of this not so that man gets the glory for “choosing Jesus”, but so that HE is seen as he truly is – as the king of loving kindness, the king of justice, and the king of salvation.
    • This salvation of God, not for Jews only, but for “all men” is meant to point to the fact that it is now presented plainly to all people, with no regard to their genetic lineage. Until now, the salvation that God provided was reserved for the Jewish people. The same laws were upon all of mankind, but the Hebrew people had the oracles of God (Romans 2) taught to them from their worth. Their very persistent presence in the region was a testament to God’s loving kindness to them in allowing them to exist before him and be his witnesses to the world, imperfect as they were, but this salvation is now no longer bound to the genetic descendants of Abraham, but is clearly presented to all people who may, in their own self-rejection and humiliation, turn to him alone for their salvation and believe in the promises kept through Christ the Lord.

v 12 – “training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and Godly lives in the present age”

  • Now, given this information in v 11, the grace of God leads us to live lives which seek to serve God. Again, this work which we perform is not something to purchase God’s salvation for us, nor does it keep us in his good graces, but it is the natural outpouring of a life in Christ. The work of God in our lives transforms us from self-worship and self-glorification into lives of service to others – to the church first, and to the community at large second. This is clearly revealed in two distinctive features found in the lives of God’s redeemed:
    • Renounce – We abandon that which we were before. We reject the life that we led, our previous loves and joys now seem empty and worthless. As we learn more and more about who God is, who we truly are in light of this revelation, and dive into the nature of God and man as found in scripture, we begin to reject more and more of who we were prior to our lives in Christ.
    • Live – This redeemed life now blossoms into new desires which can only find their joy in service to others and in seeking to learn more about our true God and King.
      • Sensibly: We are no longer driven by our unhinged desires for self-glorification, and now live lives marked by measured responses to that which happens around us – tempered by a knowledge that this minor blip in time which defines our time on earth (the “dash” between our birth and death dates later to be carved on our tombstones) is nothing compared to the life with Christ which will exist in a place outside of time. Not lasting FOR eternity, but existing IN eternity.
      • Righteously and godly: Broken from our old desires, we now seek to live and serve God with a right heart and a right spirit. As our walk with God continues, he will reveal to us things in our lives which need to be eradicated, and manners which are not honoring to God, and now we can seek to serve him in a manner which brings glory to him alone, and not ourselves.