Titus 3:1–15
Behavior in society involves submission to authority, and utmost consideration for all people, avoiding all ungody and fractious behavior (and persons), as believers engage in good works, demonstrating the same kindness and love for mankind that God had for them.
In this text, “good works” (3:1, 8, 14; and when examined across the New Testament they include “works” of thought, work, and deed) deals with behavior in society. So Christians are to live a godly life both in community (2:1–10) and in society (3:1–2). Subjection and obedience to rulers and authorities are to be part of the Christian life, no matter what the character of those in power or the character of the society’s civics. The scope of the exhortation in 3:2 is broad: it begins with “no one” and ends with “all people.” And all the instructions in 3:1–2 are based on theological grounds (3:3–7): the work of God in Christ. Perhaps intentionally, there are seven vices to avoid in 3:3, corresponding to the seven virtues to adopt in 3:1–2. No doubt, the foul attitudes and behaviors in 3:3 were destructive to the believing community, but in context, these vices are being painted as injurious to society as a whole.
Seeing that Paul has been exhorting godliness in the here and now, this emphasis on an inheritance in the there and then, i.e., rewards in eternity, is quite appropriate (3:7). Thus what “we” did (acts of unrighteousness (3:3) and fleshly acts of righteousness; 3:5) is contrasted with what God did for “us”(3:4–7), hinting at what we must now do, how we must now live henceforth—in godliness towards “all people” (3:2), particularly in light of those future rewards.
The salvific (justification, sanctification, and glorification) work of God in Christ was not based on works, but according to his mercy (3:5). Notice the emphasis: “Not by works which we ourselves did in righteousness—but according to His mercy he saved us” (3:5). The mercy of God that motivated his work is further explicated in 3:5b–6: “through washing of regeneration and [through] renewal of the Holy Spirit” (3:5). The four terms are organized with the most distinguishable terms first and last (“washing” and “Spirit”), and the terms for the result, the transformation, in the center (“regeneration” and “renewal”). In other words, “washing” accomplished by the Spirit in the past, i.e., spiritual cleansing, brings about regeneration and renewal of believers in the future, thus preparing them for a life of godliness and good works. And so, after the Spirit’s regeneration and renewal—i.e., after being made righteous by Christ—God expects his children, aside from their own pre-conversion “works” (3:5; done in the flesh), to be ready, post-conversion, for every “good work” (3:1, 8, 14; done in the Spirit). All that to say, just as God demonstrated “kindness” and “philanthropy” (“mankind-love”) to us (3:4) when we did not deserve it (3:3)—a salvation accomplished at great cost to the Godhead—so also, the saved must extend these beneficences to members of the society at large even those undeserving ones, perhaps at great cost to themselves.
Paul does not conclude without a final reference to “good works” and exhorting their undertaking by Christians (“our people,” 3:14; and “those who love us in the faith,” 3:15). The present imperative verb indicates that their “learning” to “engage in good works” was to be an ongoing, lifelong affair—for all of God’s people, everywhere—that they may be fruitful unto God.
For more details, see my commentary on 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus.
Abe Kuruvilla is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and a dermatologist in private practice. His passion is to explore, explain, and exemplify preaching. 