Today in our journey along Route 66 we come to Paul’s Letter to Titus.
Author
Over the last two Sundays we have talked about the authorship of the Pastoral Epistles: 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. Were these letters written by Paul? Bible commentator Tom Wright has answered that question this way,
Everybody in the early church seems to have taken it for granted that they [the Pastoral Epistles] were [written by Paul]. But in the last two hundred years many writers have pointed out several ways in which the letters sound and feel significantly different to the main letters (Romans, Galatians, and so on) which we know to have come from Paul himself.[1]
So, what is the answer? Well, there are actually a few possibilities…
- There is still a strong argument for Paul having written the Pastoral Epistles, plain and simple. After all, as Tom Wright also says, there are some very personal details in these letters that would be strange for anyone else to have made up. Furthermore, the undoubted authentic letters of Paul also display a great variety of style and vocabulary. For example, 1 and 2 Corinthians are, in some ways, very different, but few scholars doubt that Paul wrote both. The difference between the Paul of Romans and the Paul of the Pastoral Letters is not much greater than the difference between the Paul of 1 and 2 Corinthians.
- The letters could be pseudonymous. It was quite common in the ancient world, and even in Jewish literature, for someone to write a piece of literature in the name of some great figure long past. It could be that an anonymous Christian in the late first century wrote these letters in the name and in the spirit of Paul to address a new situation after Paul’s death.
- It could be that an anonymous Christian editor, writing in the late first century, had in his position scraps of some additional letters of Paul and that he wove these scraps together to form a whole, and as in case #2, used these bits, and some bits of his own, to address a new situation.
I tend to lean toward option #3. But whatever the case may be, I will refer in this message to Paul as the author of this letter.
Date
If Paul is the author of this letter to Titus, then it was written in the 60s of the first century, during Paul’s final imprisonment before his execution under Nero. The Letter to Titus may have been written as late as AD 66 if Paul was released from his first imprisonment and then imprisoned in Rome a second time.
If this letter is pseudonymous, or if it is a patchwork put together by a later editor, then it may have been written as late as the end of the first century.
Themes
When I was in seminary in the 1980s at Princeton, my preaching professor, the Reverend Doctor Bryant Kirkland preached a brilliant message in a chapel service on this letter to Titus. His title was: Why did I get stuck in Crete? That could well have been Titus’ question to Paul. Titus may not have been happy about being sent by Paul to Crete, and he may have been ready to quit. So, Paul writes to encourage Titus to say there. Paul says in Titus 1:5, “The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.”
Like 1 and 2 Timothy, Paul writes to his protégé, Titus, to instruct him in how to establish and further the work of the Church in Crete. Paul tells Titus what qualities elder/overseers ought to have, what Titus ought to teach to various groups, and how Christians ought to live in the present world.
1 and 2 Timothy and Titus are called the Pastoral Epistles because, in essence, they tell pastors how they should do their job, how local churches should be organized and how they should function. These letters form a manual for how to “do church”, not only in the first century, but pastors have found these letters relevant over the last two thousand years. I believe this stuff still works in the twenty-first century, so there is no need for us in the church to “re-invent the wheel”.
Structure
The structure of Paul’s Letter to Titus works out like this…
- Greeting (1:1-4)
- Qualifications for Elder/Overseers (1:5-9)
- Warning about False Teachers (1:10-16)
- Teaching for Various Groups in the Church (2)
- How Christians Should Live (3:1-8)
- How to Respond to Spiritual Error (3:9-11)
- Conclusion (3:12-15)
Key Concept—A Big But
Personally, I think the most important concept in this powerful little letter is found in Titus 3:3-7. Listen for God’s word to you from this passage…
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.
During our journey through the Bible on Route 66 we have examined a lot of big, important words. However, the little words of the Bible are sometimes just as important. There is a little word in this passage that is very important indeed. It is the Greek word, δὲ, which may be translated as “but”, “however”, or “now”. I call it “A Big But”. I know you were wondering what kind of “But” I was going to talk about in this message. It is “But” with one “t”.
Why do I call this “a big but”? Because this “but” signals the difference between our lives before we met Christ and our lives afterwards. The difference, as they say, is like night and day.
Paul characterizes our lives before coming to faith in Jesus by using several key words: foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved, living in malice, envy, and hatred. Do you see a portrait of yourself, or of your pre-Christian life in any of these words? I don’t know about you, but I have had times in my life where I was very foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved, envious, and if not living in hatred, certainly living in anger, at least for moments. Do I want to be like any of these descriptors? No. I want to be different. I want to live out the opposite of all these words.
I know that for some folks who may have been in the church their whole lives, or who came to faith at a young age, it is hard to see themselves in these words. So, I ask, “What words would you use to describe what your life would be if Jesus wasn’t in it?” Perhaps words like empty, hopeless, or loveless might be appropriate. I invite you to meditate on that question for a while: how would you describe life apart from Christ?
The great evangelist, George Whitefield once saw a criminal on the way to the gallows and said, “There but for the grace of God go I.”
That should be our attitude. We should be able to see, through the eyes of grace, that there is no sin that we might not fall into were it not for the presence of Jesus in our lives. There is a humility that comes into our lives when Jesus enters our souls; it is a humility that makes us realize: “nothing in my hand I bring; simply to thy cross I cling”.
The good news is that Paul does not stop with this negative description of the Christ-less life. There is the “big but”. “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared…”
William Barclay says there is perhaps no passage in the New Testament that sets out more fully the work of Christ for human beings than this one. Paul mentions at least four outstanding facts about the work of Christ in these few short verses. I am indebted to Barclay for the way he highlights these four points in his commentary on Titus…
First, Jesus puts us into a new relationship with God. “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared…” It is when Jesus appeared on the world scene that the kindness and love of God became most evident.
I imagine many of you had a sense, when we were reading through the Old Testament together, that the ancient Israelites viewed God as a King before whom they stood in awe, a Judge before whom they cringed in terror, a power they could only regard with fear. If that is true, then the ancient Israelites may have viewed their God in a way not much different than ancient pagans viewed the gods in general.
The good news of the New Testament is that Jesus came to change all that. Jesus tells us of a God who is our Father. No one addressed God as Father, Abba, before Jesus came along. Jesus not only calls God his Abba, his daddy, but he also teaches his followers to do the same. Is it not overwhelmingly significant that we begin the Lord’s Prayer with “Our Father who art in heaven…”?
Jesus tells us about and models for us a heavenly Father whose heart is always open to us and whose arms are always outstretched to us in love. Is that not what we see in the parable we call “The Parable of the Prodigal Son”? It really should be called “The Parable of the Loving Father”. Jesus tells us of our heavenly Father whose love never lets us go.
This leads to a second point. The love and grace of God are gifts that we can never earn.Paul says that God “saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy…”
“Grace” means “undeserved favor”. God does for us that which we don’t deserve. He gives us his love as a gift, not as something to be earned. If this is true then it means that you can never do anything today that will make God love you any more or any less tomorrow, because his love for you is perfect, complete, and unending.
I had another professor in seminary, Ed Dowey, who explained salvation in this way. He said salvation is like we have fallen off a cruise ship and God, standing on the deck, throws us a lifeline with a life preserver attached to the end of it. What do we do when God pulls us back on to the ship? Do we stand there and say, “Look at me, I grabbed the life preserver!”? No. We say, “Thanks be unto God for his indescribable gift!” That’s how grace works. It makes us humble. It makes us grateful.
Paul tells us that the whole process of salvation is motivated by two characteristics of God. God’s salvation of us is not motivated by anything in us. It is motivated by God’s own character.
First, our salvation is motivated by God’s kindness. The word in Greek is χρηστότης and means “that spirit which is so kind that it is always eager to give whatever gift may be necessary. [It] is an all-embracing kindliness, which issues not only in warm feeling but also in generous action at all times.” (Barclay)
Isn’t that encouraging? It is part of God’s character to be kind, to want to give us whatever gift is necessary for human flourishing.
Second, our salvation is motivated by God’s love. The word is φιλανθρωπία and, you guessed it, this is where we get our English word “philanthropy”. The word means “love of man”. The Greeks used this word to describe a good person’s kindness to his or her equals, a good monarch’s graciousness to his or her subjects, a generous person’s active pity for those in any kind of distress, and they used this word to describe the compassion that leads a person to ransom another person who has fallen into captivity.
Isn’t that a picture of what God has done for us? It is his compassion, his love for his creation, that has led him to ransom us from our captivity to sin.
A third outstanding fact about the work of Christ is that the love and grace of God in Christ are mediated to human beings through the Church. Now I don’t mean the Church as a human institution, but the Church as the body of Christ, a living organism.
Why do I say that the love and grace of God are mediated through the Church? I say this because Paul, in this passage, mentions baptism, and baptism is one of the sacraments of the Church.
This is not to say that human beings cannot come to God in any other way. God is not confined by sacraments. There are many ways to experience God. But the doorway to experiencing God is ever open through the sacraments of the Church.
Where does Paul mention baptism in this passage? Paul says that God “saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit…” The word for “washing” is a reference to baptism.
Paul calls it the washing of rebirth. This is the only place in Paul’s letters where he talks about being born again. Jesus talks about being born again in John 3, but this is the only place where Paul talks about it. The point of this image is that when a person accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior, leader and forgiver, life begins all over again. There is a newness that comes into one’s life when Jesus comes in that is like a new birth.
Now, it is important to note that baptism is a sign of this new birth, but it is not the birth itself. Baptism, as a sacrament, is an outward sign of an inward reality, baptism is a sign that points to the reality of the new birth brought about by God’s grace.
Paul also speaks of renewal. Re-birth is a one-time event symbolized by the one-time act of baptism. But renewal is an ongoing thing. William Barclay says it is as if life were worn out and when a person discovers Jesus there is an act of renewal, which is not over and done with in one moment of time but repeats itself every day. We need only be washed once with baptism, but the other sacrament, the Lord’s Supper, is a symbol of ongoing renewal, it is a sacred meal we come to again and again.
The fourth outstanding fact about the work of Christ is perhaps the most important of all. That is that the grace and love of God are mediated to people within the Church, but behind it all is the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul says that God “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.”
Again, Barclay puts it so well. He says…
All the work of the Church, all the words of the Church, all the sacraments of the Church are inoperative unless the power of the Holy Spirit is there. However highly a Church is organized, however splendid its ceremonies may be, however beautiful its buildings, all is ineffective without that power. The lesson is clear. Revival in the Church comes not from increased efficiency in organization but from waiting upon God. Not that efficiency is not necessary, but no amount of efficiency can breathe life into a body from which the Spirit has departed.
That is why perhaps the most important prayer we can pray is this simple one: “Come, Holy Spirit!” Whenever I am in London, I try to worship at Holy Trinity Brompton. It is an ancient and historic church building. But it was at one time derelict, until a priest named Sandy Miller became the pastor. Ever since, Holy Trinity Brompton has been a church filled with the Holy Spirit and I can feel it whenever I worship there. The presence of the Holy Spirit means more than any beautiful building.
When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, Paul says here that there will be three results. The first result is FORGIVENESS. That is what justification by God’s grace is all about. Justification is a declaration of righteousness. God declares us to be righteous in his sight based upon the perfect life, death, and resurrection of his Son Jesus. Now if we are justified, that also means we are forgiven. Our sin, past, present, and future, is wiped away. One way to think about justification is that it puts us in the place where it is just as if we never sinned.
A second result of the Holy Spirit coming into our souls is LIFE. “We become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”
Now, eternal life is not just pie in the sky by and by. Eternal life is the life of the ages. It is a whole new quality of life that can begin now and never end. When the Holy Spirit comes into us, then we begin to really live for the first time. Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life in all its fullness.” (John 10:10)
A third result of the Holy Spirit coming into our lives is HOPE. I have often quoted Hal Lindsey who said, people “can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air … but only for one second without hope.” That is so true!
When the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts, he gives us the hope that we need to really live. The Christian is a person for whom, as the poet Robert Browning said, the best is yet to be. The Christian knows that no matter how wonderful life on earth may be with Jesus, the life to come will be better by far. The Christian, the Christ-in person, and that person alone, knows the wonder of sin forgiven, the thrill of living in Christ in the present, and the hope of heaven to come. All this is possible because Christ has come, transferring us from death to life.
[1] Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Pastoral Letters, Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2004, pp. 4-5.
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