9  The Christian’s Responsibility in a Pagan Society  (3:1-8)

Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be uncontentious, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. (3:1-8)

Here Paul moves from how believers are to live in the church (chapter 2) to how they are to live in society. This is a crucial section of instruction for today. The United States essentially is now a pagan nation. After being blessed with some 150 years of strong Christian, biblical influence, our country has been rapidly declining, especially during the last half of the twentieth century. Millions of Americans still attend church regularly, and many more consider themselves to be Christians. According to polls, most Americans claim to believe in God. But practical atheism and moral relativism have dominated our society for many decades. For the most part, the few vestiges of Christianity still reflected in our culture are weak and compromising. A growing number of those vestiges have become apostate or cultic.

Many observers have referred to this period in the United States, and in Western society in general, as post-Christian. By any measure, it is certainly sub-Christian. Although many parts of our culture still wear some sort of religious mask, in reality it is largely pagan. Through its leaders, its legislative bodies, and its courts it has adopted not simply a non-Christian but a distinctively anti-Christian stance and agenda. Anything and everything that is explicitly Christian and biblical has been swept away under such guises as separation of church and state, equal rights, and religious and moral tolerance.

The many biblical tenets and standards that once were part of the fabric of our country, and that provided the undeniable cultural benefits of morality, are now gone. Whatever its form or practical benefits may have been, cultural Christianity is dead. Self-expression, moral freedom, materialism, and hedonism are the prevailing gods. Those gods, as clearly pagan as any in the ancient Greek or Roman pantheons, have inevitably spawned the epidemic breakdown of families, illegitimate births, sexual evils of every sort, unequaled growth of drug addiction and crime, and the wanton destruction of unborn babies. In the name of intellectual and scientific progress, godless philosophies have long dominated secular as well as much private education.

Not surprisingly, most of those who have grown up in this standardless society strongly resist any sort of controlled behavior. Consequently, we do not have enough laws to cover the rapidly increasing and more sophisticated forms of crime. Nor do we have enough police to arrest lawbreakers, enough courts to try them, or enough prisons to incarcerate them.

The spiritual revival of the 1970s swept across the campuses of many colleges and universities. Despite the excesses and distortions that Satan inevitably uses to try to frustrate the work of the Holy Spirit, many students received Christ as Savior and Lord. Mass baptisms were conducted in rivers, lakes, and even oceans. That same period of time witnessed the release of several new versions of the English Bible. Christian publishing and broadcasting had remarkable growth, and an undeniable wind of the Spirit was blowing. In many ways, those days caused evangelical Christians to rejoice. Understandably, many believers expected that movement to usher in a new day of blessing.

But the revival of the seventies soon turned into the debauchery of the eighties and nineties. Many government leaders, educators, celebrities, college students, and much of society in general became openly disparaging of biblical standards of morality and of Christianity as a whole. Laws were written, court decisions were made, and school standards—from kindergarten through graduate level—were adopted that were avowedly contemptuous of religion in general and of biblical Christianity in particular.

Evangelicals became as resentful of this secular trend as they had been encouraged by the spiritual revival that preceded it. Believers became alarmed that legislatures, courts, and administrations began to openly sanction deviant sexual behavior, especially homosexuality. They became sickened that in many, if not most, public-school sex education courses the only real dangers for teens who are sexually active are held to be sexually transmitted disease or unwanted pregnancy. They are repulsed that criminals are being exonerated and innocent victims disregarded. They are appalled that biblical standards of ethics are blatantly rejected and that vulgarity, profanity, and blasphemy not only have become condoned but admired.

In reaction to the rapid and pervasive escalation of immorality and ungodliness, believers have become both saddened and angered. Hostility among some of them has been intensified still further when they learn that their taxes are being used to fund ideas and practices that only a few generations ago were condemned even by most secularists. They fear for their children and even more for their grandchildren because of the kind of world into which they will be born, educated, and have to live.

Many well-meaning Christian leaders have founded organizations to counteract anti-Christian influences and assaults. Attempting to fight fire with fire, as it were, Christian organizations, publishers, and broadcasters have sought to counter anti-Christian ideas and programs by using non-Christian tactics. They have decided it is time to stand up for their “rights” and have declared war on the prevailing non-Christian culture, especially the liberal national media. They have become hostile to unbelievers, the very ones God has called them to love and reach with the gospel.

But neither the New Testament nor the example of the early church justifies such a mentality. The cause of Christ cannot be protected or expanded by social intimidation any more than by government decree or military conquest. Ours is a spiritual warfare against human ideologies and beliefs that are set up against God and that can only be successfully conquered with the weapon of the Word (see 2 Cor. 10:3-5). In his book The Evangelical Pulpit, John Seel writes,

We must repudiate our confused loyalties and concerns for the passing world and put aside our misguided efforts to change culture externally. To allow our thoughts, plans, time, money, and energy to be spent trying to make a superficially Christian America, or to put a veneer of morality over the world, is to distort the gospel, misconstrue our divine calling, and squander our God-given resources. We must not weaken our spiritual mission, obscure our priority of proclaiming the gospel of salvation, or become confused about our spiritual citizenship, loyalties, and obligations. We are to change society, but by faithfully proclaiming the gospel, which changes lives on the inside.

As this passage in Titus and many others in the New Testament make clear, we must not become so engulfed in trying to force social behavior to conform to our standards that we become enemies of those our Lord has called us to win to Himself. We must reject sin and never compromise God’s standards of righteousness. But we also must never engage in defamation and denigration of the lost sinners who make up our corrupt culture. When Christians become political, sinners become the enemy instead of the mission field.

Paul obviously was consumed with the divine mandate to evangelize when he wrote this letter to Titus. It was not his desire for Christians living in the pagan culture of Crete to turn on the unbelievers and try to force changes in cultural standards and personal behavior in order to be less offended by their society.

No Christian can help wishing that the moral standards of society were better. We do grieve over the rampant lewdness, indecency, deceitfulness, vulgarity, unchastity, extreme self-indulgence, and every other form of depravity that is corroding our society. But, as noble as the desire to reform culture may be, God does not call the church to impact society by promoting laws and judicial decisions that support biblical standards of behavior.

The single divine calling of the church is to bring sinful people to salvation through Christ. Like ancient Israel, we are to be “a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, … a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:5, 9; cf. Ex. 19:6).

The purpose of a priest is to bring God to people and people to God. If we do not lead the lost to salvation, nothing else we do for them, no matter how beneficial at the time, is of any eternal consequence. Whether a person is an atheist or a theist, a hooligan or a model citizen, a criminal or a policeman, a sexual pervert or a paragon of virtue, a brutal tyrant or a gracious benefactor—if he does not have a saving relationship to Jesus Christ, his destiny is hell. Whether he is a militant proabortionist or a militant antiabortionist, if he is not saved, he will spend eternity apart from God. It makes no difference whether a person goes to hell as a policeman, a junkie, or a judge. The end is the same.

When the church adopts a moralizing approach, its energy and resources are diverted and evangelization suffers. When Christians become hostile to government and to society in general, they almost inevitably become hostile to the unsaved leaders of that government and the unsaved citizens who live in that society.

We cannot afford to weaken our spiritual mission or our priority of gospel proclamation and kingdom consciousness by getting involved in efforts to change cultural behavior. Even more important, we cannot become enemies of the very ones we seek to win to Christ, our potential brothers and sisters in the Lord. When people come to Christ, He changes them and they change the sphere that they influence.

Really changing society starts when a Christian’s moral and spiritual concern is for his own virtue and godliness. It is our righteous attitude and conduct that make us not only more pleasing to the Lord but more pleasing to the unsaved. It is righteous living that makes the saving message of the gospel believable to the lost. If we claim to be saved from sin but still live sinful lives, our preaching and teaching, no matter how orthodox, is likely to fall on deaf ears.

In Paul’s day, of course, there was no cultural Christianity to confront and denounce, only blatant paganism—with all the malevolent trappings that Satan could generate within it—and weak, superficial, and hypocritical Judaism.

Because of his wide-ranging education before his conversion, Paul was particularly familiar with both superficial Judaism and established paganism. He knew what it was like to live in a world of murderous tyrants, gross inequality and injustice, and sexual looseness and perversion. The Roman Empire, which in that day comprised all of the known Western world and some of the eastern, was engulfed by idolatry, ritual prostitution, slavery, extortion, and exorbitant taxation. Only Roman citizens had reasonable protection under the law, and even that privileged status could easily be forfeited. There was plenty to make believers angry at their society.

Yet Paul, like Jesus, did not spend his time condemning pagan beliefs and practices. He did not admonish believers to impact pagan culture by trying to reform its idolatry, immorality, and corruption. Nor did he call for nonviolent, much less violent, resistance against unjust laws or inhuman punishments. He called rather for believers to preach, teach, and witness to the transforming power of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ and to live lives that gave clear evidence of that power. And particularly he did not want believers to resent unbelievers, but rather to show them love and compassion. To excite such love toward the wicked who corrupt the world, Paul urges Titus to help believers remember several essential realities.

In the first eight verses of chapter 3, Paul admonishes Titus to remind Christians on Crete of realities they had heard many times before. The four major areas of remembrance pertain to our duties as Christians (w. 1b-2), to our former condition of unbelief and sin (v. 3), to our salvation through Jesus Christ (w. 4-7), and to our mission to an unbelieving, lost world (v. 8).

Remind is from hupomimnēskō and is here an imperative of command that applies to all of the admonitions in this passage. The present tense gives this verb the additional connotations of continuity and persistence. Reminding Christians of these truths should keep them from feeling hostile toward and superior to the unconverted.

REMEMBER YOUR DUTIES

to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be uncontentious, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. (3:1b-2)

These seven Christian duties apply to all believers at all times. They are the attitudes and dispositions that should always characterize our lives among those who do not belong to God. The Holy Spirit here defines our obligation to pagan culture.

Willing obedience to human authority demonstrates to the world that the ways and workings of this world are not to be major concerns for believers. Our work is in this world but not of it, because our true citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). Our focus is to be on holy living and on winning the lost to Jesus Christ, who Himself came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). In obedience to the Lord and as a testimony to the world, we are not to “be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of [our minds], that [we] may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2).

As Christians, we “are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that [we] may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called [us] out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). It is for that reason that we are to keep our “behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander [us] as evildoers, they may on account of [our] good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation” (2:12). Continuing the lesson in earthly citizenship, Peter mentions several duties that Paul cites in Romans 13. “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution,” he commands, “whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. … Honor all men; love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king” (w. 13-15, 17).

First, we are to be subject to rulers, to authorities. This duty pertains to our attitude and conduct in regard to secular government. It is important to note that Paul specifies no particular kind or level of government or any particular kind or level of government official. He allows for no exceptions or qualifications.

On one of the many occasions when Jewish leaders tried to maneuver Jesus into heresy or treason, the Pharisees and Herodians “sent their disciples to Him, … saying, ‘Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. Tell us therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?’” (Matt. 22:16-17). They knew that if Jesus said “Yes,” He would be discredited with the Jewish populace, who hated and chafed under excessive Roman taxes. If He said “No,” He would have been arrested for treason against Rome. Perceiving their malice, Jesus replied, “‘Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax.’ And they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?’ They said to Him, ‘Caesar’s.’ Then He said to them, ‘Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s’” (Matt. 22:15-21).

Jesus did not suggest that the tax was fair or that it would be used for good purposes. He was fully aware that Caesar claimed to be a god and that Jews therefore considered his likeness on the coin to be a form of idolatry. Yet He declared unambiguously that the tax should be paid. On an earlier occasion, He made clear that, even as God’s incarnate Son, He did not exempt Himself from payment of taxes (Matt. 17:24-27).

In Romans 13, Paul mentions seven reasons why all people, including believers, are under divine obligation to respect and obey human government. First, “the governing authorities. … which exist are established by God” (v. 1). Second, the person “who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God” (v. 2a). Third, those who oppose such authority “will receive condemnation upon themselves” (v. 2b). Fourth, government is designed to restrain evil and is therefore “not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil” (v. 3). Fifth, it is divinely designed to promote the good of individuals and of society, “a minister of God to you for good” (v. 4a). Sixth, and conversely, it also is divinely empowered to punish wrongdoers, if necessary, by capital punishment (“the sword”), as “an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil” (v. 4b). Seventh, for believers “it is necessary to be in subjection [to government] not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake” (v. 5). “For because of this you also pay taxes,” the apostle continues, “for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor” (w. 6-7).

The Roman government under which the early church lived not only was thoroughly pagan and morally debauched but also was despotic, oppressive, unjust, and brutal. Nevertheless, Paul makes clear that the Christian’s obligation to respect and obey human government does not rest on its being democratic or just but solely on its being the God-ordained means by which human society is regulated. Therefore, as Paul makes clear in the passage just cited, the person who resists and opposes human government, resists and opposes God.

Second, we are to be obedient to human authorities. The only exception regards their commanding us to do something that is against the command of God. Such an exception is found in the account of Acts 4. When the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council in Jerusalem, ordered Peter and John “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus,” the apostles replied, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:18-20; cf. 5:40-42).

Third, we are to be ready for every good deed. Paul is not speaking of reluctantly doing what we know we should do in society but of willingly and sincerely being ready and prepared to perform every good deed toward the people around us that we have opportunity to do. He is referring to a sincere, loving eagerness to serve others. No matter how hostile the society around us may be, we are to be good to the people in it whose lives intersect with ours. “While we have opportunity, [we are to] do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (Gal. 6:10). We are to be known for what might be described as consistent aggressive goodness, done not simply out of duty but out of love for our Lord and for other people.

That attitude is in direct contrast to that of false teachers. As Paul mentions earlier in this letter, such men “profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good deed” (Titus 1:16).

The lives of believers should continually demonstrate the spiritual transformation they have received through faith in Jesus Christ.

Fourth, we are to malign no one, not even those who contribute most to the assault on biblical standards. Even while contending against the worst of sins committed by the worst of sinners, we must never stoop to maligning those whose sin we detest. Malign is from blasphēmeō, from which we get the English blasphemy. It is to slander, curse, and treat with contempt, and it can never be done from a righteous motive. It is tragic that many Christians speak contemptuously of politicians and other public figures, not realizing that in doing so they hinder the work of redemption. “I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,” Paul admonishes, “for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:1-4).

Fifth, we are to be uncontentious, meaning friendly and peaceful toward the lost rather than quarrelsome and belligerent. In an ungodly, immoral society it is easy to become angry with those who corrupt it, condemning them and writing them off as hopeless and beyond the pale of God’s grace. But we have no right to become hostile when unbelievers act like unbelievers. “If possible,” Paul admonished believers in Rome, “so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men” (Rom. 12:18). If God so limitlessly and unconditionally loved the world that He sent His sinless Son to redeem it, how can we, as sinful recipients of His redeeming grace, be callous and loveless toward those who have not yet received it?

Sixth, we are to be gentle. Epieikēs (gentle) carries the basic idea of that which is moderate, fair, and forbearing in regard to treatment of others. It has been referred to as “sweet reasonableness,” an attitude that does not hold grudges but always gives others the benefit of any doubt.

Seventh, and finally, we are to be showing every consideration for all men, a characteristic closely related to the previous two. In Greek literature prautēs (consideration) was sometimes used of a feigned, hypocritical concern for others that is motivated by self-interest. But in the New Testament it is always used of genuine consideration for others and is sometimes translated in this verse as “meekness” (KJV), or “humility” (NIV).

In his Synonyms of the New Testament, Richard Trench comments that prautēs refers to “an inwrought grace of the soul; and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is that temper of Spirit in which we accept His dealing with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting. … It is only the humble heart which is also the meek, and which, as such, does not fight against God and more or less struggle and contend with Him. This meekness, however, being first of all a meekness before God, is also such in the face of men, even of evil men, out of a sense that these, with the insults and injuries which they may inflict, are permitted and employed by Him for the chastening and purifying of His elect” (in W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words [Westwood, N.J.: Revell, 1940], 3:55-56). “Described negatively,” Vine goes on to comment, “[prautēs] is the opposite of self-assertiveness and self-interest; it is equanimity of spirit that is neither elated nor cast down, simply because it is not occupied with self at all” (Vine, 3:56).

Our Lord Himself is the supreme example of genuine consideration [prautēs] for all men that should characterize His followers. In his second letter to believers in Corinth, Paul speaks of “the meekness [prautēs] and gentleness of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:1). Quoting from the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) rendering of Zechariah 9:9, which predicts the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Matthew uses the adjective form (praus) to describe Jesus as “gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden” (Matt. 21:5). In a gracious appeal to His followers, Jesus used the same adjective of Himself, saying, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle [praus] and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:29).

Our attitude toward unbelievers should always reflect a spirit of consideration, of meekness and gentleness. “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts,” Peter tells us, “always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Pet. 3:15). We also are to deal with sinful and disobedient fellow believers “in a spirit of gentleness” (Gal. 6:1), “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:25).

As I have commented on that verse from 2 Timothy:

It is not surprising, therefore, that prautēs is a fruit of the Spirit (“meekness,” Gal. 5:23) and that the adjective (praus) is a beatitude (“meek,” Matt. 5:5 KJV). Paul admonishes “those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, [to] put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness [prautēs] and patience” (Col. 3:12).

The phrase all men is not hyperbole or exaggeration. Paul is speaking of every human being, particularly the unsaved. Three times in his first letter to Timothy, the apostle urges “that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men” (2:1). He reminds us that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2:4) and “is the Savior of all men, especially of believers” (4:10; cf. 2:6). Earlier in this letter to Titus he rejoices that “the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men” (2:11).

Genuine, heartfelt consideration for all men is one of the most foundational spiritual virtues. As followers and imitators of Jesus Christ, our calling is not to fight for our rights or privileges against the ungodly. Rather, as we live in this corrupt world in subjection and obedience to human authority, doing good deeds, maligning no one, and being uncontentious, gentle, and meek, we will thereby demonstrate the gracious power of God to transform sinners and make them like Himself.

REMEMBER YOUR FORMER CONDITION

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. (3:3)

Rather than resent and slander unbelieving leaders, educators, the media, and people in the entertainment industry, and rather than becoming incensed and venomous in our attacks on the immoral agendas of various organizations and movements, we should remember that we also once were like those whom we now are inclined to defame and condemn. We were once just like them and would still be like them if it were not for the saving grace of God, which alone delivered us.

Paul frequently gives lists of sins that typify unbelievers. Speaking of those “who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, … [who] knew God, [but] did not honor Him as God, or give thanks,” he points out that “they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. … They did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and, although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them” (Rom. 1:18, 21, 28-32).

The apostle gives similar lists in his letters to the church at Corinth (1 Cor. 6:9-11), the churches of Galatia (Gal. 5:19-21), and the church at Ephesus (Eph. 4:17—19; cf. 2:1-3). He does not exempt himself, confessing that before his conversion he “was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor” (1 Tim. 1:13; cf. Acts 8:3; Phil. 3:6).

It is not that every believer once lived in or advocated the most extreme sin. If we were converted as a child, we perhaps had not even heard of some of the sins that Paul mentions. Even if we became a believer as an older adult, we may have lived a relatively moral and socially responsible life. But as unsaved human beings, we all were depraved in our very nature and were at enmity with God (Rom. 5:10; Eph. 2:3; Col. 1:21), no matter how outwardly moral, respectable, and religious we may have been.

As we grow in the things of the Lord, it is difficult not to be enraged at the unbelievably rapid growth and acceptance of such things as homosexuality, pornography, gratuitous sex, New Age philosophy, abortion on demand, and school sex education that promotes almost everything but chastity. Those and many other such beliefs and practices are unquestionably evil, corrupt, destructive, and ungodly. They ravage individual lives and society as a whole and they dishonor our holy God.

But that has always been true and will continue to be true until the Lord returns. As his lists of sins indicate, Paul was well acquainted with the most extreme evils. The very name of Corinth, a Greek city where the apostle ministered for some eighteen months (Acts 18:1-17; 1 Cor. 2:3), was a byword for gross sexual immorality even in the pagan world of that day.

In order for us as believers to give a godly testimony in a pagan culture, we must remember that such is to be expected from the ungodly. In our former condition, we also once were foolish ourselves, just like the unbelievers among whom we now live and witness and by whom we are so agitated. To reinforce his point, Paul lists seven vices that characterize the unsaved, vices in which we ourselves were once engaged.

First, Paul reminds us, we also once were foolish ourselves, ignorant and uninformed. Anoētos (foolish) denotes complete lack of understanding, total ignorance in regard to a particular area of knowledge. Paul’s point here is that, no matter how advanced a person’s education and intellectual accomplishments may be, if he does not recognize God and trust in Him for deliverance from sin, he is foolish concerning the most important truth regarding himself. With God, even the wisdom of men is foolishness (cf. 1 Cor. 1:20, 25).

In his fascinating book The Intellectuals, Paul Johnson, one of the foremost contemporary historians of Western civilization, documents the morass of unspeakable moral filth and ungodliness that has characterized most of the leading intellectual architects of modern Western culture. Their astounding mental capacities and their profound impact on modern society are incontestable. Yet they are precisely those whom Paul described nearly two thousand years ago, whom, because “they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave … over to a depraved mind” (Rom. 1:28). Their biographies are studies in wretchedness. A brilliant mind not only is capable of gross evil, but, because of that very brilliance, is capable of the most heinous evils. The appalling atrocities of the Nazis, for example, were conceived and perpetrated by brilliant men in arguably the most intellectually, scientifically, and culturally advanced nation of modern times.

That should not surprise us. It was Lucifer, after all, the most brilliant of archangels, the “star of the morning, son of the dawn,” who opposed God and was cast out of heaven with his fellow rebellious angels (Isa. 14:12; cf. Rev. 12:9) and who became Satan, the prince of demons.

Second, we should be patient and gracious to the unsaved of our society because, as unbelievers, we too were once by nature disobedient to all authority instituted by God. Through Jeremiah the Lord revealed that “the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). Jesus declared that “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders,” and everything else that defiles a man (Matt. 15:19-20). It is for that reason that, although human laws and powers are ordained by God to help restrain and punish evil behavior and maintain a certain amount of social order and safety, they have no power to change the human heart, from which every evil, every sin, every defilement, every debauchery emanates.

Third, as unbelievers we were once, by our very nature, deceived. Planaō (deceived) has the basic idea of being purposely led astray. Satan’s objective is to lead sinners into ever greater sin and ungodliness. John refers to him as “the great dragon [who] was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world” (Rev. 12:9). Whether they acknowledge it or not—and the vast majority do not—all unbelievers are children of their “father the devil, and … want to do the desires of [their] father, … [who] was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Reflecting the nature and following the example of their spiritual father, “evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Tim. 3:13). In the end times, “false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect” (Matt. 24:24, emphasis added).

Fourth, as unbelievers we were once, by our very nature, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures. Although the unsaved, natural man willfully chooses to sin, he does so because his very constitution is sinful, and he has neither the desire nor the ability to be anything but sinful. He is therefore both willingly and inevitably enslaved to sin in its many and various forms.

In Romans 3:10-18, Paul graphically depicts the sad state of sinners:

Therefore, although we cannot help being dismayed when we see evil flourishing, we should not be surprised. Apart from saving trust in Jesus Christ, a person has no alternative to sin. Paul reminded believers in Rome that before salvation, “you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness … resulting in further lawlessness” (Rom. 6:19).

Lusts refers to sinful desires and pleasures to sinful satisfactions. The apostle is speaking of the full gamut of things that fallen men naturally pursue and enjoy. Pleasures is from hēdonē, from which we derive hedonism, the insatiable pursuit of self-satisfaction that so characterizes modern society. Whether the particular lusts and pleasures involve misuse of good things that the Lord provides or are intrinsically evil, the natural man desires and enjoys them for purely selfish and sinful reasons.

Fifth, as unbelievers we were once, by our very nature, spending our life in malice. Spending translates a form of diagō, which has the basic meaning simply of living. But this present active participle carries the further idea of a normal, typical manner of life and is therefore here rendered as spending our life. Malice translates kakia, meaning “evil” or, as one Greek scholar refers to it, “the vicious character generally.” To varying degrees, but inevitably, the unsaved person spends his life maliciously.

Sixth, as unbelievers we were once, by our very by nature, living in envy. Envy is a sin that carries its own reward: it guarantees its own frustration and disappointment. By definition, the envious person cannot be satisfied with what he has and will always crave for more. His evil desires and pleasures are insatiable, and he cannot abide any other person’s having something that he himself does not have or having more of something than he himself has.

Seventh, as unbelievers we were once, by our very nature, hateful. Hate is a natural fruit of envy, but it is also produced by many other things. It often has no rational base and simply is expressed for its own sake. It does not need a reason. Hateful persons despise anyone or anything that stands in their way or displeases them. They find themselves hating one another and eventually hating everyone, including those who are most like them. Hatred is not an appealing sin, even to the hateful.

Husbands and wives divorce because their egos clash, each wanting his or her own way, even at the cost of their marriage and the welfare of their children. Children raised by hateful parents will themselves likely become hateful, of each other, of their parents, of their teachers, of any person who threatens their freedom and self-will, and eventually of their friends. Hatred is perhaps the loneliest of sins.

Blind to God’s truth, God’s standards, God’s will, and all spiritual reality, unbelievers generate exactly the kind of world that is ours today. They can do nothing else. But although we despise the sins that characterize, motivate, and drive them, we must constantly keep in mind Paul’s point in this verse: All of us, without exception, were ourselves once characterized, motivated, and driven by the same sins that are repulsive to us now. That awareness should humble us and be a guard against hating those who are sinful and who need salvation through Jesus Christ, just as we did.

We must look at the unsaved as our Lord looked at them during His incarnation and still looks at them now—with grief and tears over their lostness and a compassionate desire to see them repent, believe in Jesus Christ, and be saved.

REMEMBER YOUR SALVATION

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (3:4-7)

As the apostle moves to his third reminder, the transitional conjunction But turns the emphasis from remembering our former condition of lostness to the equally important need to remember our present condition of salvation. Again, Paul lists seven categories (as in both previous points), this time the seven aspects of salvation that are revealed in the single sentence that comprises verses 4-7.

In this short passage Paul sweeps across the glorious truths of salvation, every facet of which is sovereignly initiated and empowered by God alone. There are doctrines here that could be studied and pondered for months without mining all their truth.

We are now radically different from the way we once were, and from the way the unsaved still are, solely because of God’s kindness, His love, His mercy, His washing of regeneration, His renewing by the Holy Spirit, His Son Jesus Christ our Savior, and His grace.

Among other things, remembering our salvation should motivate us to keep in mind that the only reason we are different now is that He saved us. When we are bombarded by our ungodly culture—by ungodly media, ungodly educators, ungodly politicians, ungodly entertainers and sports figures, ungodly books and magazines, ungodly neighbors and co-workers, and even by ungodly friends and relatives—we should focus above all else on the sovereign grace of God, who delivered each one of us from that life purely by His own will and for His own glory and not because of anything desirable or worthy that was in us. It is God “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4), who does not wish “for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9), and who “so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life, … that the world should be saved through Him” (John 3:16-17).

Every aspect of salvation is from God and from God alone. First, we should remember that we were saved by the kindness of God our Savior. Chrēstotēs (kindness) connotes genuine goodness and generosity of heart. Our salvation from sin and lostness and death issued wholly from God’s kindness, His loving, benevolent, and entirely gracious concern to draw us to Himself and redeem us from sin forever.

It is God’s nature to be kind to the lost. “Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return,” Jesus commanded; “and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men” (Luke 6:35, emphasis added). God is kinder still to His children, those who are saved. In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul declared, “God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-7, emphasis added).

Paul again refers to God as Savior, the central title for both God the Father and for Christ the Son and the theme of this letter (see also 1:3, 4; 2:10, 11, 13; 3:6). Near the beginning of his letter to believers in Rome, the apostle asked rhetorically, “Do you think lightly of the riches of His [God’s] kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Rom. 2:4; cf. 11:22). It is the sovereign kindness of God that initiates repentance, the first step in salvation.

Second, we should remember that we were saved by God’s uninfluenced and unearned love for mankind, a phrase that translates the compound Greek noun philanthrōpia, from which the English philanthropy is derived. It is composed of phileō (“to have affection for”) and anthrōpos (“man,” or mankind) and refers to compassion, especially the eagerness to deliver someone from pain, trouble, or danger. It involves more than mere emotion and always finds a way to express itself in some form of helpfulness.

In the last two chapters of Acts, Luke records two instances of unsaved Gentiles showing philanthrōpia. Before Paul boarded ship to be taken as a prisoner to Rome, the centurion “Julius treated Paul with consideration [philanthrōpia] and allowed him to go to his friends and receive care” (Acts 27:3). After the shipwreck off the coast of Malta, Paul and all the others on board managed to safely reach shore, just as God had promised (27:22-26). Luke then reports that “the natives showed us extraordinary kindness [philanthrōpia]; for because of the rain that had set in and because of the cold, they kindled a fire and received us all” (28:2).

The Old Testament speaks often of the Lord’s lovingkindness, which never ceases or fails (Lam. 3:22). David declared, “Thou, O Lord, art a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness and truth” (Ps. 86:15; cf. 145:8). Another psalmist proclaimed, “He has made His wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate” (Ps. 111:4).

In the present passage, kindness and love for mankind are virtually synonymous. The two words together, especially in the context of these four verses, reflect the even deeper agape love that God has for fallen mankind. The best-known and most beloved passage that expresses God’s agapē love is “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Because of God’s great and compassionate love for mankind, He delivers sinners from the oppression and fatal danger of their iniquity.

It was through the incarnation of Jesus Christ that God’s sovereign kindness and love for mankind appeared, at which time His grace also appeared (Titus 2:11). “God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-6). All believers can exult with Paul: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20; cf. Rev. 1:5).

John Calvin wrote that, although God

Third, we should remember that we did not save ourselves by self-effort or any other means, but that God saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy.

Saved is from sōzō, which, although it is sometimes used in the New Testament of physical, temporal deliverance (see, e.g., Matt. 8:25; John 12:27), is most often used of spiritual salvation. Those words have always been cherished by those who have been saved. Our salvation is the most important and precious thing about us, to which nothing else can begin to compare. Biblical Christianity is a saving religion, and salvation has always been the central theme of Christian songs and hymns.

In the negative sense, salvation relates to our deliverance from the penalty of sin, that is, from divine wrath, spiritual death, and hell. Still again, we are pointed to that beloved text in the gospel of John. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,” the Son Himself declared, “that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved [sōzō] through Him” (John 3:16-17).

In the positive sense, salvation grants us the privilege “to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4), to be made “alive together with Christ” (Eph. 2:5), to be delivered “from the domain of darkness, and transferred … to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col. 1:13), and to have “the hope of eternal life” (Titus 1:2).

After Pentecost, “the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). In words that may have been part of an early church creed, Paul wrote, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). The purpose of the incarnation was to accomplish the sacrifice that would save lost sinners, among whom we all were once numbered (Eph. 2:5).

The Savior did not redeem us because of anything that we were, or could ever be, in ourselves. Ephesians 2:8-9 makes it clear: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). No deeds, even those done in relative righteousness, could have earned or merited our salvation. We made no contribution to God’s sovereign and gracious work of salvation. We did not deserve deliverance from sin and death. We did not deserve to be born again, recreated in the very image of our Lord. We did not deserve to become God’s children and joint heirs with His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. We did not deserve the promise of everlasting life, which we will spend in heaven in the continual presence of God.

We were rather saved according to His mercy. Mercy is from eleos, which refers to the outward manifestation of pity and assumes need on the part of those who receive it and sufficient resources to meet the need on the part of those who show it. In some ways, mercy is similar to grace, which Paul mentions in verse 7. But whereas grace relates to guilt, mercy relates to affliction. Whereas grace relates to the state of the sinner before God the judge, mercy relates to the condition of the sinner in his sin. Whereas grace judicially forgives the offender for his wrongdoing, mercy compassionately helps him recover.

Fourth, we should remember that we were saved by God’s mercifully deciding to grant the washing of regeneration. When we were saved, we were cleansed of our sin, the decay and filth that is produced by spiritual deadness. Speaking of that truth in his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul explains that we were cleansed “by the washing of water with the word” (Eph. 5:26). James declares that, “In the exercise of His will He [God] brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures” (James 1:18). Peter reminds us that we “have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23).

Palingenesia (regeneration) carries the idea of receiving new life, of being born again, or born from above. Jesus told the enquiring Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5; cf. Eph. 5:26). In his first letter, the apostle John repeatedly speaks of the marvelous truth of the new birth. We are assured that, “If [we] know that He [Christ] is righteous, [we also] know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him” (1 John 2:29). Conversely, we also are assured that “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (3:9; cf. 5:18). We are assured that “everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (4:7) and that “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (5:1).

Fifth, we should remember that our salvation came through our renewing by the Holy Spirit. This phrase moves to the next logical step: the effect, or result, of regeneration—namely, the new life that emerges from the new birth. In Romans 8:2, Paul reveals that “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” The Holy Spirit, working through the Word, empowers our new life in Christ. “If any man is in Christ,” the apostle explains in his second letter to the church in Corinth, “he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17). That is the Spirit’s work of sanctification (cf. 1 Pet. 1:2). He begins moving the believer up the ladder of glory from one level to the next (cf. 2 Cor. 3:18).

The Father not only saved us through His Holy Spirit, but He poured out His Spirit upon us richly and without measure when we were born again (cf. Acts 2:38-39; 1 Cor. 12:7, 11, 13). The Lord “is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power [of His Holy Spirit] that works within us” (Eph. 3:20). Because of that available power in us, we are commanded to “be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual life, sustains our spiritual life, empowers our spiritual life, and guarantees that our spiritual life will become eternal life, because He is the seal, or guarantee, of eternal life (Eph. 1:13-14).

Sixth, in order to prevent feelings of hostility toward the corrupters of our society, we should remember that we were saved only by the substitutionary and atoning sacrifice of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Savior, which God, by His eternal decree, made efficacious for us before we were even born. His death in our place and for us is the means, and the only means, of our salvation. In his sermon at Pentecost, Peter declared to the assembled Jews that, although Jesus was put to death by their own ungodly leaders, He nevertheless was sovereignly “delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). And the death that He died in God’s plan was a death in which He bore all the sins of all who would ever believe.

The seventh aspect of sovereign salvation is equally from God alone. We should remember that we were saved by God’s grace, as Paul has already alluded to in verse 5. In his second letter to Timothy, the apostle explains in more detail that God “has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity” (2 Tim. 1:9; cf. Rom. 4:2-8; 9:11; Eph. 2:8-9).

Paul is not here using justified in its narrow, forensic sense of God’s declaring believers righteous based on the merits of Jesus Christ that are applied on their behalf (see, e.g., Rom. 4:6-8; cf. 3:24, 26; Gal. 2:7). He is rather using justified in its broad, more general sense as a synonym for salvation. Even John Calvin, a stickler for the narrow, precise definition of justification, recognized that in this passage it refers to salvation in general. He says, “What does he mean by the word justified? The context seems to demand that its meaning shall be extended further than to the imputation of righteousness.”

Paul used his own life as proof that salvation is based entirely on the gracious merit and work of Christ. “If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more,” he testifies:

Because Jesus paid the price for our sins, they are graciously removed; justice is fully satisfied; and God’s kindness, love, mercy, regeneration, renewing, and grace are therefore enabled to act. Grace gives us what we do not and cannot deserve. We do not deserve to be forgiven, to have our sins removed, to have Christ’s own righteousness imputed to us, to be given heavenly citizenship, to be justified, sanctified, and one day glorified in the very presence of our gracious Savior and Lord. The bottom line is stated in the three words: He saved us!

That divine saving grace provides another amazing benefit to undeserving sinners: By faith they are made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. As Paul declares more fully in his Roman letter, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:16-17). Peter exults: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven” (1 Pet. 1:3-4).

REMEMBER YOUR MISSION

This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. (3:8)

Fourth, and finally, if we want to live the way God wants us to live in a pagan society, not resenting the very people we are to reach, we must remember our divinely ordained mission to that society. We must live as we have been instructed in Chapter 2.

These things refer to everything Paul has emphasized in that chapter and in the first seven verses of chapter three: namely, the way believers should live and act in regard to one another within the church (2:1-15) and the way they should live and act before the unbelieving world (3:1-7).

Titus was to speak confidently about those truths to the churches, in order that, as Paul already has mentioned (3:1), those who have believed God may be careful to engage in good deeds.

This young elder was not to be hesitant, indecisive, or vacillating but rather bold and intense, speaking and acting with the firm conviction that he was obediently fulfilling his divinely appointed ministry.

Those who have believed God does not refer to theists as opposed to atheists but to genuine Christians, those who have been saved by God’s grace and who take God at His word. Biblically grounded and faithful believers remember their duty to submit to human authority, even that which is unjust, ungodly, and pagan. They remember their former condition as unbelievers, knowing that, but for the grace of God, they would still be lost and condemned. They remember the marvelous gift of salvation, which they have received because of God’s kindness, His love, His mercy, His washing of regeneration, His renewing by the Holy Spirit, by His Son—all by His sovereign grace. And they remember that the Lord has called them to be His witnesses before the lost and condemned world in which they now live. They therefore recognize that it is not their calling to change culture, to reform outward behavior, to try to redeem society superficially.

They are careful to engage in good deeds, genuine acts of virtue that benefit the unsaved and are produced by a loving heart that is empowered to be fruitful by God’s Holy Spirit. Among those good deeds are our sincere prayers for those who are lost, deeds that the lost may not even know about but which will work to their blessing and hopefully to their salvation.

When Christians exalt the Word of God and demonstrate God’s power to transform lives, these things are good and profitable for men—for the believers themselves and, even more significantly as far as the emphasis of this passage is concerned, for the unsaved sinners around them who are drawn to Christ by the exemplary lives of those He has graciously transformed.