Titus 3

Paul opens with a stark call to submission. Believers living under Roman rule are to honor civil authority. This is not because all government is righteous - Rome persecuted Christians - but because God has ordained human authority as part of His order. Submission to magistrates reflects submission to Christ. Both are acts of obedience.

Speaking evil of anyone - condemning, slandering, denigrating - is forbidden. Not because criticism never has a place, but because the believer's default mode should be restraint. Words are powerful. They shape culture. They wound or heal. But gentleness - strength under control - is the call. Before you speak about anyone, ask: is this evil-speaking? Am I being a brawler, pushing for victory?

"Shewing all meekness unto all men." Not just to the likeable, the worthy, the deserving. Unto all men. A believer in Christ speaks with gentleness even to those who oppose him, even to those he disagrees with. This is not spineless. This is Christ-like.

Paul includes himself. This is stunning. "We ourselves also were sometimes foolish." Not "they were foolish, but we were always wise." But "we too were once in darkness." This memory, held fresh, keeps a believer humble. You are not saved because you were inherently good. You are saved because God was merciful to you in your foolishness.

Foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving lusts, living in malice and envy - this is no mild description of pre-conversion life. It is stark. Paul is naming the reality: apart from grace, a human being is enslaved to appetites, twisted by vice, hostile to others.

Malice is the disposition to harm; envy is the resentment of another's good. These vices feed each other and create a hell among humans. This is what we all were, apart from Christ, and the humility of remembering it reshapes how we treat others.

But. One word changes everything. After the catalog of human vice - disobedience, deception, malice, envy - one word pivots to grace. The appearance of God's kindness is not a reward for repentance. It is the cause of it. Grace appears first. Repentance follows. The kindness and love of God appeared - in history, in the incarnation, in the cross.

This is the hinge of the gospel. Not by works. Not by what we have done. Not by the righteousness we have mustered, the morality we have achieved, the good deeds we have racked up. All of that falls away. Salvation does not rest on your performance. It rests on God's mercy.

"He saved us." God is the active agent. Not "we saved ourselves through our effort," but "He saved us." Past tense, completed. You are not perpetually earning your salvation. You are resting in what He has done. This is not arrogance. It is the only humility that makes sense: admitting you could not do it, and receiving from Him what He has freely given.

The washing of regeneration. In baptism, a believer is washed - the old self is set aside, the new self emerges. But the washing is not mere water. It is a sign of something deeper: the cleansing work of God removing the guilt and pollution of sin. You are washed not by your efforts, but by His grace.

"Renewing of the Holy Ghost." The Spirit does not force this renewal. He offers it. He enables it. But the believer must cooperate - must yield, must turn from vice, must seek His presence. The Spirit renews those who are willing to be renewed.

Shed. The word speaks of abundance, overflow, lavishness. The Spirit is not given sparingly. He is poured out abundantly, generously, to those who believe. This is not a bare gift - it is a flood, a downpour. God does nothing in half measures.

Justified by grace. Declared righteous by God's unmerited favor. This is the legal standing granted to those who believe. You are no longer condemned. You stand before God not on the basis of your record, but on the basis of Christ's record imputed to you. This justification is not earned. It is given.

Heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Romans 8:17 completes the picture: you are "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." You do not inherit as servants inherit scraps. You inherit as children inherit with Christ Himself. Your inheritance is inseparable from His inheritance. Where He goes, you go. What He possesses, you possess - not in your own power, but in union with Him.

Faithful saying. Paul marks his gospel statement - what he has just said about salvation - as worthy of trust. This is not speculation. This is the truth that stands. The gospel of grace, not works, is the reliable foundation.

"They which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works." Here Paul does not contradict himself. Salvation is by grace, not works. But grace produces works. A person saved by mercy cannot remain indifferent to the needy. Good works are the inevitable fruit of a grateful heart, the outward evidence of inward change.

Foolish questions are speculations that have no bearing on faith and life. They distract from the gospel and create division, often born of intellectual pride: the desire to display learning rather than to know God.

Whether specific genealogies or endless chains of proof-text building, these do not serve the gospel; they obscure it, pitting Christians against one another in endless debate.

This is the test: does the discussion lead to love? Does it lead to fruitfulness? Does it strengthen faith in Christ? If not, let it go.

A heretic is not merely wrong. A heretic is divisive - he uses false teaching to create factions, to separate believers, to draw followers to himself. He is not simply mistaken; he is actively destroying the unity of the church. Such a person is to be rejected, but only after fair warning.

Reject. Not debate endlessly. Not accommodate. Reject. After admonition - after warning - twice. Paul is clear: fairness requires warning. But persistence in heresy, after being warned, deserves exclusion. This is not cruelty. It is the protection of the flock.

Subverted - his judgment is corrupted, turned upside down. He has become enslaved to his own false teaching. He cannot be easily corrected because he has lost the ability to see the truth.

"Being condemned of himself." The heretic condemns himself. His own conscience, if he attended to it, would convict him. But he has stifled that voice. He persists in division. And in persisting, he stands under judgment - God's judgment, which is just and true.

Paul gives Titus a concrete task: when a replacement arrives, come to me in Nicopolis. These are not merely personal plans. They reflect how the gospel spreads - through the movement of faithful workers, through the support of local churches, through the willingness of leaders to go where they are sent. Titus is learning not to sit comfortably, but to follow his apostle, to give his whole life to the work.

Zenas the lawyer and Apollos were traveling, possibly to share the gospel, and needed provision for their journey. Titus is to ensure they lack nothing. This is practical hospitality - a way of saying: the work of the gospel matters more than your comfort.

"Learn to maintain good works for necessary uses." Not for show. Not for reputation. For necessary uses - to meet real needs. To provide for those who travel in service of the gospel. To give generously to the poor. The Cretans are to learn this through Titus's example. The gospel produces a community of generosity.

The letter opens with grace and peace. It closes with grace. This is not formality. It is the heartbeat of the gospel. Grace is not earned. It is poured out on the Cretans through Christ. In the closing word, Paul returns to what matters: the grace that alone can sustain, renew, and empower a believer to live as the gospel demands.