Summary:

Paul says that “we ourselves” were once “foolish” before we were saved.  The word foolish means “unwise” (Ps. 94:8; Rom. 1:22), and we were certainly that!  But it can also mean sinful (Ps. 5:5; I Chron. 21:8), and we were certainly that as well!  Not all the time, but “sometimes” as Paul says.

The reason he’s reminding us of this is because when most Christians see unsaved people living foolishly in sin, they think it is their job as a Christian to condemn them.  And in the context, that’s what Paul’s telling us not to do.  Rather than “speak evil” of abortionists and homosexuals, etc., Paul says to remember that you too were sometimes foolish enough to live in sin when you were unsaved.

If you’re thinking it is not speaking evil of homosexuality to say it is wrong if it is wrong, remember that everything Paul said about the high priest was true, but it was speaking “evil” of him to say it because it was not his place to criticize the leader of Israel (Acts 23:1-5).  And it’s not our place to criticize sinners for being sinful, it is our place to give them the gospel and teach them the Bible.

Unsaved people are foolish enough to live in sin “for they know not the way of the Lord” (Jer. 5:4).  God’s people know His way, however, so if you want to be upset with someone for being sinful, be upset with believers, as Paul was (I Cor. 5:9-12).

True, some unsaved people know the Bible says their sins are wrong and choose to disobey God anyway, but we ourselves were once “disobedient” (3:3).  True, some unsaved people have been deceived into thinking their sin isn’t wrong, but we ourselves were once “deceived” (3:3), “serving divers lusts.” In the Bible, slaves were the ones who served, and you wouldn’t criticize a slave for serving his master since he has no choice.  Well, unsaved people must serve sin because sin is their master, and they have no choice but to serve sin since everything they do is sin (Pr. 21:4).  Believers can choose not to sin—and should (Rom. 6:17,18).

If you’re serving sin, be upset with yourself, not the unsaved!

Malice (3:3) is like prejudice, “extreme hatred for no reason.”  You used to be that way all the time, and might still fall into that, but you don’t live in that, so put it off (Col. 3:5-8).  Put off envy too, which is stronger than anger (Pr. 27:4) and can rot your bones (Pr. 14:30).

Another reason we shouldn’t condemn unsaved sinners for being sinful is because that’s not what God did when we were sinful (3:4).  You didn’t get saved because Christians told you that God hated you because of your sins, you got saved because they told you God loves you and sent His Son to die for your sins.  So tell unsaved sinners that instead of condemning them for their sins.

Under the Law, the kindness and love of God toward Israel appeared, but now under grace Paul says it appears “toward man” (3:4).  Under the law it appeared to Jewish men by the works of righteousness which they did, works like circumcision, sacrifices, baptism.  But now salvation is “no more of works” (Rom. 11:6).  Under the law they had to work righteousness to be saved (Ps. 15:1,2), “sacrifices of righteousness” (Deut. 33:19; Ps. 4:5).  They also had to walk in “all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord” if they wanted to be “blameless” (Luke 1:6).

But all that changed beginning with the appearing of our Lord (II Tim. 1:8-10)—not His appearing on earth to Israel, but His appearing to Paul (Acts 16:16,17).  Under the Law God’s mercy was only available to Israel (Ps. 130:7), and to Gentiles through them.  But beginning with Paul, God’s “mercy” (3:5) is available to us Gentiles too, through the washing of regeneration (3:5).

Jews were saved by the washing of water baptism (Heb. 10:22; Acts 22:16), but now we are saved by the washing of justification and sanctification (I Cor. 6:11).  “Regeneration”  refers to the new birth that is performed “by the Spirit” (3:5 cf. I Cor. 6:11).  Once you receive it, you can “serve in newness of Spirit” (Romans 7:6).

Summary:

“Principalities” (3:1) are the “principal men” of a city (Acts 25:10,11).  Paul was willing to be subject to them even to death, because he understood the power of government is ordained of God, that “there is no power but of God” (Rom. 13:1).  Who’s to say husbands have power over wives?  Only God.  There is no power but what God gives.

So to resist the government is to resist the power of God, and resisting brings “damnation” (Rom. 13:2), or judgment from the government—up to and including the death penalty (Gen. 9:6).  So we should be “afraid” of the government’s “ministers” (Rom. 13:3,4), i.e., police officers, for they don’t bear a lethal weapon “in vain.”

God has always wanted His people to obey the government in every dispensation, and not be hasty to go live someplace else (Eccl. 8:2,3).  His people were always told not to stand up to the government (8:3,4), and if we don’t, that we’ll feel no evil thing from them (v.5 cf. Rom. 13:3).

We are free citizens of the United States, but “as free” citizens of heaven (I Peter 2:13-16), Peter says we have to obey the government to be “servants of God.”  That is, we shouldn’t look at it as serving the government, but as serving God who gave the government it’s power.

Someday our government might be conquered by another, but even then God’s people are told to obey the new government, just as God’s people in Israel were told to do when they were conquered (Jer. 27:17).

When Paul says to obey “magistrates” (Tit. 3:1), don’t forget some magistrates wrongfully beat and imprisoned him (Acts 16:19-24).  Paul took that joyfully (v.25), and so should we.

If you don’t obey the government, you can’t be “ready to every good work” (Tit. 3:1).  We’re not saved by good works (Eph. 2:8,9), but “unto” good works (v. 10).  But if you break the law and they put you in prison, you can’t be ready to do a lot of good works that can only be done as a free man.

When Paul says to “speak evil of no man” (Tit. 3:2) it looks like he’s changing the subject, but he’s talking about not speaking evil of dignities in government (II Pet. 2:10-12). That phrase “speak evil” means saying things like what we read in Psalm 41:5.  Also, if you lie about leaders in government you are speaking evil of them (cf. Ps. 109:2,20).  It is also speaking evil of them to call them evil-doers (I Pe. 3:16).  It’s one thing to disagree with one of a government policy, it’s another to say they are evil to have passed it into law.

“What if the government is plotting to do us evil”?  Even then, it is not our place to call our leaders evil (Job 34:18).  Paul knew that and lived by it.  Everything he said about his ruler was true, but he admitted that he had spoken “evil” of him in saying it (Acts 23:1-5).

There’s a reason the Greek word for “speak evil” in Titus 3:2 is blasphemo.  Since God has ordained government, it is blasphemy to speak against it.  It is what they charged Naboth with (I Ki. 21:13).  Now it was true he refused to sell the king his vineyard, but it wasn’t blasphemy for him, for the Law of Moses forbad it.  So to obey the king he would have had to disobey God—and that is the exception to the rule (Dan. 3:16).

Outside of that, not even the Jews going into the Tribulation to whom Peter wrote were to speak evil of the government, as Peter told them (II Pe. 2:10-12).  Some will, but Peter says that they “understand not” that they shouldn’t resist the government even if the Antichrist is on the throne, which he will be in the Tribulation.

Summary:

Before Paul, “the grace of God that bringeth salvation” (2:11) only appeared to Jewish men (John 4:22).  But beginning with Paul, it now appears to Jews and Gentiles, teaching us how to behave (2:12).  But it teaches us differently than our moms taught us this.  When we were kids, we were under the law — Mom’s law (Pr. 1:8). It worked like the Law of Moses.  She punished us when we were bad (cf. Lev. 26) with the rod of correction (Pr. 22:15).  But when a child becomes an adult (cf. Gal. 4:1,2) parents correct them with words of correction, and God does too (II Tim. 3:16).

Jews learned to be godly under the Law, so legalists insist we teach the Law today.  They don’t understand how grace can teach us to be godly.  If you don’t either, consider that we shouldn’t presume on God’s grace just because we are immune from the prosecution of God’s laws (Eph. 5:3-7).

The word “godly” is a contraction for “God-like,” so “denying ungodliness” (2:12) means to deny anything in your life that is not like God.  “Lusts” (2:12) aren’t always bad in the Bible (Deut. 12:20).  The word just means to eagerly desire something.  But “worldly lusts” (2:12) are desires that are associated with the world that God says is going downhill fast (Eph. 2:2,3).

Ungodliness refers to actions, but worldly lusts refers to thoughts.  So Paul is saying not to sin and not to even think about sinning (cf. James 1:14,15).  We should live “soberly” instead (2:12).  Drunks are controlled by alcohol, and we should be controlled by the Spirit instead (Eph. 5:18), by obeying the things in the Book that the Spirit wrote.

Soberness also involves not thinking too highly of yourself (Rom. 12:3) — like a drunk!  Drunks also think they can live carelessly without consequences, that their legendary driving ability isn’t impaired by alcohol.  Christians who don’t think soberly think they can think about sin without falling into sin, and can commit sin without consequences.

When Paul says to live “righteously” (2:12), we are righteous (II Cor. 5:21) so we should live righteously.  We are accepted in Christ (Eph. 1:6) so we should live acceptably (Rom. 12:1).  We are unleavened by sin in God’s eyes, so we should live that way (I Cor. 5:7).

If you find that hard, maybe you are looking at all the ungodliness in the world instead of “looking for that blessed hope” (2:13) the Rapture (I Thes. 4:13-18).  This verse follows a verse that tells us to live godly because the way to stop sinning is to start focusing on eternity instead (Col. 3:1,2).

The resurrection of the dead has always been the hope of God’s people (Acts 23:6; 24:14,15; 26:6-8), but the Rapture is our blessed hope — to go to heaven without dying!

Both the Rapture and the 2^nd Coming are called “glorious” (Tit. 2:13 cf. Mt. 24:29,30), but don’t confuse them!  The glory of the 2^nd Coming is the “power” the Lord will use to defeat the Antichrist and judge the world.  The glory of the Rapture is that we’ll be spared that judgment!  Both comings will feature the coming of “the great God” (Tit. 2:13 cf. Rev. 19:11-18), but don’t confuse them!  God is great when He judges, and great when He spares His people judgment as well.

But if both comings are called great and glorious, how do we tell them apart?  Paul calls the Rapture the coming of “our Saviour” (2:13).  At the Second Coming, God’s people will be looking for the Judge (James 5:8,9) to come and incinerate creation (II Pet. 3:10-12) to clear the way for their hope, the new earth (v.13).  But Paul calls Him “our Saviour” at the Rapture because we’ll be saved from judgment. The Rapture will be the culmination of our salvation (Rom. 13:11).

Of course, these days many Christians are looking for the Tribulation and the Antichrist rather than Christ.  That’s Biblical (Mt. 24:3-33; Luke 21:25-28; Acts 1:9-11) but not dispensational.  God knew this would happen so had Paul tell Titus to teach the truth “with all authority” (2:15).

But Paul is only talking about the Rapture to help us deal with sin (2:12-14).  God was zealous to save you (Isa. 9:6,7), are you “zealous of good works” (Tit. 2:14)?

Summary:

Usually after addressing “servants” (v.9) Paul addressed masters (Eph. 6:5-9; Col. 3:22—4:1). But Titus was stationed in Crete, a newer work, and there were no masters yet. The gospel appeals more to base and despised servants (I Cor. 1:26-29) so they usually get saved first.

The reason Paul has to tell servants to obey masters is that all saved servants knew that “in Christ… there is neither bond nor free” (Gal. 3:26-28). But if that meant servants didn’t have to obey their masters, then wives didn’t have to obey husbands, for “in Christ… there is neither male nor female” (Gal. 3:26-28). This didn’t mean servants and wives were inferior for the Lord was “subject” to His parents (Lu. 2:51).

When Paul says that servants should obey their masters and “please them well in all things” (2:9) that means a servant should make himself a delight to his master (Isaiah 42:1 cf. Mt. 12:18). And what Paul says to servants is true for employees today. Employees should obey the boss, but if they please them well in all things they’ll make themselves a delight to him! And if all of God’s people did that, imagine what a testimony that would be to how Christianity can brighten the world!

Servants must also be “answering not again” (2:9)—no backtalk! And when he adds, “not purloining” (2:10) that means no stealing, but a particular kind of stealing. In this context it means stealing by a breach of trust, one of the definitions of the word. Servants were often trusted with all their master’s money (Gen. 39:1-6) making it easy to purloin. If lesser servants were given 100 shekels to buy something, and it only cost 90, they could purloin the difference.

Instead, servants were to show “all good fidelity” or faithfulness (2:10). And while we don’t have masters and servants, plenty of purloining goes on at work — about 50 billion dollars worth a year! Compare that to only 14 billion stolen by men at gunpoint or by burglary. Employees also steal about 4.5 hours a week — 6 weeks a year from their employers. More billions lost! It’s easy to think, “They don’t pay me enough so I’m evening the score,” but Paul told slaves not to purloin — men who were paid nothing.

Servants were to do all this to “adorn” the doctrine of God (2:10), which means to beautify it(cf. Isa. 61:10). But which doctrine does their service adorn? Well, the phrase “God our Saviour” is associated with the doctrine of salvation (I Tim. 2:1-4; Tit. 3:3-5). It makes the doctrine of salvation look bad if servants don’t adorn it by serving well. If they do, people think, “If Christianity can make a slave want to be a delight to his master, it must be the religion of the true God.”

Servants and aged men and women and young men and women (Tit. 2:1-9) should adorn the doctrine of salvation by doing what Paul says because the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men — old and young men and women and servants — and brought them salvation! If they didn’t do what Paul said, it made salvation look bad!

But how could Paul say the grace of God that brings salvation had appeared to “all men”? The stars tell all men there is a Creator (Ps. 19:1-3), but knowing there’s a God isn’t enough to save anyone (James 2:19). Well, “all men” sometimes means all kinds of men (I Tim. 2:1-4). The grace of God that brought salvation had appeared to old and young men and women, servants and kings!

Of course, there was a time when the grace of God that brought salvation only appeared to Jewish men (John 4:22). But now Paul says it appears to “all men,” including Jews and Gentiles. That’s another meaning of the phrase “all men” in Titus 2:10, just as it is in I Corinthians 10:32,33. As Paul went forth preaching salvation, he didn’t have to ask if men were Jews or Gentiles as the Jews did in time past.

That didn’t mean Gentiles couldn’t be saved in time past. They saw the wrath of God that brought salvation to Israel at the Red Sea (Ex. 15:1-6 cf. Ps. 98:1-3) and the grace of God that brings salvation appeared to Rahab (Joshua 2). But today for Gentiles to see the grace of God that brings salvation, they must see it when saved men and women and servants adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour.