Titus 6

We also discussed the power of the word “justified,” and how being justified carries more weight than just being forgiven. And finally we looked at the hope we have as heirs of eternal life.

Now in the second half of chapter 3 we’re going to look at some final nuggets of wisdom as Paul wraps up his letter to young Titus. We begin with verse 8:

3:8a “This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly,”

The “things” he wants Titus to affirm are the powerful truths he just mentioned regarding God’s mighty work in the hearts of His children—the washing of regeneration, renewing of the Holy Spirit, justification by faith, and being made heirs of eternal life.

Notice how Paul instructs Titus to ‘constantly affirm’ these things. Never stop talking about them, Titus! Repeat these truths often. Never let them fade from your congregation’s memory.

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Then in the second half of verse 8, Paul instructs Titus to remind the saints:

3:8b “that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.”

This is the third mention of the importance of “good works” in just 10 verses! It tells us we are saved to serve, not sit, soak, and sour.

If we weren’t saved to serve, then God would take us home the moment we believe. But He doesn’t. He leaves us here to do good works in His name, just like Jesus did!

Let’s talk about good works a moment. First, good works don’t save us. Paul already said 3 verses earlier, “5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us...”

But while good works don’t save us, they are one of the evidences that we have been saved. For instance, the very moment Saul of Tarsus was saved, he said “Lord, what will you have me do?” (Acts 9:6)

Our Lord Jesus was known for the good works He did. “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and...he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him” (Acts 10:38).

And again it says of our Lord, “Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him” (Acts 2:22). God worked through Jesus, and God wants to work in the same way through us!

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And the Apostle says we should “maintain” good works. This means we aren’t to get tired and quit. All too often we start something and don’t see it through due to discouragement. Paul says, Keep going, for “your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58).

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The Bible also couldn’t be more clear regarding each Christian’s calling and gifting for good works. Peter wrote, “As each of you has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Pet. 4:10).

According to this passage, each Christian has been gifted for good works, and is to steward that gift, which means make good use of it!

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Then Paul adds,

3:8c “These things are good and profitable to men.”

Good works bless others and are also profitable to the one doing them. For instance, being involved in good works plays a role in perfecting our faith. James writes,

“Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?” (James 2:21-22)

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Next, Paul moves from good works to talking about avoiding dissension and division:

3:9 “But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.”

We’re to avoid getting dragged into disputes that lead nowhere. We know that there are people who aren’t genuine seekers, but only want to cause confusion and trouble with questions they ask Christians that are designed to drag you into time-consuming squabbles.

Questions like, “If God can do anything then can He create a stone so heavy He can’t move it?” Or, “Where did Cain get a wife if Adam and Eve were the first and only human beings on earth?”

Honest seekers deserve honest answers, and the Christian should be prepared to answer them. But we should also be trained to spot a phony seeker and realize we don’t have to answer “foolish questions.”

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And then Paul advises avoiding fruitless discussions about genealogies. The Bible has much to say about genealogies, which means the tracking of a family’s ancestors to discover your ancestral roots.

For instance, I know that Wickwire is of English descent, and came from “Warwick, Warwickshire,” and so on. I also have some Cherokee in my family lineage.

Dr. Luke in chapter 3 of his gospel provides a lengthy genealogy that traces the Lord Jesus’s ancestry through Mary to show Him to be the promised seed of a woman predicted in Gen. 3:15. So Luke takes the Lord’s genealogy through Mary all the way back to Adam!

What Paul is advising is for us not to get bogged down in endless genealogical disputes, which in his time was usually stirred up by the Jews in order to brag about their supposed superiority over the Gentiles.

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And finally, Paul advised avoiding “strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.”

The word “strivings” means “quarreling, arguing.” The Jews could be fierce in defending the Mosaic Law along with all the useless man-made traditions they imposed on others.

Paul says, Don’t get involved. Steer clear of endless arguments and doctrinal hair-splitting. It is unprofitable, a useless waste of time.

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As Paul’s letter to Titus comes to a close, he turns his attention to the case of “a man that is a heretic.”

3:10 “Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition,”

The word “divisive” here is from the Greek word from which we get “heresy.”

A heretic is a person who rejects sound biblical doctrine to embrace other ideas, and then spreads those ideas, bringing division.

Strong’s Concordance describes the heretic as a factious person, specializing in half-truths and mis-impressions "to win others over" to their personal opinion.

Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other cults are trained to do this very thing.

Paul, Peter, and John were well-acquainted with heretics. Some of them denied the Resurrection (2 Tim.2:17-18), others denied the Lord (2 Pet 2:1). John went so far as to mention some heretical Christians as being part of “the synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2:9).

In another place, Paul said, “Mark those who cause divisions and upset people's faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught“ (Ro. 16:17).

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In his first letter to Timothy, Paul predicts a flood of heresy in the Last Days: “Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. 2 These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead” (1 Tim. 4:1-2 NLT).

When a person goes this route we say that they apostatized from the faith. So Paul here is predicting a “great apostasy,” a falling away from the true faith in the Last Days!

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The Apostle instructs Titus to confront the heretic with the truth of God. They are not allowed to continue in their false beliefs within the confines of the church without being admonished to turn. “Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition.”

The word “admonish” has to do with “training by word.” Just as a level is used to see if something is straight or crooked, so the Word of God is to be applied to the heretic’s false ideas and doctrine.

The elders are to confront him twice while he is still in the church. He is to be given every opportunity to recognize his error and recant his heresy. But if he refuses, he is to be removed for the sake of the body.

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The Politically Correct would jump at this thought and cry, “Don’t judge!” And “that’s not love!”

But Jesus Himself wouldn’t agree. He warned regularly of the false teaching of the Pharisees: “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees...the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matt. 16:6, 12).

Why? Because as Paul told the Galatians, “It takes only one wrong person among you to infect all the others” (Gal 5:9).

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Paul finishes his focus on heresy by describing the true spiritual condition of the heretic:

11 “knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.”

“Warped” means “perverted.” The heretic has a moral problem. It’s interesting that with cults you almost always find rampant sexual sin among the leaders.

And then Pauls says that he is “sinning,” which means “to miss the mark” or “to wander from the right path.” A heretic knows deep down that he is sinning and so is “self condemned.”

The bottom line is: A man who has a moral twist and knows it, who embraces a false doctrine and persists in doing so, has no place in the fellowship of the church.

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The final instructions from Paul to Titus have to do with what he should do and where he should go.

3:12 “When I send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.”

Finish your assignment diligently, Titus, so that you can come to me by winter. Don’t mess around, don’t procrastinate, get to it!

Here I’m struck by Paul’s tireless zeal. Though the shadows of his life were lengthening and darkness was closing in, he’s still strategizing, handing out assignments, and pushing forward in the Lord’s work!

3:13 “Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey with haste, that they may lack nothing.”

We don’t know much about Zenas. He surfaces only here in Scripture. He was traveling with the golden-tongued Apollos in preaching the gospel. Paul wanted to be sure that Titus sent them on their way with sufficient supplies.

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Paul’s final instruction once again, for the 4th time, visits the necessity of God’s people being involved in good works:

3:14 “And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.”

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Finally, Paul says farewell:

3:15 “All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.”

He points to those who knew him. “Greet those who love us...” Paul had been in their churches, their homes, and their workshops, had visited their farms and gone fishing with them. But above all he had taught them the matchless Word of God. They loved him for it!

He closes with a prayer for grace—“grace be with you all!” Grace for living, grace for dying, and grace for everything in between.