Titus 2:11-15

Declare These Things (Titus 2:11-15)

Introduction:

An Epiphany of God’s Grace (vv. 11-12)

The objective basis

The subjective basis

An Epiphany of Christ’s Glory (vv. 13-15)

Salvation secured

Sanctification solidified

(1) An Epiphany of God’s Grace (vv. 11-12)

Titus 2:11–12 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,”

The doctrinal basis for Paul’s admonition to Titus is represented here.

Paul’s admonition to Titus is found in Titus 2:15 “Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”

The these things Paul is referring to comes back to the previous verses. The first is the epiphany of God’s grace which has appeared. It is firstly, the objective basis by which one exhorts and rebukes with all authority. The theological basis for Paul’s admonition to the church is found in the preposition “for” γαρ. Therefore, it refers to the objective reality by which we are to declare these things because they are truths founded solely upon God and all that he has done.

A. The Objective Basis

First, a reference to God’s grace or the grace of God. This is something derivative of God. Grace only comes freely from God as a gift.

i.) The Grace of God is Rooted in Election.

God’s grace comes from his decree of election. Ephesians 1:4–5 “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,”

So also does Paul write in Romans 8:28–30 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Romans 5:15 “But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.”

ii.) The grace of God is a fruit bearing grace.

Colossians 1:5–6 “because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,”

iii). The Grace of God is Salvifically Secured.

Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Grace is a gift of God taking sinners dead in their sins and trespasses and raising them to newness of life found only in Jesus Christ.

iv). The Grace of God is Grounded in Union with Christ.

Acts 20:24 “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

Galatians 2:20–21 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

Hebrews 2:9 “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

Titus 3:7 “so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

What then did the grace of God do? Paul continues, “it has appeared, bringing salvation to all people.”

That grace has appeared represents the “epiphany” of God’s saving plan. The Greek word translated “appeared” is where we get the English word for “epiphany.” It has the idea of being unclear or cloudy and then coming forth to full clarity. The epiphany, tied closely to Paul’s use of “mystery”, is that of salvation belonging to all people without exception.

Many of you have undoubtedly heard the mantra, “all means all and that’s all all means.” However, we use “all” in many different ways, as do the Biblical writers. Here, as in other places, it refers to all without distinction and not all without exception. We know that God did not provide salvation to all without exception as there are blasphemers of God’s good grace, those who cling to all forms of spiritual idolatry and adultery, who are dead in their sins and trespasses. Apart from Christ, God does not endow them with saving grace.

Titus 3:4–7 “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

2 Timothy 1:9 “who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,”

As demonstrated throughout the Bible, salvation was those who rested upon the saving work of Christ by faith in the same way as the OT saints did as do the NT saints of God. The objective basis by which we live the Christian life is that it is through God’ grace that we are chosen, redeemed, and sanctified in this life.

B. The Subjective Basis

The subjective basis then for the epiphany of God’s grace is the result of these theological truths. Paul says that the effect is as follows: “training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,”

We are trained and tutored through the greatest possible teacher, God Himself. By means of the indwelling of God’s Spirit we are, as the WSC states, “we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.” By God’s Spirit we are being trained. As Paul says in Romans 8:29 “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

Also in 1 Corinthians 15:49 “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”

Our union with Christ brings the objective reality of being saved by grace alone through faith alone into the subjective realm of renouncing ungodliness and worldly passions.

i). The first means by which the Spirit trains us is to renounce ungodliness. Ungodliness is to be “understood vertically as a lack of reverence for deity and hallowed institutions as displayed in sacrilegious words and deed.” It could also be translated as “impiety.”

It is not so much about ungodliness in terms of our horizontal relationship with other people, as that would be a different word. Rather, it represents our abhorrence for honoring God as he ought to be honored, a flagrant disobedience to the first four commandments of the decalogue.

ii). The second means by which the Spirit trains us it to renounce worldly passions. We all know what this looks like practically. It is to have a desire, a lust, a craving for the things of this world and not for the things of Christ. To be so earthly minded that Christ is nothing to us.

Peter admonishes us: 1 Peter 4:2 “so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.”

So also John defines all that is encompassed upon worldly passions. 1 John 2:16 “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.”

Paul’s call to Titus is to exhort and rebuke. He ought to rebuke behaviors that are in step with impiety and worldly passions. You can see this in the attitude of false teachers. Do they not also crave the desires of their flesh? The earthly and temporal riches and passions of this world rather than the denial of self and the pursuit of Christ-likeness.

The Spirit of God works within the realm of rebuking by renouncing both ungodliness and worldly passions. He also exhorts us by training us “to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.”

iii). The Spirit trains us to live self-controlled lives. In contrast to worldly passions, believers live lives that are restrained from the temptations of the world. They live prudent and sober lives, not becoming fixated on the cares and concerns of this world.

iv). The Spirit trains us to live upright lives. Rather than live an ungodly and unrighteous life, the Spirit enables us to live out the righteousness that Christ has imputed to us. 1 Thessalonians 2:10 “You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers.”

v). The Spirit trains us to live godly lives. Once again, in contrast to ungodliness, the Spirit trains us to live lives in accordance with godliness.

Paul warns us that to live a godly life is not devoid of persecution. 2 Timothy 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,”

Are we living lives representative of what we believe and confess?

(2) An Epiphany of Christ’s Glory (vv. 13-15)

Titus 2:13–15 “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”

A. Salvation Secured

2 Peter 3:12 “waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!”

2 Thessalonians 2:8 “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”

B. Sanctification Solidified

Purpose behind Christ’s redemption

zealous for good works