Titus 2.11-The Grace of God Has Been Manifested Offering Salvation to Every Human Being
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday May 18, 2014
Titus: Titus 2:11-The Grace of God Has Been Manifested Offering Salvation to Every Human Being
Lesson # 22
Please turn in your Bibles to Titus 2:11.
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, 14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. (NASB95)
Titus 2:11-14 constitutes a single sentence in the Greek text.
However, most English translations break it out into a least a couple of sentences.
Titus 2:11 presents the reason for Paul’s previous instructions recorded in Titus 2:2-10.
Therefore, here in Titus 2:11-14, the apostle Paul presents the reason why he wanted these various groups in the Christian community to reflect godly standards in their lives which is the result of applying his apostolic instruction.
“The grace of God” refers to the incarnation of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ as well as His earthly life, teaching, substitutionary spiritual and physical death’s on the cross as well as His resurrection from the dead, which provided eternal salvation for all mankind.
This grace originated from God the Father since He is the author of the salvation plan of God for sinful mankind that is based upon His grace policy and is executed by God the Son and revealed by the Holy Spirit and appropriated by the Holy Spirit on behalf of those sinners who exercise faith in the Son.
“Has appeared” speaks of the manifestation of the grace originated from the Father through the First Advent of Christ.
“Bringing salvation” is referring to the offer of eternal salvation to all of sinful mankind through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
“All men” indicates the grace of God has been manifested offering salvation for the benefit of each and every member of the human race.
Titus 2:11 For the grace originating from God has been manifested offering salvation for the benefit of each and every member of the human race. (My translation)
The grace of God has appeared through the person and work of Jesus Christ whose death and resurrection provided the offer of salvation to each and every member of the human race, without exception.
Titus 2:11 also unpacks the phrase appearing at the end of Titus 2:10, namely “the teaching of God, our Savior.”
Thus, Titus 2:11-15 explains how God is our Savior and for what purpose He is the Savior of the Christian.
Titus 2:11-15 teaches the Christian that the purpose of the incarnation of the Son of God, His earthly life, His teaching, His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross and resurrection was so that they would live a godly life and be zealous for good works which are pleasing to God.
The “grace” in Titus 2:11 refers to the incarnation of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ as well as His earthly life, teaching, substitutionary spiritual and physical death’s on the cross as well as His resurrection from the dead, which provided eternal salvation for all mankind.
Grace is all that God is free to do in imparting unmerited blessings to those who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior based upon the merits of Christ and His death on the Cross.
Of course, the gospel communicates the grace of God as manifested in the person of Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection.
The gospel is the good news and God’s victorious proclamation of His love in delivering the entire human race from sin, Satan, his cosmic system and eternal condemnation and has reconciled them to Himself through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This reconciliation with God and deliverance and victory over sin, Satan and the cosmic system that God accomplished through His Son’s crucifixion, burial, death, resurrection and session is received as a gift and appropriated through faith in Christ (John 3:16-18; Acts 16:31; Romans 5:1-2).
The good news for the sinner is that through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone they can be delivered from eternal condemnation, sin, Satan and his cosmic system as well as condemnation from the Law.
The sinner must first obey the gospel by trusting in Jesus Christ as Savior so as to be declared justified by God before they can possess an experiential knowledge of God since only faith alone in Christ alone results in the transformation of the sinner to a person who is acceptable to God.
Faith alone in Christ alone transforms their unregenerate sinful state to a regenerate state which is acceptable and pleasing to God.
The good news for the justified sinner after their conversion is that as a result of their faith in Christ, they are identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session.
The justified sinner must continue to obey the gospel after their conversion if they want to possess an experiential knowledge of God in the sense that they must appropriate by faith their position in Christ.
They must consider themselves as crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ if they are to experience fellowship and sanctification, which results in an experiential knowledge of God.
This obedience to the gospel also results in the Holy Spirit producing actions in the justified sinner which are pleasing and beneficial to God and others.
In Titus 2:11, “has been manifested” is a reference to the First Advent of Jesus Christ and thus, it speaks of the manifestation of the grace originating from the Father through the First Advent of Christ.
“Offering salvation” refers to the offer of eternal salvation to all of sinful mankind through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths and resurrection delivered the entire human race from eternal condemnation, the devil, his cosmic system, condemnation from the Law, the sin nature, and personal sins.
This salvation or deliverance is accomplished in three stages:
(1) Positional: At the moment the believer exercised faith alone in Christ alone, he was delivered “positionally” from the sin nature through the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session of the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 19:9; John 4:22; Acts 4:12; 13:26, 47; 16:17; Rom. 1:16; 10:1, 10; 11:11; 2 Cor. 6:2; Eph. 1:13; Phlp. 1:28; 2 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 2:10; 5:9; 6:9; 1 Pet. 1:9-10; 2 Pet. 3:15; Jude 3; Rev. 7:10).
By “positionally,” I mean that God views the believer as crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ, which was accomplished at the moment of conversion through the Baptism of the Spirit when the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit placed the believer in an eternal union with Christ.
In other words, the “positional” aspect of the believer’s salvation refers to the past action of God saving us from sin when we trusted in Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (NASB95)
The believer’s deliverance positionally sets up the “potential” for him to experience this deliverance in time since this deliverance can only be experienced after conversion through obedience to the teaching of the Word of God.
It also guarantees the believer’s ultimate deliverance at the rapture, which is based upon the sovereign decision of God rather than the volition of the believer.
(2) Experiential: After conversion, the believer can “experience” deliverance from the sin nature by appropriating by faith the teaching of the Word of God that he has been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ.
This constitutes the believer’s spiritual life after being delivered from real spiritual death (2 Cor. 1:6; 7:10; Romans 6:11-23; 8:1-17; Phlp. 2:12; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:5-17; 2 Tim. 2:10; 3:15; Heb. 2:3, 10; 1 Pet. 2:2).
In other words, the “experiential” aspect of salvation is used of the believer’s deliverance from sin in the present moment.
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (NASB95)
(3) Ultimate: The believer will be delivered “ultimately” and permanently from the sin nature when he receives his resurrection body at the rapture of the church, which is imminent (Rom. 13:11; 1 Thess. 5:8-9; Heb. 1:14; 9:28; 1 Pet. 1:5).
In other words, the “ultimate” aspect of salvation is used of the believer’s future and permanent deliverance from sin.
“For the benefit of each and every human being” indicates that the First Advent of Jesus Christ was for the benefit of each and every member of the human race.
In other words, the incarnation of the Son of God, His earthly life, teaching, His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross and resurrection was for the benefit of each and every human being.
It speaks of the doctrines of the unlimited atonement (1 Timothy 2:4; 4:10) and common grace.
Paul is not teaching that there is “universal” salvation as a result of Christ’s death and resurrection on behalf of every member of the human race since these two events did not automatically save every member of the human race from eternal condemnation, sin and Satan.
Rather, he is simply describing the “offer” of salvation that is available for all of sinful humanity.
Christ’s death and resurrection established the basis for the offer of eternal salvation being extended to the entire human race and of course, eternal salvation is appropriated by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone as Paul clearly delineates in Romans 3:21-5:1.
