Titus 3.1-Paul Instructs Titus to Remind Cretan Christian Community of Their Responsibilities to the Governmental Rulers-Authorities
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday June 22, 2014
Titus: Titus 3:1-Paul Instructs Titus to Remind Cretan Christian Community of Their Responsibilities to the Governmental Rulers-Authorities
Lesson # 27
Please turn in your Bibles to Titus 3:1.
Titus 3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed. (NASB95)
“Remind them” is composed of the verb hupomimnēskomai (ὑπομιμνῄσκομαι), “Remind” and the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “them.”
The verb hupomimnēskomai means “to remind” somebody of something, “to bring something to someone’s attention” indicating that Paul wants Titus “to remind” the Cretan Christian community of their responsibilities to governmental rulers and authorities.
The present imperative form of the verb hupomimnēskomai is a “customary present imperative” whose force is for Titus to simply continue making it his habit of reminding the Cretan church to be subject to their governmental rulers and authorities.
The intensive personal pronoun autos means “them” referring to the Cretan Christian community as a corporate entity.
“To rulers” is the noun archē (ἀρχή), which pertains to human governmental rulers or leaders.
“To authorities” is the noun exousia (ἐξουσία), which refers to the civil governmental authorities in Rome who were delegated authority and power by God as His servants to govern the affairs of men and to exercise justice against law breakers.
This word exousia is synonymous with the noun archē since it is functioning as a dative of simple apposition meaning it is appositive to the latter which is functioning as a dative direct object.
The noun exousia is a clarification of the noun archē.
Therefore, the two words are not distinguishing different levels of authority but are both speaking of all civil governmental authority which is indicated by the fact that if Paul was distinguishing levels of authority here, he would have employed the conjunction καὶ between the two words which he doesn’t.
Also, in Romans 13:1 where Paul addresses the responsibilities of the Roman believers to the Roman civil authorities, he does not use archē for governmental authorities but he does employ exousia which would indicate that in the apostle’s mind both words speak of the governmental authorities in the Roman Empire.
Therefore, in Titus 3:1, Paul is clarifying for Titus and the Cretan Christian community that when he talks about them obeying governmental rulers, he does not mean those in the highest echelons of the government but all those in positions of authority in the Roman Empire.
“To be subject to” is the verb hupotassomai (ὑποτάσσομαι), which denotes that the Cretan Christian community was to submit to the authority of their governmental rulers and authorities and which authority was delegated to the governmental authorities and rulers by God.
This verb is used in the same manner in relation to the Christian community’s responsibilities to governmental authorities in Romans 13:1 and 1 Peter 2:13-14.
In Titus 3:1, the present tense of the verb hupotasso is a customary present used to signal an action which regularly occurs indicating that Paul is instructing Titus to remind the Cretan Christian community to make it their habit of being subject to their governmental rulers and authorities.
“To be obedient” is the verb peitharcheō (πειθαρχέω), which pertains to submitting to legitimate authority by obeying and is used of course in reference to the Cretan Christian community “obeying” their governmental rulers and authorities.
The present tense of the verb peitharcheō is a customary present used to signal an action which regularly occurs indicating that Paul is instructing Titus to remind the Cretan Christian community to make it their habit of being obedient to their governmental rulers and authorities.
The infinitive form of this verb peitharcheō is an infinitive of means which would be describing how or the way in which the Cretan Christian community was to make it their habit of voluntarily subjecting themselves to the governmental rulers and authorities indicating that they were to do so by obeying them.
“To be ready for every good deed” means that the Cretan Christian community was to be existing in the state of readiness for any kind of good deed or action or work.
These good deeds are to be divine in quality and character because they are in accordance with the Father’s will and they are in accordance with the Father’s will because they are the direct result of a person being influenced by the Spirit.
They are intrinsically valuable, intrinsically good, inherently good in quality but with the idea of good which is also profitable, useful, benefiting others, benevolent because they are based upon and motivated by the teaching of the Spirit in the Word of God.
Titus 3:1 Continue to make it your habit of reminding them to voluntarily subject themselves to governmental rulers, or in other words, governmental authorities by making it their habit of being obedient, to be ready for any kind of act which is divine good in quality and character. (My translation)
Thus, far in this epistle, Paul has been addressing matters within the church whether it is listing the qualifications for those who aspire to the office of overseer, addressing the problems with apostate pastor-teachers or defining the duties of older and younger men and women and slaves in the Christian community.
Now, Titus 3:1-8, the apostle addresses the Christian’s duty outside the Christian community and thus he goes from being concerned about the conduct of Christians in relation to each other to be being concerned about their conduct in relation to the non-Christian.
The fact that Paul is telling Titus to remind the Cretan believers of their responsibilities in relation to the civil authorities implies that they were taught these responsibilities in the past by Paul and Titus.
Paul was very concerned that no one would think and speak badly of the gospel and thus the apostolic teaching, thus he did not want the Cretan church to become involved in civil disobedience except when justified.
Unjustified civil disobedience he knew would bring the apostolic teaching of the gospel into disrepute.
The Cretan Christian community was to render obedience to not only the Emperor but also to all those serving the Emperor in the Roman Empire and in our day and age in America, this would mean from the President down to the local or town governmental leaders and local police.
Obeying governmental authorities would involve obeying the laws of the land and would also include paying one’s taxes and conducting oneself in public in an orderly manner.
Christians in America should be obeying and showing respect for every local, state and governmental official since Paul in Romans 13:1-7 teaches that they all are God’s servants whether they recognize it or not.
Paul is teaching in Titus 3:1 that all Christians should be law-abiding citizens and not anarchists or those who speak evil of their leaders and complain about them.
Titus 3:1 echoes Romans 13:1 since like the former, in the latter, the apostle Paul issues a command for his Christian readers to continue making it their habit of voluntarily subjecting themselves to the governmental authorities.
The Bible does teach that there are certain circumstances in which the Christian is justified in disobeying the governmental authorities.
Christians are commanded to obey the Lord their God (Deuteronomy 13:4; Jeremiah 7:23; John 14:15) and they are also called upon to obey the governing authorities (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17; Titus 3:1).
However, civil disobedience becomes an issue for the Christian when these two claims upon the Christian come into conflict meaning when God commands us to do something like proclaim the gospel and teach the Word of God and the civil authorities prohibit this.
The solution to this conflict is that the Christian is to obey God which is illustrated in Acts 5:27-32 when the apostles were commanded by the Jewish authorities to not proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and Peter told them “we must obey God rather than men.”
In 1 Timothy 2:1-8, Paul urgently requests that corporate prayer be made by the Ephesians on behalf of all those in authority.
The force of what Paul writes in Romans 13:1-7 and Titus 3:1 and the force of his request in 1 Timothy 2:1-8 is greatly increased as a result of understanding that the tyrant Nero was ruling Rome at the time.
If you notice in Titus 3:1, Paul not only wanted the Cretan believers to obey their governmental leaders and all those in authority but they were to be prepared for any kind of act which is divine good, i.e. the result of obedience to the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God.
Therefore, since this command is used in relation to the Christian’s responsibility in relation to civil authority, good works should not performed exclusively within the Christian community but outside of the Christian community, namely in the community in which they live.
Paul is teaching that Christians have a responsibility to be good citizens who help their communities in which they live, thus it means they have civic responsibilities.
By obeying Paul’s orders here in Titus 3:1, the Cretan Christian community would stand in stark contrast to the unregenerate Cretan culture since Cretans were notorious in the Roman Empire as those who were constantly involved in insurrections against the government, as well as murders.
They were always rebelling against authority of all types and in fact, they hated being subjugated to the Roman Empire.
Furthermore, by obeying Paul’s commands, the Cretan Christian community would also stand in stark contrast with the Judaizers who Paul describes in Titus 1:16 as “worthless ones for any kind of divine good work of intrinsic quality and character.”
