Titus 3.3-Paul Describes the Unregenerate State of Every Christian Prior to Conversion
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday July 6, 2014
Titus: Titus 3:3-Paul Describes the Unregenerate State of Every Christian Prior to Conversion
Lesson # 29
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, 2 to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. 3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. 4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (NASB95)
Titus 3:1 Continue to make it your habit of reminding them to make it their habit of voluntarily subjecting 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. 2 They are to be characterized as slandering absolutely no one, to be characterized as peaceable, magnanimous with the result that together they show every consideration for each and every member of the human race. 3 For, we ourselves also, at one time, were existing in the state of being foolish ones, disobedient ones, deceived ones, those enslaved to various lusts as well as pleasures, continually spending our lives in malice as well as envy, hateful ones, hating one another. (My translation)
“For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived” presents the reason why the Cretan Christian community is obligated to obey Paul’s instructions recorded in Titus 3:1-2.
It is emphasizing a strong comparative contrast between the non-Christian mentioned at the end of verse 2 and the Cretan Christian community.
The “we” is an “inclusive we” meaning that Paul is referring to all Christians with this word, without exception.
“For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived” indicates that all Christians throughout the Roman Empire prior to their conversion existed in the state of being foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending their lives in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
“Foolish” is the adjective anoetos (ἀνόητος), which is in the plural and means “foolish ones” and describes the unregenerate pre-conversion state of all Christians as being foolish in the sense that they were all speaking and acting without thinking of the consequences of their words and actions.
“Disobedient” is the adjective apeithēs (ἀπειθής), which is in the plural and means “disobedient ones” since it pertains to a person who is continually disobedient or existing in a state of being disobedient to God and speaks of one who will not be persuaded to obey some authority.
“Deceived” is the verb planaō (πλανάω), which is also in the plural and means “deceived ones” since it pertains to the state of unregenerate humanity which has been deceived by Satan and his cosmic system as well as by the indwelling old Adamic sin nature and describes them as being deceived into disobeying God.
The word implies imposing a false idea or belief that causes ignorance, or helplessness.
Here it implies that Satan, his cosmic system and the old Adamic sin nature have imposed on unregenerate humanity false ideas and beliefs that cause them to be ignorant of the will of God resulting in their being totally helpless and hopeless of ever entering into a relationship with God based upon their own merits or actions.
“Enslaved to various lusts and pleasures” expresses the fact that all Christians prior to conversion were slaves to the various lusts of the indwelling Adamic sin nature and pleasures offered by Satan and his cosmic system.
“Lusts” is the noun epithumia (ἐπιθυμία), which refers to the various lust patterns of the sin nature.
In our context, it is used of sexual lust, as well as power lust, approbation lust, social lust, monetary lust, materialism lust, inordinate ambition resulting in inordinate competition, revenge lust, criminal lust, chemical lust, crusader lust, and pleasure lust.
At the heart of such lusts is the desire to live independently of the will of God, which is the essence of evil.
“Pleasures” is the noun hēdonē (ἡδονή), which refers to the various pleasures offered by Satan and his cosmic system which are designed to seduce unregenerate and regenerate humanity to live independently of God.
The word speaks of self-indulgence and lack of self-control of one’s desires or appetites.
It speaks of the temptations of Satan’s cosmic system which are designed to seduce humanity away from God so as to live independently of Him.
“Spending our life” is the verb diago (διάγω), which speaks of the lifestyle of the Christian or how they conducted themselves before they became a Christian through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.
“Malice” is the noun kakia (κακία), which denotes that prior to their conversion, they took pleasure in deliberately and premeditatedly doing harm to others as a result of possessing an intense long-lasting bitterness against a person.
“Envy” is the noun phthonos (φθόνος), which is used to express the envy which makes one person grudge another something which they desire, but do not possess.
To envy is to feel resentful, spiteful, and unhappy because someone else possesses or has achieved, what one wishes oneself to possess, or to have achieved.
“Hating one another” pertains to literal hate in the sense of hostility, animosity and antagonism towards another, despising them, which expresses itself in malicious words and actions (Matthew 5:43-44, 6:24, 24:10, Luke 1:71, 6:22, 27, 21:17, John 3:20, 7:7, 15:18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 17:14; 1 John 2:9, 11, 3:13, 15, 4:20, Rev. 17:16).
This hostility, animosity and antagonism expresses itself in malicious words and actions, and is exercised by unbelievers towards each other and towards believers.
This hostility and antagonism exists since the sin nature and Satan and his cosmic system have deceived unregenerate humanity into hating one another.
“Hating one another” denotes that there was to be a mutual exchange of hate between unregenerate members of the human race.
Titus 3:3-7 presents the reason why the Cretan Christian community is obligated to obey Paul’s instructions recorded in Titus 3:1-2.
In verse 1, Paul instructed Titus to continue making it his habit of reminding the Cretan Christian community to make it their habit of voluntarily subjecting themselves to governmental rulers, or in other words, governmental authorities.
They were to do this by making it their habit of being obedient, to be ready for any kind of act which is divine good in quality and character.
Then in verse 2, the apostle reminded Titus that the Cretan Christian community was to be characterized as slandering absolutely no one, as well as to be characterized as peaceable, magnanimous with the result that together they show every consideration for each and every member of the human race.
In verse 3, Paul reminds the Cretan Christian community that prior to their conversion, all Christians including himself, were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved to various lusts and pleasures of the sin nature, spending their lives in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
Then, in verses 4-5, Paul reminds the Cretan Christian community that when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, God saved the Christian, not on the basis of deeds which they had done in righteousness, but according to God’s mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.
In verse 6, Paul says that the Holy Spirit was poured out richly upon the Christian at the moment of their conversion, based upon the merits of Jesus Christ their Savior.
In verse 7, the purpose of this was so that the Christian would be justified by God’s grace with result that they would be made heirs according to the confident expectation of eternal life.
Therefore, a comparison of verses 3-7, indicates that the Cretan Christian community is obligated to obey Paul’s instructions in verses 1-2 because God delivered them from the bondage of the sin nature through His Son Jesus Christ by means of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit at their conversion.
This regenerating work resulted in the Christian being made an heir according to the confident expectation of eternal life.
In other words, they should obey Paul’s instructions in verses 1 and 2 because God was so gracious to them when they were so abhorrent to him because of sin.
Thus, out of gratitude to God for being so gracious when they were so disgusting to God because of sin, they should obey the apostle’s instructions which if obeyed would exemplify godly character.
To put it another way, they should be obedient to the gospel because God has been so gracious to them when they were so repulsive to God because of sin.
So Paul follows the ethical injunctions in Titus 3:1-2 with the theological motivation for godly living in Titus 3:3-7.
This same pattern appeared in Titus chapter 2.