Titus 3.4-5a-The Father Saved the Christian When He Manifested His Compassionate Love for Mankind During the First Advent of Jesus Christ
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday July 13, 2014
Titus: Titus 3:4-5a-The Father Saved the Christian When He Manifested His Compassionate Love for Mankind During the First Advent of Jesus Christ
Lesson # 30
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. 4 But when the kindness, yes the love for mankind originating from the Savior who is our God was manifested, He saved us. (My translation)
Paul’s statements in Titus 3:4-5a stand in contrast with his statement in Titus 3:3.
Therefore, the contrast is between the Christian’s pre-conversion sinful character and actions and the character of God the Father which were manifested through the character and actions of Jesus Christ during His First Advent and the work of the Holy Spirit at the moment of their conversion.
In other words, the contrast is between the sinful character and actions of the unregenerate sinner and the character of God the Father which was manifested through the actions of His Son Jesus Christ during His First Advent and the actions of the Holy Spirit at their conversion.
Titus 3:4-5a is a temporal clause which contains a protasis and an apodasis.
The former is “when the kindness, yes the love for mankind originating from the Savior who is our God was manifested” and the latter is “He saved us.”
This temporal clause is telling the reader that the Christian received eternal salvation when the Father’s kindness, yes, His love for mankind was manifested which was during the First Advent of Jesus Christ.
The Christian received eternal salvation during the First Advent of Jesus Christ in the sense that His death and resurrection provided eternal salvation for them.
Therefore, without the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ no one in the human race could be saved.
Of course, the gospel of Jesus Christ communicates to the sinner God’s love for them as manifested at the Cross and the need for the sinner to trust in Jesus Christ as Savior.
The sinner’s faith in Jesus Christ enables the Holy Spirit to appropriate for them this eternal salvation which was provided through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The protasis of this temporal clause in Titus 3:4 is thus emphasizing that the Father took the initiative in coming to the aid of the sinner and not the sinner seeking out His help for their plight.
It is also emphasizing the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ during His First Advent as the basis for the Christian’s eternal salvation whereas the phrase “by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” speaks of the Spirit’s work at the Christian’s conversion in appropriating for them this salvation which was provided by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, we can see that Titus 3:4-5 contains a triadic pattern since it teaches that the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit were all involved in saving the Christian since each is mentioned in this passage as involved in the Christian’s salvation.
“The kindness, yes the love for mankind originating from the Savior, who is our God” refers to God the Father’s tender, compassionate concern for all of unregenerate humanity, which is reflected in His desire to treat them with compassion.
This tender, compassionate concern for unregenerate humanity was manifested through His Son Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.
It is related to “common grace,” which refers to grace that God extends to the entire human race in order to draw them to the Savior, to make understandable the Gospel of Jesus Christ for eternal salvation and refers also to the benefits God bestows on all men (cf. Mt 5:45; Acts 14:15-17).
Since God desires all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4), God delays His judgment in order that men might trust in His Son as their Savior, thus every moment that the unbeliever lives is a sign of God’s kindness.
Not only is common grace manifested through God the Holy Spirit, when He makes the Gospel understandable to the unbeliever, so that they may make a decision to either accept or reject Jesus Christ as Savior but it was of course manifested at the Cross, through the death of Jesus Christ.
“Common” or “universal grace” is grace that is on behalf of the entire human race and is provided through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Unregenerate members of the human also benefit from this grace when God the Holy Spirit makes the Gospel message, which is a spiritual language, understandable to the spiritually dead unbeliever.
In Titus 3:4, Paul describes the Father as the Christian’s Savior which means that the Father delivered them from eternal condemnation, the sin nature, personal sins, condemnation from the Law, Satan and his cosmic system.
The Father accomplished this through His Son’s death and resurrection.
At the moment the sinner exercises faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, the Holy Spirit appropriated for them this deliverance provided by Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.
At the moment of conversion, the Holy Spirit regenerates them and identifies them with Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection.
In Titus 3:5, “He saved us” is a reference to the Christian’s deliverance from eternal condemnation, the sin nature, personal sins, condemnation from the Law as a result of not keeping the Law perfectly, as well as slavery to Satan and his cosmic system.
The Christian’s salvation, i.e. their deliverance from these things is also 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 2:8-9).
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” his deliverance 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 (1 Cor. 1:18; 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 in the present moment.
(3) Perfective: At the resurrection the believer will be delivered in a “perfective” sense and permanently when they receive their resurrection body at the rapture of the church, which is imminent (Rom. 13:11; 1 Thess. 5:8-9; 2 Tim. 4:18; Heb. 1:14; 9:28; 1 Pet. 1:5).
In other words, the “perfective” aspect of salvation is used of the believer’s future deliverance.
Just as in the believer’s sanctification, their deliverance positionally sets up the “potential” for them 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 through the enabling power of the Spirit.
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.
The believer can experience his sanctification and salvation, i.e., the victory over and deliverance from sin, Satan and his cosmic system through the omnipotence of the Spirit by appropriating by faith the teaching of the Word of God that he has been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ (Romans 6:11-23; 8:1-17; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:5-17).