While voting, it is necessary for each voter to remember the qualities listed by Paul and cast their vote accordingly. We also reflected on the words of advise given by Paul for people from different walks of life such as for the older men & women and the young men & women of the Cretan churches. We also appreciated the fact that the counsel he gave then is still relevant for our spiritual life and reminds us of our responsibilities. In this issue, we will study the remaining verses of the Book of Titus.
(2) Chapter 2 : Verses 9,10 – Paul gives advise to slaves in his other epistles as well (See Ephesians 6:5, Colossians 3:22, 1 Timothy 6:1). Though in Titus, Paul does not give instructions to masters as to how they needed to treat their servants, he does write about that in his other letters (See Ephesians 6:9, Colossians 4:1). Probably, Cretan churches were filled with mostly slaves. So, Paul may not have found the need to talk about masters in this epistle. Meanwhile, we are able to know from Paul’s letters that people from every strata of the society, masters-slaves, were Christians in the first century. In today’s society, we do not have the master-slave system. Yet, many of us do work under superiors in our offices and business institutions. Thus, Paul’s advise to the slaves of the first century on how to live a Christian life, does benefit those of us who work under other people in offices. Paul says that slaves must be subject to their masters in everything and not talk back. If we also behave in this manner in our workplace and avoid egoistic behaviour, it is sure that the atmosphere will be healthy. We must not encourage needless arguments and debates. We must try to please our employers in all possible ways and earn their ‘full trust’. We must be completely trustworthy not only in their presence, but also in their absence. It is common to find people praising their superiors in front of them, while speaking ill of them in their absence and even cheating them. This is not appropriate. A Christian needs to be honest in everything he does in his workplace. But, why are we asked to do this? Is to prosper in our career? Is it to earn more or to get promoted? No. In fact, many times deception and cunningness pays more than honesty in workplaces. If so, why then do we need to be good? Paul says that it is to make ‘the teaching of God attractive’. Since we are the representatives of Christ, we should be careful that truth is not slandered in our workplaces because of our behaviour (1Timothy 6:1). Whether our behaviour influences people at our workplace to accept the truth or not, at least the truth should not be disgraced because of our behaviour. So, our gentle and honest behaviour at workplaces is for the sake of the gospel only and not for any worldly recognition. In fact, we will only get discouraged if we expect worldly rewards for our good conduct. We conduct ourselves decently only for the sake of the truth. So only, if and when our superiors attempt to disrupt our spiritual life or seek favours that undermines our obedience to God, then we do not need to obey them. Irrespective of the wordly profits involved, we must not obey anyone’s orders that are against the precepts of Christ. Even if we were to lose our job because of this, we should not let it worry us and gladly suffer for the sake of the truth.
(3) Verses 11,12,13 – Paul explains further about why Christians need to live such lives. God’s grace that desires to bless all mankind ‘has appeared’ in the form of Jesus Christ to ‘all men’. How so? God expressed his love and grace by sacrificing His own son to redeem all of mankind (John 3:16). Since we are saved purely by His grace, we need to live a life worthy of that, even in our workplaces, so as to continue in His grace throughout our life. Therefore, Paul says that those who believe in Him must hate ‘worldly passions’ and ‘ungodliness’ and being aware that they are standing in the righteousness of Christ, they must with sound mind continue steadfastly in the righteousness of Christ by doing the works of faith and live their lives in expectation of the ‘blessed hope’ that is God’s eternal kingdom which will follow shortly after the coming of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:17-24, Colossians 3:1,2).
(4) Verse 14 – Here ‘himself’ refers to Christ. Amazingly, in this single verse, Paul explains the call of the church in its entirety. Paul says that Christ gave himself as a sacrifice to achieve three things. Firstly, to ‘redeem us from all wickedness’ that is, we who were born in sinful flesh were redeemed from the wicked mankind that has been heading towards death. Nextly, to purify for himself, a ‘people that are his very own’. Indeed, by our covenant of baptism, we become his body, a people that are his very own. Lastly, to create a people who are ‘eager to do what is good’ i.e. the good works. KJV translates it as ‘zealous of good works’. Good works means works of faith, that is the gospel–church works (See Grace – Blossom 24:January 10, Paragraph 5,6). Those are the works that James says establishes our faith. How else can we prove our zeal for our faith in God? Rahab’s faith was confirmed when she remained within the walls of Jericho and worked against it (James 2:25). Her zealousness for God was exhibited. We too need to preach the gospel and thus work against Satan’s world even as we remain inside it. It is easy to say that we believe in the coming of God’s kingdom, but it is difficult to demonstrate it with enthusiasm by preaching it courageously and for that, we need to be zealous about our faith. Truly, these three things constitute the call of the church. He redeemed us from mankind, through baptism designates us as a people of his own, the Church and our faith in him is proven by the works we do for the advancement of the gospel such that we are proven worthy of eternal glories. How did Christ achieve these three things for us? By giving ‘himself for us’. The redemptive sacrifice of Christ made these three things possible for us. In the Law Covenant, there were many sacrifices for cleansing. But in the covenant of Christ, Christ’s sacrifice cleanses all our sins (1 John 1:8,9). Since we need such daily cleansing, seeking forgiveness finds its place in the centre of the prayer taught by Jesus to his disciples (Luke 11:4). Christ’s sacrifice, thus has redeemed us from the death bound mankind, led us to be a part of his own people i.e. has made us worthy of baptism , and has enabled us to do good works. Because, as we saw in the previous issue, with our own imperfact righteousness we cannot stand in front of God and do God’s work (See Scripture Study – Blossom 01:February 10, Paragraph 8).
(5) Verse 15 – Paul instructs Titus to teach the Cretan churches and to rebuke anyone who disobeys. Paul asks Titus to not to ‘let anyone despise’ him. Titus could have been slighted by those who saw him as young and hence unworthy of obedience. But, Paul instructs Titus to be assertive. Truly, even we should not be concerned about the age or status of a person who preaches a sound doctrine. If the doctrine is sound, it does not matter through whom or how it comes to us, we must not slight it.
(6) Chapter 3 : Verses 1,2 – Paul instructs Titus to remind five things to the Cretan churches. Let us consider each of these one by one.
- Obedience to rulers and authorities: Christians need to obey to every authority of their country (Romans 13:1). To this our own Lord Jesus Christ stands as a good example. When he was asked to pay the taxes, he obeyed the law, and paid it (Matthew 17: 24-27). Jesus asks us to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s (Luke 20:25). Therefore, we need to obey all the rules of the world. So much so that we should not disregard even those rules which are commonly not followed by many. Hence, be it a matter of properly paying our taxes or following the various regulatory norms of world, we must be upright. When we do so, the people of the world will respect us, and the gospel will also get a good name. This is what Paul teaches to the Cretan churches. At the same time, if any worldly statute were to contradict our faith, then we do not need to obey that particular aspect of the law. Many times, the Apostles were banned from preaching the gospel by the worldy authorities of their time. But, we see in the Bible that they ignored such authorities and continued preaching the gospel extensively (Acts 5:17-42). What we understand from this is that we need not obey anything that is against the will of God. Every kind of obedience that is required in the Bible, whether it be that of a wife to her husband, or children to their parents, or servants to their masters or the young to the elderly – all must be in Christ ( 1 Corinthians 11:3, Ephesians 6:1, 1 Timothy 6:1; 5:1). An obedience that goes against the will of God should not be observed.
- Do whatever is good: The good deeds mentioned here are the works of faith that we discussed about earlier. We must be ever ready to do gospel–church works and be willing to suffer for the same. ‘Whatever’ be such works, they could either be big or small; we must be willing to do them. We should not be selective and prefer only grandeur works. It might be door to door ministry, distribution of handouts or other small works in the church; we must be willing to do anything. Indeed, when we attempt to do such works, problems will certainly come. Yet, since these are the good works we need to fight for, let us continue to do the good works without giving up. That is the ‘good fight’ we need to fight to win the eternal crown (2 Timothy 4:5-7).
- Let us not slander others: Those who have accepted Christ should avoid slandering their brethren and even others of the world. In many of his letters, Paul has rebuked those who slander others. Jude says that the chief archangel Michael did not slander Satan (Jude 1:9). When the archangel Michael did not find it appropriate to slander even Satan, the father of the wicked, who can we slander? (See Grace – Blossom 17:June 09, Paragraph 7). If we see a wrong being done by someone, then we must follow the approach that Jesus suggested and rebuke that person instead of slandering (See Matthew 18:15-17). Even if a person has been accused and proven guilty of a sin and has been sent out of the church due to his unrepentant nature, it is wrong to slander even him. Always remember, Michael did not slander even Satan!
- Being peaceable and considerate: We must make every effort to live in peace with all men, be it in the church or in the world (Hebrews 12:14).When the church faces internal conflicts, then, they need to be peacefully resolved using the principles of the Bible.
- Show true patience toward all men: Patience is considered as a good virtue by even the people of the world. But, we follow the only true, Living God and hence what a great measure of patience do we need to demonstrate? We know that God is immensely patient towards us and forgives us our wrongs. We must also display such patience. We need to forgive each time a person wrongs us and repents. There should be no limit to our forgiving nature (Luke 17:4). This however does not mean ignoring wrong doings. Mistakes need to be admonished. If we were to ignore the faults in our church, then they would grow and affect the entire church. Therefore, it is our responsibility to denounce acts of wrongdoings. Hence, we need to be both patient and responsible when dealing with the wrongdoings of others (See Grace – Blossom 01:February 08, Paragraphs 5-7).
We need to keep reminding ourselves about these five things listed by Paul and try to observe them in our spiritual lives.
(7) Verses 3,4,5 – Before we accepted Christ, we lived like the people of this world. We were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures and we lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. Therefore, God’s anger was upon us. But, God saved us. We are saved, not because of the ‘righteous things’ we had done, but because of his ‘mercy’ and ‘love’ and through ‘the washing of rebirth’ which leads to renewal by the Holy Spirit (Romans 3:10-12, 27,28).
(8) Verses 6,7 – It is by the ‘grace’ of God that we are justified through Jesus Christ and we receive the Holy Spirit. It is this Holy Spirit that gives us the assurance that we can become fellow ‘heirs’ with Christ, having the ‘hope of eternal life’ (Ephesians 1:13). On the day of Pentecost in 33 A.D, God poured the Holy Spirit on the believers (Acts 2:1-4). From that day on, God has given the Holy Spirit to all those who have accepted Christ and taken the baptism. Indeed, only after we receive the Holy Spirit, we are born of the spirit and become worthy of entering the kingdom of God (John 3:5). In his epistle to Timothy, after chiding preachers of the Law covenant, Paul says that a goal of the Law Covenant was love from a pure heart (1 Timothy 1:5). That is, if and when someone fulfilled the Law Covenant fully, pure love would fill their heart, which is a reason why God gave the Law Covenant. But, since man in sinful flesh could not and cannot fulfil the Law Covenant, God in His grace sacrificed His only Son so that we might be saved by other means. But, how can we, who are saved by grace obtain and be filled with pure love? Through the Holy Spirit. Love is the primary fruit of the spirit (See Grace – Blossom 10:December 08, Paragraph 10). We become worthy to receive this Holy Spirit only through the justification granted to us, thanks to the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
(9) Verse 8 – Paul says that those who have accepted Christ must be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. Preaching the gospel is an expression of our love towards all people and thereby confirming our love towards them. Therefore, we should be careful not to lead an irresponsible life by neglecting to do gospel-church works which are our works of faith. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone says Paul. When Paul says that ‘this is a trustworthy saying’, he is refering to what he has been saying from the first to the seventh verse of this chapter. Paul counsels Titus to preach these words to the church because it is profitable to all those who follow them. If we were to read these seven verses again, we can see how beautifully Paul explains the role of grace in our salvation and how arfully he counsels us to lead a fruitful Christian life.
(10) Verses 9,10,11 – Paul advises the Cretan churches to avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, arguments and quarrels about the Law Covenant. In the early church, such issues came up many times. Churches broke up because of such problems ( See Galatians 3rd chapter, 1 Timothy 1:7,8). Therefore, Paul asks that such kind of useless activities be given up. The Christian Jews of the churches of that time were chiefly responsible for such problems. They tried to take pride in their genealogy and the Law covenant. Therefore, the profitable truth enumerated by Paul in this chapter from 1-7 verses was tarnished. This is because the teachings of the Jews were based on self-righteousness (law) and pride (genealogy). That is they saw themselves superior because of their genealogical factor as Jews and preached self righteousness by glorifying the now invalidated Law Covenant. So, Paul calls such men as ‘heretick’ (KJV) i.e. twisters of the Bible. In the previous issue, while explaining Titus 1:15,16, we saw how any teaching based on self-righteousness and thereby pride goes against the basic tenets of Christ and is detestable ( See Scripture Study – Blossom 01:February 10, Paragraph 8). Paul says that such kind of divisive men must be warned twice, but if they refused to change, then it is better to avoid such men. Similarly, in today’s church too, we need to warn those who twist and change basic doctrines of Christ twice and then avoid them. But, if they do repent later, then we must forgive them and accept them completely into our fold (Matthew 18:21,22) .
(11) Verses 12,13 – Paul wished to see Titus in person. And so he informs Titus that he had decided to stay the winter in Nicopolis and he would send Artemas or Tychicus to take care of the Cretan churches such that Titus can join him at Nicopolis. The city of Nicopolis was situated to the north of Crete, on the western coastline of Greece. Tychicus was one of the chief helpers of Paul in his gospel ministry (Ephesians 6:21, 24, Colossians 4:7, 2 Timothy 4:12). Though there is no mention of Artemas anywhere else in the Bible, according to church tradition, he is believed to have been one of the seventy disciples of Jesus Christ (Luke 10:1,17). Zenas, the lawyer and Apollos were with Titus in Crete. Paul instructs Titus to give appropriate care to Zenas the lawyer and Apollos who were about to leave Crete for the work of the ministry. Titus was to provide them with everything they need. We too should support in everyway we can the ministries of the people who are involved in God’s work. Apollo was born as a Jew in Alexandria. He was a well educated man. And he had accepted Christ through the preaching of Priscilla and Aquila of Ephesus (Acts 18:24-26). Later, he became one of the most well-known and popular preachers of the early church (1 Corinthians 1:12). There is no other mention about Zenas in the Bible. He seems to have been a scholar of the Jewish law who later became a Christian preacher. It seems probable that these two were the ones who delivered Paul’s letter to Titus.
(12) Verses 14,15 – Paul says that just like Apollos and Zenas, our people , that is the brethren of the Cretan churches must also learn to devote themselves to doing what is good i.e. works of the gospel. What is translated as ‘daily necessitites’ in NIV is better rendered in some other English versions as ‘ to meet pressing needs’ (NASB) or ‘to meer urgent needs’ (NKJV). At times, certain urgent needs of the gospel work do arise, which could be matters of money or time and only if we are consistenly trained in doing good works, we will be able to meet such needs. It is a necessity for us to do good works and suffer for the sake of the gospel. So only, Paul adds that only if they do such works, they will remain fruitful. We too need to do gospel-church works like Apollos and Zenas in order to live productive spiritual lives. Indeed our faith is incomplete without such works as James also proclaims that faith without works is dead (James 2:26). If our faith needs to be perfected, we need to devote ourselves to suffering for the sake of the gospel such that we are productive in Christ and become worthy for our eternal honours ( See Grace – Issue 24:January 2010, Paragraph 5,6). This is the reason why the Apostles and others like Apollos and Zenas suffered and endured great troubles for the sake of the gospel. They knew very well that it was the means with which they can perfect their faith. Finally, Paul ends his epistle with greetings. We do not have the means to know the location from where Paul wrote this letter. However, we are able to understand from his greetings that when this letter was written, at least some fellow Christian believers were with him. In the first century, it was common practice to read out aloud the epistles of Paul publicly to the churches (Colossians 4:16). This letter must also have been read out publicly. Paul ends his letter wishing for the grace of God to be with all those in the Cretan churches.
(13) We are able to learn many useful spiritual lessons from this letter of Paul to Titus. Paul excellently explains the logic underpinning our salvation, suggests the standard & also the means to live a disciplined & honourable life in this present world while enumerating the need to do good works. If we were to heed to these counsels and put them into practice, there is no doubt that we will profit spiritually. We should not be mere listeners but be like those who try and live according to it.
– from the next issue the book of ‘Malachi’ will be studied –