Episode 9 "Titus 2:11-15"
Titus 2.11-15 – Instruction to believers – God’s Grace
Paul does something in his letter to Titus that is somewhat different than what he wrote in other letters. In most of his epistles he develops the doctrinal truth about Christ and then moves to the imperatives of how that should impact your behavior.
Here he contrasts what empty teaching and doctrine looked like in chapter 1 with how sound doctrine (Titus 2.1 says, “But as for you speak sound doctrine”) impacts your behavior whether you are young or old, man or woman, bond or free. He essentially precedes his traditional teaching about Jesus and goes right into how sound doctrine will impact the way in which we behave. Remember the thesis for this letter: “Sound doctrine begets sound behavior”. That is essentially the point of the epistle and most certainly the point Paul made in the first 10 verses of chapter 2.
As we said last time there were four things he asked everyone to do:
Sophron – that each limited their freedom and behaved in a way different from the norm.
Semnotes – that each were revenant, putting godly living over Cretan abundance.
Hygiano Didaskalia – that their teaching was pure – Sound doctrine.
Make sure your speech is pure.
Essentially be different from the Cretans because Jesus was so different! So now he gets into the reason we should live this way – the two epiphanies of Jesus.
Titus 2.11 The epiphany of Grace. For the grace of God has appeared (epiphaino) bringing salvation to all men. Jesus and God’s grace are the same (see John 1.14-16). His first epiphany brought salvation to all men. Salvation is not exclusive. It is available to anyone who wants to receive it. Unfortunately, not all will receive it.
Titus 2.12 The instruction of God’s grace. This grace Instructs (pedagogue – to teach as a tutor teaches a young student) us to be different from the Cretans:
Deny ungodliness and worldliness (See 1John 2.15-18)
Live “sophron” – Limit yourself. Learn to say no when others say, yes and yes when others say no.
Live righteously – dikaios – this is how you relate to others.
Live godly – eusebos – this is how you relate to God.
Titus 2.13 Live in expectation of the second epiphany. The active dynamic that changes not only your life but what you look forward to is GRACE! Grace is Paul’s word.
In all of John’s writings he uses the word charis (grace) a mere 7 times and his entire teaching on grace is at the start of his gospel (John 1.14-17) where he uses charis 4 times.
Peter uses the word 10 times.
Paul uses charis over 120 times and discusses grace in every one of his writings multiple times. It was meaningful to Paul because of his prior life of condemning and killing believers.
GRACE – God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.
Aristotle wrote in 200 BC – “Grace (charis) is conferred freely with no expectation of return finding its only motive in the bounty and free-heartedness of the giver.
Grace delivers us from:
Penalty of Sin
Power of Sin
Presence of Sin
Your behavior shows that you have made a commitment to sound doctrine.
The Power of Grace –
No grace – no salvation
No grace – no pedagogue (instruction)
No grace – no relationship with God
No grace – no hope.
Grace alone allows you to look forward to the second epiphany – Christ’s second coming! That is the Blessed Hope! Note that “looking for” is in the present tense. We are looking now!
Titus 2.14 Grace is not cheap
Grace is available to all but only through Christ. It is exclusive, but it is not cheap. It cost God his one and only Son, the highest price imaginable. As such, grace should lead to:
Sophron – the ability to say no when you could say yes and vice versa.
Righteousness – your horizontal relationship with others
Godliness – your vertical relationship with God
“In this present age” – remember they live in Crete. Nevertheless, our hope comes at the expense of Jesus’ death. He gave Himself willingly that He might redeem (pay the price) for all our sin. He did this to create people for His own possession that are zealous to do good deeds!
Titus 2.15 No one is better than sound doctrine
His final statement before moving on to the thoughts he addresses in the next chapter is directed especially to Titus. Titus speak these things with authority. Exhort (same word he used regarding elders) people in this teaching. Reprove people that do not accept this teaching.
He ends with an interesting statement – Let no one disrespect you. The word Paul uses is periphroneo, which means “better than the teaching”. In other words, let no one say he is better than your teaching!
