Titus 3:1-8

“Good works”…! Again, twice mentioned in today’s reading – verses 3 and 8. That “divine echo” again!

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. (v. 3) Supposedly this is Paul writing to Titus (although some Bible scholars argue against Paul’s authorship of all three pastoral letters). As I was reading through Paul’s list of improper behaviors and attitudes, I thought that it does not sound like Paul’s early life. He was trained as a rabbi, as a scholar. I could not relate to this being Paul, the rabbi in his early life – not until I got to hateful, hating one another. Then I could see Paul writing, remembering his early hatred of Christians and his wanting to rid the world of them.

In that verse 3 quoted above, I was also asking myself about my own earlier life – to what extent had I exhibited those behaviors and attitudes? Then I went further and asked myself how much or how often some items from this list still applied to me today. I needn’t go any further with that thought…!

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 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, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (vv. 4-7) These verses are as good a statement of salvation and regeneration as we find anywhere else in Paul’s writings! I’m surprised we don’t see these verses quoted more often.

Slava Bohu!

Titus 2:11-15

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. (vv. 11-14, NASB) I realize that I have copied four of the five verses from today’s reading, but I was really struck by the power of Paul’s words to Titus in these four verses. But what I can’t understand was that I was struck by these verses when I read the NASB earlier this morning. Then upon re-reading these verses in the ESV, I wondered what it was about Paul’s words that had struck me earlier. Then I went back to the NASB and again I felt the power of Paul’s words. Different translations, different reactions. I encourage each of you to read at least two translations every day when you read these verses. I think it opens our eyes a lot to see those contrasts.

At the end of verse 14, Paul writes …zealous for good deeds. (…good works in the ESV…) In yesterday’s reading we also saw “good works” in verse 7: Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works.. Finally, in this morning’s service, the Prayer of the Day included a phrase that we “…devotedly serve you in good works, to the glory of your Name”. A divine echo? I think we’re supposed to be doing “good works”, folks.

Finally, a thank you to my Study Bible for pointing out that the word “training” (“instructing” in the NASB) at the beginning of verse 12 includes a whole lot more than just speaking. It includes instruction, encouragement, correction, and discipline. Nice to know…

Slava Bohu!

Titus 2:1-10

As I looked at Paul’s instructions to Timothy regarding older men, I paused and asked myself how I measured up on Paul’s six items. Then I asked myself further how Carol would evaluate me on those six items. That would probably be the better evaluation!

…train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. (vv. 4-6) Paul has seven instruction items for young women and only one for young men. Strange…! There’s probably a lot more that he could have said by way of instructing young men!! One could argue that Paul goes on in the next two verses to give further instructions to Titus, if in fact Titus is also a young man (which is easy to presume from the context). But then again, most of Paul’s direct instructions to Titus have to do with Titus’ teachings.

Slava Bohu!

Titus 1:10-16

To the pure, all things are pure… (v. 15a) Nothing particularly special about this verse (in my mind), except in context. It is the only (partial) verse in today’s reading that is positive! Every other verse is blasting away at “those of the circumcision party”, Cretans, “the defiled and unbelieving” with descriptors like “insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers”, “defiled”, “detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work”. What a tirade!! I think there is one other section in Paul’s epistles where he “lets loose” like this, but I can’t recall it. So let’s hold onto “To the pure, all things are pure…”!!

Slava Bohu!

Titus 1:1-9

Titus! I presume that most of you would have been expecting II Timothy to follow immediately after I Timothy. But you have to remember that we are reading chronologically – well, as chronologically correct as The Chronological Study Bible may be. So Titus comes between the two Timothy epistles. One other note from my other Study Bible that surprised me. My guess is that you, like me, are more familiar with Timothy than with Titus. Here’s why – surprisingly: Titus is not mentioned in Acts while Timothy is mentioned at least five times (Acts 16:1-3; 17:14-15; 18:5; 19:22; 20:4) Timothy is also included in the greeting in a number of Paul’s letters (Philippians, Colossians, Philemon), so we tend to be more familiar with Timothy. But here’s another surprising item about Titus – although he is not mentioned at all in Acts, he is mentioned 13 times in the epistles!! Clearly, Titus was one of Paul’s most trusted companions.

In the qualifications of elders (vv. 6-9) Paul requires that an elder be the “husband of one wife” – one wonders why the Catholic Church has long maintained celibate priests – and that his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. (v. 6b) So the “sins of the children” are reflected back onto the father?? That’s a tough one! Maybe the first century household was very different from what we have today. Yes, we want godly parents to raise godly children, but we have no guarantees. We can teach and model behavior and pray, but the world also has its hold on today’s kids. How often have we heard the phrase, the initials “P.K”, often referring to a “preacher’s kid” who has gone astray??!! We need to always be praying for our own and for our friends’ children.

Slava Bohu!

I Timothy 6:17-21

They [the rich] are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. (vv. 18-19) Paul gives us good advice for a question we dealt with earlier – as to how we are to handle our wealth: good works, generosity, sharing! His middle phrase, (storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future) could be taken two ways – applying to our present life or looking forward to our eternal life. I’m certain that Paul is referring to eternal life, “that which is truly life”, as that is his following statement. Still, a case could be made for Paul’s referring to us setting aside funds for retirement.

Paul closes this letter to Timothy with “Grace be with you.”(v. 21b) Both of my Study Bibles noted that the word “you” is plural in the Greek, presumably suggesting that this letter was to be read publicly to the rest of the Ephesian community (and nearby communities?).

Slava Bohu!

I Timothy 6:11-16

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called… (v. 12a) Paul gives Timothy two admonitions here – that he (and we?) need to fight for “the faith” and that we need to more regularly consider that we are called to eternal life. I’m not sure what Paul means by “the faith”. If he had not included the definite article “the”, I would have thought that he was talking about Timothy’s (our?) personal faith. But “the faith” is different from “faith” – I think “the faith” is a more corporate expression, something related to the entire church’s body of belief. Think of the title, “Defender of the Faith” assigned to the King/Queen of England. “The faith” there is a much more corporate usage. And as for our taking hold of eternal life… That’s something we need to do every day, to know that we are called to eternal life – not just after we die, but also a special life that we are to live day to day, a life that begins anew every day and will last eternally. What a concept!! Glory!

Slava Bohu!

I Timothy 6:1-10

Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. (v. 2) At first this seemed to be a strange comment from Paul, in that he already urged slaves (bondservants) in the preceding verse to glorify God in their service. But now he makes a special plea to slaves who serve believing masters, essentially repeating his comment in the first verse, but also adding to it something about the slaves considering their believing master’s welfare. I imagine that Paul added this second verse because of his time with Onesimus, the slave whose owner was Philemon. No doubt he had spent hours chatting with Onesimus and possibly hearing about Onesimus’s jealousy for his master’s wealth, even though both of them were believers. Maybe Onesimus felt like Philemon should have freed him? Again the larger context helps us understand the verse!

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. (vv. 9-10a) This verse is true enough, but we have another context today that was less an issue for Paul: POWER!! Switch “rich” for “powerful” and “money” for “power” and we have a good picture of politics in the USA today – on both sides of the aisle! Nothing more to say on that! Back in Paul’s time the Romans were powerful and there was little that the Jews or other conquered people could do (although there were numerous uprisings that were put down fairly quickly). However, it is also true that the Jewish leaders also craved power, as did the regional Roman rulers (like Herod and Pontius Pilate). So “rich and powerful” could have easily been the bigger context for these two verses.

Slava Bohu!

I Timothy 5:17-25

My Study Bible guided me well this morning – almost the entire reading today is speaking about elders, all except the last three verses. Seeing this reading in its full context makes it more clear than taking a verse out of context. Today’s first three verses obviously point to elders. However, verse 20, “As for those who persist in sin…” is referring back to the “charge against an elder” in verse 19. I suppose it’s possible to interpret verse 20 as applying to anyone in a congregation, not just elders, but again reading within the larger context is more appropriate. Likewise, verse 22 could easily be misinterpreted: “Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands…” This verse refers to the ordination process which is still alive in our churches today. Initially I had read this verse in the NKJV: “Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins…”. I had first related this verse back to those who were “persisting in sin” (v. 20), with members of the congregation arguing that they were deserving of some sort of physical punishment. Again, a verse taken out of context can be easily misinterpreted!

Finally, today’s last two verses are worthy of note: The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden. (vv. 24-25, ESV) The phrase, even those that are not is translated those that are otherwise in both the NKJV and the NASB, leaving out the clarifying word “even”. Again in reading these other two versions before the ESV I had thought that “otherwise” referred to the opposite of “good works”, i.e., sins. So for clarification, these two verses are saying that some sins and some good works are readily evident (conspicuous) in some people’s lives, and that some sins and some good works are not immediately evident, but will surface later. Thankfully most committed Christians understand that in sharing our faith we often do not see repentance and redemption coming forth from an unbeliever and we lay claim to Isaiah 55:11, So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth. It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. We now also have I Timothy 5:25 to fall back on! GLORY!!

Slava Bohu!