Paul to Titus – What We Can Learn

How many of use live up to Paul’s expectation?

Proper Behavior Supports Sound Doctrine

Paul’s letter to Titus 2:11-15 (CEB) “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. It educates us so that we can live sensible, ethical, and godly lives right now by rejecting ungodly lives and the desires of this world. At the same time we wait for the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of our great God and savior Jesus Christ. He gave himself for us in order to rescue us from every kind of lawless behavior, and cleanse a special people for himself who are eager to do good actions. Talk about these things. Encourage and correct with complete authority. Don’t let anyone disrespect you.“

Background Commentary

“2:11. The believers were to live in a respectable way to counter false accusations (2:8–10) so that all would have access to the gospel according to which they lived. On prejudice against minority religions, see the introduction to 2:1–14. That God’s *grace had provided (though not automatically effected—cf., e.g., 1:10) salvation for all people ran counter to the Jewish emphasis on God’s special redemption of Israel and prevailing sentiments of cultural distinctions held by many people in antiquity (though Judaism allowed that some righteous *Gentiles would be saved, and philosophers and some mystery religions challenged conventional cultural boundaries). 2:12. Two ethical terms Paul employs here were among the four cardinal virtues of ancient Greek philosophers and moralists. A similar list occurs in Philo, a Jewish philosopher who wished to present Judaism favorably to the Greek society of Alexandria, to which he also felt he belonged. Jewish sources frequently contrasted the present age, dominated by evil and suffering, with the *age to come, when God would rule unchallenged and reward his people. Although some oppressors through history have used such a doctrine to keep the oppressed subdued, it more appropriately found its first hearing among the oppressed themselves. Palestinian Jews felt discouraged by Roman repression and the lack of independence to practice their law fully; *Diaspora Jews and Christians found themselves a moral minority in a morass of paganism, subject to slanders and sporadic violence. Their hope for the future was rooted in their faith in God’s justice. 2:13. In Judaism, the ultimate revelation or “appearing” of God would signal the end of the present age and the beginning of the new one (cf. 2:12). Diaspora Judaism commonly called God “the great God” and saw him as a “*savior” (in Greek religion, the latter term often meant deliverer or benefactor). According to the most likely reading of the grammar here, Paul applies this divine title to Jesus; although some Jewish circles thought of semi-divine beings (often particular exalted angels) or images (especially Wisdom), Judaism did not portray any other human figure as literally divine (or, from recent history, even figuratively divine, as *Philo did with Moses based on Ex 7:1). 2:14. In the *Old Testament God “redeemed” the people of Israel (i.e., freed them from slavery in Egypt) to make them “a special people” (Ex 19:5; Deut 4:20; 7:6; 14:2; cf. 1 Sam 12:22; 2 Sam 7:24; Ps 135:4); here Paul applies this language to the church. Judaism strongly praised “zeal” for God. Although zeal was sometimes associated with Jewish revolutionaries (some of whom were or came to be called *Zealots) in this period, more often it simply meant uncompromising zeal for the *law or for God. (Although unlikely, it is possible that the Jewish colony in Crete was affected by the same revolutionary tensions building in Cyrene, which was on the North African coast far to the south but under the same Roman administration. These tensions erupted into violence in Cyrene about a.d. 72 [Josephus, Jewish War 7.437–50] and into a full revolt about four decades later. These revolutionary sentiments had been stirred by surviving revolutionaries from Palestine.)”

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