This section has 5 verses.
 
Titus 3:3-7
3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
 
We will begin with the Barclay commentary.

THE DOUBLE DYNAMIC

First, the paraphrase of verses 3-7:

For we too were once senseless, disobedient, misguided, slaves to all kinds of desires and pleasures, living in maliciousness and envy, detestable ourselves, and hating each other. But when the goodness and the love to men of God our Saviour appeared, it was not by works wrought in righteousness, which we ourselves had done, but by his own mercy that he saved us. That saving act was made effective to us through that washing, through which there comes to us the rebirth and the renewal which are the work of the Holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out upon us, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And the aim of all this was that we might be put into a right relationship with God through his grace, and so enter into possession of eternal life, for which we have been taught to hope.

THE dynamic of the Christian life is twofold. It comes first from the realization that converts to Christianity were once no better than their non-Christian neighbours. Christian goodness does not make people proud; it makes them supremely grateful. When Christians looked at others, living life by the standards of Roman society, they did not regard them with contempt; they said, as the Methodist George Whitefield said when he saw the criminal on the way to the gallows: ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’

It comes from the realization of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Perhaps no passage in the New Testament more concisely, and yet more fully, sets out the work of Christ for us than this. There are seven outstanding facts about that work here.

(1) Jesus put us into a new relationship with God. Until he came, God was the King before whom people stood in awe, the Judge before whom they cringed in terror, the Ruler whom they could regard only with fear. Jesus came to tell men and women of the Father whose heart was open and whose hands were stretched out in love. He came to tell them not of the justice which would pursue them forever but of the love which would never let them go.

(2) The love and grace of God are gifts which no one could ever earn; they can only be accepted in perfect trust and in awakened love. God offers his love to us simply out of the great goodness of his heart, and Christians never think of what they have earned but only of what God has given. The keynote of the Christian life must always be wondering and humble gratitude, never proud self-satisfaction. The whole process is due to two great qualities of God.

It is due to his goodness. The word is chre¯stote¯s and means graciousness. It means that spirit which is so kind that it is always eager to give whatever gift may be necessary. Chre¯stote¯s is an all-embracing kindliness, which produces not only warm feeling but also generous action at all times.

It is due to God’s love to men and women. The word is philanthro¯pia, and it is defined as love of someone as a human being. The Greeks thought much of this beautiful word. They used it for the kindliness of good people to their equals, for a good king’s graciousness to his subjects, for a generous individual’s active pity for those in any kind of distress, and especially for the compassion which made someone pay the ransom for another who had fallen into captivity.

Behind all this is no human merit but only the gracious kindliness and the universal love which are in the heart of God.

(3) This love and grace of God are mediated [removal of misunderstanding] through the Church. They come through the sacrament of baptism. That is not to say that they can come in no other way, for God is not confined within his sacraments; but the door to them is always open through the Church. When we think of baptism in the earliest days of the Church, we must remember that it was the baptism of grown men and women coming directly out of the ancient idolatrous religions. It was the deliberate leaving of one way of life to enter upon another. When Paul writes to the people of Corinth, he says: ‘You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified’ (1 Corinthians 6:11). In the letter to the Ephesians, he says that Jesus Christ took the Church ‘in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word’ (Ephesians 5:26). In baptism, there came the cleansing, re-creating power of God.

Quoted verses:
1 Corinthians 6:11 ...but I will read from verse 9
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Ephesians 5:26
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

In this connection, Paul uses two words.

He speaks of rebirth (paliggenesia). Here is a word which had many associations. After baptism, converts who were received into the Jewish faith were treated as if they were little children. It was as if they had been reborn and life had begun all over again. The Pythagoreans [puh-tha'guh-REE-uns] used the word frequently. They believed in reincarnation and that people returned to life in many forms until they were fit to be released from it. Each return was a rebirth. The Stoics used the word. They believed that every 3,000 years the world was destroyed in a great fire, and that then there was a rebirth of a new world. When people entered the mystery religions, they were said to be ‘reborn for eternity’. The point is that when we accept Christ as Saviour and Lord, life begins all over again. There is a newness about life which can be likened only to a new birth.

He speaks of a renewing. It is as if life were worn out and, when someone discovers Christ, there is an act of renewal, which is not over and done with in one moment of time but repeats itself every day.

(4) THE grace and love of God are mediated to men and women within the Church, but behind it all is the power of the Holy Spirit. All the work of the Church, all the words of the Church, all the sacraments of the Church have no effect unless the power of the Holy Spirit is there. However well a church is organized, however splendid its ceremonies may be, however beautiful its buildings, all is ineffective without that power. The lesson is clear. Revival in the Church comes not from increased efficiency in organization but from waiting upon God. It is not that efficiency is not necessary; but no amount of efficiency can breathe life into a body from which the Spirit has departed.

(5) The effect of all this is threefold. It brings forgiveness for past sins. In his mercy, God does not hold our sins against his sins. ‘Man,’ said Augustine, ‘look away from your sins and look to God.’ It is not that we should live our lives without being perpetually repentant for our sins; but the very memory of our sins should move us to wonder at the forgiving mercy of God.

(6) The effect is also new life in the present. Christianity does not confine its offer to blessings which shall be. It offers us here and now life of a quality which we have never known before. When Christ enters into our lives, for the first time we really begin to live.

(7) Last, there is the hope of even greater things. Christians are men and women for whom the best is always still to be; they know that, however wonderful life on earth with Christ may be, the life to come will be greater still. Christians are people who know the wonder of the forgiveness of past sins, the thrill of present life with Christ, and the hope of the greater life which is yet to come. ~Barclay Commentary

Now to the other commentaries. We will begin with the general and move to the specific. Here is the Matthew Henry Main.

Remember the admonition in verse 2: "To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men. Verse 3 is giving us reason for this admonition.

We ourselves also were sometimes,

(1.) Foolish; without true spiritual understanding and knowledge, ignorant of heavenly [spiritual] things. Observe, Those should be most disposed to bear with others' follies who may remember many of their own; those should be meek and gentle, and patient towards others, who once needed and doubtless then expected the same. We ourselves also were sometimes foolish. And,

(2.) Disobedient; heady and unpersuadable, resisting the word, and rebellious even against the natural laws of God, and those which human society requires. Well are these set together, foolish and obedient. For what folly like this, to disobey God and his laws, natural or revealed? This is contrary to right reason, and men's true and greatest interests; and what so foolish as to violate and go counter to these?

(3.) Deceived, or wandering; namely, out of the ways of truth and holiness. Man in this his degenerate state is of a straying nature, thence compared to a lost sheep; this must be sought and brought back, and guided in the right way, Psalm 119:176. He is weak, and ready to be imposed upon by the wiles and subtleties of Satan, and of men lying in wait to seduce and mislead.

Quoted verse:
Psalm 119:176
I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.

(4.) Serving divers lusts and pleasures; namely, as vassals and slaves under them. Observe, Men deceived are easily entangled and ensnared; they would not serve divers lusts and pleasures as they do, were they not blinded and beguiled into them. See here too what a different notion the word gives of a sensual and fleshly life from what the world generally has of it. Carnal people think they enjoy their pleasures; the word calls it servitude and vassalage [dependence; subjection]: they are very drudges and bond slaves under them; so far are they from freedom and felicity in them that they are captivated by them, and serve them as taskmasters and tyrants. Observe further, It is the misery of the servants of sin that they have many masters, one lust hurrying them one way, and another; pride commands one thing, covetousness another, and often a contrary. What vile slaves are sinners, while they conceit themselves free! the lusts that tempt them promise them liberty, but in yielding they become the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought into bondage.

(5.) Living in malice, one of those lusts that bear rule in them. Malice desires hurt to another and rejoices in it.

(6.) And envy, which grudges and repines [discontented] at another's good, frets at his prosperity and success in any thing: both are roots of bitterness, whence many evils spring: evil thoughts and speeches, tongues set on fire of hell, detracting from and impairing the just and due praises of others. Their words are swords, wherewith they slay the good name and honour of their neighbour. This was the sin of Satan, and of Cain who was of that evil one, and slew his brother; for wherefore slew he him, but of this envy and malice, because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous? These were some of the sins in which we lived in our natural state. And,

(7.) Hateful, or odious [highly offensive; repugnant] - deserving to be hated.

(8.) And hating one another. Observe, Those that are sinful, living and allowing themselves in sin, are hateful to God and all good men. Their temper and ways are so, though not simply their persons. It is the misery of sinners that thy hate one another, as it is the duty and happiness of saints to love one another. What contentions and quarrels flow from men's corruptions, such as were in the nature of those who by conversion are now good, but in their unconverted state made them ready to run like furious wild beasts one upon another! The consideration of its having been thus with us should moderate our spirits, and dispose us to be more equal and gentle, meek and tenderhearted, towards those who are such. This is the argument from their own past condition here described. ~Matthew Henry Main

Now an item from the Biblical Illustrator.

We ourselves also were sometimes foolish

The transforming power of the gospel
I. What even Christians were. Their lives and characters were distinguished by
1. Folly;
2. Disobedience;
3. Liability to deception;
4. Sensuality;
5. Passion [wrong kinds];
6. Unloveliness;
7. Unbrotherliness.

II. What Christians become. Their lives display
1. Humility of spirit;
2. Gentleness in action;
3. Truthfulness in word. ~Biblical Illustrator

Note: The point here is simple. We have all been examples of that list of seven items we once were. We now demonstrate the list of the three items we have become. Therefore we take seriously the admonition of verse 2.

We now go to the specific commentaries. They break out this verse in 6 to 9 parts. We will go with the Barnes and their 9 parts:

1] For we ourselves also.
2] Were sometimes foolish.
3] Disobedient.
4] Deceived.
5] Serving divers lusts and pleasures.
6] Living in malice.
7] Living in envy.
8] Hateful.
9] And hating one another.


1] For we ourselves also.

For we ourselves - All of us, whether Jews or Gentiles, were, before our conversion to Christ, foolish, disobedient, and deceived. There is no doubt that the apostle felt he could include himself in the above list, previously to his conversion. The manner in which he persecuted the Christians, to whose charge he could not lay one moral evil, is a sufficient proof that, though he walked according to the letter of the law, as to its ordinances and ceremonies, blameless, yet his heart was in a state of great estrangement from God, from justice, holiness, mercy, and compassion. ~Adam Clarke

2] Were sometimes foolish.

Foolish - Without understanding - ignorant of God, his nature, his providence, and his grace. ~Adam Clarke

3] Disobedient.

Disobedient - To law, to parents, to civil authority, to God. This is the natural character of the human heart. ~Barnes Notes

Disobedient - Unpersuaded, unbelieving, obstinate, and disobedient. ~Adam Clarke

Disobedient - both to the law of God, and Gospel of Christ; disbelieving the truths of the Gospel, and not subjected to the ordinances of it, notwithstanding the evidence with which they came, and the miracles by which they were confirmed. ~John Gill

4] Deceived.

Deceived - By the great enemy, by false teachers, by our own hearts, and by the flattery of others. It is a characteristic of man by nature that he sees nothing in its true light, but walks along amidst constant, though changing and very beautiful illusions. Every one who is converted feels, and is ready to confess, that before conversion he was deceived as to the comparative value of things, as to the enjoyment which he expected to find in scenes of pleasure and riot, and often in what seemed to him well-formed plans. ~Barnes Notes

Disobedient - both to the law of God, and Gospel of Christ; disbelieving the truths of the Gospel, and not subjected to the ordinances of it, notwithstanding the evidence with which they came, and the miracles by which they were confirmed. ~John Gill

5] Serving divers lusts and pleasures.

Serving divers lusts and pleasures - Indulging in the various corrupt passions and propensities of the soul. We were so under their influence that it might be said we were their servants, or were slaves to them; that is, we implicitly obeyed them. ~Barnes Notes

Serving divers lusts and pleasures - Being in a state of continual thraldom [bondage]; not served or gratified by our lusts and pleasures, but living, as their slaves, a life of misery and wretchedness. ~Adam Clarke

Serving divers lusts and pleasures - the lusts of the flesh are many and various, which promise pleasure to them that obey them, though that is but imaginary, and very short lived, and which subjects persons to bondage and slavery; for such who indulge to these things, are overcome by them, led captive, and brought into bondage, and are the servants of sin, vassals and slaves to their own corruptions; and such these saints had been, here spoken of: ~John Gill

6] Living in malice.

Living in malice - Greek, “in evil” - that is, in all kinds of evil; see the notes at Romans 1:29, where the word is rendered maliciousness. ~Barnes Notes

Quoted verse:
Romans 1:29 ...interesting verse as it speaks primarily to those falling back to the old ways.
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers.

Living in malice and envy - Spending our life in wickedness and envy - not bearing to see the prosperity of others, because we feel ourselves continually wretched. ~Adam Clarke

7] Living in envy.

And envy - Displeasure at the happiness and prosperity of others. ~Barnes Notes

Living in malice and envy - they had not only malice and envy in their hearts against their fellow creatures, but practiced it in their lives; yea, their lives were a continued series of malice and envy. ~John Gill

8] Hateful.

Hateful - This word does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament. It means that our conduct was such as to be worthy of the hatred of others. Of whom, before his conversion, is not this true? ~Barnes Notes

9] And hating one another.

And hating one another - There was no brotherly love; no true affection for others. There was ill-will felt in the heart, and it was evinced in the life. This is an apt description of the state of the heathen world before the gospel shines on it, and it may be regarded as the characteristic of all men before conversion. They have no true love for one another, such as they ought to cherish, and they are liable constantly to give indulgence to feelings which evince hatred. In contentions, and strifes, and litigations, and wars, this feeling is constantly breaking out. All this is suggested here as a reason why Christians should now be gentle and mild toward those who are evil. Let us remember what we were, and we shall not be disposed to treat others harshly. When a Christian is tempted to unkind thoughts or words towards others, nothing is more appropriate for him than to reflect on his own past life. ~Barnes Notes

So, speak evil of no one. Be gentle. Understand what you were like prior to Godly calling and conversion by the Word of God. Maintain yourself in the character of Jesus Christ. Have compassion and understanding for those not yet called. These are the lessons of verse 3.