Survey of the Letters of Paul
Lesson: Titus 3:4
But after that the kindness and love of God our
Saviour toward man appeared,
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 [Spirit];
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.
We will begin with the Matthew Henry Main. The
commentary discusses chapter 3 and verses 1-8. We
will break in where it deals with verses 4-7. These
four verses continue the statements of verses 2 and
3. Lets's read those.
Titus 3:2-3
2 To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but
gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.
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.
So God is commanding that we speak evil of no man
but to be gentle and showing all meekness. Why?
Verse 3 answers the why question. We were,
ourselves, foolish, disobedient, deceived, hateful
and so on. But then God did something. What He did
is laid out in verses 4-7.
Here is the Matthew Henry Main
2. From their present state. “We are delivered out
of that our miserable condition by no merit nor
strength of our own; but only by the mercy and free
grace of God, and merit of Christ, and operation of
his Spirit. Therefore, we have no ground, in respect
of ourselves, to condemn those who are yet
unconverted, but rather to pity them, and cherish
hope concerning them [the
plan of God for all of mankind], that
they, though in themselves as unworthy and unmeet as
we were, yet may obtain mercy, as we have:” and so
upon this occasion the apostle again opens the
causes of our salvation, Titus 3:4-7.
(1.) We have here the prime author of our salvation
- God the Father, therefore termed here God our
Saviour. All things are of God, who hath reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:18.
All things belonging to the new creation, and
recovery of [sinful]
man to life and happiness, of which the apostle is
there speaking, all these things are of God the
Father, as contriver and beginner of this work.
There is an order in acting, as in subsisting. God (namely,
the Father) is a Saviour by Christ,
through the Spirit. John 3:16, God so loved the
world as to give his only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in him might not perish, but have
everlasting life. He is the Father of Christ, and
through him the Father of mercies; all spiritual
blessings are by Christ from him, Ephesians 1:3. We
joy in God through Jesus Christ, Romans 5:11. And
with one mind, and one mouth, glorify God, even the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 15:5.
Quoted verses:
2 Corinthians 5:18
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us
to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the
ministry of reconciliation;
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life.
Ephesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Romans 5:11
And not only so, but we also joy in God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the
atonement.
Romans 15:5
Now the God of patience and consolation grant you
to be likeminded one toward another according to
Christ Jesus:
(2.) The spring and rise of it - the divine
philanthropy, or kindness and love of God to man. By
grace we are saved. The occasion [situation] is in
man, namely, his misery and wretchedness. Sin
bringing that misery, wrath might have issued out
rather than compassion; but God, knowing how to
adjust all with his own honour and perfections,
would pity and save rather than destroy. He delights
in mercy. Where sin abounded, grace did much more
abound. We read of riches of goodness and mercy,
Romans 2:4; Ephesians 2:7. Let us acknowledge this,
and give him the glory of it, not turning it to
wantonness, but to thankfulness and obedience.
Quoted verses:
Romans 2:4
...a question
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and
forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the
goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Ephesians 2:7
That in the ages to come he might shew the
exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus.
(3.) Here is the means, or instrumental cause - the
shining out of this love and grace of God in the
gospel, after it appeared, that is, in the word. The
appearing of love and grace has, through the Spirit,
great virtue to soften and change and turn to God,
and so is the power of God to salvation to every one
that believeth. Thus having asserted God to be the
author, his free grace the spring, and the
manifestation of this in the gospel the means of
salvation, that the honour of all still may be the
better secured to him.
~Matthew Henry Main
Let me give you this item 3 in language that may be
more clear. Item 1 identifies the author of our
salvation, God. Item 2 states how the salvation
came, namely, the kindness and love of God to man.
It is the goodness of God that leads us to
repentance and the salvation process. This item 3
shows us how this plan of salvation works. The
kindness and love of God was introduced and
continues from the Word of God. Salvation is
manifested in each of us by the power of the Holy
Spirit. The elements of salvation are all laid out
in the Word of God. They change us and lead us
through the salvation process to eternal life. All
this being done by God the Father, through Christ by
the power of the Holy Spirit.
Here is something from the Biblical Illustrator
that speaks to the kindness of God.
But after that the kindness
and love of God - The power of God’s kindness
In the incarnation of Christ, His life and miracles
and mercies and divinest teaching; in His
sacrificial death upon the cross [stake],
His resurrection and ascension, we have that
manifestation of the kindness of God which is
intended and calculated to lift us up out of our
sins, and to bring us into His own most holy
fellowship.
And see how broad and far-reaching this kindness
is; it is not for the elect nor for the Church,
though these of course are included, but for man as
such—for the whole human family, without exception.
Wide as the world is Thy command, vast as eternity
Thy love! We know something of this power of
kindness to subdue the evil and develop the good
even between man and man. It has many a time
succeeded where everything else has failed, and
where it fails we know of nothing else likely to
succeed. ~Biblical
Illustrator
There is so much in the phrase, "the kindness and
love of God." We have God's Holy Spirit but are
still human and working with the limits of the human
mind. It is not always easy to grasp the fullness of
God or His love. We do get closer to it with every
step we take toward spiritual maturity. These next
two pieces from the Biblical Illustrator attempt to
state this:
God’s kindness
The sun that shines on you shall set, summer
streams shall freeze, and deepest wells go dry; but
God’s love is a stream that never freezes, a
fountain that never fails, a sun that never sets in
night, a shield that never breaks in fight.
~Biblical Illustrator
God’s kindness only partially seen by the soul
The sun appears red through a fog, and generally
red at rising and setting, the red rays having a
great momentum which gives them power to traverse so
dense an atmosphere, which the other rays have not.
The increased quantity of atmosphere which oblique
rays must traverse, loaded with the mists and
vapours which are usually formed at those times,
prevents the other rays from reaching us. It is thus
that but a few of the rays of God’s love—like the
red rays—reach the soul. Sin, passion, and unbelief
surround it as with a dense atmosphere of mists and
vapours; and, though the beams of God’s love are
poured out innumerable as the sun’s rays, they are
lost and scattered, and few of them shine upon the
soul. ~Biblical
Illustrator
Now to the specific commentaries.
The verse is broken down into five parts:
1] But after that.
2] The kindness.
3] And love of God.
4] Our Savior toward man.
5] Appeared.
1]
But after that.
But after that -
Greek, when - The meaning is, that “when the love of
God was manifested in the plan of salvation, he
saved us from this state God appeared” after we had
sinned in this way, but that when his mercy was thus
displayed we were converted from our sins, and made
pure in his sight.
~Barnes Notes
2]
The kindness.
The kindness - “the
goodness, or the benignity.” The word is rendered
“goodness” and “good” in Romans 2:4; Romans 3:12;
Romans 11:22, thrice; “kindness,” 2 Corinthians 6:6;
Ephesians 2:7; Colossians 3:12; Titus 3:4; and
“gentleness,” Galatians 5:22. The act of redeeming
us was one of great kindness, or goodness.
~Barnes Notes
Quoted verses:
Romans 2:4
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and
forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the
goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Romans 3:12
They are all gone out of the way, they are together
become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good,
no, not one.
Romans 11:22
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God:
on them which fell, severity; but toward thee,
goodness, if thou continue in his goodness:
otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
2 Corinthians 6:6
By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by
kindness, by the Holy Ghost [Spirit],
by love unfeigned,
Ephesians 2:7
That in the ages to come he might shew the
exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus.
Colossians 3:12
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and
beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of
mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Galatians 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
3]
And love of God.
And love of God -
Margin, “pity.” The Greek word is - “philanthropy -
the love of man.” The plan of salvation was founded
on love to man, and was the highest expression of
that love; the notes at John 3:16. The Greek of this
verse is, “When the kindness and love of God our
Saviour to man was manifested, he saved us” Titus
3:5, to wit, from those sins of which we had before
been guilty. ~Barnes
Notes
Quoted verses:
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life.
Titus 3:5
[see
Lesson]
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 [Spirit].
4]
Our Savior toward man.
Of God our Saviour —
Greek, “of our Savior God,” namely, the Father
(Titus 1:3), who “saved us” (Titus 3:5) “through
Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:6).
~JFB
Quoted verses:
Titus 1:3
[see
Lesson]
But hath in due times manifested his word through
preaching, which is committed unto me according to
the commandment of God our Saviour;
Titus 3:5
...quoted above
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 [Spirit].
Titus 3:6
[see
Lesson]
Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ
our Saviour.
5]
Appeared.
Appeared — Greek,
“was made to appear”; was manifested.
~JFB
Note: What
a glorious concept: "God manifested something." This
is the hallmark of God. He is always and continually
manifesting perfect things at the right time in the
right situation. All His ways are perfect. His
timing is perfect. His plan of salvation is perfect.
His love and kindness are perfect. These are the
lessons of verse 4.
|