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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. We will begin
with the Matthew Henry Main commentary which covers
1-8. I am breaking in where it discusses verse 7
(10.) Here are the ends why we are brought into this
new spiritual condition, namely, justification, and
heirship, and hope of eternal life: That, being
justified by his grace, we should be made heirs
according to the hope of eternal life. Justification
in the gospel sense is the free remission of a
sinner, and accepting him as righteous through the
righteousness of Christ received by faith [all
this speaking of the salvation process into which we
are placed].
In it there is the removing of guilt that bound to
punishment, and the accepting and dealing with the
person as one that now is righteous in God's sight.
This God does freely as to us, yet through the
intervention of Christ's sacrifice and
righteousness, laid hold on by faith (Romans 3:20,
etc.): By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be
justified; but through the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon
all those that believe, whence (Romans 3:24) we are
said to be justified freely by his grace, through
the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God
hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in
his blood, to declare his righteousness for the
remission of sins, that he might be just, and the
justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.
Quoted verses:
Romans 3:20
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no
flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is
the knowledge of sin.
Romans 3:24
Being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
God, in justifying a sinner in the way of the
gospel, is gracious to him, and yet just to himself
and his law, forgiveness being through a perfect
righteousness, and satisfaction made to justice by
Christ, who is the propitiation [pruh-pish-ee-ey-shuh
n] [to make favorably inclined] for sin,
and not merited by the sinner himself. So it is
here: Not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to his mercy he saved us, that,
being justified by his grace, we should be made
heirs according to the hope of eternal life. It is
by grace, as the spring and rise (as was said),
though through the redemption that is in Christ as
making the way, God's law and justice being thereby
satisfied, and by faith applying that redemption. By
him (by Christ) all that believe are
justified from all things from which they could not
be justified by the law of Moses, Acts 13:39.
Quoted verse:
Acts 13:39
And by him all that believe are justified from all
things, from which ye could not be justified by the
law of Moses.
Let us look at a commentary on this verse to better
understand the phrase. "justified from all things."
And by him all that believe are
justified from all things - Christ, as God,
is not only the justifier of his people, who
pronounces them righteous in the sight of
God; but his righteousness imputed to them
is the matter of their justification, or
that by which they are justified; and not
the works of the law, or obedience to the
Gospel, or internal holiness, either in
whole or in part, or the grace of faith, but
the object of it, Christ, and his
righteousness: and justification by this is
complete and perfect; it is from all sin,
original and actual, secret and open,
greater or lesser sins; sins of presumption
and ignorance, of omission or commission;
from all things the law can charge with, as
breaches of it; from all things which the
justice of God can demand satisfaction for;
and from all things that Satan, or a man's
own conscience, can justly accuse him of.
And those that believe in Christ with the
heart unto righteousness, are openly and
manifestly justified in their own
consciences, and can claim their interest in
it, and have the comfort of it, as well as
they were before secretly justified in the
mind of God, and in their head and
representative Jesus Christ. And from all
sin these are justified of God, as Beza's
ancient copy reads, "for it is God that
justifies", Romans 8:33 against whom men
have sinned, and whose law they have
violated, and whose justice they have
affronted, by reason of which they are
liable to condemnation; but God justifies
them, by imputing the righteousness of his
Son to them, in which he views them as
without fault, unblamable and irreprovable;
and though all men are not justified, yet
many are; even all the seed of Israel, all
the elect of God, everyone that believes in
Christ, as all do who are ordained to
eternal life; Christ's righteousness is
imputed and applied to all these, and
therefore they shall never enter into
condemnation, but shall be acquitted and
discharged from all things. ~John Gill
[emphasis mine]
Quoted verse:
Romans 8:33
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of
God's elect? [who shall accuse, or
condemn, or so charge with crime before God?]
It is God that justifieth.
Note: Look at that phrase in the
latter part of the commentary: "but God
justifies them, by imputing the
righteousness of his Son to them."
This means that God is assigning the
righteousness of Christ upon the life and
mind and heart of the one He called.
God brought you into the salvation process
and there you learn of the righteousness of
Christ and apply it [by the power of the
Holy Spirit] unto your character.
This is you developing the mind of Christ
into your mind. |
Now continuing in the Matthew Henry Main:
Hence the apostle desires to be found in him, not
having his own righteousness, which was of the law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith. Let us not
trust therefore in our own righteousness or merit of
good works, but in Christ's righteousness alone,
received by faith for justification and acceptance
with God. Inherent righteousness we must have, and
the fruits of it in works of obedience; not however
as our justifying righteousness before God, but as
fruits of our justification, and evidences of our
interest in Christ and qualification for life and
happiness, and the very beginning and part of it;
but the procuring of all this is by Christ, that,
being justified by his grace, we should be made
heirs. Observe, Our justification is by the grace of
God, and our justification by that grace is
necessary in order to our being made heirs of
eternal life; without such justification there can
be no adoption and sonship, and so no right of
inheritance. John 1:12, Whoever received him (namely,
Christ), to them gave he power to become the
sons of God, even to those that believed on his
name. Eternal life is set before us in the promise,
the Spirit works faith in us and hope of that life,
and so are we made heirs of it and have a kind of
possession of it even now; faith and hope bring it
near, and fill with joy in the well-grounded
expectation of it. The meanest believer is a great
heir. Though he has not his portion in hand, he has
good hope through grace, and may bear up under all
difficulties. There is a better state in view. He is
waiting for an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
him. How well may such comfort themselves with these
words! And now all this gives good reason why we
should show all meekness to all men, because we have
experienced so much benefit by the kindness and love
of God to us, and may hope that they, in God's time,
may be partakers of the like grace as we are. And
thus of the reasons of equal and gentle, meek and
tender behaviour to wards others, from their own bad
condition in time past, and the present more happy
state into which they are brought, without any merit
or deservings of their own, and whereinto by the
same grace others may be brought also.
Quoted verse:
John 1:12
But as many as received him, to them gave he power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name:
Here is an item from the Biblical Illustrator
That being
justified by His grace
Justification; faith; works
I. The moral rectification of the soul.
1. All souls in their unrenewed state are
unrighteous.
2. Restoration to righteousness is the merciful work
of God.
3. In this moral rectification of soul there is the
heirship of eternal good.
II. The essential foundation of all true faith.
To believe in God implies
1. To believe in what He is in Himself—the only
absolute existence, without beginning, without
succession, without end, who is in all and through
all, the All-Mighty, the All-Wise, the All-Good
Creator and Sustainer of the universe.
2. To believe in what He is to us—the Father, the
Proprietor, and the Life.
III. The supreme purpose of moral existence is to
maintain good works.
1. Good works are
(1) Works that have right motives.
(2) Works that have a right standard.
2. The maintenance of these works requires
strenuous and constant effort.
3. The great work of the Christian ministry is to
stimulate this effort. ~Biblical Illustrator
We have time for a quick look at the specific
commentaries.
The verse is generally broken out in three parts:
1] That being justified by his grace.
2] We should be made heirs.
3] According to the hope of eternal life.
1] That being
justified by his grace.
That being justified by his grace - Not by our own
works, but by his favor or mercy; see the notes at
Romans 3:24. ~Barnes Notes
Quoted verse: ...already quoted above
Romans 3:24
Being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
2] We should be
made heirs.
Should be made heirs - The Gospel not only gave them
the hope of an endless state of glory for their
souls, but also of the resurrection and final
glorification of their bodies; and they who were
children of God were to be made heirs of his glory.
~Adam Clarke
3] According to the hope of eternal life.
According to the hope of eternal life - In reference
to the hope of eternal life; that is, we have that
hope in virtue of our being adopted with the family
of God, and being made heirs. He has received us as
his children, and permits us to hope that we shall
live with him forever. ~Barnes Notes
So, we are:
1] justified by God within the salvation process.
2] we are the heirs of eternal life, a spiritual
body in the Family of God and heirs of His glory.
3] we have the hope of that very eternal life, being
received by God as His children and His absolutely
giving us that hope.
These are the lessons of verse 7
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