Titus 2:11-15 - For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. 

Titus was probably written around A.D. 62, between Paul's first and second imprisonments, which means it occurred after the events related in the book of Acts. As exemplified in the text above, Paul tells Titus that he must focus on putting the right leaders in place and teaching sound doctrine so that people might live holy and godly lives rather than the unholy and disordered way they are currently living. Paul is concerned with Titus putting overseers in place and how to choose them, as well as teaching the right things and avoiding needless or unhelpful controversy. He also wants people in general to relate to one another well. All of it needs to be grounded in the gospel. 

 The Big Idea of Titus

I have taught the Big Idea of Titus as the following: pastors must teach and model gracious godliness. As one of the three pastoral epistles (along with 1-2 Timothy), the principal occasion for the letter is Titus’ ministry in Crete and how Paul wants him to conduct it. Over and over again, by implication and direct instruction, Paul tells Timothy that godliness is something to which he must dedicate himself and to which he must consistently call others.

An Outline of Titus

1:1-16: The Need for Overseers

Paul begins the letter to Titus by reminding him of why he had left him on the island of Crete. It was so that Titus would appoint and install elders for the churches in every town. This is no small task, nor can just anyone be an elder, so Paul offers instructions for how to do it. 

2:1-10: Ordering Behavior

Paul specifically addresses Titus in chapter two, telling him that he must teach in line with sound or healthy doctrine. This teaching looks like helping older men and women what godliness looks like, but it also looks like Titus being a good example and model in every way. Paul then applies the same principles of godliness to slaves in their particular context. 

2:11-3:15: Grounding It All in the Gospel

Paul grounds his instruction in the fact of God’s grace having appeared to bring salvation for all people through Christ, whose goal in part is to redeem a people who are zealous for good works. Sound doctrine, then, is instruction that properly connects who Christians are in Christ with how they ought to live through Christ. All of us, Paul says, were once lost sinners who lived ungodly and immoral lives that were characterized by hate. But Christ saved us in His mercy, and the Holy Spirit has renewed and regenerated us, so our lives should look like the inverse of what they were. Paul mentions the importance of being ready for good works or doing good works at the beginning (v. 1), middle (v. 7), and end of the chapter (v. 14). Good works should characterize God’s people and God’s leaders should lead people in that direction.

Benefits of Titus

As a letter written to a pastor, the benefits of the letter for understanding pastoral ministry are obvious and need to be taken seriously by pastors and those who are served by them. However, the repeated references to good works are also so prominent in Titus that they should not be ignored. Paul leaves Titus very clear instructions to be involved in good works and to instruct others to do the same. So many problems can be avoided by this focus that we do well to consider it. Am I focused on doing good works in my life or am I doing something else?

What is the likely alternative for a Christian? It is possible for Christians to define their actions more by what they do not practice than by what they do practice. Christians may be tempted to believe they are doing well if they are not getting drunk, not gossiping, not complaining, not looking at pornography, or some other sin. The mistake in this is that Paul’s motivation is not avoiding a bunch of bad things. Instead, Paul’s motivation is living toward the one great thing, the appearing of Christ Jesus, which is our blessed hope (Titus 2:11-15). 

Another benefit of Titus that stands out is the clear emphasis on evaluating ourselves and others according to God’s standards and not our own. It is all too easy to slide out of seeing each other the way God would have us to seeing each other according to our own selfish desires. We have personal comforts, personal pleasures, personal conveniences, personal habits, personal weaknesses, personal prejudices, and personal blind spots. All of these things constantly threaten to pull our eyes out of focus. We must discipline ourselves to work to see people as God would have us see them, according to His standards and His character. If we fail to exercise discipline on our perspective, our vision will become blurry and deformed. When we are over-fatigued and underslept, our eyes struggle to maintain clear and sharp vision. We have trouble keeping our vision focused and sharp. The muscles want to relax and ultimately allow vision to cease altogether for a while. Our eyes need that rest, but our hearts do not. It is immoral to treat others by our own standards rather than God’s. Our hearts need to be changed by God so that we see people by default more and more as God would have us.