The last chapter of Titus reminds believers how to live in a pagan society: as good citizens, gentle toward everyone, ready for every good work. Then Paul explains why, in one of the clearest statements of the gospel anywhere in Scripture: “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.” The people God saves by grace, he says, will be “careful to maintain good works.”
A study in Titus 3 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 15 min read
Ready To Every Good Work
“Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.”
Titus 3:1-2
“Put them in mind.” The Cretan believers already knew this; they needed reminding. Christians are to be good citizens: respectful of the authorities, law-abiding, and “ready to every good work” in their communities. Crete had a turbulent reputation, and a church that was lawful, peaceful and helpful would stand out.
That obedience has limits, though. When Peter and John were ordered to stop preaching Christ, they answered, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Ellen White put the two truths side by side:
“We are to recognize human government as an ordinance of divine appointment, and teach obedience to it as a sacred duty, within its legitimate sphere. But when its claims conflict with the claims of God, we must obey God rather than men. God’s word must be recognized as above all human legislation.”
Ellen G. White · The Acts of the Apostles, p. 68
Verse 2 moves from the state to everyone else. Believers are “to speak evil of no man” — not the government, not the neighbours, not the unbelievers around them. No quarrelling. Instead, gentleness, and “all meekness unto all men.” Not only to fellow Christians, and not only to people who are kind in return. To all.
For We Ourselves Also Were Sometimes Foolish
“For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.”
Titus 3:3
Why be gentle toward people who are foolish, disobedient and ungodly? Because “we ourselves also were” just like them. Paul includes himself. Before grace found us, we were foolish, rebellious, deceived, enslaved to our desires, full of malice and envy, “hateful, and hating one another.” A Christian who looks down on unbelievers has forgotten where he came from.
Not By Works Of Righteousness
“But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 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; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Titus 3:4-7
“But.” Everything turns on that word. We were hateful and hating, “but” God’s kindness and love appeared. The word for “love … toward man” is philanthropia, from which we get “philanthropy.” God is the great lover of mankind. He did not wait for us to become lovable before He loved us.
“While we were yet unloving and unlovely in character, ‘hateful, and hating one another,’ our heavenly Father had mercy on us. ‘After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.’ Titus 3:3-5. His love received, will make us, in like manner, kind and tender, not merely toward those who please us, but to the most faulty and erring and sinful.”
Ellen G. White · Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 75
Then comes the heart of the chapter. God saved us “not by works of righteousness which we have done.” Not even our best deeds could earn it. He saved us “according to his mercy.” And He did it in a particular way: “by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”
“Regeneration” means being born again. It is the new birth Jesus described to Nicodemus: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). The “washing” points to baptism, the outward sign of that inward cleansing. Baptism by immersion pictures it vividly: the old life buried, a new life raised up (Romans 6:4). But the water does not save by itself. The washing is real only when it is joined to the “renewing of the Holy Ghost,” who makes the heart new from the inside, and whom God has poured out on us “abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.”
All three Persons of the Godhead are at work in these verses: God the Father, whose kindness and love appeared; the Holy Ghost, who renews us; and Jesus Christ our Saviour, through whom the Spirit is given. The result: “being justified by his grace,” declared righteous as a free gift, we become “heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” The chapter comes back to the same hope the letter began with (1:2).
“It is thus that every sinner may come to Christ. ‘Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.’ Titus 3:5. When Satan tells you that you are a sinner, and cannot hope to receive blessing from God, tell him that Christ came into the world to save sinners. We have nothing to recommend us to God; but the plea that we may urge now and ever is our utterly helpless condition that makes His redeeming power a necessity.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 317
Careful To Maintain Good Works
“This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.”
Titus 3:8
Paul has just said that we are not saved by works. In the very next breath he says believers must “be careful to maintain good works.” There is no contradiction. Works are not the root of salvation; they are its fruit. We are not saved by good works, but we are saved for them (Ephesians 2:8-10). Titus is to “affirm constantly” both truths together.
The word “maintain” suggests standing at the front of something, taking the lead. Christians should be first in line when there is good to be done — feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick. “These things are good and profitable unto men.” Salvation by grace is not a reason to do less good. It is the strongest reason in the world to do more.
Avoid Foolish Questions
“But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.”
Titus 3:9-11
Good works are “profitable”; endless arguments are “unprofitable and vain.” The false teachers on Crete loved speculative debates: “foolish questions, and genealogies,” and “strivings about the law.” In context these are the same “Jewish fables, and commandments of men” Paul warned about in chapter 1 — legal hair-splitting and invented traditions, not God’s moral law itself. Paul has just spent chapter 2 showing that grace trains us to live “soberly, righteously, and godly,” which is exactly what that law describes.
The word “heretick” in verse 10 is hairetikos, a person who is divisive, who forms a faction around his own opinions. The church is not to argue with such a person endlessly. He is to be warned, once and then a second time. If he still refuses to listen, the church is to have nothing more to do with him. By pressing on after repeated warnings, he shows that he is “condemned of himself.” Even here the process is patient: two admonitions, not a snap judgment.
“When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter. Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them. And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful. All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.”
Titus 3:12-15
The letter ends with travel plans. Paul would send a replacement, Artemas or Tychicus, so Titus could join him at Nicopolis, on the western coast of Greece, for the winter. Later we find Titus working in Dalmatia (2 Timothy 4:10). And Titus was to help two travelling workers on their way: Zenas, a lawyer, and Apollos, the eloquent preacher from Alexandria (Acts 18:24).
Even in this practical note, Paul returns to his theme one last time: “let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.” Helping missionaries on their way is a good work. So is meeting any real need. A saved people should be a fruitful people.
The whole letter to Titus can be summed up in that pairing. We are saved “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy.” And the people saved by that mercy are “zealous of good works” (2:14) and “careful to maintain good works” (3:8), adorning the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things, while they look for His glorious appearing. “Grace be with you all.”
