Titus 2:14 - Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
He just talked about our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Here is how I understand this. Jesus Christ gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity. The word redeem means to purchase out of the marketplace. What a person would do if they wanted to purchase a slave, they would go down to the marketplace, and they would have the slaves lined up.
And you could bid on them, or if no one's bidding, you could just come up and pay for one. And you could purchase a slave from out of the marketplace. And that word is applied to us. We're in the world. We're in the marketplace of sin, enslaved to sin. And Christ came and died for us on the cross and purchased us from out of the marketplace.
Some Christians have never heard that term purchased. In 1 Corinthians Chapter 6, Paul says do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, who you have from God? And you're not your own. You have been bought with a price.
When Jesus saved me, He also purchased me. The human body that I now live in belongs to Him. It is a temple, the temple of the Holy Spirit. So, he gave Himself, that He might redeem me, not just die for my sins, but purchase me. He owns me.
And purify unto Himself a peculiar people, who are zealous of good works. The word good is the word KALOS again (Not AGATHOS), people who are zealous to live right in the human the way God has taught us.
Titus 3:2 - To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.
Speak evil of no man, do not be brawlers, or fighters, but rather be gentle, lenient is what it means, shewing all meekness unto all men. The word meekness here means to be open. It means openness, receptivity. That's one of the main words that is used in the scriptures for those who are in teaching or pastoral ministries. Meekness doesn't mean that you play the role of a doormat. It means to be open and to be receptive.
One of the hardest things for those in a teaching ministry is to be open and receptive because they don't know all the answers, and if someone is coming up to them to try and prove them wrong, it kind of puts them in a bad position.
So, it's difficult in the human according to pride to be open and receptive to all people, but it's necessary. It is necessary for the person who is up front and is teaching, that they be more open and receptive than anybody else in the whole room. Why?
Because we're all the same, we're all on the same level. We've all learned about the Lord from down here. None of us have come from up there. If you have, I want to meet you!
Titus 3:1 - Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
He starts out with a command. He says put them in mind. This is what is called a Present Imperative. And it's the word remembrance. What that means is he's telling and commanding Titus to continually put them in remembrance of these things.
So, this is not a one-time thing just to say we got this letter from Paul, and then they go file it. He says you Titus, you continually put them in remembrance of these things, the seven things or characteristics of the new life.
First, it says to be subject, and the word is submission, to be subject to rulers and authorities. That's the literal translation. That parallels Romans Chapter 13 Verses 1 through 7, where Paul talked about be submissive to your government, to the officials. Submission means to line up with the Lord with other people, to be in submission, or to be in an orderly arrangement.
And then to be ready to every good work, and he's mentioning the word AGATHOS which is a spiritual good. The word for human good is KALOS. Spiritual good is AGATHOS. In fact, this word AGATHOS, its root word is found in Galatians 5:22 as a fruit of God's Spirit.
So, we have to know that when it says be ready to do good works, what kind are we talking about, KALOS or AGATHOS? That's very important. The good here is AGATHOS, the good work of God. Be ready to function with the Lord and be used of the Lord for His work and be in submission to the authorities here on the earth so that you can carry out your life.
Let no one despise you, and the word despise means to think down on you. It's just like he told Timothy, just different words, and under different circumstances. Set the church straight. Set the church in order. And notice that these relationships are listed under doctrine. This is the function of various people in the body of Christ with one another as a family. This is God's way.
We need more of the older women in the body of Christ to teach the younger women. It's a great need. One of my prayers is that the church gets back to focusing on the family. We need to go back to the grass roots, with the young people just getting married, and starting to have children, and be able to teach them how their own home church should be functioning, and how they should represent Christ, and how they should be growing in Christ.
And then how their family should be functioning with all the other families in that fellowship as one family in Christ. We have to go from big to small. We've gone from small to big, and we're kind of lost in the crowd. The things that Paul is telling Timothy and Titus, that's how all the fellowships were run. That's according to God's word, and it's very rare that it's taught today. And that's a shame!
Titus 2:15 - These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
These things speak, equivalent to when he told Timothy preach the word, speak these things. And so, Titus would have to go around to all these fellowships or at least get all the leaders together from a city that had these individual little fellowships, and he would have to teach them these things, and tell them you go back and teach your fellowships these things.
This is God's order. This is the way God wants the body of Christ to function. It's definitely not easy for Titus because of the pagan atmosphere that was there. We have the same problem, but our culture makes it easier for our paganism to get into the church. It's still worldly. It's still pagan. And we bring it into the church.
These things speak, and exhort, that is encourage, and rebuke, which is literally the word convict, with all authority, and the word authority is literally the word commandment. So, these things speak, and encourage, and bring conviction with all commandment, meaning command people to do these things. That's why it's translated authority.
Titus 2:14 - Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
He just talked about our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Here is how I understand this. Jesus Christ gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity. The word redeem means to purchase out of the marketplace. What a person would do if they wanted to purchase a slave, they would go down to the marketplace, and they would have the slaves lined up.
And you could bid on them, or if no one's bidding, you could just come up and pay for one. And you could purchase a slave from out of the marketplace. And that word is applied to us. We're in the world. We're in the marketplace of sin, enslaved to sin. And Christ came and died for us on the cross and purchased us from out of the marketplace.
Some Christians have never heard that term purchased. In 1 Corinthians Chapter 6, Paul says do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, who you have from God? And you're not your own. You have been bought with a price.
When Jesus saved me, He also purchased me. The human body that I now live in belongs to Him. It is a temple, the temple of the Holy Spirit. So, he gave Himself, that He might redeem me, not just die for my sins, but purchase me. He owns me.
And purify unto Himself a peculiar people, who are zealous of good works. The word good is the word KALOS again (Not AGATHOS), people who are zealous to live right in the human the way God has taught us.
Titus 3:2 - To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.
Speak evil of no man, do not be brawlers, or fighters, but rather be gentle, lenient is what it means, shewing all meekness unto all men. The word meekness here means to be open. It means openness, receptivity. That's one of the main words that is used in the scriptures for those who are in teaching or pastoral ministries. Meekness doesn't mean that you play the role of a doormat. It means to be open and to be receptive.
One of the hardest things for those in a teaching ministry is to be open and receptive because they don't know all the answers, and if someone is coming up to them to try and prove them wrong, it kind of puts them in a bad position.
So, it's difficult in the human according to pride to be open and receptive to all people, but it's necessary. It is necessary for the person who is up front and is teaching, that they be more open and receptive than anybody else in the whole room. Why?
Because we're all the same, we're all on the same level. We've all learned about the Lord from down here. None of us have come from up there. If you have, I want to meet you!
Titus 3:1 - Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
He starts out with a command. He says put them in mind. This is what is called a Present Imperative. And it's the word remembrance. What that means is he's telling and commanding Titus to continually put them in remembrance of these things.
So, this is not a one-time thing just to say we got this letter from Paul, and then they go file it. He says you Titus, you continually put them in remembrance of these things, the seven things or characteristics of the new life.
First, it says to be subject, and the word is submission, to be subject to rulers and authorities. That's the literal translation. That parallels Romans Chapter 13 Verses 1 through 7, where Paul talked about be submissive to your government, to the officials. Submission means to line up with the Lord with other people, to be in submission, or to be in an orderly arrangement.
And then to be ready to every good work, and he's mentioning the word AGATHOS which is a spiritual good. The word for human good is KALOS. Spiritual good is AGATHOS. In fact, this word AGATHOS, its root word is found in Galatians 5:22 as a fruit of God's Spirit.
So, we have to know that when it says be ready to do good works, what kind are we talking about, KALOS or AGATHOS? That's very important. The good here is AGATHOS, the good work of God. Be ready to function with the Lord and be used of the Lord for His work and be in submission to the authorities here on the earth so that you can carry out your life.
Titus 2:15 Continued:
Let no one despise you, and the word despise means to think down on you. It's just like he told Timothy, just different words, and under different circumstances. Set the church straight. Set the church in order. And notice that these relationships are listed under doctrine. This is the function of various people in the body of Christ with one another as a family. This is God's way.
We need more of the older women in the body of Christ to teach the younger women. It's a great need. One of my prayers is that the church gets back to focusing on the family. We need to go back to the grass roots, with the young people just getting married, and starting to have children, and be able to teach them how their own home church should be functioning, and how they should represent Christ, and how they should be growing in Christ.
And then how their family should be functioning with all the other families in that fellowship as one family in Christ. We have to go from big to small. We've gone from small to big, and we're kind of lost in the crowd. The things that Paul is telling Timothy and Titus, that's how all the fellowships were run. That's according to God's word, and it's very rare that it's taught today. And that's a shame!
Titus 2:15 - These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
These things speak, equivalent to when he told Timothy preach the word, speak these things. And so, Titus would have to go around to all these fellowships or at least get all the leaders together from a city that had these individual little fellowships, and he would have to teach them these things, and tell them you go back and teach your fellowships these things.
This is God's order. This is the way God wants the body of Christ to function. It's definitely not easy for Titus because of the pagan atmosphere that was there. We have the same problem, but our culture makes it easier for our paganism to get into the church. It's still worldly. It's still pagan. And we bring it into the church.
These things speak, and exhort, that is encourage, and rebuke, which is literally the word convict, with all authority, and the word authority is literally the word commandment. So, these things speak, and encourage, and bring conviction with all commandment, meaning command people to do these things. That's why it's translated authority.
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