TITUS 1:1
The Apostle Paul wrote in Titus 1:1, “Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle
of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging
of the truth which is after godliness.” Paul identifies himself in two ways in this verse: as a servant
of God and as an apostle of Jesus Christ. The word “servant” means slave, and so we see that Paul did not consider
himself to have any rights. A slave has no freedom to choose his own way in
life. A slave does whatever the master wills. Every Christian should regard
himself as a slave to God. Once Paul was converted to Christ, why did Paul go
about doing all the things that he did? Paul did those things because he was a
slave. Paul was simply doing the bidding of his Master. If all Christians were
like that, then we would view Christianity as a large group of slaves. Is that
how you view Christianity? Is that how you view yourself?
Paul said that he was a slave, and he also said that he was an
apostle. The word “apostle” means “one who is sent.” Paul was sent
by Jesus Christ. The emphasis is on the fact that Christ did the sending. Jesus
was the force and the power and the authority behind where Paul went and what
Paul did. Of course, we know that this has to do with the fulfilling of the
Great Commission. There were only a few apostles and they lived and worked in
the first century, but in a sense every believer is an apostle because every
believer has been “sent” by Jesus to fulfill that believer’s part in the work
of the Great Commission. This epistle to Titus will have a lot to say about how
the individual congregations of believers should be organized so that they will
have the best possible effect upon their community. Jesus calls us, then He
prepares us, and then He sends us out to serve Him.
Paul said that he was a servant and an apostle “according to the faith of God’s elect.” The “elect”
means literally “those who have been called”. No one gets saved unless and
until they are called. “Many
are called, but few are chosen.”
At some time in the life of every person, they are called by the Spirit to come
to Christ. That is why John 1:9 says of Jesus, “That was the true Light, which lighteth
every man that cometh into the world.” Once a person responds to the calling and comes to Christ, then
that person becomes one of the “elect.” That
is the principle of faith. To believe from a biblical standpoint has to do with
many things. It has to do with being called. It has to do with responding to
the call and turning to Christ. It has to do with becoming a willing servant of
Christ.
Paul wants to make it understood that this epistle that he is
writing as a servant of God and as an apostle of Christ is based solely upon
the principle of faith that is possessed only by the ones who have been called
to Christ. It is also based upon “the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness.” The word “acknowledging” comes from the same word as the word “to
know.” The kind of faith that made you one of God’s elect has to do with
“knowing” the truth. Jesus is the truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The “truth”
is alive because the truth is a person. When you come to know the truth, we are
not talking about head knowledge. We are talking about experiential knowledge.
You come to know the truth by coming to know Jesus and having faith in Him. You
meet Jesus in a personal way, and come to know Him as your Savior. Any type of
religious experience without this “knowledge” of Jesus is not godliness. Jesus
Himself is godly. A human being becomes involved in godliness by coming into
this knowledge through experience: the experience of meeting the risen Christ.
In Titus 1:2 Paul continued with his introduction and wrote, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie,
promised before the world began.”
Christianity has everything to do with eternal life. Eternal life is at the
core of all the things that Jesus taught about. Because every human being will
spend eternity somewhere, it is essential to have eternal life instead of
eternal death. Jesus put it this way, “What should it profit a man should he
gain the whole world, but lose his own soul, or what could a man give in
exchange for his soul?” The
reason that Jesus went to the cross of
Eternal life will be wonderful. Concerning eternal life in heaven
the Bible says in Revelation 21:4, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any
more pain: for the former things are passed away.” No matter what man accomplishes on this earth, without
eternal life it is all in vain. If every problem of the world is solved, but
man still dies, then to what purpose is it? All will still be lost. That is why
the hope of eternal life is the greatest hope of all. Remember that the word “hope” in the Bible is not a wish. “Hope” refers
to something that is definitely going to happen, but it just has not happened
yet.
How do we know that we are going to be given eternal life? We know
because God promised it. You may live a long time and never find an honest man,
but you can always count on God’s Word. God’s Word is true and God keeps His
promises. The most important promise that God has made to mankind is the
promise of eternal life. Paul wrote that God “promised before the world began.” Jesus said in John 11:25, 26 “I am the resurrection, and the life: he
that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”
Notice that Titus 1:2 says that God promise eternal life “before the world began.” This phrase means literally “before
eternal times.” Normally the word “eternal” is used to express something that
has a perpetual existence or span. Something that always existed as far back as
you can go would be eternal into the past. Something that will always exist, as
far forward as you can go, is also said to be eternal. You cannot go any
farther back than the eternity into the past can you? According to this verse,
you can. It says before eternal time. Evidently something happened, and then
time started and eternity can only be expressed in reference to time. But if we
go back before even time existed, then we would be; “before eternal time.” That
must have been a long “time” ago. But even then God was there, and even then
God had already made the promise that He would give eternal life to those who
believe. In case someone is able to come up with a definition of “time” and in
case someone is also able to come up with a definition of “eternity,” and in
those definitions someone determines that Eternity past has a beginning, this
verse makes it clear that even before that happened, God made a promise that He
will keep. Perhaps the Holy Spirit is letting us know this in order to make a
point about this particular promise of eternal life. In a way the older that
the promise is, the more assurance there is that the promise will be kept,
especially if there is a history of things being done to ensure that the
promise will be kept. Of course, there is a history. The Old Testament records
that history of God’s involvement with man leading to the coming of Christ and his
death on the cross for mankind.
Titus 1:2 tells us what God did in the past concerning salvation
for man: God made a promise and God keeps His promises. Titus 1:3 tells us what
God is doing right now to fulfill His great promise to the human race. The
Bible says about God, “But
hath in due times manifested his word through preaching,
which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior.” God wants His Word to be manifested
because that is how human beings will know and believe the promise. God made a
promise and then God established a means by which the promise would become
known: the Word. The truth about the promise is in the Word. For example, in
Genesis
In Genesis 26:4 God made a promise to Isaac, the son of Abraham,
that was basically the same promise that God had made to Abraham. God said, “And I will make thy seed to multiply as
the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Notice the phrase “in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed.” This seed
is of course the Messiah, the One who would come and be a blessing to everyone
in the earth.
All of the work of God with mankind, starting with Adam and Eve at
the beginning of the human race, had to do with God stating and re-stating His
promise of a Deliverer to redeem and to save mankind. The way that the benefits
of the promise are entered into is by faith and belief in the promise. Paul wrote
about the faith of Abraham and how the requirement of faith is still the same
today in Galatians 3:8-9 that says, “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, preached
before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”
The Bible also says in Galatians 3:14, “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
“Preaching” refers to a public presentation. God wants there to be
a public presentation of His Word because the “promise”
is for everyone. Paul said that the preaching was something that he knew that
he personally had to do. He said that it was “committed unto me according to the commandment of God our
Savior.” Every believer in
Christ is called to do something for the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
Of course, not everyone is called to be a preacher, but Paul knew that his
particular calling was in regards to “preaching.” If you are not called to be a
preacher, then you are called in some way to assist a preacher in getting out
the gospel.
Paul said that “preaching” was “committed”
unto him. The word that is translated “to commit” is the same word as the word
“to believe.” When you believe in Christ, you are committing your soul unto Him
because you are confident that He will take care of what you have entrusted to
Him. When God calls you to do something, He is saying that he trusts you. He
trusts that you will fulfill that which He entrusted to you. If God has not
called you to do something yet, then He is preparing you for the time when he
will entrust something to you.
There is one more important thing to notice about Titus 1:3. It
uses the phrase “God our
Savior.” Who is God our Savior?
The very next verse gives us the answer when it uses the phrase “the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.” If God is the Savior and Jesus Christ
is the savior, then Jesus Christ is God. This is just one more verse that
declares very clearly that the writings of the apostles present Jesus as God over and over again.
Hopefully you have believed in God the savior whose name is Jesus Christ, the Lord of creation. If not, today you could become one of the elect by bowing before Christ and trusting in Him as your God and your Savior. Thomas bowed before Jesus and said, “My Lord and my God.” If you do the same thing, you will inherit the promise of eternal life.
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Copyright; 2005 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved