Titus 3:4-7 - The Grace of Justification

Titus 3:4-7
4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Message: The Grace of Justification

Time: Paul is the self-identified writer of Titus. Paul wrote his letter to Titus from Nicopolis in AD 63, after the apostle’s release from his first Roman imprisonment. The doctrine of the incarnation in the letter to Titus grounds its message of producing right living through the careful attention to theological truth.

What the Lord is Saying:

Man's condition is fallen. The plumbline of man's condition is therefore bent on not pleasing God, but rather pleasing self. This is the norm of man. Man may try in his lifetime to better himself in all manners of ways but in the end he remains a sinner. That God chooses us to be redeemed or set free from this fallen condition is something God does for His reason not because of some special way He sees in us. God is the potter and we are lumps of clay and He forms us out of his desire, not because he sees something unique in the clay. Others he does not call and instead leaves them to pursue the life they lead that is not pleasing to God. Their hearts are hardened towards God, separated, against God. God gives His called ones the gifts of faith and repentance. Since all of this is God's doing, when He makes us free it is as if our position in heaven is a done deal. He seats us in the heavenly places not in the future, but as of today. So, this redemption does not come and go. It cannot be lost.

It cannot be overstated that faith plus anything is not grace. In Paul's letters to the Galatians he spends that entire book confronting the doctrine that is misleading many people and that is that man shares in the making of oneself brand new, that our good deeds yield this salvation, along with Jesus dying on the cross. But this is impossible. Once again, the fallen condition of man is incapable of becoming the righteousness of God.

Titus 3:7 says being justified by His grace meaning justification is entirely grace. He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy. 

Paul to Titus takes a moment to explain what this looks like in the life of a believer. He says is seen through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. The Greek word here for washing is laver. A laver is a basin or a pan for cooking; it is the sacred wash-bowl of the temple and tabernacle. It contained water wherewith the priests washed their hands and feet when they entered the tabernacle. In the temple there were ten lavers used for the sacrifices. In the Greek this passage is rendered the laver of regeneration. Thus, baptism shows to us, to all, the change that has taken place. The person is made clean. Our strength to be look more and more like Christ each day comes about through the renewing by the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 4:16 says - Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

I do not think in my life I properly give credit to the Holy Spirit for being the one that renews my life every day. But, the believer has the Holy Spirit renewing their life day by day. New things have come. The change in a believer's life is evident because of the work of the Holy Spirit in that person's life.

And following this rebirth, the regeneration, this saving by grace is the hope that we will spend eternity with God. being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. His grace means permits us to hope that we shall live with him forever. An heir does not earn eternal life. An heir receives because of the choosing of the one that is in charge. Paul once again, asserts through talking of eternal life that it is not of our own doing. It is entirely of God. We are made heirs.

Promise: This word of God is so beautiful for it asserts over and over that our salvation is by grace. It is seen through baptism, the outward sign of our regeneration and then the Holy Spirit renews us day by day. And our future hope is secured because God has made us heirs not owners but heirs of eternal life. We completely honor the Lord Jesus Christ in upholding justification by grace alone.

Prayer: O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art, How great Thou art. I declare that God is great, not man. I am saved by your grace. I am made new not because of me, but because of You. Day by day you are renewing me Holy Spirit. Thank you for the promise that I too am a heir of eternal life. God you are so good, even calling you good sounds trite but it is the best my words can come up with. How great you are God. How Great You Are.


Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines celebrating the 500th year of the Reformation. The month of April is about salvation by grace alone. March was about the sovereign providence of God; February was about the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve; January is about the doctrine of God.