For the grace of God which carries with it salvation for all men has appeared,
Just before this verse, Paul tells household slaves how to live. Then he gives the reason such a life is possible at all. Everything that follows rests on one thing God has done, not on any quality in the people he writes to.
Translators reached for a mild word here. The original is anything but mild.
We are told the English word our translators used in Titus 2:11–13 — "appearing" — is not strong enough. The Greek language, always so expressive, gives the idea of darkness suddenly giving way to bright light. Not so much a star, but a bright sun — the great sun that lights the day. The grace of God now stands in contrast to the dark times before the law was given, when God made His mind known only to a few.
Grace is not a mood or an idea. It appeared because a Person appeared.
The grace of God has appeared, and it appeared in the person of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him He makes His grace known. His finished work is the source of it. It flows from the cross. And this grace comes to man with salvation. It brings salvation, not to a certain class of men, but it brings salvation for all men.
That cross is also what keeps grace from becoming mere leniency.
When God acts in grace, it is never at the expense of His holiness. God is love and therefore acts in grace, but He is also light and therefore acts in holiness. His acting in grace needs a righteous foundation and He has found it in the cross of the Lord Jesus.
Commentators differ on what "for all" belongs to — the appearing, or the salvation it brings.
The margin of verse 11 reads, "The grace of God that brings salvation to all men, has appeared." That reading is better than the one in the text. The point is that now there is salvation for all. And the grace of God which has brought that world-wide salvation teaches us how to live, while we wait for the appearing of the glory.
Either way, the reach is the striking thing. God once made His mind known to a few; this message has no such fence around it.
Grace has appeared. It has appeared, not limited to one people, but to all men. It does not carry promises and blessings for this life; it brings salvation. It comes from God to men with salvation. It does not expect righteousness from men. It brings salvation to those who need it. This is a precious and simple truth. It makes us know God and puts us in our place — but it does so according to the grace that has leaped over every barrier.
"All" describes the character of the message, not a guaranteed outcome for every person.
"Saving to all" is the grace which has appeared. That is its character. But it does not set aside the warning of the same apostle, "not to receive the grace of God in vain" (2 Cor. 6:1), and it does not set aside that the gospel alone offers this grace.
Paul's own pronouns mark the shift, and the next verse narrows the circle.
While His grace presents salvation to all, it is also said to be educating us. The change from "all men" to "us" is important, and we should not overlook it. The one is the universal message of God, which people may or may not receive. The other is the distinct effect, whenever souls receive that message in faith.
Grace does not hand the believer over to another teacher after it saves him.
The grace received becomes teaching in those who receive the salvation it brings… And here, I note, it is "the grace" that teaches, and not something else. It is not man's wisdom, or man's morality, mixing itself with what is divine in his salvation… It is "the grace of God" that teaches him as well as saves him.
Paul gives this message to slaves, the people with the least standing in Roman society.
God's gospel is good news to the highest person on earth no less than to the lowest. As a rule it is preached to the poor, because they are usually the ones within reach. There is no king, no queen, no emperor who is not infinitely indebted to the grace of God, if the heart is opened. But if the heart is steeled against it, the message is one of salvation all the same. How sweet beyond words for those in the painful and trying position of slavery!
- Dawn. "Appeared" is sunrise language — not a faint star, but full daylight after long darkness.
- Person. What rose was not a policy but Christ Himself. The grace flows from His finished work at the cross, where holiness and love meet.
- Reach. Grace leaps over every barrier: not one nation, not one class, but salvation offered to all people.
- Response. The offer reaches all people; the "us" of the next verse is the company who received it by faith.
- Result. The grace that saved goes on teaching — the Saviour is also the Teacher, and no other rule replaces Him.
teaching us that, having denied impiety and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, and justly, and piously in the present course of things,
The letter to Titus was written to steady believers on Crete. Verse 12 says what saving grace does next: it teaches us how to live toward ourselves, toward others, and toward God.
The law taught too. The difference lies in how each one teaches.
The law was like a schoolteacher who hands the same code of rules to everyone. The rules are very clear and well printed. Yet he offers his pupils no help at all in putting them into practice. Grace teaches in a far more effective way. Grace is just as clear about everything it asks. The standard it sets is even higher than the law demanded. But it adds one thing more: it works IN us.
The verse before speaks of grace appearing to all. This verse narrows to "us." Two different things are in view.
His grace presents salvation to all. The verse also says it is educating us. The change from "all men" to "us" is important, and ought not to be overlooked. The one is the universal message of God, which may or may not be received. The other is the clear effect it has whenever souls receive that message in faith… Some put the Christian back under the law as his rule of life after he has believed the gospel. No mistake is worse. Nothing goes more against the teaching of the apostle. Christ alone remains — not only the Saviour, but the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Ungodliness and worldly lusts sound like two separate faults.
We are glad to turn our backs on our former life; we deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. These two things make up the life of the world. They mean, "We won't have God, and we will please ourselves." But for us, God has become so attractive through the gospel that we cannot live without Him.
The verse says "worldly" lusts, not just fleshly ones. Behind such lusts lies an attitude toward God Himself.
Notice too that it is not simply a question of fleshly but of worldly lusts. All of it was hatred of God, and discontent with what He gives as our portion. So we give in to a craving that is never satisfied, always wanting what we do not have.
The verse gives three words: sober, righteous, godly. Each one points in a different direction.
Having brought this salvation, grace instructs us fully about our walk in this world. That instruction covers our relation to ourselves, to other people, and to God. We renounce all ungodliness, and all desires that find their satisfaction in this world. We are to hold the will of the flesh in check in every respect and live soberly. We are to acknowledge the claims of others and live righteously. We are to own the rights of God over our hearts and live in godliness.
Teaching alone leaves a person stuck. Grace does not stop at teaching.
Grace instructs us to renounce all ungodliness and all desires that find their satisfaction in this age. But grace does more than that; it supplies the power to do it. It gives the believer a new nature and the Holy Spirit. Walking in the power of all this, he does not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. The believer, saved by grace, has renounced ungodliness and worldly lusts. Now he is to walk with grace as his guide, instructor and power.
Crete had a coarse atmosphere. Our own world is no better, and living in it calls for one difficult word.
Someone may say that we are not in as coarse an atmosphere as Crete. But we are in a world that is as ungodly as ever, and it is wrapped up in its own affairs… There are many things to which we must say that difficult word "No!"
This life is not postponed to better days. The phrase quoted below, "this present world," is ESV's "the present age."
This is not an ideal to hope for in the future. It is for "this present world." No matter how contrary the world is, it is here and now that grace enables a fruitful life of faith.
- Grace saves. The same grace that brings salvation stays on as teacher; it is never left behind once we believe.
- Grace schools. Unlike a code of rules handed out with no help, grace sets a higher standard and works inside the person to meet it.
- Grace strips. A whole way of life goes: refusing God and pleasing ourselves. The restless craving for what we do not have goes with it.
- Grace shapes. Three words mark three relationships. Sober toward ourselves. Righteous toward others. Godly toward God.
- Grace succeeds — now. Not in a kinder future world, but in this present age, where saying "No" is difficult and grace supplies the power.