Grace in the Pastoral Epistles - Part 2

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, ¹² instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, ¹³ looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, ¹⁴ who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.¹⁵ These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. Titus 2:11-15

As I pick up from my last post, I want to emphasize through the pastoral epistles that grace is the substance of sound doctrine, the power for godliness, and the reason for our hope of eternal life.

In the passage above Paul begins by saying that the grace of God has appeared and then he concludes by charging Titus to speak these things. From this passage it is obvious that the sound doctrine that Timothy and Titus were to preach was the gospel itself, and more specifically, it is the gospel of grace. The word “preach” in the Greek is the same as “herald”, which is to publicly proclaim or to announce. The gospel of grace is to be heralded. 1 Timothy 1:15 is a short summary of the message, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. God’s grace demonstrated through Jesus Christ is the substance of our message. Let us publicly proclaim this grace.

Moreover, the gospel of grace is to be obeyed. Titus 2:12 says that the grace that has appeared instructs us to deny ungodliness and to live righteously and godly in the present age. The gospel is not just a message of salvation but also a message of instruction. However, the gospel does not leave us to strive on our own, but it is by the very same grace that we are given the ability to obey and live a godly life. Jesus Christ “gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds”. What a glorious verse. For us who are saved, we are no longer slaves to sin but we are His possession, He makes us zealous for good works. What amazing grace! Let us obediently live out this grace.

Lastly, Titus 2:13 speaks of the second coming of Christ. Just as grace was manifested in His first appearing, the culmination of this grace will be at His second appearing. Jesus, is our great God and Savior. It is by His grace that we might become heirs and have eternal life (Titus 3:7). This hope of glory, this hope of inheritance, this hope of eternal life all rests upon the abundantly enduring grace of God and encourages us to persevere until we see Him face to face. Let us patiently hold on to His grace.

Finally, it is clear through the pastoral epistles that grace is thoroughly instrumental to our faith from justification to sanctification to glorification, all are because of His grace. Praise be to Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.