What Is Distinct About the Theology of Titus?
This article is part of the Distinctive Theology series.
Sound Doctrine and Godly Living
Paul wrote to Titus after leaving him on the island of Crete to attend to important matters that remained undone. The fledgling churches across the island were without godly and theologically sound leadership, and in their absence, opponents with errant teaching and ungodly lives were upsetting entire households and dividing the churches. In addition to appointing suitable men to lead the churches in every town, Titus himself was to teach what accords with sound doctrine, model godly living, and rebuke those who opposed the truth. The distinctive theology of Paul’s letter to Titus serves these purposes.
Our Savior
The dominant portrayal of God the Father and of Christ Jesus is that of “Savior.” In fact, Paul only uses the title “Savior” twelve times in his letters, and six of those occur in Titus, where, uniquely, the title is applied to both the Father and to Christ in the same letter (Titus 1:3, 4; Titus 2:10, 13; Titus 3:4, 6; cf. Eph. 5:23; Phil. 3:20; 1 Tim. 1:1; 1 Tim. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:10; 2 Tim. 1:10). Each of the letter’s three dense, rich theological segments (Titus 1:1–4; Titus 2:11–141; Titus 3:4–7) first reference God the Father as Savior then shortly after reference Christ Jesus as “Savior.”
These three pairs of titles highlight the Father’s and Christ Jesus’s joint roles in salvation, in which God is the author, initiator, and source of salvation, and Christ is the agent who accomplishes salvation. Each time, the title is accompanied by the possessive pronoun “our,” noting the relational bond this divine saving activity has established with those who are saved. And the trinitarian nature of salvation is on view as the benefits of salvation are applied to the life of a believer through the cleansing, renewing, and transforming work of the Holy Spirit, whom the Father has richly poured out, through Jesus Christ, on those he has saved (Titus 3:5). Salvation is not a half measure or equivocal; it has been revealed and accomplished by God in his triunity!
The Appearing of God Our Savior
Claire Smith
The Appearing of God Our Savior expounds on the predominant themes of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus to provide readers with a practical guide for gospel-centered ministry and a greater understanding of God’s mission in the world.
Notably, the only two divine titles used for the Father in Titus, “God” and “Savior,” are also applied to Jesus Christ. This signals and highlights their shared divine nature and equal contribution to salvation. Titus 2:13 joins other New Testament texts that explicitly call Jesus “God.”2 Paul also describes Jesus’s redemption and cleansing of his special people (Titus 2:14) with terminology and concepts drawn from the Old Testament that put Jesus in the place of Yahweh (e.g., Ex. 6:6; Ex. 13:3; Ex. 19:5; Deut. 7:6; Pss. 106:10; 107:2; 130:8; Isa. 41:14; Ezek. 37:23). Interestingly, though, this is the only one of Paul’s letters not to use the title “Lord.”
Whereas 1 Timothy focuses on God’s desire to save all people, and 2 Timothy on God’s power to save, in Titus the focus is on God’s character, which guarantees his salvation. He is the God who never lies (Titus 1:2). He promised his eternal salvation plan before time began (Titus 1:2), his word is trustworthy and true, and he is true to his word (Titus 1:1, Titus 1:9, Titus 1:14). Salvation rests on divine generosity, self-giving, and condescension in gifts of God’s grace, peace, mercy, goodness, love, hope, and justification, and his generous giving of his Spirit (Titus 1:2, Titus 1:4; Titus 2:11; Titus 3:4–7). The divine attributes of God’s “grace” and “goodness and loving kindness” are personified in veiled references to the Christ-event3 (Titus 2:11; Titus 3:4). Jesus Christ, who is our great God and Savior and will appear in glory, is the same one who self-sacrificially “gave himself for us” to redeem and purify us (Titus 2:13–14).
Appearing
God’s saving interventions define the nature of the times. He promised salvation before time began (Titus 1:2) and, at his chosen time, revealed his word through the proclamation that he entrusted to Paul (Titus 1:3). God’s grace and goodness and loving kindness “appeared” in history in the Christ-event, inaugurating “the present age” in which salvation is attained (Titus 2:11; Titus 3:4–5). The training of his grace in believers’ lives is a defining feature of “the present age” (Titus 2:12), which will last until the eschatological “appearing” of Jesus Christ at the end of history (Titus 2:13). Believers “were once” like all people, “but when the goodness and loving kindness” of God “appeared,” he saved and renewed us (Titus 3:3–4). Christian existence includes the hope of eternal life (Titus 1:2; Titus 3:7) as we await “our blessed hope,” the eschatological appearing of Jesus (Titus 2:13).
Salvation is not a half measure or equivocal; it has been revealed and accomplished by God in his triunity!
Christian Identity
Believers form a distinct group within human society. They are “God’s elect” (Titus 1:1) and “a people” who are Jesus Christ’s “own possession” (Titus 2:14). Both terms were used in the Old Testament for ethnic Israel, but here they are applied to Jews (like Paul) and Gentiles (like Titus) and probably most Cretan believers, who are all now beneficiaries of God’s salvation historical promises. Those who God saves are also his adopted “heirs” (Titus 3:7) and members of his household (cf. Titus 1:7). They are “those who have believed in God” (Titus 3:8; Titus 1:1). The phrase “our people” (Titus 3:14) also stresses the shared identity and common experience of believers as does the frequent use of the plural first person pronoun (i.e., “we,” “our,” “us;” 15x).4
Paul develops the concepts associated with believers’ new identity and existence in three directions. First, there is a clear disjunction between the lives and identity of Christians before they were saved and their identity and lives after they were saved (Titus 3:3). They had once been like all other people in their natural fallen state, so they had no grounds for superiority or pride now. Rather, they had an obligation toward all people to do good and show patience (Titus 3:1–2), as God himself had been toward them. Second, there is an intrinsic connection between saving faith and devotion to good works, such that the faith of those who trust in God will always be evidenced in transformed lives of godliness (e.g., Titus 1:1, 6–8; Titus 2:1–10, 12, 14; Titus 3:8, 14, 15). This was demonstrated in the negative by the false teachers, who claimed to know God but denied him by their works (Titus 1:15–16). Their lives testified to the error of their message and their lack of faith in God, which is why they must be silenced by Titus and those he appointed to church leadership (Titus 1:9–11; Titus 3:9–10). And third, believers, even those of the lowest status in the culture of that day, had the power to adorn God’s word or bring it into disrepute by their lives, as the world watched on and listened in (Titus 2:5, 7–8, 10; cf. Titus 1:6–8).
Notes:
- The reference to “God” in verse 11 looks back to “God our Savior” in verse 10.
- E.g., John 1:1, 18; 20:28; Rom. 9:5; Heb. 1:8; 2 Pet. 1:1.
- This term commonly refers to the person and work of Christ in salvation—his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, reign, and (where applicable) glorious return.
- Titus 1:3, 4; 2:8, 10, 12, 13, 14 [2x]; 3:3, 4, 5 [2x], 6 [2x], 15.
Claire S. Smith is the author of The Appearing of God Our Savior: A Theology of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus.
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