Tehillah 2011

This place is like a ghost town, people. Let's get some activity going!

Tehillah Bible Study 4: Titus 3: 1-15

Pre-study Question:

1. In what ways will you thank your leaders this or next week?

I will bake them an apple pie for Tehillah! (Edit- Will accept cash as well)

Read Titus 3:1-15

Questions:

1. How then are we saved as a Christian? List out the logical steps Paul makes to support our salvation and the changes made in us. (v4-7)

· Jesus appears through the kindness and love of God the Father (v4)

· We are saved, not through any works of righteousness, but by the mercy of God (v5)

· The Holy Spirit is poured out on us, cleansing us and ultimately transforming us into the heirs of eternal life (5-7)

It might be a good idea here to also look at v3. The reason for this is that the beginning of our salvation starts at the same place it does for everyone else- as a sinner. In the absence of Jesus Christ, we too are ‘foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures…’ (Tit 3:3) My emphasis on ‘too’ is because there is nothing inherently different within us that is drastically different from our non-Christian friends and associates. But for the Grace of God and Christ’s death and resurrection, we would also be captive to the sorts of behaviour that Paul describes in v3.

Similarly, keep in mind the topic at hand here. Having been saved in Christ, ‘we are a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good,’ (Tit 2:14). I want to draw your attention to the order of things here- We are saved first, with the good works reflecting our inner beliefs. To invert this order is to deny the necessity and importance of our redemption through Christ’s crucifixion. This is something which I’ve noticed talking to my friends over here- it’s been very easy for me to simply (or inaccurately) to portray Christianity as a mere way to live a good life (part of this is because I still suck at Japanese…).

2. Paul asks us to be “subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate and to show true humility towards all men”. Why would he ask us to be act like this?

From my reading (you can trust anything you can get off Wiki, by the way), there might have been a historical context for Paul specifically telling the Cretans to obey the government of the day. In addition to their reputation as ‘liars, evil brutes and lazy gluttons’ (Tit 1:12), the Cretans were also notorious for an unwillingness to submit to any sort of authority, that may have led to civil unrest being a common occurrence within their community.

That being said, there is still a current imperative for Christians to submit to the civil authority of the day, insofar as they do not contradict the laws of God. One of the main passages used to express this duty is Romans 13- in this chapter, the ruling authorities are positioned under God’s ultimate authority as his servants. As for when the authorities of our day contradict the teachings of God, Daniel provides an example of how and to what extent we are to refute the laws of man (Not Daniel Ng. Do not follow his example- please).

Where God and the government come into disagreement can be less clear (I think that copyright rules in large measure are rubbish, btw)- just make sure you have a good excuse grounded in the Bible before we catch you on the evening news.

3. Paul states that there are things that are profitable and things which are unprofitable. What are these things? What is the correlation between these things that Paul is talking about here?

Having been left with the great Commission to ‘make disciples of all nations…’ (Matt 28:18), we should be careful in considering whether our actions attract or repel people from Christ. When people see the fruits and satisfaction in living ultimately under God’s authority, our lives become a testament to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. True, we are saved by our conviction and not actions in Jesus Christ- but how do our ‘poor actions’ accurately portray our status as heirs of eternal life?

In contrast, Pauls warns us of not having anything to do with the people listed in v9, those interested in only arguing about Christian living, rather than living Christian lives. The strong theme of good actions borne out of our acceptance of Jesus Christ in Titus, is once again reiterated by Paul, who also continues his warning to abstain from the sorts of pointless arguments that the Jewish Christians in Crete were perpetuating at the time.

At the end of the day, our mission to evangelise to people about the love of God is met through a balanced whole of sound doctrine and kind actions. To neglect either of these only continues the image of ‘paper Christians’ whose lofty minded ideals don’t translate into hard reality, or leaves us in danger of justifying our salvation through actions rather than God’s mercy.

4. How are we to act towards these people who do these unprofitable things and what is the reason for this?

I could only do this with a bunch of Asians… to use an economic term, the opportunity cost of pointlessly arguing with the people Paul mentions in Tit 3:10 is less time actually putting to practice the love of God in one’s own life. Indeed, the word ‘divisive’ Paul uses in v10 to qualify the people we are not to talk to drives home the consequence of arguing with such people very often leads to a split or break in our people relationships. Over such division, it is only harder to love someone.

Another point that might be raised here is that to argue with such people is to grant them a degree of credibility or authority. In the same way I don’t pay attention to anything mark said when he was a baby (and still don’t…!), by refusing to engage in pointless conversations we deny their opinions of any worth.

Does this mean that Paul’s instruction to study the Bible and be educated in sound doctrine through the previous 2 chapter’s become’s useless? Where our words and conversations are borne out of a desire to restore someone a educate people on how to live a Godly life, our discussions have merit. In order to do this, it is crucial that we ourselves are soundly grounded in Biblical doctrine. Where our goal however is to win an argument for the sake of winning or to protect our own pride (something I confess I fall into as well!), our words become useless.

It is then because our goal is to correct and not to ‘win’ in discussions with these ‘divisive people’, that Paul urges us to have nothing to do with them after warning them the second time (Again, this should be seen less as an absolute number, a principle to follow- for what reason are you talking to this person)

Further Questions:

5. v1 states that we should be subject to in this instance civil rulers and authority. Why do you think Paul would want us to be subject to them when we believe God to be the only ruler and authority?

(Answered in q2)

6. Should we always be subject to rulers and authority? What situations are there where this may not be the case? How do we therefore know when to follow civil authorities?

(Answered in q2)

7. v5 tells us that we are washed by the regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. Does this mean a physical washing (i.e. Baptism) or is this something more? Do we need to be physically baptised to be saved?

Based on the context of the passage, Paul does not seem to be implicating water Baptism as a necessary prerequisite to salvation. While there are churches which take this verse to mean precisely that (not ours), to go along with that construction would seem to contradict our complete dependence on God’s mercy and not of ‘the righteous things that we had done’ (Tit 3:5) for our salvation. For me, this contradiction is the strongest indicator that Paul is not saying a bath will open the gates of Heaven for you (Paul was a lawyer- lawyers never contradict themselves).

8. Verse 10 and 11 tell us to reject a factious man after two warnings. What does it mean to reject the factious man? Are we to completely cut them out of our lives? If so how and why?

As Christian’s, we are to adopt the same attitude as God when it comes to sin and have nothing to do with it. The ‘fractious man’ in Tit 3:10-11 (‘divisive’ sounds so much better… and it’s written in my version) is condemned by his own consciousness given by God (Romans 2:14-15). The responsibility to accept Christ’s salvation is a personal one and if our warnings are not being listened to by such people, then we ourselves are in danger of being influenced by their sinful behaviour.

Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind here is the purpose of restoration. The decisive manner of Paul’s command is so that people can realise that any way other than God’s way leads to Satan (1 Cor 5:5). The separation is to be of a fairly significant degree, to the extent that the people being denied community with God’s people realise the consequences of their ways, and hopefully find their way back to God.

Finally, while Paul is talking about people with the Church community, it might be wise to also keep an account of the sort of non-Christian friends we hang out with. I am not asking you to only hang out with other Christians!!! However, where our relationships with non-Christians put us in a position to cause other’s to stumble (1 Cor 10:32) including ourselves, we should carefully evaluate the situation before making a decision.

Application:

9. Do you have a problem listening to authority? Do you consider how it affects the Christian image before you choose to follow or dismiss the authority?

10. Can you think of a time where you have had to cut someone off because of their beliefs contrary to the Christian view? Do you still show them mercy that you were shown?

11. Is there any part of your Christian character that you feel need to be changed to fully represent God and your change to righteousness.

12. Look back on the logical steps that Paul has stated for our salvation and being baptised as a Christian. Would you consider baptism if you are not already?