Titus 1:1-3 "Paul, a bond-servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ,
| Titus 1:1-3 Paul, a bond-servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, | |
| for the faith of those chosen of God | … and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart |
| and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness | …and with all your mind, |
| in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, | …and with all your soul, |
| but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior; | …and with all your strength |
"…to Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior." Titus 1:4
“…my true child in a common faith…”
Paul was the ‘Jew’s Jew’… a man whose pedigree and lineage was from Abraham himself, devoted to being a scholar of the law as well as a self-appointed enforcer of the same. His early passion to the law drove him to persecute the ‘cult’ that he saw as following this Jesus…
Titus was a Greek, a Gentile. A lineage that was deemed as not part of the promise of the Old Testament law. He wasn’t even circumcised so how could he even hope to find favor with God??
And yet, working together in ministry, the ‘spiritual father’ Paul pens this personal letter to Titus, whom he calls his ‘true child’… Paul declares a special relationship with Titus all because of ‘a common faith’… God has shared His gift of salvation with all peoples… including Gentiles!
"…remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." Eph. 2:12-13
A Jew and a Greek… One whose early hope was solely with the law, and one who seemed to have no hope at all…
No one is so near to God as to not need the gospel. And no one is so far from God so as to be beyond the reach of the power of the gospel.
No one is so near to God as to not need the gospel. And no one is so far from God so as to be beyond the reach of the power of the gospel.
United by the gospel through the person of Jesus Christ!
"But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 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, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Titus 3:4-7
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Gal. 3:28
No matter who you are, where you’ve been, or what you’ve done—you can be reconciled to God by faith alone plus nothing!
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