“He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. ⁶ He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. ⁷ Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.” Titus 3:5-7 

Footsteps #415. We know that, because of the Gospel, Christian slaves were treated as equals in Paul’s church communities. However, there was a danger that they would use that equality as a license to disrespect their masters and then become associated with slave rebellions, discrediting the Christian message. You can see Paul negotiating a fine line here. He believes that the gospel about Jesus needs to prove its redemptive power in the public arena if it is really going to transform Cretan culture. That is not going to happen through social upheaval, or by Christians cloistering away from urban life. The Christian message will be compelling to Cretans when Christians fully participate in public life when their lives and homes look similar on the surface because, at a closer look, their neighbours will discover that Christians live by a totally different value system of devotion to a totally different God. That is the difference that Paul beautifully summarized at the end of chapter 2. He says the value system driving the Christian way of life is God’s generous grace which appeared in the person of Jesus and will appear again at His return (2:11-15.) This grace was demonstrated when Jesus gave up his honour to die a shameful death on behalf of His enemies so that he could rescue and redeem them. It is that same grace that calls God’s people to say, “no!” to corrupt ways of life that are inconsistent with the generous love of God.  

Paul then zooms out (Chapter 3) from the Christian household to a vision of Christian living like new humans in Cretan society. Of all people, Christians should be known as the ideal citizens: peaceable, generous, obedient to authorities, known for pursuing the common good. This is really different from how Cretans grew up. How are Christians supposed to sustain this countercultural way of life? Paul believes the power source is the transforming love of the three in one God announced in the gospel. He explores this with a really beautiful poem (3:4-7). He says God’s kindness and love are what saved us, despite ourselves, so that through the Holy Spirit, we are a God washed, rebirthed and renewed people. Through Jesus, He has provided a way for people to be declared right before Him. All of this opens up eternal life. That is a new future in the new creation. This living story is so powerful it can produce new kinds of people. Paul is convinced that Spirit-empowered faithfulness to the teachings of Jesus will declare God’s grace all over the Island of Crete and all over the world. 

The letter of Titus shows us Paul’s missionary strategy for churches to become agents of transformation within their communities. It won’t happen by waging a cultural war or by assimilating to the Cretan way of life. Rather, he calls these Christians to wisely participate in Cretan culture. They need to reject what is corrupt but also embrace what is good there. If they can learn to live peaceably and devote themselves to Jesus and to the common good, Christians will, in His words, “make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way.”