“Godly Leadership and Living.”
Chapter 1:1-4
Introduction
When Rabbi the Apostle Paul wrote his letters it is clear that primarily he always emphasised Godly leadership and living, and that all the assemblies in the Body of Messiah should be governed by sound doctrine because what we believe will affect how we live. Also what leaders believe will affect how they teach and act, and also affect the members of the local assembly. Leaders with spiritual oversight are to keep watch over themselves and watch over all of the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made them overseers or shepherds (Acts 20:28).
Those who have spiritual oversight are to watch their life and doctrine closely and to persevere in them, because if they do, they will save both themselves and their hearers (1 Timothy 4:16). As an apostle Paul had the authority to oversee the assemblies that he had planted and over the leaders he had ordained. However, Paul was not into heavy shepherding and entrusted to those ordained to exercise appropriate spiritual oversight as shepherds and elders. Once Paul had established an assembly and its elders he would move on and leave the ongoing work to the overseers trusting that they would be led by the Spirit (Acts 20:27-32).
Paul would only intervene in a local assembly if there was were false prophets and teachers by stealth coming into the local assemblies bringing with them false and spiritually seductive doctrines or if there was ungodly or inappropriate conduct within the fellowship needing to be dealt with by Apostolic authority. In most cases the elders had the authority to deal with these problems but it is clear from the letters of the apostles in the New Testament that there were situations that needed apostolic intervention such as we see at Corinth.
Titus may well have been converted under Paul’s ministry and ordained by the apostle as Paul calls Titus “My true child in a common faith” (1:4). Titus did accompany Paul on his third missionary journey during which Paul sent him to Corinth at least once (2 Corinthians 2:12–13; 7:5–7, 13–15; 8:6, 16–24). Paul clearly held Titus in great esteem and highly honoured him as a close confident, friend and fellow colleague in the ministry of the gospel of the kingdom because of Titus’ earnestness in bringing comfort to others.
Paul wrote his letter to Titus from Nicopolis in AD 63, after the apostle’s release from his first Roman imprisonment. Upon leaving Timothy in Ephesus to minister there, Paul accompanied Titus to the island of Crete, where he intended Titus to lead and organize the island’s assemblies in their early years of their existence. While the gospel had no doubt spread to Crete soon after Peter’s sermon at Pentecost (Acts 2:11), Paul and Titus most likely did a good deal of evangelism on the island in the weeks before Paul commissioned Titus to a leadership position there. In his letter three times Paul summarises the work of salvation in the world and in the lives of every New Covenant believer spiritually reborn by the Holy Spirit, and clearly annunciates the divinity of the Messiah our Lord Jesus when Paul writes; “While we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus the Messiah, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good” See (1:1–4; 2:11–14; 3:4–7).
Paul also directed Titus that he must “teach what is in accord with sound doctrine” (2:1). There are those today within the wider Body of Messiah who no longer emphasise sound doctrine and think that somehow it is religious legalism to pay close attention to it. Instead they opt out for feel good sermons laced here and there with Bible verses and often out of context and with their co-texts.
Indeed Rabbi the Apostle Paul wrote about this ‘trend’ to his young protégé Pastor Timothy to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:2-5).
Paul then clearly understood that when the local assembly of believers embraces sound doctrine, the result is changed and purified lives that produce “good deeds” (2:7, 14; 3:8, 14). God’s unmerited unearned favour is the motivation for all good deeds. Paul gave instructions to Titus about the roles of specific groups of people such as older men, older women, young women, young men, and slaves as well as general instructions to all believers about their appropriate conduct as those who follow after the Lord Jesus. Right living was essential because the Messiah our Lord Jesus “gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed,” saving us “by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” (2:14; 3:5).
Paul made clear that any assembly that teaches and preaches what is in accord with sound doctrine will see supernatural results in the lives of its fellowship members. Not only will people be saved from their sins, but God’s unmerited, unearned favour will also motivate them to live out that saving faith with spiritually renewed and purified lives.
Many assemblies in the wider Body of Messiah today focus more on the form of their worship, their music styles, lighting, and building designs, than they do on the content of the faith they seek to proclaim. And while orderly worship is vital to reaching the unsaved for the Lord Jesus, without a solid foundation or base of sound doctrine, the wider Body of Messiah will lay its foundation in shifting and sinking sand. Those who teach and preach God’s Word must pay close attention to their doctrine and make it a priority in their own life, as well as encouraging it in the assemblies over which they have spiritual oversight. Nothing is more significant than a solid foundation in the Messiah (1 Corinthians 3:11). As New Covenant believers in the Messiah our Lord Jesus nothing will motivate us more spiritually than God’s unmerited, unearned favour towards us to empower us by His Spirit to live a life of good deeds that please Him and are in line with sound Biblical doctrine. With these matters in view let’s now look at the letter itself…
Chapter 1:1-4
(Vs.1-4) “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus the Messiah to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness —a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, and which now at His appointed season He has brought His word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour, To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and the Messiah Jesus our Saviour.”
Exposition:
“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ”
Paul was a servant of God. The word “servant” is the common word used for “a bond slave” or one who is bound to another to serve them. It is not a slavery of one forced into it, but a voluntary slavery. The word describes; “one who of their own free will gives themselves over to serve their master, to obey his will without hesitation, to be devoted to their master disregarding their own interests and seeking to advance the will and work of their master ungrudgingly and with whole hearted service.” This is how Paul saw himself. He was a willing slave to God and to His will.
Paul was also an apostle. The word “apostle” describes “one who has been commissioned for a specific task and has the authority of his master to carry out the orders given to him and not to turn aside from the commission given to him.” It means “a delegate, messenger, one sent forth personally by the Lord Jesus Himself with orders to be obeyed and delivered and relayed exactly as they have been given.” Paul defines his role as an apostle in his second letter to Corinth. “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you in all patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works” (2 Corinthians 12:12). He said this in context of ‘super’ apostles or those claiming apostolic authority, but who lacked the real and genuine power of the Spirit that rested upon a true apostle of the Messiah our Lord Jesus. Paul did not see the Lord Jesus in the flesh, however, the resurrected Lord Jesus did appear to Him on the road to Damascus and after that received the gospel by the revelation from Jesus Messiah personally in the desert of Arabia for three years (Galatians 1:11-18) .
Today we have self-designated ‘apostles’ who are claiming an apostleship which is not Biblical. They are into miracles, signs and wonders big time, and into money, prestige and power, and seeking to have oversight of local assemblies and to have their money if the truth be known. It is a global movement expanding across the denominational Christian assemblies that was originally known as NAR (New Apostolic Reformation) now re-named ICAL (International Coalition of Apostolic Leadership), and they are into Kingdom Now, Kingdom Dominion doctrines that are not Biblical. Their idea of apostolic leadership is a far cry from that of the original apostles who all suffered for their faith and who were all martyred for their faith except the Apostle John. The original twelve Apostles were unique in that they had been at first disciples of John the Baptist and after this had been personally called by the Lord Jesus Himself to be His disciples and designated by Him as apostles (Mark 3:14) (Acts 1:20-22).
Apostles today would be those who are called to establish assemblies in areas where the gospel has not been preached. Also the ministry should be accompanied by miracles, signs and wonders that follow the preaching of the Word of God. The signs follow and are not substitutes for the preaching of the Word of God. They follow the preaching of the Word (Mark 16:17). Some with an apostolic calling and gifting may exercise their gifting within a local fellowship and also have a mobile ministry among the wider Body of Messiah, however, they do not equal the original twelve who knew the Lord Jesus personally and some of whom wrote the New Testament. Some of these ‘super’ apostles today equate their ‘revelations’ and doctrines as being equal with the revelation of scripture.
The NAR/ICAL kingdom Dominion movement is also a doctrine of replacement theology which teaches that the Second Coming of Messiah is dependent on their movement taking possession of the nations and Christianising them and presenting them to the Lord Jesus when He returns. They deny that the Second Coming of Messiah our Lord Jesus is dependent on His covenant promises to spiritually and nationally restore Israel. To acknowledge this Biblical truth concerning Israel in God’s end-time plan for the Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus torpedos their whole kingdom dominion doctrinal position! And then we read the reason Paul gives for being a bond slave of the Lord Jesus…
“…to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness”
Here Paul mentions two things his apostolic calling and gifting would do. To further the faith of God’s elect and to have them increase in their knowledge of the truth that produces godliness. Notice the word “faith” which describes; “a fervent belief with conviction of the truth”, it carries the idea of “confidence or trust, fidelity, faithfulness, the character of one who can be relied upon.” It is not just a belief in a set of doctrinal principles but a living trusting faith in the Triune God that produces faithfulness to what one believes and confesses before men. This is the distinguishing mark of all of God’s elect saints chosen by Him according to His foreknowledge of all things.
Notice the phrase “their knowledge.” The word used for “knowledge” does not apply to a general sense of intellectual knowledge but relates to “a specific, precise and correct knowledge” of the truth revealed in the Word of God. It is a supernatural knowledge imparted by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10-16). The apostle John in his first letter describing a godly knowledge uses the Greek word “ginōskō” which is an inner supernatural revelation of the truth by the Holy Spirit that goes deeper than the intellect. While this work of the Spirit revealing the truth does involve the intellect, it must reach deeper into the inner spirit man and spiritually regenerate his inner spirit resulting in being joined to the LORD, and through this supernatural work in this way becoming one in spirit with Him and spiritually reborn from above (John 3:3) (1 Corinthians 6:17). It is a knowledge that leads to the truth by the Spirit of truth who will never lead us into doctrinal error (John 15:26; 16:13). It is “the knowledge of the truth.”
Now we are also told that this knowledge supernaturally revealed by the Holy Spirit which resides in every born again New Covenant believer is not a dormant knowledge that just remains in the intellect but one that is active and progressive in spiritual matters and leads to godliness or a reverence for God, a respect for Him, giving Him his due praise and honour and seeking to honour him in all we think, say and do and in seeking to please Him. A true knowledge of Him, residing deep down on the inside in our spiritually reborn spirit man, that produces in us the fruit of the Spirit, the nature and character of our Triune God, and especially a likeness to the Lord Jesus in our conduct to which we have been predestined (Galatians 5:22-25) (Romans 8:29).
This knowledge of the truth not only leads us into a life of godliness or we could say “God-likeness” in our daily lives but also “a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life,” Now Biblical hope is not the world’s definition of hope which is “I hope so.” The word used here in the text for “hope” describes; “an expectation of good that is to come, a joyful and confident expectation of our eternal salvation or the thing hoped for” or we could say “a radiant certainty of unseen realities.” This hope is a supernatural hope infused into our inner spirit man by the indwelling Holy Spirit, a hope that does not disappoint us.
As Rabbi the Apostle Paul writes; “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have (or let us have) peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us “(Romans 5:1-5).
Our hope and expectation is developed through that kind of suffering God permits in our lives to produce in us perseverance, to remain under pressure so that our character might be developed to further conform us into the image of the Lord Jesus, and to a hope that does not put us to shame but is enhanced in us because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit whom abides in us (Romans 5:5). It is a faith and knowledge “resting on hope with a confident hopeful expectation of eternal life.”
This eternal life is received when we are born again (John 3:3) (John 3:16). We pass from a state of spiritual death into one of spiritual life. As the Lord Jesus said; “Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24). It is the absolute fullness of life both in spiritual and temporal matters (John 10:10), a life active and vigorous in the service of the LORD, and a life with purpose and direction that satisfies the deepest desires of the human soul and is not dependent on anything this world can offer (John 4:13-14).
It is an eternal quality of life in that when we are spiritually reborn we become partakers of God’s divine nature. As the apostle peter writes; “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4). What a blessing to know that we have this eternal treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves (2 Corinthians 4:7). This eternal treasure of the very life and nature of our Triune God will ultimately lead us to the physical resurrection and to that ultimate glorification of our bodies made ready to inhabit eternity in the presence of our Triune God, a body that will last forever (1 Corinthians 15: 50-56).
At present we have eternal life and have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise and are saved from the power of sin and from its eternal consequences in the lake of fire. However the presence of sin remains in us and we have to contend everyday with the temptations of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the fleshly nature, and with the pride of life in a fallen world being a wicked, crooked and perverse generation. However, when we are resurrected we will be saved out of this present evil age according to the will of God our Father in heaven from the very presence of sin and from our sinful nature itself! As Rabbi the Apostle also writes; “And in Him (our Lord Jesus), having heard and believed the word of truth— the gospel of your salvation— you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14).
This is the faith and knowledge we have as New Covenant believers in the Messiah our Lord Jesus that rests on the expectant hope and radiant certainty of eternal life, being sure of what we hope for and with the deep certainty of what we do not see, or the conviction of unseen realities (Hebrews 11:1). As Rabbi the Apostle Paul also writes; “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
“…which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time.”
Our faith in, and by the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness of life, a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, was ordained from all of eternity by God’s foreknowledge of all things, From the moment of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden God had already planned redemption. When Adam and Eve were created they also had a free will. While they did not have a sinful nature and were sinless they still had the capacity to choose whether to obey God or to disobey Him. God in His foreknowledge of all things knew that man would fall and had already provided the means of eternal salvation which He had already foreordained to be accomplished by His One and only begotten and eternal Son our Lord Jesus, who would, by His redeeming atoning blood by His death on the cross, destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death (Genesis 3:15) (Hebrews 2:14-15).
One thing is certain in this matter that Satan with all his twisted and perverted malevolence and manoeuvring will never out manoeuvre God!!! At the cross our Lord Jesus stripped Satan of his power “having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15). This then was God’s eternal plan of salvation to be accomplished by the Lord Jesus whom God from all eternity had appointed for this so great a salvation (Acts 2:23) (1 Peter 1:20) (2 Timothy 1:9).
We also know that God does not lie and that what He has promised will come to pass (Numbers 23:19) (1 Samuel 15:29) (Hebrews 6:18) (Psalm 89:35). No purpose of our Triune God can be thwarted by man or devil!!! (Job 42:1-2) As the LORD says through Isaiah the prophet; “Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’ I summon a bird of prey from the east, a man for My purpose from a far-off land. Truly I have spoken, and truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, and I will surely do it” (Isaiah 40:9-11). What security we have in the sovereignty of our Triune God!!!
What is impossible with man is possible with God, because all things are possible with Him (Matthew 19:26). Nothing is too hard for Him, no matter what the circumstances are that we face in this life as daunting as they may be (Genesis 18:14) (Jeremiah 32:17). God had you and I in mind when He appointed His Son from all of eternity to bring us into this faith we have and into this knowledge of the truth that leads to Godliness and rests on the radiant certainty of eternal life! As we also read; “For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified” (Romans 8:29-30). And then we read…
“…and which now at His appointed season He has brought His word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour.”
God has His appointed seasons for everything that happens on earth, in the heavens, in the unseen spiritual realm and under the earth below (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, 15-17). God the Father has placed everything in the hand of God the Son who upholds all things by His powerful Word (Ephesians 1:18-23) (Hebrews 1:1-3) (Philippians 2:9-11). At the appointed time in history God brought His Word the Lord Jesus into this world to be the light of the world that spiritually enlightens all who believe in Him and receive Him ( John 1:9) (John 1:12-13).
Rabbi the Apostle Paul understood that like the other apostles of the Messiah that he also has been entrusted with the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom. The word “preaching” describes “that which is proclaimed by a herald or public crier, a proclamation by a herald.” It had been entrusted to him.” The word “entrusted” describes; “One who has been given a mandate and a message as one who can be trusted to deliver it accurately and that without embellishment, or by adding something to it or taking away something from it.” This is the mark of all proclaimers of the Word of God and to depart from this course entrusted has consequences (Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32) (Proverbs 30:5-6) (1 Corinthians 4:6) (Revelation 22:18-19).
This command was a sacred trust that was bestowed uniquely on Paul as an apostle, even though he was not numbered with the twelve apostles, he had equal authority with the twelve as he encountered the resurrected Messiah our Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus when he was converted and commissioned by Him. As he writes; “For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus the Messiah… But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. (Galatians1:11-12, 15-17). Notice also that this calling was “a command” not an option for him. The word “command” describes “a court order or legal document that compels a party to do or to refrain from specific acts.” The command given to Paul was to be obeyed being a legal command “from God our Saviour.” And then we read…
“To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and the Messiah Jesus our Saviour.”
“To Titus, my true son in our common faith:” Titus was not Paul’s physical son, however, Paul saw himself as a spiritual father and Titus as a true son who was not only obedient to the apostles doctrines but also an obedient servant of the Living Triune God whom they both served. Paul and Titus like all of the members of the wider Body of Messiah all shared or participated in a common faith. As Paul also writes in Ephesians; “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-5). The apostle’s doctrine was the foundation of the Body of Messiah and the unifying truth of the Spirit-breathed Word of God that came through the apostles teaching and through those apostles who wrote the New Testament. Of course the Bible of the first century Body of Messiah was the Old Testament scriptures. The apostle’s doctrines were rooted in the teaching of the Hebrew Scriptures. Today we have the apostle’s doctrine in the New Testament.
“Grace and peace from God the Father and the Messiah Jesus our Saviour.”
Grace was a Greek term of greeting and peace the Hebrew term of greeting and these two words used together acknowledge that the Body of Messiah is made up of both Gentile and Jewish believers in the Messiah, and one united body under His authority being “one new man in Him” (Ephesians 2:14-18). The word “grace” describes; “that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness and grace of speech, good will, loving kindness, unmerited, unearned favour shown to one undeserving of it.” Specifically in relation to God it is His “merciful kindness and affection by which He exerts His holy influence upon the human soul turning it to focus by faith on the Messiah to keep, to strengthen and to increase the soul in faith, knowledge and affection kindling the soul to the exercising of the virtues of the messiah our Lord Jesus.” It also describes; “the spiritual condition of one governed by the power of God’s divine grace, a gift from God that is accompanied by a recompense and reward.” See also (Ephesians 2:8-10). In the Body of Messiah both Gentile and Jewish believers in him all partake of this grace in which we stand in the hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:1-2).
Then we also see the word “Peace” or “Shalom” in the Hebrew. It describes; “a state of peace between two individuals bringing about harmony between them and the source of true happiness.” This is the lot of those who through repentance towards God and through faith in the Messiah to save them experience peace with God and the peace of God. The word also conveys “a sense of being spiritually filled up with God’s peace and presence and with His power even in the midst of trials and tests.” It is that supernatural peace that passes all human understanding and that garrisons our hearts and minds in the Messiah Jesus, that supernatural peace that He imparts, a peace that the world cannot give (Philippians 4:7) (John 14:27). It also implies “a sense of security as well as safety, prosperity and a sense of bliss.” It is that peace and harmony that keeps things safe and prosperous.”
In saying this we must also keep in mind that while the LORD can and does prosper His people at certain seasons of their lives in this world His idea of prosperity does not imply that one who comes to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus will automatically be rich by the standards of the world. Of course the LORD will always give us what we really need including meeting our physical and material needs, however, true prosperity according to Biblical standards is to have successfully completed the will of God for our life in this world and it does not imply that we will always have things good in this life as far as material possessions are concerned.
In the work of salvation it is God’s grace that goes before this work of the Spirit in the heart of a person. When one repents of their sin and unbelief in the Messiah, recognising Him as their saviour and Lord, as their sin bearer, and receive Him into their life by faith, and confess Him before men, will experience that peace of God that bypasses all human comprehension that this world cannot give (John 1:12-13) (Romans 5:1) (Romans 10:8-13). This peace is one of the fruits of the indwelling Spirit in a person’s life (Galatians 5:22-25). The only things that can disturb this peace are unbelief and unconfessed sin in our life. However, once it has been confessed and renounced calling on the power of Jesus blood for cleansing and the help of the blessed Holy Spirit, God’s peace and joy will prevail (Psalm 32:1-5) (Psalm 51).
