Doing What Is Good
Titus 3:3 to 8 (ESV)
Scripture Reading
Titus 3:3 to 8 ESV
3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.
Historical Background
The Apostle Paul wrote the letter to Titus, one of his trusted coworkers in the gospel. Titus was a Gentile believer who had served alongside Paul in significant ministry situations for many years. Paul refers to him as “my true child in a common faith” in Titus 1:4, reflecting both their close relationship and Titus’s established role in Paul’s ministry.
Titus appears elsewhere in the New Testament as a dependable representative of Paul. He accompanied Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, where his status as an uncircumcised Greek became significant during controversy concerning Gentile believers and circumcision. Paul reports that Titus was not compelled to be circumcised and describes his resistance to those demanding it as necessary so that “the truth of the gospel might be preserved” in Galatians 2:1 to 5.
Titus later played an important role in Paul’s relationship with the church at Corinth. Paul trusted him with difficult pastoral responsibilities, and Titus demonstrated genuine concern for the Corinthian believers in 2 Corinthians 7:6 to 7, 13 to 15 and 8:16 to 17, 23. Titus was therefore not an inexperienced believer receiving elementary instruction. He was a proven coworker entrusted with substantial responsibility.
When Paul wrote the letter bearing his name, Titus had been left on the island of Crete. Paul explains:
“This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town.”
Titus 1:5
Titus therefore had the responsibility of helping establish healthy churches, appointing qualified leadership, confronting false teaching, and instructing believers in lives consistent with sound doctrine.
The churches in Crete faced serious challenges. Paul warns of “many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers,” including teachers who were upsetting entire households for dishonest gain. He instructs Titus to rebuke such teaching and contrasts it with sound doctrine and the kind of life that should flow from the truth.
This connection between sound doctrine and godly living runs throughout the letter. Older men, older women, younger women, younger men, and bondservants are instructed to live in ways consistent with sound doctrine and their profession of faith.
Paul then grounds these instructions in the grace of God, which has appeared bringing salvation and training believers to renounce ungodliness and live self controlled, upright, and godly lives.
That background is especially important for Titus 3:3 to 8.
Immediately before the passage, Paul instructs Titus to remind believers to be submissive to rulers and authorities, obedient, ready for every good work, gentle, and courteous toward all people.
He then explains why Christians should approach others with humility:
“For we ourselves were once”
Believers were once characterized by foolishness, disobedience, deception, sinful desires, malice, envy, and hatred.
The transformation Paul describes does not begin with human moral improvement.
The decisive turning point comes in verse 4:
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared.”
God acts toward people whom Paul has just described as enslaved to sin and unable to point to their own righteousness as the reason for His saving action.
Paul therefore states explicitly:
“he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.”
Salvation originates in God’s mercy rather than in human achievement.
Paul then describes God’s saving work in terms of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, justification by grace, and becoming heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Yet Paul’s rejection of works as the basis of salvation does not lead him to reject good works in the Christian life.
Instead, the letter repeatedly emphasizes them.
Christ gave Himself to redeem and purify a people “zealous for good works.” Believers are to be “ready for every good work,” and after explaining that salvation is according to God’s mercy and grace, Paul tells Titus to insist upon these truths so that believers “may be careful to devote themselves to good works.”
Against this historical background, Titus 3:3 to 8 presents the gospel as the foundation for transformed Christian living.
Believers were once enslaved to sin, but God acted in goodness, loving kindness, and mercy. He saved them through the regenerating and renewing work of the Holy Spirit, justified them by His grace, and made them heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Good works are therefore not presented as the cause or basis of salvation. They are the fitting fruit of a life transformed by God’s saving mercy and grace in Jesus Christ.
Literary Context
Titus 3:3 to 8 comes near the conclusion of a letter that consistently connects sound doctrine with lives transformed by the grace of God.
Paul does not treat Christian belief and Christian conduct as separate concerns. Throughout Titus, the truth of the gospel provides the foundation for the kind of life believers are called to live.
Early in the letter, Paul contrasts false teaching with “sound doctrine.” Chapter 2 then applies sound doctrine to different groups within the church, instructing older men, older women, younger women, younger men, and bondservants regarding conduct appropriate for those who profess faith in God.
Paul grounds these ethical instructions in the gospel in Titus 2:11 to 14.
The word “For” at the beginning of verse 11 connects the preceding commands with God’s saving grace:
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.”
That grace not only brings salvation but also trains believers to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled, upright, and godly lives.
Christ’s saving work is therefore directly connected with transformed living.
Paul says that Jesus Christ:
“gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
Good works are not presented as the cause of redemption. They characterize the people Christ has redeemed and purified.
That same pattern continues into chapter 3.
Paul instructs Titus to remind believers to submit to rulers and authorities, be obedient, be “ready for every good work,” speak evil of no one, avoid quarreling, be gentle, and show courtesy toward all people.
Verse 3 begins with “For,” providing a reason for the humility and gentleness commanded in the preceding verses.
Christians should remember their own former condition because:
“we ourselves were once”
foolish, disobedient, led astray, enslaved to sinful desires and pleasures, and characterized by malice, envy, and hatred.
Paul deliberately includes himself and other believers in this description.
The contrast is therefore not between people who saved themselves through better conduct and those who failed to do so. It is between what believers once were and what God mercifully did for them.
Verses 4 to 7 provide the decisive contrast.
Verse 3 describes the believers’ former condition, but verse 4 begins:
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared.”
From this point forward, the emphasis falls upon God’s saving action.
God saves according to His mercy. The Holy Spirit is central to the regeneration and renewal Paul describes. Jesus Christ is the One through whom the Spirit is richly poured out. Believers are justified by God’s grace.
The structure places particular emphasis upon the source of salvation.
Paul explicitly says that God:
“saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.”
Human works are excluded as the basis of salvation before Paul describes regeneration and renewal, justification by grace, and becoming heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Verse 8 then turns back toward Christian conduct:
“The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things.”
Titus is to emphasize the truths Paul has just stated so that:
“those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.”
This creates an important literary relationship between verses 5 and 8.
Verse 5: Salvation is “not because of works done by us in righteousness.”
Verse 8: Those who have believed are to “devote themselves to good works.”
These statements are not contradictory.
Their placement within the same paragraph clarifies their relationship.
Good works are explicitly excluded as the basis of salvation and explicitly commanded in the lives of those who have believed.
The verse immediately following strengthens the contrast.
Instead of becoming occupied with foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, which Paul calls “unprofitable and worthless,” Titus is to emphasize what Paul has just called “excellent and profitable for people.”
Sound gospel truth should produce fruitful Christian living rather than fruitless religious controversy.
The letter closes with the same emphasis:
“let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.”
The repeated language shows that good works are not incidental to Paul’s message in Titus.
They are an expected expression of lives transformed by God’s grace.
Within the literary flow of Titus, 3:3 to 8 therefore brings together several of the letter’s central themes:
Humanity’s sinful condition.
God’s initiative in salvation.
Salvation according to mercy rather than human works.
Regeneration and renewal associated with the Holy Spirit.
Justification by grace.
The hope of eternal life.
The transformed conduct that should characterize those who have believed.
The order is essential to Paul’s argument: God saves according to His mercy and grace, and those who have believed are then called to devote themselves to good works.
Scripture Breakdown
Titus 3:3
Paul begins:
“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray.”
The word “For” connects verse 3 directly with the instructions of verses 1 and 2.
Believers are to show gentleness and courtesy toward all people while remembering what they themselves once were.
The phrase “we ourselves” is important.
Paul includes himself alongside Titus and other believers. He does not allow Christians to look upon others as though they had always stood outside the sinful condition he describes.
Those who now believe must remember their own former condition.
Paul describes that condition first as “foolish” and “disobedient.”
The problem was not merely a lack of information. Their lives were characterized by failure to understand and respond rightly to God and by disobedience to Him.
They were also “led astray.”
The language points to deception and wandering from what is true. Sin does not merely involve knowingly choosing what is wrong. People can pursue what appears desirable while being deceived about where it leads.
Paul strengthens the description by saying they were:
“slaves to various passions and pleasures.”
The language of slavery emphasizes bondage.
The desires and pleasures people pursue as though they promise freedom can instead exercise mastery over them.
Paul then describes how this sinful condition expresses itself in relationships:
“passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.”
Sin damages relationships between people.
Malice desires harm, envy resents the good enjoyed by others, and hatred produces hostility rather than love.
The description is severe, but its placement is important.
Paul is preparing for the dramatic contrast that begins in verse 4:
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared…”
The movement from verse 3 into verses 4 and 5 is not primarily a story of people improving themselves.
The decisive action comes from God.
The people described as foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved are the very people toward whom God’s goodness, loving kindness, and mercy appear.
This connection also explains why verse 3 follows Paul’s command that believers show gentleness and courtesy toward others.
Remembering what “we ourselves were once” leaves no room for spiritual superiority.
Whatever transformation Paul is about to describe cannot be credited to the people described in verse 3.
Verse 3 therefore establishes the human condition against which God’s saving action in verses 4 to 7 must be understood.
Paul first reminds believers what they once were before explaining what God did for them.
The emphasis is not upon how believers made themselves different. The decisive difference comes from the goodness and mercy of God.
Titus 3:4 to 5
Paul now introduces the decisive contrast to the condition described in verse 3:
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us.”
The change in the passage begins not with humanity but with God.
Those just described as foolish, disobedient, led astray, and enslaved are now the recipients of God’s saving action.
The words “goodness and loving kindness” emphasize God’s gracious disposition toward those He saves.
Paul does not point to something worthy within the people described in verse 3 as the explanation for God’s action.
He points instead to God Himself.
The language of God’s goodness “appearing” also recalls an important theme from the previous chapter.
Titus 2:11 declares that “the grace of God has appeared,” and Titus 2:13 speaks of believers awaiting the appearing of Jesus Christ.
In both chapters, Paul directs attention toward God’s saving action entering history rather than toward humanity ascending to God through its own effort.
Paul then makes the central declaration:
“he saved us.”
God is the subject of the verb.
Within Paul’s argument, the decisive action belongs to Him.
Paul immediately excludes human righteousness as the reason for this salvation:
“not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.”
Even works that could be described as righteous are explicitly denied as the reason God saved.
This statement becomes especially important because Paul will soon command believers to “devote themselves to good works.”
Paul is not opposed to good works.
He places them in their proper relationship to salvation.
Good works do not cause the salvation described in verse 5. They characterize the lives of those who have believed in verse 8.
Instead of human works, Paul points to God’s own mercy.
The description of humanity in verse 3 has prepared for this statement.
The people Paul describes need something they cannot credit to their own righteousness.
God acts toward them according to His mercy.
Paul then describes this saving action as occurring:
“by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”
This phrase requires careful interpretation because Christians have differed over precisely how the washing, regeneration, baptism, and the Holy Spirit relate to one another.
The word translated “regeneration” carries the idea of new birth or new beginning.
Within the wider New Testament, this fits a broader pattern in which salvation involves God’s giving new life rather than merely producing external moral reform.
Jesus speaks of the necessity of being born again or from above in John 3:3 to 8, while Peter describes believers as having been born again through the living and abiding Word of God in 1 Peter 1:23.
The word “washing” has often been understood as containing baptismal imagery.
Some interpreters understand Paul as referring to Christian baptism as the outward sign associated with conversion, cleansing, and new life.
Others understand the phrase primarily as a description of the spiritual cleansing involved in regeneration while acknowledging that baptism may stand behind the imagery.
The text therefore warrants caution.
We should neither remove baptism from consideration nor automatically conclude that Paul teaches that the physical act of baptism itself produces regeneration.
His immediate emphasis is that God saved according to His mercy, and the saving work he describes involves regeneration and renewal associated with the Holy Spirit.
Paul’s phrase “renewal of the Holy Spirit” places the Spirit directly within this saving transformation.
The movement from verse 3 to verse 5 cannot be adequately described as greater education, stronger discipline, or moral self improvement.
Something fundamental has changed through God’s saving action.
Exactly how “regeneration” and “renewal” relate grammatically and theologically has also been discussed.
They may describe closely related dimensions of the same saving transformation rather than two sharply separated events.
Paul does not explain the distinction here, so we should not impose one upon the passage.
What is clear is the contrast Paul establishes:
Verse 3: enslaved, deceived, and disobedient.
Verses 4 and 5: God’s goodness appears, He saves according to His mercy, and that salvation involves regeneration and renewal associated with the Holy Spirit.
The movement is therefore not from sinful people making themselves acceptable to God through righteous works.
The decisive movement comes from God toward them.
Titus 3:4 to 5 places the initiative and transforming action of salvation with God.
His goodness and loving kindness appear.
He saves.
He does so not because of righteous works performed by us, but according to His own mercy, through the regeneration and renewal Paul associates with the Holy Spirit.
Salvation is not God’s reward for human righteousness. It is God’s merciful saving action toward people who need to be made new.
Titus 3:6 to 7
Paul continues his description of the Holy Spirit:
“whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”
The salvation described in verse 5 is not presented as a small adjustment to the believer’s former life.
Paul describes God’s gift of the Spirit in abundant terms.
The language “poured out” has important biblical background.
The Old Testament anticipated God’s pouring out His Spirit upon His people in Isaiah 44:3 and Joel 2:28 to 29.
At Pentecost, Peter uses Joel’s language to explain the coming of the Holy Spirit and later speaks of Christ having “poured out” what the people were seeing and hearing.
Paul’s language therefore fits within the broader biblical pattern of God’s promised gift of the Spirit.
Paul says that the Spirit was poured out “richly.”
The emphasis is upon the abundance and generosity of God’s provision.
The people described in verse 3 as deceived and enslaved are not merely given instructions for moral improvement.
God saves according to His mercy and richly provides His Spirit.
This occurs:
“through Jesus Christ our Savior.”
Verse 4 calls God “our Savior,” while verse 6 calls Jesus Christ “our Savior.”
At the same time, verses 5 and 6 speak explicitly about the Holy Spirit.
The passage therefore places God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit together within the saving work Paul describes.
There is a distinctly Trinitarian shape to these verses, even though Paul is not pausing to give a formal explanation of the doctrine of the Trinity.
God saves according to His mercy, regeneration and renewal are associated with the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit is richly poured out through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Verse 7 then continues:
“so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Paul says believers are “justified by his grace.”
Within Paul’s broader writings, justification refers to God’s act of putting sinners in right standing with Himself and is repeatedly contrasted with justification on the basis of human works.
Most importantly for the immediate context, Paul has already said that God saved us “not because of works done by us in righteousness.”
He now says that we are “justified by his grace.”
The two statements reinforce one another.
The basis for boasting in human righteousness has been removed, while God’s mercy and grace remain central.
Paul then says that those justified by grace:
“might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
The language of inheritance points toward what God’s people receive according to His saving promise.
Their salvation has both a present reality and a future hope.
The phrase “hope of eternal life” also connects this passage with the opening of the letter.
Paul began Titus by speaking of:
“the hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.”
Near the conclusion of the letter, he returns to that same hope.
Biblical hope is not merely wishful thinking.
Here its certainty is grounded in the God who “never lies” and who promised eternal life.
The believer’s hope therefore rests upon God’s faithfulness to His promise.
The progression from verses 3 to 7 is striking:
We were enslaved and led astray.
God’s goodness and loving kindness appeared.
He saved according to His mercy.
Salvation involves regeneration and renewal associated with the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit is richly poured out through Jesus Christ.
Believers are justified by grace.
They become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Throughout that progression, Paul’s emphasis remains upon God’s initiative and saving action rather than human achievement.
This prepares directly for verse 8.
Only after declaring that salvation is not because of righteous works and that justification is by grace does Paul command those who have believed to devote themselves to good works.
The order matters. Good works are not presented as the basis of God’s saving mercy or justification. They follow the saving work Paul has just described.
Titus 3:8
Paul concludes this section by saying:
“The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things.”
The expression “the saying is trustworthy” appears several times in the Pastoral Epistles and marks something Paul presents as reliable and worthy of confidence.
There is some discussion about exactly how much of the preceding material “the saying” includes.
It may refer particularly to the summary of God’s saving work in verses 4 to 7 or more broadly to the truths Paul has just presented.
The precise boundaries are less certain than Paul’s command:
Titus is to insist on these things.
Paul then explains the purpose:
“so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.”
This statement is especially significant because of what Paul said only three verses earlier.
Verse 5
“he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness.”
Verse 8
“those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.”
The proximity of these statements clarifies Paul’s distinction.
He neither dismisses good works nor makes them the reason God saves.
Works are excluded as the basis of salvation and commanded in the lives of those who have believed.
The phrase “those who have believed in God” identifies the people Paul calls to good works.
Paul does not tell them to perform good works in order to become people who have believed.
The command is addressed to those already identified as believers.
Paul says they must “be careful to devote themselves” to good works.
The wording communicates deliberate attention and concern.
Good works are not treated as irrelevant or optional to Christian conduct.
Those who have received God’s mercy are to give serious attention to living accordingly.
This fits the repeated emphasis throughout Titus.
Christ gave Himself to purify a people “zealous for good works.”
Believers are to be “ready for every good work.”
Here they are to “devote themselves to good works,” and Paul repeats that language near the end of the letter.
Paul therefore maintains the same order throughout the letter.
God’s grace brings salvation and trains believers to renounce ungodliness and live godly lives.
Christ redeems and purifies a people zealous for good works.
Here, those whom God saved according to His mercy and justified by His grace are commanded to devote themselves to good works.
Paul does not permit us to reverse that order.
Good works do not produce the salvation described in verses 4 to 7.
They belong to the life that follows God’s saving action.
At the same time, Paul does not allow salvation by grace to become an excuse for indifference toward obedience.
The same passage that excludes righteous works as the reason God saves explicitly commands believers to devote themselves to good works.
Paul finishes:
“These things are excellent and profitable for people.”
This stands in contrast with the next verse, where foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law are described as “unprofitable and worthless.”
Titus is therefore to insist upon truths that Paul describes as “excellent and profitable” rather than allowing attention to be consumed by controversies he describes as “unprofitable and worthless.”
This also demonstrates the relationship between doctrine and conduct that runs throughout Titus.
Paul cares deeply about sound teaching, but sound teaching is not intended to remain abstract.
The truths Titus teaches should shape how believers live.
Sound doctrine and godly living belong together.
Titus 3:8 therefore completes the movement of the passage.
Paul has moved from humanity’s former sinful condition, through God’s goodness and mercy, His saving action, regeneration and renewal associated with the Holy Spirit, justification by grace, and the hope of eternal life, and finally to the conduct expected of those who have believed.
We are not saved because we do good works. Those whom God saves according to His mercy and justifies by His grace are called to devote themselves to good works.
Paul preserves both truths without confusing them.
Salvation is according to God’s mercy and grace, and those who have believed are called to lives characterized by good works.
Canonical Context
Titus 3:3 to 8 stands within a much broader biblical pattern concerning humanity’s sinful condition, God’s initiative in salvation, regeneration and renewal associated with the Holy Spirit, justification by grace, eternal life, and the good works that characterize the lives of God’s people.
Paul’s description of humanity in Titus 3:3 is consistent with his teaching elsewhere.
In Romans, he concludes that both Jews and Gentiles are “under sin” and that “none is righteous, no, not one.”
In Ephesians, he describes believers’ former condition as being “dead in the trespasses and sins” in which they once walked and as living according to sinful desires.
These passages reinforce the seriousness of the condition from which God’s people need salvation.
The decisive contrast in Titus:
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared… he saved us”
closely parallels Ephesians 2.
After describing humanity as dead in sin, Paul writes:
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us… made us alive together with Christ.”
In both passages, God is the decisive actor, and His mercy stands at the center of the transition from the believers’ former condition to their new one.
Scripture repeatedly excludes human works as the basis for salvation.
Titus says that God saved us:
“not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.”
Ephesians likewise declares:
“by grace you have been saved through faith”
and adds that this is:
“not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Paul develops the same truth when discussing justification in Romans.
“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight.”
Instead, believers are:
“justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Titus 3:7 uses the same central language:
“being justified by his grace.”
Yet Scripture consistently connects salvation by grace with the transformed life that follows.
Immediately after saying salvation is not the result of works, Ephesians 2:10 describes believers as God’s workmanship:
“created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
The parallel with Titus is especially clear:
Ephesians 2:8 to 9: Salvation is not a result of works.
Ephesians 2:10: Those saved are created for good works.
Titus 3:5: God saved us not because of righteous works.
Titus 3:8: Those who have believed are to devote themselves to good works.
The same order appears elsewhere in Titus.
The grace of God brings salvation and also trains believers to renounce ungodliness and live godly lives.
Christ gave Himself:
“to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
Grace therefore does not make obedience irrelevant. The grace that saves also transforms the lives of those who receive it.
Titus’s language of “regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” also belongs within the broader biblical teaching concerning God’s work of bringing new life.
Jesus tells Nicodemus:
“unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God”
and speaks of being “born of the Spirit.”
We should not assume that John’s terminology and Paul’s terminology are identical in every respect, but both passages demonstrate that the transformation necessary for God’s kingdom is deeper than external moral reform and is associated with the work of the Spirit.
The Old Testament had anticipated a saving work of God involving cleansing, inward transformation, and the Spirit.
Through Ezekiel, God promised:
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean.”
followed by:
“I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you”
and:
“I will put my Spirit within you.”
Because Titus 3:5 speaks of washing, regeneration, renewal, and the Holy Spirit, Ezekiel 36 provides important canonical background.
Paul does not explicitly identify his wording as a quotation from Ezekiel, so we should not claim direct dependence with certainty.
Nevertheless, the conceptual parallels are substantial:
cleansing, inward renewal, and God’s Spirit belong to God’s promised saving work.
The pouring out of the Holy Spirit in Titus 3:6 also fits the prophetic expectation that God would pour out His Spirit.
Joel promised:
“I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.”
Peter explicitly applies Joel’s prophecy to the events of Pentecost and then speaks of the exalted Christ having “poured out” the promised Holy Spirit.
Titus also describes believers as:
“heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Peter speaks similarly of God causing believers to be “born again to a living hope” and to “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.”
Paul elsewhere describes believers as children of God and, therefore, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.
This hope ultimately centers upon Jesus Christ.
Jesus declares:
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.”
The eternal life believers hope for is inseparably connected with Christ and His saving work.
The relationship between faith and works must also be considered alongside James.
James writes:
“faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead”
and later says:
“a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”
At first glance, James’s wording can appear to conflict with Paul’s insistence that justification is apart from works.
Careful attention to context, however, shows that the writers are confronting different errors.
Paul rejects human works as the basis upon which sinners are justified before God.
James confronts a claimed faith that consists merely of profession while producing no corresponding obedience.
James himself asks:
“Can that faith save him?”
and illustrates his argument through Abraham’s actions demonstrating the reality and maturity of his faith.
Paul and James therefore must not be played against one another.
Works do not provide the meritorious basis of salvation, but a profession of faith entirely devoid of resulting fruit is not the kind of living faith Scripture commends.
This broader canonical testimony preserves the order already visible within Titus 3:
Humanity stands guilty and sinful before God.
God acts according to His mercy and grace.
His saving work involves regeneration and renewal associated with the Holy Spirit.
Believers are justified by grace and become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Those who have believed are called to lives characterized by good works.
Taken together, Scripture does not present salvation by grace and transformed living as competing truths, nor does it confuse their roles.
Good works are not the meritorious basis upon which God saves sinners, yet God’s saving grace produces a people who are called and enabled to walk in obedience.
Biblical Theology
Titus 3:3 to 8 belongs within the larger biblical story of humanity’s rebellion, God’s merciful initiative to save, His promise to cleanse and renew His people by His Spirit, the accomplishment of redemption through Jesus Christ, and the transformed life that follows God’s saving action.
The need for salvation begins with humanity’s rebellion against God.
Genesis presents human beings as created in God’s image within His good creation.
Yet Adam and Eve rejected God’s command, and sin and death entered the human story.
The chapters that follow display the expanding consequences of sin through jealousy, murder, violence, and widespread corruption.
Titus 3:3 reflects this larger biblical reality.
Paul describes humanity not merely as lacking sufficient instruction but as:
“foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures.”
The problem described by Scripture reaches into human desires, relationships, loyalties, and conduct.
Throughout the Old Testament, God’s dealings with His people repeatedly display His initiative, mercy, and faithfulness.
When Moses speaks about God’s choosing of Israel, he explicitly denies that Israel’s greatness explains God’s choice.
The Lord set His love upon Israel and redeemed them because He loved them and remained faithful to His covenant promise.
Israel’s national covenant election should not simply be equated with the New Testament doctrine of individual salvation.
Nevertheless, it demonstrates an important pattern within redemptive history:
God’s gracious action cannot be explained by the superior worthiness of the people who receive it.
Israel’s subsequent history also demonstrates that external covenant privileges and commands did not by themselves produce lasting faithfulness.
Despite receiving God’s law and repeatedly experiencing His mercy, Israel continually turned away from Him.
The prophets therefore looked forward to a deeper work of God.
Jeremiah promised a new covenant in which God would put His law within His people, write it upon their hearts, forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Ezekiel describes God’s promised restoration:
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean.”
“I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.”
“And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes.”
The repeated subject is God:
“I will.”
God promises cleansing, inward transformation, and His Spirit.
The promised transformation also results in changed living.
We should not claim that Titus 3:5 is explicitly interpreting or quoting Ezekiel 36 because Paul does not say so.
Nevertheless, the themes provide significant biblical theological background:
God cleanses.
God renews.
God gives His Spirit.
God’s saving action produces a transformed people.
Joel likewise anticipated a future outpouring of God’s Spirit:
“I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.”
The prophetic hope therefore includes both inward transformation and God’s promised gift of the Spirit.
These expectations move toward fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
Jesus announces God’s kingdom and calls people to:
“repent and believe in the gospel.”
He describes His mission as giving His life:
“as a ransom for many.”
At the Last Supper He speaks of His blood as:
“my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Jesus also teaches that entrance into God’s kingdom requires new birth.
He tells Nicodemus:
“unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God”
and speaks of being:
“born of the Spirit.”
The salvation Jesus describes therefore reaches deeper than external religious observance.
Through Christ’s death and resurrection, God’s saving purposes reach their decisive New Testament fulfillment.
Christ died for sins and was raised from the dead.
Following Christ’s resurrection and exaltation, the promised Holy Spirit is poured out.
At Pentecost, Peter explicitly identifies what is occurring with Joel’s prophecy and declares that the exalted Christ, having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father:
“has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.”
This provides important biblical background for Titus 3:5 to 6, where Paul speaks of:
“the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”
Paul’s language fits naturally within the movement from the prophetic promise of God’s Spirit toward its fulfillment through Jesus Christ.
The New Testament also makes clear that sinners do not establish their acceptance before God through their own righteous works.
Paul writes that all have sinned and are:
“justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians declares salvation to be by grace through faith and:
“not a result of works.”
Titus expresses the same God centered movement in concentrated form:
“he saved us”
“not because of works done by us in righteousness”
“according to his own mercy”
“justified by his grace.”
The biblical story therefore directs attention away from human righteousness as the reason for salvation and toward God’s mercy, God’s grace, and God’s saving work through Jesus Christ.
Yet God’s saving purpose does not end with forgiveness or right standing before Him considered in isolation.
Scripture repeatedly connects salvation with the formation of a people whose lives reflect their new relationship with God.
Paul describes believers as God’s workmanship:
“created in Christ Jesus for good works.”
Peter says that Christ bore our sins:
“that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”
Titus says that Christ gave Himself:
“to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
This corresponds to the pattern anticipated by the prophets.
God promised not merely to cleanse His people but to give them His Spirit and produce lives characterized by obedience to Him.
This helps explain the order of Titus 3:3 to 8.
Paul begins with what believers once were, moves through God’s goodness and mercy, His saving action, regeneration and renewal associated with the Holy Spirit, justification by grace, and the hope of eternal life, and only then commands those who have believed to devote themselves to good works.
The broader biblical storyline can therefore be summarized:
Humanity rebels against God and becomes corrupted by sin.
God acts in mercy and faithfulness toward undeserving people.
God promises cleansing, inward renewal, and His Spirit.
Jesus Christ accomplishes redemption through His death and resurrection.
The promised Holy Spirit is poured out through the exalted Christ.
God saves according to His mercy and justifies by His grace rather than because of righteous works performed by us.
Those who have believed are called to live as God’s renewed people and devote themselves to good works.
The story also points forward.
Titus describes believers as:
“heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Scripture looks toward resurrection and the new creation, when death will finally be defeated and God’s people will dwell with Him.
The hope of eternal life therefore places present Christian obedience within an eternal horizon.
Those whom God has saved according to His mercy live now as His people while awaiting the full inheritance He has promised.
Titus 3:3 to 8 captures this biblical story of salvation in remarkably concentrated form.
Those enslaved by sin do not present their righteous works as the reason God should save them.
God acts in goodness and mercy, saves through His work centered in Jesus Christ and involving the renewal of the Holy Spirit, justifies by grace, gives the hope of eternal life, and calls those who believe to devote themselves to what is good.
Good works are not the cause of God’s saving mercy. They belong to the life of those who have received it.
Core Truth
God saves sinners according to His mercy and grace, not because of righteous works they have done.
Paul reminds believers what they once were: foolish, disobedient, led astray, and enslaved to sinful desires.
The decisive change begins with God:
“he saved us… according to his own mercy.”
This salvation involves regeneration and renewal associated with the Holy Spirit, justification by grace, and the hope of eternal life.
Our confidence therefore rests in God’s saving mercy through Jesus Christ, not in righteousness we can present to Him.
Yet grace does not make good works unimportant.
Paul commands:
“those who have believed in God”
to devote themselves to good works.
The order is essential: good works do not earn salvation. They belong to the life of those God has mercifully saved.
Application
Titus 3:3 to 8 calls us to remember what we were apart from God’s mercy.
“We ourselves were once”
foolish, disobedient, and led astray.
Remembering this should produce humility rather than superiority toward others.
The passage also challenges us to examine where our confidence before God rests.
Prayer, Bible reading, service, obedience, and other good works matter, but they are not the reason God saves.
Our confidence rests in His mercy and grace through Jesus Christ.
At the same time, salvation by grace must never become an excuse for disobedience.
Paul tells those who have believed:
“to be careful to devote themselves to good works.”
We should therefore ask whether biblical truth is actually shaping our priorities, relationships, decisions, and conduct.
Christian obedience is also more than self improvement.
Paul has spoken of regeneration and renewal associated with the Holy Spirit.
We pursue what is good while depending upon God’s grace rather than our own strength.
Do not trust your good works to save you, and do not use grace as a reason to neglect them. As one who has believed in God, devote yourself to what is good.
Progress
Spiritual progress does not mean making ourselves worthy of God’s mercy.
God saves according to His mercy, and Christian growth follows His saving action.
Progress becomes visible as biblical truth increasingly shapes how we live.
We recognize sin, turn from it, pursue obedience, and learn to treat good works as the proper response to grace rather than a means of earning salvation.
Growth does not mean immediate perfection.
Believers continue to struggle with sin while being called to grow in holiness.
Progress may be uneven, and greater knowledge of Scripture may expose weaknesses we previously overlooked.
When you see genuine growth, thank God rather than boasting.
When Scripture exposes sin, confess it and continue pursuing obedience.
Greater maturity should produce both greater faithfulness and deeper dependence upon God’s grace.
Encouragement
If you look at your past and see things you deeply regret, remember that Paul openly says:
“For we ourselves were once”
foolish, disobedient, led astray, and enslaved.
But Paul does not leave believers there:
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us.”
God did not save because of an impressive record of righteousness, but:
“according to his own mercy.”
We can acknowledge honestly what we once were while keeping our confidence in the mercy of the God who saves.
If you are discouraged by areas where you still need to grow, remember that grace does not remove the call to obedience, but neither does imperfect obedience overturn the foundation of our hope.
Confess sin, turn from it, and continue pursuing what is good.
Those justified by grace are:
“heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Keep trusting Christ, returning to God’s Word, turning from sin, and pursuing what is good. Your confidence rests in the mercy and grace of God.
Challenge and Reflection
Take a few moments to prayerfully examine your life before the Lord.
Does remembering what “we ourselves were once” produce humility and patience toward others, or have spiritual knowledge and growth sometimes produced pride?
Where does your confidence before God rest? Are you trusting His mercy and grace, or quietly measuring yourself by religious activity, moral improvement, knowledge, or obedience?
Have you treated salvation by grace as a reason to become casual about obedience? Are there areas where you know what Scripture requires but continue resisting or excusing it?
Is biblical truth shaping your priorities, relationships, speech, decisions, and conduct? Are you pursuing good works without turning them into a source of pride or comparison?
When your performance feels weak or circumstances become difficult, do you remember that those justified by grace are “heirs according to the hope of eternal life”?
Bring these things honestly before God.
Thank Him for His mercy.
Confess pride and disobedience where they are present.
Ask Him to help you live faithfully in response to His grace.
Remember what you once were.
Remember that God saved according to His mercy.
Remember that you are justified by His grace.
Remember the hope of eternal life.
And as one who has believed in God:
Be careful to devote yourself to good works.
Closing Charge
Remember Paul’s order in Titus 3:3 to 8.
God saved:
“not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.”
Let that truth produce humility, gratitude, and confidence in His grace.
But do not allow grace to become an excuse for disobedience.
Those who have believed in God are called:
“to be careful to devote themselves to good works.”
Depend upon God’s grace.
Walk humbly before Him.
Turn from sin.
Pursue what is good.
Let the mercy you have received shape the life you live.
Soli Deo Gloria
To God alone be the glory.
Scriptures Referenced
Primary Passage: Titus 3:3 to 8
Historical Background and Literary Context: Titus 1:1 to 5, Titus 1:10 to 16, Titus 2:1, Titus 2:7 to 8, Titus 2:11 to 15, Titus 3:1 to 2, Titus 3:9 to 11, Titus 3:14
Scripture Breakdown and Canonical Context: Isaiah 44:3, Ezekiel 36:25 to 27, Joel 2:28 to 29, Matthew 7:16 to 20, John 3:3 to 8, John 11:25, Acts 2:16 to 18, Acts 2:33, Romans 3:9 to 12, Romans 3:20 to 28, Romans 7:21 to 25, Romans 8:16 to 17, Ephesians 2:1 to 10, Galatians 2:15 to 16, Galatians 5:16 to 17, Philippians 3:12 to 14, 1 Timothy 1:15, 1 Timothy 3:1, 1 Timothy 4:9, 2 Timothy 2:11, Titus 2:11 to 14, Titus 3:1, Titus 3:9, Titus 3:14, James 2:14 to 24, 1 Peter 1:3 to 4, 1 Peter 1:23
Biblical Theology: Genesis 1:26 to 31, Genesis 3:1 to 24, Genesis 4:1 to 16, Genesis 6:5 to 12, Deuteronomy 7:6 to 8, Jeremiah 31:31 to 34, Ezekiel 36:25 to 27, Joel 2:28 to 29, Matthew 26:28, Mark 1:14 to 15, Mark 10:45, John 3:3 to 8, Acts 2:16 to 21, Acts 2:33, Romans 3:23 to 24, 1 Corinthians 15:3 to 4, 1 Corinthians 15:50 to 57, Ephesians 2:8 to 10, 1 Peter 2:24, Revelation 21:1 to 5
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