1. LIVING OUT THE TRUTH -- THE EPISTLE TO TITUS
IN this Letter to Titus we find one of the loveliest passages in the New Testament: "For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men, educating us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live sobermindedly and righteously and with true spirituality in this present age, looking forward to that blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all lawlessness, and make clean for himself a people for his personal possession, zealous of good works" (2:11-14).
I begin by asking, How do secrets get out? The Letter opens with what must have been a secret transaction between Paul and the Lord. The writer calls himself "A servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ" (1:1), and in doing so refers to the secret intuitions which he had about himself and his place in the purposes of God. Knowing, as we do, the background to these claims, we remember that those who were with him on the road to Damascus "saw the light but did not hear the voice" (Acts 22:9). They knew that something was going on but for all they knew Paul had been struck by lightning or had fallen down with [104/105] sunstroke. They did not hear the explanatory voice; they did not know what he knew, that he was being drawn to the Saviour. They knew nothing of his being shown the Lord Jesus and being constituted an apostle of Christ and of His Church. What is more, Paul himself made something of a secret of God's dealings with him, for he said: "I did not consult with flesh and blood. I went off to Arabia." (Galatians 1:15-17).
In the first place, then, his position was a secret matter between him and his Lord. But it became public property. And that is why I ask how it is that the secret realities of being a Christian are made known publicly. Paul himself goes on to answer this question by explaining that it is by listening and looking. First of all it is a matter of doctrine. Listen to this! "Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect". He appeals here to a reality to which we will return again and again in this brief series on Truth and Life. We come back again and again to New Testament truth, and note that the Church already possesses the truth. Paul was willing to be tested by that truth which is deposited among the people of God. "The faith of God's elect" involves all that they hold and believe as God's divine truth coming, as it does, from "God who cannot lie" (1:2). It is as though the apostle advises Titus not to accept what he says about his personal secret life with God as true just because he says so, but because he is seen to be walking along the line of established truth which is possessed by and believed by the people of God.
Then Paul says, 'Watch what I do'. The second test to which he subjects himself is a moral or practical one. "Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to ... the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness" or, as it is given in the helpful interpretation of the N.I.V., "the knowledge of that truth which leads to godliness." My apostleship is vouched for not only by the fact that in my teaching I concur with the deposit of truth laid down by the truthful God among His people, but if you watch my life you will find in me that living moral practice which is the counterpart of the truth. The truth leads out into godliness, it finds its natural counterpart in holy living. Broadly speaking I think that the word here translated 'godliness' refers to what we would call spirituality -- the evidence in life of a sincere and deep walk with God.
It is thus that Paul makes his claims. He does not say that things must be accepted just because he says them but should be subject to a doctrinal and a practical test. Brothers and sisters, what Paul was prepared to use as a test of reality in his own case, he also insists must be the test of reality for every believer in all situations. There is never any concession; we never admit exceptional circumstances, special conditions or exceptive clauses in this particular matter. It applies to all Christians in all situations. How is a Christian known? First because he professes a true belief, and second because a matching godliness is evident in his life.
Paul stresses that this double emphasis on doctrine and life applies to leaders: "Appoint elders in every city as I gave you charge. If any man is unblameable, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, who are not accused of profligacy or insubordination. For an overseer must be unblameable. He is the steward of God, not autocratic, nor quick tempered, not given to overmuch wine, not pugnacious, not greedy of money, but given to hospitality, a lover of good, soberminded, just, holy, a controlled person, holding the faithful word which is according to the teaching" (1:6-9). If we ask how one can know if a person is fit for leadership, you must look at his life and listen to his words. These are the marks of being a genuine article.
The apostle says the same about Titus himself. He does not claim that Titus is in the apostolic succession -- not a bit of it! He can be known as a man of spiritual authority only if he speaks "the things which match (or befit) wholesome doctrine" (2:1). Once again the apostle says to him, "In all things showing yourself an example of good works" (2:7). Paul himself is ready to submit to the test and insists that Titus must do the same. [105/106]
The next to be described are called "the aged men" and the "aged women" (2:2-3). This, I imagine, does not refer to their actual age but rather to those who may be described as more adult and mature believers. Concerning the men we are told that they should be 'temperate' and seriously minded. The word which is translated 'soberminded', appears several times in this letter and it describes a person who has all his faculties integrated, who is controlled and who knows who he is. The word is first used in the New Testament in Mark 5:15, in connection with the man who was possessed by a legion of demons. When asked his name by the Lord Jesus he replied, "My name is Legion", confessing that he was not one person but a multiplication of persons, all in confusion, who himself did not know what he was going to do next. When Jesus had cast out the demon the people came and found that he was "in his right mind", which is the same word, 'soberminded'. In other words they found that he was now one whole person, in full control of all his faculties. Paul goes on to say that the mature man must be sound, or wholesome, "in faith, in love, in endurance". This, then, is the mark of a true mature believer -- he is sound in doctrine and he is exemplary in the way he lives.
The letter goes on to speak of the senior women, the mature women of the congregation, saying that in their way of life they should be reverent, or, according to the Greek, that they should live like holy priestesses (2:3). They should not be slanderers, literally 'like Satan', anxious to take away the character of other people, but "teachers of that which is lovely", for that is the implication of the word 'good'. Furthermore, they are to inculcate a true personality in the younger women, for again we have the word 'soberminded', to be in full control of their faculties. Once again there is this double emphasis, the mature Christian woman is known by what she says and by what she does.
