Скачать или смотреть Men Bible Study - Titus 1:2

Here we are again!

Here is the text:

Titus 1:2, “[Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the 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, …”

Interesting points:
1. In this verse Paul continues his introduction, with three phrases that define the faith and knowledge he spoke about in the previous verse. In doing so, he contrasts them to the other beliefs prevalent in the Roman Empire at the time.

2. Romans 1:16 helps us understand that the "hope of eternal life" Paul is referring to is something he longed for and desired for Jew and Gentile alike: an eternity with Jesus Christ. No other faith has a deity who redeems mankind through personal sacrifice to reconcile them to Himself for eternity in the way Jesus did.

3. God’s true and righteous nature is captured in the phrase "which God, who does not lie", contrasting sharply with the Greek and Roman gods who frequently used deception in order to have sexual relations with mortal women. This idea of tricking or lying to achieve influenced many Mediterranean cultures of that era such that lying to gain the advantage was a known practice in Crete – where Titus received this letter.

4. Note that God’s promise of eternal life occurred before the beginning of time. In Genesis 2:9 we find that God had planted the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the middle of the Garden of Eden. Only the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was forbidden, implying that God intended for mankind to eat the fruit of the Tree of Life.

Application.
Brothers, today we face a whole hosts of “other gods” and the Christian faith still stands uniquely among them for the same reasons Paul identified: we can have faith in the truth that God -- through Christ’s death -- reconciled us to enjoy eternal life in His presence as He had intended from the very beginning. He is not a trickster nor a manipulator. He is constant, righteous and pure.

How does this truth impact or change the way we live today? Is this fact part of our identity as it was for Paul? Is it also the baseline truth that propels us forward in service to God and to our fellow humans?