Titus 3:1–3—Submission; Our Former State

Tit. 3:1. Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, and to be ready for every good work.

The preceding section showed what domestic virtues believers should be taught; now it shows what civic virtues they should be taught—or, what is the same thing, what works in this regard Christians ought to adorn themselves with.

The first matter here is the relation to authority. How, then, should one conduct oneself toward it? “To be subject and obedient.” As always, so here the Apostle of course means a submission that is not hypocritical—not an outward compliance used to mask one’s beliefs and live by faith in undisturbed peace—but a submission according to conscience, from conviction that authority is from God and that those in authority are servants of God; and therefore submission to them is submission to the will of God. This follows directly from faith in the all-governing providence of God. Holy Paul does not bring this point to the fore here because he is writing not to believers but to Titus, who well knew what principles St. Paul maintained in this regard.

He writes: “remind them”—that is, Christians; for such submission was universal, according to the ordinary civil order. Some would forget themselves, but immediately received a reminder from the authority itself. The Apostle wishes this to be forestalled by domestic instruction, so that no Christian would give occasion to the authorities to remind him of his duty of submission. What could have led Christians to forget themselves was the fact that through faith they had become citizens of another world and had another King—Christ the Lord. Remind them, he says, lest they fall into such error.

“Rulers and authorities”, αρχαις και εξουσιαις — principalities and powers. More precisely, this designates without distinction every form of civil government, both great and small. But the Slavonic translation suggests the thought that the Apostle wishes to instruct Christians to submit not only to kings—“those who rule”—but also to more immediate authorities—“those who govern”—though one cannot insist that this is necessarily so; the Greek words, on the contrary, have: αρχαι referring to higher authorities and εξουσιαι to lower offices.

“To be subject and obedient”, υποτασσεσθαι, πειθαρχειν. The first denotes subordination in general, whether willing or unwilling; the second denotes heartfelt submission, wholehearted obedience, from the conviction that this is how it ought to be.

Blessed Jerome offers the following reflection on this: “The same is written to the Romans: ‘let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God’ (Rom. 13:1). Such a commandment, both here and there, I think was given because the teaching of Judas the Galilean was still in force and had many followers, as is mentioned in the book of Acts (Acts 5:37). He, as one may reasonably suppose, taught on the basis of the Law that no one should be called a ruler except God alone, and that those who bring tithes to the temple should not pay tribute to Caesar. This heresy had grown so large that it not only drew away much of the people but also disturbed the Pharisees; so that they even approached the Lord Himself with the question: ‘is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?’ And received the wise reply: ‘render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God’ (Mt. 22:17, 21). In accordance with this answer, the Apostle Paul also teaches that believers must obey principalities and powers.”

“And to be ready for every good work.” Either this indicates in general an exemplary good conduct among one’s fellow citizens, so that everyone might see and know that Christians are a kind, gentle, helpful, and charitable people. Oecumenius interprets “ready”, ετοιμοι, as ευτρεπισμενοι — well-disposed and virtuous, not only outwardly good but such in the innermost disposition of the heart as well. — Or—ready for every good work to which the authorities and powers call, so that they too may know that Christians are foremost in doing good. This is, for instance, like when in our day people are called upon now to help the victims of fire, now to contribute to the care of the wounded, now to relieve the lot of the hungry in times of crop failure, and the like. Blessed Theodoret sees in these words an indication of how far submission to the authorities should extend: “for one must not submit to the authorities in everything, but pay customs and taxes, render due honour, and if they command impiety, then openly contradict.” The same in Jerome: “if a ruler commands something good, then obey the will of the one commanding. But if something evil and contrary to God, then answer him with the Apostolic reply: ‘we must obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29).”

Tit. 3:2. To slander no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all meekness to all people.

These words are a more detailed explanation of the preceding words—“to be ready for every good work”—and together with them define the second half of the civic virtues: namely, alongside submission to the authorities, to maintain good relations with fellow citizens as well. Readiness for every good work already encompasses all of this. The Apostle here further indicates that what especially disrupts good civic relations should be removed; namely, he says: teach Christians to provoke no one, not only in deed but even in word; let them live so quietly that it is as though they are not there, and let others know of their existence only by their good deeds.

“‘To slander no one’—that is, “to speak ill of no one” (blessed Theodoret). “Even if someone acts wickedly, do not revile or reproach him” (blessed Theophylact). ‘But even Michael the Archangel, when contending with the devil and disputing about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said: The Lord rebuke you’ Jude 1:9) If Michael did not dare to bring ‘a slanderous word’ against the devil, who deserves every slander, how much more should we keep ourselves pure from evil speech? The devil deserved slander; yet a slanderous word ought not to have proceeded from the lips of the Archangel” (blessed Jerome). “Let us heed this counsel. Our mouths must be clean of reproaches; for even if our reproaches were just, it is not our business to voice them; to investigate—that is the work of a judge; ‘but why do you judge your brother?’ (Rom. 14:10). Moreover, if you reproach others, you will soon suffer the same yourself. Therefore blessed Paul also offers this admonition: ‘let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall’ (1 Cor. 10:12)” (holy Chrysostom). Nothing so disrupts the good relations of community life as speaking ill of one another. Conversely, nothing so cements friendship as kind words, especially when the unkind words would have been deserved. The foundational law of communal life is not to put evil speech into circulation, and to cut off what comes from elsewhere. A torrent of evil speech is a poison that corrodes the bond of good community.

“To be peaceable”, αμαχους — not to be fighters—not to stir up quarrels, disputes, and lawsuits, and not to devise or unleash evil in return for evil. This is the same as what the Lord said: “but I say to you, do not resist evil” (Mt. 5:39). When rainwater is dammed, it swells higher and higher; but when it is allowed to flow freely, it runs as a small stream and soon ceases. So it is when hostility arises from another quarter. Bow down; it will roll over you like a wave—and that is the end of it. Stand against it—and it swells to irresistible force. Blessed Jerome writes: “if we are sons of peace and desire that peace rest upon us, if we have drawn near to the heavenly Jerusalem, which takes its name from peace, then let us have peace even with those who have hated peace, and on our own part let us remain at peace with all people—not only with the gentle but also with the contentious and quarrelsome: for what virtue is there in being at peace with the tranquil? Let us give place to anger, showing quiet meekness toward all people. We must not be guided by a desire for empty glory in displaying meekness to all; but when we endure all and do not repay wrongs with vengeance, let our very deeds be glorious before all. A man may out of vanity and love of popular reputation pretend to meekness and put on a mask of goodness; but if a man has no true, heartfelt, deep-rooted meekness, I do not know whether he will succeed in convincing everyone of his meekness.”

The last words of blessed Jerome interpret also the following words of the Apostle: “showing all meekness to all people.” Oecumenius likewise writes: “To Jews and Greeks, to friends and enemies, to those who wrong us and do us harm” (and holy Chrysostom with blessed Theophylact). Yielding appears to some as a loss and a diminishment, but in practice it always gains—if not in the present, then in the future; not only the eternal, but the temporal as well. What is lost is returned with interest.

g) The reminder that the grace of the Holy Spirit exists precisely to transform us from bad to good

Tit. 3:3. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various passions and pleasures, spending our lives in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

“For we ourselves were.” Through this word “for”—this passage is connected directly to the preceding one, to the injunction not to slander anyone. Why? Because we ourselves no longer have any right to be such. We too were the same; but now we have become different, by the grace of our Saviour, who has renewed us and made us good out of what was bad. So holy Chrysostom: “reproach no one, for you yourself were once the same. One who was formerly just such a person and has changed should not reproach such people, but should pray and give thanks to Him who grants him and is ready to grant them deliverance from their former sins. No one should boast: for all have sinned. So when you, being yourself upright, wish to reproach someone, remember your former life and the uncertainty of the future, and restrain your indignation. Even if you had lived virtuously from childhood, you would still have many sins; and if you have none, as you suppose, know that this depends not on your own strength but on the grace of God; for if He had not called your forebears to the faith, you too would have been an unbeliever.” — So also blessed Theodoret: “let us call to mind our former conduct, let us picture to ourselves how many bad qualities were in us; and, being such, the God of all deemed us worthy of salvation. Let us therefore also bear with the ill behaviour of those still remaining in error.”

But setting aside the connection with the preceding passage, one may see in this section (vv. 3–7), as in the one we already encountered above (Tit. 2:11–14), an indication of the incentive for which Christians especially ought to be strangers to every vice and adorned with all virtues. Because they were not good, and now they are protected by the grace of the Spirit in the font to a new holy life, so that, having become righteous, they may be counted worthy of the inheritance of eternal, blessed life. The distinction between this section and the one encountered above is that there the call to a holy life is the subject, while here it is the new birth to that life and the provision of sufficient powers for it. Upon those who have been born again and equipped with the powers needed for a holy life lies an inescapable duty to be holy. And if they do not prove to be such, nothing can be compared to such folly. So in part Ambrosiaster: “The Apostle recalls that these blessings, which unbelief does not possess, have been given to Christians; so that, shining in all righteousness, they may make known to all that they are worshippers of the true God. For when they, who were once foolish, now appear wise in all things, God is thereby glorified in them.”

“For we ourselves were once. — Once”—before faith and sanctification by the grace of God. — “We ourselves.” The Apostle obviously has the Cretans in mind, but he included himself among them in order to soften the words. The equivalent in our everyday speech would be: we and you alike. Blessed Theodoret explains this “we ourselves” as follows: “The divine Apostle included himself in the same number, not as one subject to all these charges, but as one who had been a persecutor; for not all were subject to all the vices, but some to these and others to those; yet all attained salvation.”

“Foolish, disobedient, and deceived.” By these words is described how, when men live in sins and passions, all the powers of the soul are stricken and perverted. The rational power is struck by “foolishness”—it loses sound understanding of God, of the world, of man, of the purpose of the present life, of the purpose of the things around us, and of the significance of all that happens to us. Having lost such understanding, it loses the power to govern a person’s life, and he walks as if in darkness, falling from one folly into another. So it was with the pagans. “Was it not senseless to serve such gods as the pagans had and to sacrifice human beings?” (blessed Theophylact). And descriptions of their life by their own writers cannot be read without revulsion. — The active power is infected with “disobedience,” by which it will acknowledge neither divine nor human laws, takes no account of anything, except its own will. I want it thus, and no one shall tell me otherwise; and it wants only what self-love and self-indulgence dictate in satisfaction of the passions. Whatever is said, it will not listen. Απειθεις — precisely such persons are presented, who accept no reasoning whatsoever. — The feeling power is dominated by “deception,” by which it considers good, pleasant, and beautiful what is in its nature bad, repulsive, and ugly. It loses its natural taste.

Or one may hold that what is indicated here is the wounding of the higher spiritual side of human nature: by “foolishness”—the disappearance of the thought of God and the fear of God; by “disobedience”—inattention to the voice of conscience and its suppression; by “deception”—attachment to sensory things. This is always and everywhere the case when anyone gives himself over to self-indulgence and the passions, whoever he may be—pagan or Christian, learned or unlearned, simple or noble. For sin, like poison, shows no partiality.

“Enslaved to various passions and pleasures.” When the higher powers and the higher side of human nature are stricken, then in place of the laws that reside in them, which should have governed a person’s actions, passions and pleasures take over, and life begins to flow according to their demands. The higher powers then become their servants: the mind devises means of satisfying them and of concealing such satisfaction as it would be unseemly to have seen; the will, as if led by a halter, is led along after them like a donkey on a lead; and the feelings, having more than once experienced the tastelessness of carnal pleasures, are still drawn toward them, beguiled by the deceitful hope of finally encountering and tasting on that same path some lasting good. This is true slavery within a person—the tyranny of sin. — By “passions” are meant the desires of the soul and body. They arouse longings for the objects by which they are customarily satisfied. And “pleasures” are those momentary gratifications that the satisfaction of the passions provides. Every passion has its own pleasure, by which it lures one toward its objects; yet all pleasures merge into the one fundamental pleasure—self-indulgence. In pleasures lies the power of passion. The passions always conquer by the promise of pleasures. The sinner is devoted to pleasure; and therefore, without straightening up, he serves the passions.

Foolishness, disobedience, being deceived, slavery to passions and pleasures—these constitute the inner constitution of the sinner. How is this manifested outwardly, in his actions? By “life in malice and envy.” Egotism and self-indulgence pull everything toward themselves. Since they encounter the same tendencies in others as well, collisions naturally arise. Whoever places an obstacle in their path stirs up hostility toward himself in various degrees, at the top of which stands malice—the desire to destroy an opponent by undermining the powers that belong to him: when he is wealthy, by exhausting his wealth; when in power, by undermining his authority; and so forth. This is malice, or malevolence. It is especially present when the egotist is proud, strong both in character and in resources. — But it also happens that someone stirs up hostility not by obstructing, but simply by standing higher and living more richly and cheerfully. This gives rise to envy, which in the strong likewise leads to malevolence, while in the weak it devours and exhausts the envious person himself. Where the passions hold sway, malice and envy are in constant motion, more or less intense. And is anyone free of them?

“Hateful.” Whoever is hostile toward others in undisguised malice and envy in turn arouses hostility toward himself: people begin to turn away from him, either loathing him or entertaining a kind of dread of him. This is expressed by: στυγητοι. Malicious and envious people are naturally repulsive.

And so it comes about that people enslaved by the passions live “hating one another.” For each one desires to possess exclusively, without division, the good toward which another stretches out a hand with the same desire. It is in the nature of egotism to love only itself. It is from the outset cold toward everyone; and no sooner does it encounter in others anything contrary to itself than it at once converts its coldness into hostility. Egotism is sometimes tempered by sympathetic feelings; but this does not extinguish its hatred, it only widens it: for then by hatred it guards not only itself but all that it has taken into the sphere of its sympathy—and so one faction arises against another.