Titus 3:3

Titus 3:3

³For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.  ⁴But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, ⁵He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done/ righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,  ⁶whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,  ⁷  so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

*I realize that I wrote out more than just verse three, and while it will be the extent of our study it seemed to do harm to the context not to look at 4-7 as a whole.

A Brief Look Back

So Paul has told Titus what he should look for in the leadership of the church, and given us a great picture of Christian maturity.  Then in chapter 2 he gave specific instructions for the specific groups of people.  In the last two verses he talked about how Christians should behaving in relation to legal matters, and matters of government.  Now he is giving us another little shift.  The Holy Spirit, writing through the vehicle of Paul, here reminds us of who we were before Christ.  We are not to forget who we were outside of His saving grace, and who we would be had He not saved us.  Another amazing point that we find is that we are able to take no credit for the good things.  Just when the letter may seem to be getting a little “law-ish” Paul pulls back the reigns and says “But remember, none of this is coming out of YOUR work, YOUR worthiness or YOUR power.  It's all about what God has done in you, and what he is doing in terms of your daily sanctification.”

Verse 3

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

we also once

One important thing to notice is that this is in the past tense.  This is something that was the case before you were in Christ.  Now that you are in Christ you share His life, and we should all be operating out of the power and the life that He gives.  Remember also that the turning point in your getting ways from this character and this life was when Christ saved you.

            This should draw our thoughts to how we regard the unsaved.  It is sometimes difficult for us to realize that we are not better people than the unsaved folks around us, nor are we smarter, better or more clever.  The reality is that the only thing that separates us from them is Christ.  That is the primary difference.  Not the lifestyle choices that we make, not the good things that we do, or the nice feelings we have, and not that we go to Church.  We are set apart solely by the fact that Christ has done a good work in us because we believed.

Foolish

This is, in the Greek, another negative word.  It combines the negative particle a- attached as a prefix for the word for “understanding, perception or thoughtfulness.”  So this carries the idea of someone who is absolutely thoughtless, unable to understand, and unable to perceive what would seem to be obvious to others.  This is the opposite of the sensible wisdom that we are now to be walking in.

disobedient

Obviously this disobedience went in all directions.  Before we met Christ, and when we walk outside of  our position in Christ there is no end to the disobedience.  We are disobedient to God, and disobedient to parents, the government, and any number of other things which we should be obedient to.  So we find that that disobedience is also something that comes out of our flesh.  It is something that is abhorred by God and that the Christian will naturally begin to stay away from as our condition in our daily life is conformed to our eternal position in Him.

Deceived

This is especially interesting.  Foolishness is a condition.  One is either wise or foolish.  Disobedience depends on actions or lack of action that is contrary to the authority, code or order that is set out before one.  But deceived means that something else was acting upon us (and is acting still upon the non-believer) keeping their minds from being able to see things clearly.  Praise the Lord that we can confidently look forward to the day when :  “...the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)

enslaved to various lusts and pleasures

Currently, as believers, we may find ourselves walking in our old, fleshly ways, however, this is no longer who we are.  Whereas once we were enslaved to these pleasures, lusts and desires; we are now free to obey them, or by the power of Christ refuse them.  We are no longer under any obligation whatsoever to Sin.  Sin no longer owns us and we are no longer obligated to obey it.  It's like if you own a used car and you go out to your car and the original owner is sitting in there. He says, “I bought this car and I thought I would take it out for a spin!”  Obviously, you would simply inform him that when he sold the car to you he no longer has any right to take it for a spin whenever he wants.  He can only ever drive the car with your permission.  It is the same now with us.  Sin does not own the car any longer.  God owns it.

spending our life

The Greek has the idea of how one leads their life.  So we were leading our lives fully in these other traits that completely contrast the traits in the list that display Godly character.  We see this idea of the involuntary seems constant.  We may be able to think of non-Christians who seem like good people.  However we find that they are involuntarily caught in a web much deeper than they can  escape on their own.  They may spend their whole lives trying to saw out of the net in which they are caught and for all their good deeds not break a single strand of the chords that make up the net.

Malice

This word, in Greek, is from the root word that simply means evil.  So this is an evilness; the sort of evil that delights in the pain and injury of others.  This is the kind of evil that cheers when the good guy is hurt, and the kind of evil that would throw a parade for Judas for selling out his master.  This word is not the sort of word that is thrown around lightly and used jokingly, but rather a horrible truth about the true nature of man.  Man is, we are, by nature corrupt, evil and dark spirited.  There is something in us that naturally roots against everyone but us.  That sin nature that is so offended by the light.  That is what is in view here.

Envy

Envy we know, or knew, all too well.  Envy, or jealousy, can be one of the most destructive forces in human relationships.  Jealousy can destroy a marriage so quickly it can seem like it was never there to begin with.  Few sinful emotions can have such a quick and ravaging effect on any given relationship.  It can be so subtle:  “Your so lucky, I wish I had that advantage...”  “Why were you looking at him?” “I wish I could have that car, I deserve it more than HE does!”  Envy builds up so many walls and destroys so many relationships that it would be impossible to count the examples even in our own lives.

Hateful

This is does not mean filled with hate, but rather something that is characterized, and only to be met with hatred.  This is something that is so characterized by hate that we find that there is no other response to it but hatred.  Other words that would translate this Greek word may be “dispicable” or “detested.”  It brings new meaning, knowing that this was the character of who we were before Christ changed us, to Romans 5:8 :  “But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

hating one another

The Greek has the idea of us continually hating one another.  We find that outside of Christ there is nothing but shades of hatred and distrust.  Not only were we hateful and detestable, we also hated everyone else because everyone else is just a mirror of what hateful creatures we had become apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Paul wouldn't have us thinking that we did it on our own.  Nor would he allow us to spend our time and energy being deluded into thinking that we had always been this way.  We are to be constantly mindful of the humility that characterizes our very being.  Without the amazing work of Christ this is who we are.  This picture, like the Picture of Dorian Grey, should cause us to shudder with fear and fill our eyes with holy tears praising God for the work that he has done in our lives.  We should never cast a judgmental eye on the non-believer because we live under the constant reminder that “but for the Grace of God, there go I.”