Godly Living

“Teaching us, that, denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts,

we should live soberly, righteously, and godly,

in this present world.”

(Titus 2:12)

We often hear some speaking of others as being such Godly people. The question is, ‘Who is truly Godly or what is Godly living according to God’s Word’?

1. What Godly living isn’t. We know that it does not mean sinless living or even ‘sinning-less’ living. The apostle Paul declared in Romans 7:18, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” Our depraved flesh cannot ever be sinless nor can it be anything less than sinful. The apostle John stated in 1 John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

2. What Godly living is. There are four elements to consider. The first put negatively is described as ‘denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts.’ This is clearly the work of the Spirit in God’s chosen, redeemed children that causes them to stand against anything that opposes God’s glory and honor (Godliness), Anything or anyone that contradicts God’s revelation of Himself in His Word and the glory that He has purposed to honor and exalt His Son exclusively, is to be renounced. Positively, the other three elements of godly living are to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present evil world. In these three terms we have all that describes the Grace of God in His children and how they are distinguished from the rest of the condemned (ungodly) world, Jude 1:15.

The first, “soberly,” means living by the wisdom of God in Christ, “...wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16) It means that, by the Grace of God, we exercise restraint in our passions and propensities toward anything other than the glory of Christ alone, Titus 2:2-4.

The second, “righteously” means to live to the honor and glory of God’s justice satisfied in the death of the LORD Jesus alone. We have no other righteousness than that nor do we acknowledge any other but Him, as children of Grace who have no justice of their own but glorify the righteousness of God imputed to them at the cross.

The third, “Godly”, being ever mindful that our only ‘Godlikeness’ is in Christ alone as our hope of eternal life through the redemption by His blood, Titus 2:13-14. Godly living is to live wholly under God’s Grace, by His free and unmerited favor in Christ. Nothing we do entitles us to God’s favor but everything we do is by His free grace in Christ alone, having been perfectly reconciled to God the Father by His death and thereby declared Godly (God-like) by imputed righteousness, Romans 5:10. This Grace of God not only affects how we deal with others in this world, but how we live before God, acknowledging Him in thought. word, and deed, to the glory of His Son alone!